NEWS: Huawei launches Google-less Mate 30 and Mate 30 Pro phones

Dave X

You would be able to load an alternative mail app (like Aqua) to handle email.

Your major problem would be no Play Store and no Google services, so no banking apps, no GooglePay, possibly no Netflix, SkyGo, PrimeVideo or any other app that uses DRM (Widevine DRM is built into Google services TrustZone).

I have seen an article that states Google is aiming to prevent signing into Google on any uncertified handset, so it’s probably not wise to spend £700  on a phone that could well be blocked out of the whole Google ecosystem completely.

Steven

This has been in place for 18 months. The US sanctions against huawei should not be conflated with this. Different things

Har-One

I agree with you on the first two sentences.

However, the rest of the post is relevant to the same issue, data protection and personal information. All these companies are collecting our personal information and in that regard they are not better than Huawei.

Dave X

Different but connected, the Mate 30 series will be uncertified devices so liable to fall foul of the sign in block as things stand.

hyeongseong

Yep You can't install google play services on it. so you wont able to use any google pay, netflix or any thing that use their drm system or any google single sign in service.

SunnyIntervals

It's not a phone I'd be getting anyway (only a few months into a contract with a P30 Pro), but I really hope all this Trump nonsense gets sorted out so future Huawei phones are able to work with Google; it's a lovely looking phone with some great features.

Bl4ckGryph0n

Where two are playing two are guilty. This isn't just Trump nonsense, Huawei is under scrutiny around the world. There is too much government influence in that company.

LexDiamond

My initial thoughts on this were that past experience shows that the mobile phone sector doesn't really have space for more than two operating systems. Nokia and Blackberry showed us this. But then again, smart mobile tech was in its infancy back then so may be there is space for a third competitor.

So it should be interesting seeing how this pans out. I don't think they will dent iOS but should be interesting to see if this develops as a genuine alternative to Android.

Har-One

I do not think that it is a fair assessment. This not a situation that two are playing. This is more of situation that if I am not a the owner of the ball and control the game I will do everything to stop the game.

Huawei, technically can be forced by the Chinese government to hand over data. Something that can also happen in the west. Of course, it will be more difficult to achieve due to the separation of power, at least one hopes so, but it is something that will be done if need be.

In Huawei's defense, it is important to mention that they have opened themselves to scrutiny. They invited everyone to come and inspect their code. Don't we have clever enough people to find those backdoors? If I am not mistaken, the UK services did that and did not find the ghost.

This has nothing to do with security, it is an economic war. The prove is that Trump suggested an arrangement. If it were a security issue, there was no way on earth that an arrangement could be found.

Dave X

Google have blocked the side loader method of installing Google apps, it seems they've even nuked apps already installed on Huawei Mate 30's at the same time.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Huawei Mate 30 phones apparently lose backdoor access to Google apps                                                                                                        A workaround for the Trump ban has seemingly been eliminated.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                www.cnet.com                                                                               
Though it seems a good thing it's been blocked, the app people were using to install Google was taking over the device as remote administrator and unlocking all permissions in the process.

Full details:
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                The Internet’s horrifying new method for installing Google apps on Huawei phones                                                                                                        Just make a Chinese website your device's remote administrator. It'll be fine!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                arstechnica.com