Huawei Mate30 Promotes Life without Google
Huawei has announced a new smart phone, the Mate30 Pro and it is an absolutely killer handset.
Take everything you want a phone to do, Mate30 Pro will do it. Amazing Camera with four lenses, long life battery, Bright and Clear screen running edge to edge on the handset, Wireless charging, the list goes on. But what is not on the list is Google apps.
The Mate30 Pro will not be certified with Google Mobile Services. Donald Trump, President of the USA has banned American companies from doing business with Huawei, so amongst other things, that means no access to Google Apps or the Google Ecosystem.
At present out of about 300 million shipped devices, Huawei sold 75 million of them outside China. Inside China, Google does not work without a trip down the vpn lane. Trialing multiple vpns is not something the Chinese really bother with (I was told this by a Chinese guy on my last trip) and so no google to the 225 million customers of Huawei in China will not be a big deal.
But in Europe where Google is well entrenched into the every digital lives of the people, it’s a big deal. Just look at the almost annual billion dollar fines the EU imposes on Google for the misadventure of their software business practices, Google is big in Europe. Google is big in Australia too, but we are a mere dot in Huawei’s global business.
So what does a life without Google look like? No Google Maps, No Youtube, No access to the Google PlayStore. To access content for download the Mate30 Pro will only be able to download apps from the Huawei ‘AppGallery’. I have been using a Huawei P30 Pro as an everyday device since March and it’s a sensational handset too. But I can count the amount of times I have used the Huawei AppGallery on one hand, and of those times was when I was reviewing the handset.
As soon as I heard there was no PlayStore in the Mate30 Pro, I head to the AppGallery and begun downloading alternative apps to the ones provided by Google. ‘PlayTube’ instead of Youtube, ‘GPS’ instead of maps. In the 24 hours since I have not used either of the Google Apps and not needed to. That’s far from a review, so I will give it a solid week and publish my thoughts.
As long as we have had Smart Phones, we have had google services on them. Even with the first iPhones.
Customers outside China will need to make a choice. Do you want a handset with hardware that throws shade on all the competition, but no Google or do you want a handset that is almost as good as the Mate30 Pro, but includes Google apps and services.
