Got a Huawei Android phone?

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Discussion

colin79666

Original Poster:

1,808 posts

112 months

Sunday 19th May 2019
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"Alphabet Inc’s Google has suspended business with Huawei that requires the transfer of hardware and software products except those covered by open source licenses, a source close to the matter told Reuters on Sunday, in a blow to the Chinese technology company that the U.S. government has sought to blacklist around the world."

https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-huawei-tech-alph...



This could get interesting as Huawei might just be big enough to shrug this off and do their own thing without Google. That said it didn't go well for Amazon and Samsung never got anything much off the ground when they tried their own OS.

buggalugs

9,243 posts

236 months

Sunday 19th May 2019
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I think they’re big enough to find a way around this, and I think it’s going to make other phone companies around the world nervous of being so reliant on Google / Android also.

ging84

8,827 posts

145 months

Sunday 19th May 2019
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they can just fork android, or use an existing fork

snake_oil

2,039 posts

74 months

Sunday 19th May 2019
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Or by the time it comes round for them to need to do anything Trump will be long gone and this emergency bs will have been revoked.

TotalControl

8,015 posts

197 months

Monday 20th May 2019
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Hopefully it'll get resolved but is an eye opener for other companies.

I'm a fan of Huawei and what they produce as my last 3 phones have been from them but this seems a little much from Google's side to be completely stopping their services to the #2 maker of phones worldwide.

snake_oil

2,039 posts

74 months

Monday 20th May 2019
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I don't think The Donald's executive order gives them much choice. It has far reaching implications which I don't think have been fully thought through.

Gojira

899 posts

122 months

Monday 20th May 2019
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So, we aren't supposed to trust Huawei because they might do what the Chinese government want, but we can trust big American companies?

[facepalm]

anonymous-user

53 months

Monday 20th May 2019
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I wonder what the implications will be, if people’s hard earned purchases are effectively made obsolete within a guarantee period.
Refund ?
Mobile contracts having to give you a supported replacement ?
I guess Huawei purchases will crash now, as intended.
Also Apple sales in China will slow no doubt (where they are made...)
Interesting to see how it pans out..

Slushbox

1,484 posts

104 months

Monday 20th May 2019
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We did some firewall testing on a handful of 'Chinese' android devices a couple of years ago. The Moto phones were sending user 'usage' data back to the USA, as was Google, so nothing unexpected there.

A Lenovo Android tablet was pinging a China Telecom server every thirty seconds, which provoked endless paranoia, so they were immediately banned for corporate use.

Presumably it's OK for a USA company like Google to scan your emails, location and texts and forward the nitty-gritty to the Land Of The Free, but when a 'Chinese' company does it, sanctions abound.

There's a huge stack of Huawei broadband gear in the Openreach cabinet at the end of our street and one of their routers sitting on my desk. Resistance, it seems, is futile.

Don't chuck out the fax machine just yet. :-)

Carl_Manchester

12,102 posts

261 months

Monday 20th May 2019
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[redacted]

tankplanker

2,479 posts

278 months

Monday 20th May 2019
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Looks like the ban only applies to new, unreleased models. Existing models should be safe.

Will get interesting if the other big Chinese manufacters also get banned like OnePlus/Oppo, Honor, etc.

karma mechanic

723 posts

121 months

Monday 20th May 2019
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tankplanker said:
Looks like the ban only applies to new, unreleased models. Existing models should be safe.

Will get interesting if the other big Chinese manufacters also get banned like OnePlus/Oppo, Honor, etc.
Honor is a Huawei brand so presumably subject to the same restrictions.

thetapeworm

11,192 posts

238 months

Monday 20th May 2019
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Huawei watch, two phones and as of this weekend a Huawei 4G router to replace my Virgin broadband, if it all kicks off I'm going to end up living in a cave reading books and using the sun to work out what time of day it is laugh

In reality it seems like posturing to me, Huawei already have ways around much of this if necessary and I'd personally view them a bigger threat if they held on to a market share using 100% Huawei controlled products and components. They're doing well because their products are good, not because they are tricking people into buying things, I think other manufacturers are just scared.

Even without direct support from Huawei people really wanting later versions of Android etc will just be able to install them via other routes, I'm not worried just yet.

Although the other night we were talking in the car about how poor Deliveroo coverage in our area is compared to a recent stay in Edinburgh, on getting home the first thing I saw on Instagram was an advert for Deliveroo being available where I live. Oh and I pointed the phone camera at a cat yesterday and it said "cat" as the photo mode, that's witchcraft!

anonymous-user

53 months

Monday 20th May 2019
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Looks like Huawei have a number of 5g handsets, for the forthcoming 5g rollout
I guess it’s a way to effectively exclude them from the consumer market, as well as trying to block from the core network.
If you was going to sign up for a 5g contract I doubt many would risk it ..

budgie smuggler

5,359 posts

158 months

Monday 20th May 2019
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ging84 said:
they can just fork android, or use an existing fork
It's not about Android itself, anyone can fork that and use it. It's about access to Playstore, YouTube, Gmail, Google Services, etc. Those are not under the same licence as Android itself.

james_tigerwoods

16,287 posts

196 months

Monday 20th May 2019
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I wonder what the realities are here - Huawei are owned by TUs which bow down to the government and no amount of NDA type signing will persuade governments that they're independant. I wonder if Huawei will look at their ownership model and change, but somehow I doubt it...

Or is it protectionism from the US - There's an election coming and Donald Trump is going to want to look strong here...

bonerp

812 posts

238 months

Monday 20th May 2019
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How long before second hand prices tank?

mcflurry

9,079 posts

252 months

Monday 20th May 2019
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bonerp said:
How long before second hand prices tank?
2nd hand Android phone prices weren't that great to start with wink
AFAIK the Samsung S10 had a launch price of £799 but now sells for £499-£550, the Huawei P20 Pro is now £300-£340 on the reseller sites..

buggalugs

9,243 posts

236 months

Monday 20th May 2019
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budgie smuggler said:
ging84 said:
they can just fork android, or use an existing fork
It's not about Android itself, anyone can fork that and use it. It's about access to Playstore, YouTube, Gmail, Google Services, etc. Those are not under the same licence as Android itself.
I would say that Play Store is the main one. But one big point is, they wouldn't have to try to do what Microsoft did and start up a whole new ecosystem. They just need the store infrastructure, then get people to submit their existing apps there, since it's still Android compatibility wise. It could even end up putting Play Store's margins under pressure due to competition.

Targarama

14,635 posts

282 months

Monday 20th May 2019
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buggalugs said:
budgie smuggler said:
ging84 said:
they can just fork android, or use an existing fork
It's not about Android itself, anyone can fork that and use it. It's about access to Playstore, YouTube, Gmail, Google Services, etc. Those are not under the same licence as Android itself.
I would say that Play Store is the main one. But one big point is, they wouldn't have to try to do what Microsoft did and start up a whole new ecosystem. They just need the store infrastructure, then get people to submit their existing apps there, since it's still Android compatibility wise. It could even end up putting Play Store's margins under pressure due to competition.
I guess you could still run the other apps through their respective web pages - Google Maps and Youtube for example. The killer for me would be that Google surely would not allow Waze to continue to run on a Huawei phone.

My Mate 10 Pro works well, I use the 2 SIM facility and find it a great phone. I've had it 18 months and hope to get a another year or two out of it smile