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vendredi 28 août 2020

Here are the countries using Google and Apple’s COVID-19 Contact Tracing API

SARS-CoV-2, also known colloquially as just the coronavirus, has wreaked havoc across the world. Many countries shut down large parts of the economy in order to contain the spread of the virus. As countries reopen their economies, many health experts fear a “second wave”, ie. resurgence, of COVID-19. To prevent a second wave, public health experts are advocating that nations adopt contact tracing, ie. tracing all the people who have recently come into contact with a person who has tested positive for COVID-19 and then undertaking steps to isolate those individuals. Contact tracing is difficult to implement correctly without violating an individual’s privacy. The threat to personal privacy was severe enough for Google and Apple to collaborate on an API that developers of public health agencies can use to implement app-based contact tracing solutions. This contact tracing API, which Google and Apple call the Exposure Notification API, is designed to respect user privacy and security.

Once a user downloads an app that uses the Exposure Notification API and opts in to contact tracing, their device starts generating “proximity identifiers” that are changed every 15 minutes (on average). Via Bluetooth Low Energy, these “proximity identifiers” are periodically shared with nearby devices whose users have also opted into contact tracing. The proximity identifier is then processed on-device and does not reveal information about a user’s location or other personally identifiable information. Once a user confirms a positive diagnosis of COVID-19, they can share their diagnosis with the app they installed, which will then inform other users who have come into close contact with them in the last 14 days. For more information on how the Exposure Notification API works, we recommend reading our initial coverage.

Google first rolled out the Exposure Notification API for Android devices on May 20, 2020, as part of an update to Google Play Services, but its use is restricted to apps that have been developed by official public health agencies (for obvious reasons). However, neither Google nor Apple has made details public about the list of apps that have been whitelisted for using this API, so unless you’re constantly keeping up with the news, it’s hard to know which countries have adopted the API. We’ve previously covered some of the countries that have adopted the Exposure Notification API when we talked about the various open-source contact tracing projects that are out there. In this article, we have compiled a list of official contact tracing apps from designated health agencies from various countries that are using Google and Apple’s Exposure Notification API. Our list contains COVID-19 contact tracing apps that have been released or are currently in development.

We discovered Google’s hidden whitelist of application package names for the API. Subsequently, these package names were traced back to apps, their listing, and the countries they belong to. The information is compiled below in a table for easy reference. We have also added Google Play Store and Apple App Store links, if the app has been publicly released, as well as the source code and the official website link, wherever available. We will update the following tables as more countries/regions adopt the API.

Table Changelogs

  • June 26, 2020
    • Added: Brazil, Ghana, Ecuador, Spain, Estonia, Egypt, Portugal, Croatia, MIT’s PathCheck SafePlaces
    • Package names updated: Canada, Alabama
  • June 29, 2020
    • Updated Ireland’s listing to include the source code
    • Added the name and package name of Spain’s app.
    • Google has updated the package name “eg.nc.moh.bruhealthtrace” to “egnc.moh.bruhealthtrace.” This matches the “BruHealth” contact tracing app from the government of “Brunei.” We have updated the table accordingly.
  • June 30, 2020
    • Added Spain’s Radar COVID app
  • July 1, 2020
    • Fixed Japan’s listing to reflect that COCOA – COVID-19 Contact App has already been released.
    • Added a separate table for open contact tracing implementations based on Google and Apple’s Exposure Notification API. PathCheck SafePlaces was moved to this table and COVID Shield and Common Circle were added.
  • July 6, 2020
    • Ireland’s COVID Tracker app has been released on Google Play and the Apple App Store, so the listing in the table has been updated with links to reflect that.
  • July 8, 2020
    • Added: North Ireland, the Netherlands (second app), Finland, and MITRE’s COVID Aware app
  • July 15, 2020
    • Added: Arizona, CV Key
    • Updated: New Canadian app, package names for UK apps, Mexican app, updated Ghana –> Gibraltar
  • July 22, 2020
    • Added: Nevada (?) pending verification
  • August 5, 2020
    • Added: Belgium (In-Development), New York (In-Development)
    • Updated: Virginia (Released), North Dakota (In-Development), Canada (Released), Croatia (Released), Ecuador (Released), Northern Ireland (Released)
  • August 10, 2020
    • Added: Slovenia, Arizona, South Africa (?) pending verification
    • Re-verified that released apps are using COVID-19 ENS.
  • August 13, 2020
    • Updated: United Kingdom (Released)
  • August 24, 2020
    • Added: Czech Republic (In-Development), Michigan (In-Development), North Carolina (In-Development), Pennsylvania (In-Development), Scotland (In-Development), Kazakhstan (In-Development)
    • Updated: Spain (now using ENS), Estonia (Released), Netherlands (Released), Slovenia (Released), Alabama (Released), Nevada (Released), North Dakota & Wyoming (Released)
  • August 28, 2020
    • Added: Guam (Released)
    • Updated: Portugal (Released), South Africa (Released)

