Huawei quietly launches EMUI 12 but we don’t know what phones it’s coming to
Despite attempting to push HarmonyOS onto as many devices as possible, Huawei has quietly announced EMUI 12. The landing page appeared on Huawei’s website, revealing some of the key features that will be arriving whenever this latest version of EMUI is made available.
EMUI 12 has a lot of the look and feel of HarmonyOS 2.0, while retaining some of the features that EMUI fans have come to know and love. First, the design comes with rounded corners and more of a minimalistic and “realistic” look and feel. Huawei has “finely tuned gradients” with the combination of black, white, and blue colors across many of the built-in apps.
The company has also made it easier to access your notifications and control panel, as you can simply swipe down on any screen to access these. In the control panel, EMUI 12 adds quick access to your audio playback through a nice little squared widget at the top. There’s also now a section dedicated to “Device+”, which makes integration with other EMUI devices seamless.
With Device+, you’ll be able to essentially have a floating window of your phone appear on your tablet or computer. From here, you’ll be able to make phone calls, respond to messages, and more, all from just your MatePad tablet. And if you use Device+ with a compatible Huawei MateBook, you’ll enjoy the ability to transfer and edit files between your phone and laptop. Finally, Device+ also makes it possible to select what device you want to use to watch a movie or video from. Start playing on your phone, and then essentially cast it to your TV or tablet.
Huawei’s also introducing a new “Distributed File System” with EMUI 12. With this feature, you’ll enjoy quick and easy access to all of the files, downloads, and photos from your phone, on your computer. Forget connecting cables between devices, just fire up your File Explorer on the MateBook and access or transfer whatever you need.
MeeTime, as the name suggests, is Huawei’s take on FaceTime, and EMUI 12 introduces a new Video Call Transfer. This allows you to send a call to your TV or computer, and then send it back to your phone if you need to. All the while, still having access to the different in-call controls and features.
Finally, Huawei added a performance and privacy section at the bottom of the EMUI 12 landing page. Performance with this new software is simply being touted as providing a “faster digital life”, while ensuring “operation response and application startup are as smooth as always”. And as for Privacy, you can use your password to unlock your phone from your laptop, or set your smartwatch as a trusted device.
Unfortunately, there’s no mention as to when EMUI 12 will officially land. Nor do we know what devices the software will be coming to. It will be interesting to see how this new version stacks up against HarmonyOS 2.0 and which of these is actually better than the other.