Today, Huawei is introducing its next big Android update, EMUI 11. It comes packed with new features, many of which are for the always-on display.
The AOD now has a lot more options, from custom colors to custom background images. It"s inspired by painter Piet Mondrian, using primary colors. Moreover, you can easily have the AOD match the color of your clothing by taking a picture of it, so EMUI will extract color from the photo and create a color palette from it.
Huawei says that it wants to focus on a human-centric design. It has new long-take transition animations, which are similar to what you"d see in cinematography. According to the company"s study, this reduces eye movement and is less distracting.
There are productivity improvements on the way with MeeTime and Multi-Screen Collaboration. With Multi-Screen Collaboration, you can now have up to three windows open. The example that Huawei used is that a student that"s learning from home can use one window to watch the stream, one to take notes, and one to discuss the lecture with classmates.
The feature is also meant to make Huawei"s ecosystem of PCs, tablets, and phones work better together, so another thing that"s new is that you can make a tablet act as an external webcam for a PC. Also, if you"ve got a document saved on your MateBook, you can edit it from your tablet.
Next up are security features. When sharing a photo, you can now get rid of all EXIF data, so people receiving it won"t be able to see who took the photo, where it was taken, and so on. There are also new encrypted memos, which can be locked with a PIN or biometrics.
The EMUI 11 beta program is live starting today. You"ll need a device from the P40, Mate 30, or MatePad Pro series to get it, although the program will be expanded to Honor 30, Honor V30, and Huawei Nova 7.