Regions with COVID-19 contact tracing apps based on the Exposure Notifications System (ENS)

Region App Name Android Package Name Status Useful Links
Australia COVIDTrace au.gov.dta.covidtrace In-Development –
Austria Stopp Corona at.roteskreuz.stopcorona Released
Belgium – be.sciensano.coronalert In-Development –
Brazil Coronavirus – SUS br.gov.datasus.guardioes Released
Brunei BruHealth egnc.moh.bruhealthtrace Testing ENS
Canada COVID Alert ca.gc.hcsc.canada.stopcovid Released
Croatia Stop COVID-19 hr.miz.evidencijakontakata Released
Czech Republic eRouška cz.covid19cz.erouska.dev In-Development
Denmark Smittestop com.netcompany.smittestop_exposure_notification Released
Ecuador ASI ec.gob.asi.android Released
Estonia Hoia ee.tehik.hoia Released
Finland Koronavilkku fi.thl.koronahaavi In-Development –
Germany Corona-Warn-App de.rki.coronawarnapp Released
Gibraltar Beat Covid Gibraltar com.gha.covid.tracker Released
Guam Guam Covid Alert org.pathcheck.guam.bt Released
Ireland Covid Tracker com.covidtracker.hse Released
Italy Immuni it.ministerodellasalute.immuni Released
Japan COCOA – COVID-19 Contact App jp.go.mhlw.covid19radar Released
Kazakhstan eGov bizbirgemiz kz.nitec.bizbirgemiz In-Development
Kenya – ke.go.health_togethertrace In-Development –
Latvia Apturi Covid Latvia lv.spkc.gov.apturicovid Released
Malta? – mt.gov.dp3t In-Development –
Mexico COVID-19MX mx.gob.www Testing ENS
Netherlands CoronaMelder nl.rijksoverheid.en Released
Northern Ireland StopCOVID NI net.hscni.covidtracker Released
Philippines StaySafe PH ph.staysafe.mobileapp Testing ENS
Poland ProteGO Safe pl.gov.mc.protegosafe Released
Portugal STAYAWAY COVID fct.inesctec.stayaway Released
Saudi Arabia Tabaud sa.gov.nic.tabaud Released
Scotland – gov.scot.covidtracker In-Development –
Slovenia OstaniZdrav si.gov.ostanizdrav Released
South Africa COVIDConnect za.gov.health.covidconnect Released
Spain Radar COVID es.gob.radarcovid Released
Switzerland SwissCovid ch.admin.bag.dp3t Released
United Kingdom NHS COVID-19 uk.nhs.covid19.production Released
Uruguay Coronavirus UY uy.gub.salud.plancovid19uy Released
USA – Alabama GuideSafe gov.adph.exposurenotifications Released
USA – Arizona Covid Watch gov.azdhs.covidwatch.android Released
USA – Michigan – gov.michigan.MiCovidExposure In-Development –
USA – Nevada Covid Trace Nevada gov.nv.dhhs.en Released
USA – New York – gov.ny.health.proximity In-Development –
USA – North Carolina – gov.nc.dhhs.exposurenotification In-Development –
USA – Pennsylvania – gov.pa.covidtracker In-Development –
USA – North Dakota & Wyoming Care19 Alert com.proudcrowd.exposure Released
USA – South Carolina – – In-Development –
USA – Virginia COVIDWise gov.vdh.exposurenotification Released

Note: A ? next to the region means we are unsure which region this app is being developed for.

Open COVID-19 contact tracing implementations based on the Exposure Notification API

Parties App Name Android Package Name Status Useful Links
CVKey Project CVKey org.cvkey.cvkey Testing ENS
MIT PathCheck SafePlaces org.pathcheck.covidsafepathsbt.mn Testing ENS
MITRE Corporation COVID Aware org.mitre.covidaware In-Development
Shopify Volunteers COVID Shield app.covidshield In-Development
University of Washington School of Medicine Common Circle edu.uw.commoncircle.research

edu.uw.commoncircle.exposures

 In-Development

In-Development

–

Thanks to PNF Software for providing us a license to use JEB Decompiler, a professional-grade reverse engineering tool for Android applications.

