Huawei EMUI 10 Hands-On

Huawei recently announced EMUI 10, the company’s Android 10 Q-based custom operating system for its mobile devices. It succeeds the EMUI 9 and brings a new UX design and smoother performance. Check out our hands-on of the beta version below.

Huawei introduced a new Magazine-Like Aesthetics in EMUI 10. It employs a Headline area, White space, Grids, and Highlights, which is similar to how a magazine would look. The new design language is implemented across the interface, including Contacts, Settings, Calendar, Email, Gallery, etc.

EMUI 10 also features a new color design principle based on the Morandi color palette. The colors were from Italian painter Giorgio Morandi, who is known for his use of a muted color palette for his still-life paintings. In the case of the EMUI 10, it uses low saturation for large blocks of the interface, and high-saturation for small elements. The result is an interface that looks premium and easy to the eyes.

The icons get a makeover as well and use the Golden Ratio for its design to make it more natural and fluid. Apps from third-party applications, on the other hand, will get an Adaptive icon treatment for a uniform look.

The camera interface was also revamped and now takes advantage of the whole screen for a more immersive shooting experience.

They have also adjusted Dark Mode for better legibility and visual comfort. To achieve that, they have tweaked the contrast, hue, and color space. EMUI 10 also can now impose Dark Mode on third-party apps.

The EMUI 10 boasts a smoother animation effect that responds appropriately to the user’s taps, swipes, and gestures to make it feel more natural. For example, icons now exude springiness when pressed, while applications exit to the home screen in the direction of the user’s swipe.

In addition to the new design and effects, EMUI 10 offers features for effortless cross-device experiences. For example, if there is an incoming call, users can choose to answer using a smart speaker. Or if it is a video call, they can answer it through a TV, vehicle-mounted device, or even send a real-time video feed from a drone. A smartphone and computer can also share screens so that data can be exchanged easily through drag-and-drop. Huawei is also implementing system enhancements to improve performance and security.

Huawei is rolling out the EMUI 10 beta on September 9 starting with the P30 series, while the Mate 20 series will receive it later in the same month. You can check out the initial roadmap here.