First HarmonyOS 2.0 beta update released for Honor 20 and Honor 20 Pro smartphones

Post-registration, Huawei has now started sending the first HarmonyOS 2.0 closed beta update for one of the popular smartphone series from the Honor family – Honor 20 via OTA software update.

Moreover, the HarmonyOS 2 beta rollout is limited to Chinese variants but the Huawei will soon release HarmonyOS 2 beta testing for global Huawei and Honor devices.

Before the release of the stable version, the beta release is the initiation of the process that has been required to finalize the new features. In the latest development, the Honor 20 smartphones owners but only beta testers are able to enjoy the HM OS features.

To be mentioned, Honor 20 smartphones were enrolled in the first batch of Honor devices for the HarmonyOS 2.0 beta testing program along with 11 other devices.

Honor 20 adapting models:

• Honor 20 (YAL-AL00)
• Honor 20 (YAL-TL00)
• Honor 20 Pro (YAL-AL10)

HarmonyOS 2.0 beta version:

According to the latest information, Honor 20 and 20 Pro devices begun receiving HarmonyOS 2.0 version 2.0.0.135 upgraded from 11.0.0.147 in China.

HarmonyOS 2.0 beta features:

The first HarmonyOS 2.0 beta brings a number of new features including the new home screen, control panel, service center, HarmonyOS font, smoother sharing, smart home connection, better security, and more.

Let’s take a look over the changelog in detail:

Home-screen

Swiping up on the app icon generates a service widget, which can be resized dragged to a new location, or added to your custom home screen.

Control Panel:

Swiping down from the upper-right edge of the screen takes you to Control Panel. Device Control access has been added to the shortcut switches panel so that you can control all of your devices with the same ease as navigating on your phone.

Service Center:

If you swipe up from the lower left or lower right corner on the screen, the system will lead to the Service Center. This is the place, where all of your collected service widgets are stored and ready to offer access to your desired services.

Smart Folder:

HarmonyOS adds support for app categorization and management. By pressing down on a standard folder displays a large folder, which offers direct access to desired apps.

HarmoynOS Fonts:

HarmonyOS brings support for step-free font Weight adjustments and adjusts the size of the font itself.

Smart Office:

Under this label, HarmonyOS brings you the capability to transfer files on cross-device platforms without requiring a data cable with the power of Huawei Share, which increases the file transfer speed and provides faster and secure file sharing between Huawei smartphones, computers, and tablets.

Smart Home:

Offers nimble, intelligent operations on household appliances, such as quickly accessing the phone’s network from the devices, controlling screenless devices, installation-free apps, and direct service access, which can be accessed by tapping your phone against the selected household appliance, or bringing your phone into the proximity to the appliance.

Seamless Performance:

All operations, including touches and swipes, are smoother and more natural, with images and videos loading more quickly as well.

Task manager:

 Support task status saving infrequently used apps, meaning that even after you’ve switched to another app, you can pick up a previous task right from where you had left off.

MeeTime:

Added support for multi-party calls. Now, both Huawei mobile phones and tablets can freely access audio and video calls

SECURITY:

App Guard:

The App Guard mode is enabled by default, to ensure that all apps subject deep scans for malicious behavior, security vulnerabilities, privacy risks, and other related behaviors while being installed.

This prevents risky apps from being installed while helping safeguard the secure running environment of the entire system.

Collaborative Security:

Add a mobile – Computer collaborative authentication feature and allows you to unlock your phone by entering the phone’s screen unlock password on your Huawei computer when your phone and computer are connected via multi-screen collaboration.

Certifications:

The TEE OS security kernel has obtained the CC EAL5+ certification, indicating the highest security level for a global commercial operating system kernel. The HarmonyOS operating system has obtained CC EAL4+ security certification, China’s highest security certification.

Remember before HarmonyOS 2 closed beta upgrade:

1. Users are compulsory to download and upgrade to the required EMUI version to receive the beta push.
2. During the closed beta test, users are suggested to enable the user experience improvement plan (path: Settings-System and Update-User Experience Improvement Plan) to facilitate the developers to perform system and application analysis, fault diagnosis, etc., and continue to improve the version quality.
3. This upgrade will not delete your data, but it is recommended that users take a backup of all of the important data to a PC or the cloud before the update process begins and confirm that the backup content is complete, otherwise it may cause a risk of data loss.
4. Some third-party apps may not be compatible with HarmonyOS, the app may not work as usual after the update. It is recommended that you try to update the apps on the latest version from AppGallery.
5. After the upgrade process is completed, the phone may heat up, get cold or perform slow charging. This is caused by the self-optimization and adaptation process performed by the system following the upgrade.
6. Following the upgrade, rest assured that it will recover by itself after a period of time. It is recommended that you charge for more than 1 hour in your free time. During the charging period, the system will perform optimization to ensure that the mobile application is quickly adapted.
7. After the update, the home screen may get unorganized, please adjust it manually.
8. This update procedure requires to vacate at least 10GB of free space for the installation package, which will automatically be deleted after the successful installation.

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