So last Friday we started on a series to document how we will start living with a HUAWEI smartphone free from the clutches of the evil Google ecosystem. No, they are not really evil; I am just trying to be a bit dramatic here. You get the idea though. Modern HUAWEI smartphones today only come with HUAWEI’s very own Mobile Services and AppGallery; no Google Mobile Services and Play Store. Kind of sad, really.
Last week we managed to download Facebook and WhatsApp. We did not have Instagram, or Netflix, or Telegram. In short, there were plenty of apps we did not have. Did we miss them? Yes, very much, I had Instagram and Netflix, and Prime Video installed in other devices just to scroll through them.
I Still Miss Social Media
In truth though, I am not that big of a social media person. While I do scroll through social media from time to time, I seldom spend more than 15 minutes scrolling through Facebook, or Instagram, or Twitter, and even Snapchat. I have never logged onto Tik Tok.
That does not mean that I can completely ignore all this social media though. Of course, if I am being honest, I do miss the apps. The idea of just seeing what other people are up to in their own life; that can still be quite fun, and quite traumatising depending on the contents.
Facebook can be quite enough though, especially with Facebook Watch and the countless videos on the platform. That is technically all the entertainment I got from the HUAWEI Nova 7i. To keep in touch with my friends, I have WhatsApp. Then again, I turn on my WhatsApp on desktop barely looked at my smartphone when it comes to messages.
Exploring the AppGallery A Little Deeper
Still, things are not so bad after scrolling through the AppGallery once more. There are apps in the smartphone after all. Social media apps include Snapchat, Tik Tok (of course), and WeChat (of course). Nope, nothing else that I use as far as I can tell. There is even TrueCaller on the AppGallery.
Things are looking a bit up now that I scroll through a little bit more through the AppGallery. You can find Viu, iflix, and some cinema booking apps within the AppGallery to start with. No, no Netflix or even Amazon Video Prime. For now, iflix and Viu would do. I personally don’t have a viu account, so I stick to iflix. We are currently under the Movement Control Order (MCO), so I cannot go for movies.
If not though, I can do some window shopping via Zalora, Lazada, and even Shopee. There are even some games that you might be familiar with. One of them is Cut the Rope 2 within the AppGallery. You can even find Lords Mobile and Fortnite on the device. So to be fair, you are not really getting shorthanded in terms of entertainment here.
For productivity, they have WPS Office on the AppGallery. While some say that WPS Office app is better than the original Microsoft apps, I would respectfully disagree. The modern Microsoft apps are now so much better, and so much more optimised. At the same time, it is easier to sync your Microsoft apps to OneDrive than anything else. This is a problem on the device though; there are almost no Microsoft apps here.
I say almost because there is a particularly useful Microsoft app that we love. That app is Microsoft’s Translation app. In our opinion, this is the best translation app that mankind has ever produced. It is accurate and works with plenty of accents. Still, we are not here for the Microsoft Translate app.
It is Still Android, Just Without Google
The apps that are downloaded are also very similar to the Android apps you find on Google Play Store. The EMUI 10 is based on Android 10 after all. Still, we found these apps. Which are great. If you are worried about bringing them out as your electronic wallet, you would be relieved to find Touch n’ Go app in there and Boost app. Grab is making its way on AppGallery. Still, the two largest e-wallets in Malaysia has a foothold in HUAWEI’s AppGallery. That means the HUAWEI Mobile Services (HMS), and AppGallery cannot be that bad, right? Too early to tell in my opinion.
Still, we are going to dive a little deeper than that. For now, that is all we can walk away with. Stay tuned for the next part.