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Huawei's alternative OS to Android set to roll out as early as fall

androidpolice.com

21–30 of 67 posts

Re: Huawei's alternative OS to Android set to roll out as early as fall

#21

> an Android app recompiled for Huawei's OS is said to perform 60% faster. I'll believe it when I see it.

I'm not sure if I'd even notice if a single app performed faster at this point. Outside of games (of which the most popular ones are built on 2013-era game engines), most apps people use are extremely utilitarian and don't bog down in this era of octa-core processors and 4GB RAM.

Re: Huawei's alternative OS to Android set to roll out as early as fall

#22

If AOSP is legally controlled by Google, despite being open-source, how can Hauwei legally sell a phone in the US derived from AOSP without violating the import ban? Does the import ban not include free software? That seems like an oversight that would be quickly and easily corrected.

If you put restrictions on free software, isn't it then by definition non-free?

Re: Huawei's alternative OS to Android set to roll out as early as fall

#24
post #11

Based on history, it may be a pirate reverse-engineered Android OS.

What history? Did china reversed engineered Windows? Isn't also Android notorious for re-implementing Java? So it would be hypocritical for Google to claim that you can't reverse engineer the Google Play APIs

They did that with Cisco routers' OS. Huawei's switches' OS even had Cisco's logo on it.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10485560675556000

Re: Huawei's alternative OS to Android set to roll out as early as fall

#26
post #25

Will Chinese manufacturers also be prohibited from using Windows?

I think the recent executive order was explicitly for Huawei, which is troubling because the executive branch is targeting not a country, but a specific country. It's likely Apple or Samsung's US dept might have specifically lobbied for this (although we won't know; it's speculative and potentially unethical).

I have a feeling Microsoft, Google, Intel and others will take this to court though. They literally stand to lose hundreds of millions, each!

Re: Huawei's alternative OS to Android set to roll out as early as fall

#27

>“It will work with Android apps and web apps as well — an Android app recompiled for Huawei's OS is said to perform 60% faster.” So they’ve been sitting on this magical OS that somehow is compatible yet way faster than Android... that also runs everywhere? Why haven’t they released it then until now?

Because Google wouldn't allow them to put official Google apps on it. They only allow them on licensed instances of Android itself. And that's still an important market.

Yep, it would have kicked them out of Google's tightly controlled and terribly named "Open Handset Alliance."

Samsung couldn't even include a secondary location provider if they wanted to stay in the OHA!

Re: Huawei's alternative OS to Android set to roll out as early as fall

#28
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What history? Did china reversed engineered Windows? Isn't also Android notorious for re-implementing Java? So it would be hypocritical for Google to claim that you can't reverse engineer the Google Play APIs

They did that with Cisco routers' OS. Huawei's switches' OS even had Cisco's logo on it. https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10485560675556000

Also Sina -> Twitter. Pretty sure the sina API still returns "Retweeted" count last I checked.

Re: Huawei's alternative OS to Android set to roll out as early as fall

#29
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For the time being I understand that the ban doesn't actually stop Huawei from using ARM chips - it stops ARM from co-operating to help them build their own chips, e.g. their Kirin line of processors. So either they could just fork their design and stop keeping in lock-step with ARM (while maintaining a level of compatibility) or just start sourcing parts from third parties.

Not entirely true either, as the ban only applies to the US and ARM is a British company, with a Japanese parent company, so there's no conflict. They just can't use Qualcomm chips. As for Fabs, they can't still use TSMC, Samsung, and the numerous smaller companies in mainland China.

Wait, why not Samsung? They're still based entirely out of South Korea, right?

Re: Huawei's alternative OS to Android set to roll out as early as fall

#30
post #6
post #2

> It will work with Android apps and web apps as well I guess it is fair to assume at this point that they based it on the OSS part of Android ? Let's see if they manage to solve the Play Service pickle also. A lot of application assume you have them, I don't know if a lot of dev' are going to repackage their app "play-service" free for one vendor (wouldn't be surprising for popular app tho').

> em, I don't know if a lot of dev' are going to repackage their app "play-service" A lot of devs will repackage their apps if it means reaching a market, what 10x the size of the United States (Europe and Asia) ?

There are many who create non-play builds of their apps, notably for the Amazon Fire app store. There's also the open source microG project, that can probably be leveraged.
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