【Foreign Archives】

It took a while,Foreign Archives but Huawei is finally launching products on HarmonyOS. The operating system is replacing Android in Huawei's ecosystem after the company was blacklisted by the U.S. government.

On Wednesday, Huawei launched the Huawei Watch 3, and a tablet called the MatePad Pro, both running on HarmonyOS.

Exactly how different HarmonyOS is from Android is debatable — some reports say it's actually a fork of an older version of Android. The new devices do have a lot of features that should look very familiar to Android users.

The Huawei Watch 3 is a circular smartwatch with a 1.43-inch OLED display with a rotating crown, a clear nod to Apple Watch. Features include GPS, health monitoring, a SpO2 sensor, as well as workout, fitness, and sleep tracking. The Watch 3 has a 3-day battery life, which can be extended to 14 days in ultra-long battery life mode. It comes pre-installed with Huawei's AppGallery, which replaces Google's Play Store as the place to download third-party apps.

Other notable features include eSIM connectivity with 4G support, meaning you can make and receive calls on the watch even when your phone isn't near, and a body temperature sensor.

As is typical of Huawei smartwatches, the Watch 3 comes in several variants. The Huawei Watch 3 Pro offers more battery life (five days in smart mode and 21 days in ultra-long battery life mode), and both the Watch 3 and Watch 3 Pro are available in Classic and Elite Editions, which have slightly different designs. Watch 3 is also available in Active Edition.

Huawei Watch 3 will be available from June 2021, with availability for specific models varying by country or region. There's no word on pricing.

The MatePad Pro is a tablet that comes in two sizes: 10.8 inches and 12.6 inches, and the company also launched a new 11-inch MatePad 11.

The top dog here is the larger MatePad Pro, which has a 12.6-inch OLED display with very thin bezels, a Kirin 9000 chip, and support for Huawei's M-Pencil, which also got an update. It's now officially called "M-Pencil (2nd generation)".

Also of note are a triple rear camera, eight speakers, four mics, and a hefty, 10,050mAh battery with fast wired charging, wireless charging, and reverse wireless charging.

The 10.8-inch version of the MatePad Pro has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 chip, and the MatePad 11 has a Snapdragon 865 chip.

The MatePad Pro devices can be connected to a Windows PC and used as a secondary screen, or used as a drawing board in Mirror mode.

On the software side, these devices will look a lot like the iPad, down to the dock and control center, which are almost ridiculously similar to Apple's iOS. Dig a little deeper, and you'll again find that the underlying HarmonyOS shares a lot of DNA with Android.

Again, pricing and exact availability for the new MatePad Pro or the MatePad wasn't announced.

Finally, Huawei will provide an update to HarmonyOS to nearly 100 Huawei devices in China, including the company's latest phones, such as the Mate 30, P40, and Mate X2 series. There's no word on when the update might be coming to other markets.