The post Here are the countries using Google and Apple’s COVID-19 Contact Tracing API appeared first on xda-developers.



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Google deprecates its App Preview Messaging feature occasionally used by Photos and Duo

When Google introduced Allo in 2016, the company also detailed a feature for developers of messaging apps known as App Preview Messaging. This feature was aimed at allowing users to send a message from their favorite messaging app to any contact in their phonebook (provided both the sender and the recipient are using an Android device), even if the recipient of the message doesn’t have the app installed. So, say you try starting a Duo video chat with a friend. If your friend doesn’t have Duo installed on their Android phone, they’d get a notification prompting them to download it thanks to App Preview Messaging. The feature is even set up to give users the ability to reply to the message without installing the app! Google employed this feature in Allo (which no longer exists), Duo, and Photos to get people to sign up for these services.

Unfortunately, the feature seems to have fallen by the wayside, never graduating from early access despite Google’s promises to open it up. It’s unclear if any non-Google app ever used the feature in the first place. Regardless, Google recently updated the developer documentation for App Preview Messaging to announce that the early access program has ended and the feature is being deprecated (via AndroidPolice). The page now says that, “as of Q3 2020, this program is complete, and users can no longer send messages with App Preview Messaging.”

Users have always been able to turn off App Preview Messaging in Settings > Google > Data & messaging or block these notifications entirely. Now that the early access period is complete, though, these user settings will be removed from Google Play Services. Google recommends developers turn to Business Messages as an alternative.

The post Google deprecates its App Preview Messaging feature occasionally used by Photos and Duo appeared first on xda-developers.



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Zepp, formerly Amazfit, launches the Zepp E smartwatches in the US and UK

Huami-owned Amazfit is a well-known maker of smart wearable accessories, but the company recently decided to rebrand itself as Zepp. Besides a new name and logo, nothing is changing for existing owners of Amazfit wearables. Moving forward, though, any future products the company launches will be under the Zepp brand. The first wearables under the new brand are the Zepp E Square and Zepp E Circle. These new smartwatches are billed as complete wellness devices, offering sleep tracking, heart rate monitoring, and bloody-oxygen saturation monitoring (with an SpO2 sensor).


Zepp E comes in two different designs: Zepp E Circle and Zepp E Square. They’re essentially the same devices but they feature slightly different screen sizes and shapes. The Circle features a 1.28″ AMOLED display at 416×416 resolution while the Square features a larger 1.65″ AMOLED display at 348×442 resolution. Both designs are made on stainless steel but come with different band colors and materials. While both the Circle and Square offer a leather band in “Polar Night Black” or “Moon Grey” and a fluoroelastomer band in “Onyx Black”, the Square gets a unique “Deep Sea Blue” leather band, “Pebble Grey” fluoroelastomer band, and “Metallic Black Special Edition” while the Circle gets its own unique “Ice Blue” fluoroelastomer band and “Champagne Gold Special Edition.”

One of Zepp E’s headlining features is the ability to track a wearer’s sleep stages, including light sleep, deep sleep, Rapid Eye Movement (REM), and awake time. The devices can even monitor your naps. Zepp then provides users with a sleep score, which users can use to take actionable steps to improve their sleep quality.

Both smartwatches also come equipped with a heart-rate sensor, which is common among today’s biggest wearables. However, Zepp is trying to differentiate its devices by using the heart-rate sensor to provide wearers with information about stress. The company said this stress-monitoring feature will come in a future OTA upgrade.

The Zepp E series also features 11 sports modes, including walking, indoor and outdoor running, cycling, swimming, climbing, and more. The smartwatches are graded for up to 5 ATM of water resistance but don’t have GPS for location tracking.

Even with all the different sports modes and tracking abilities, Zepp promises up to 7 days of typical battery life with the Zepp E thanks to a 188mAh battery. They can last a bit longer (up to 15 days) with the basic watch mode, though. The smartwatches take about 2 hours to fully charge and are charged by connecting to the 2 Pin Pogo Pin connector on the magnetic charging base.  This kind of battery life isn’t typical of Wear OS smartwatches, so you shouldn’t be surprised to hear that the Zepp E smartwatches run Zepp’s proprietary smartwatch OS. The OS offers five watch faces built-in, though more can be downloaded from the Zepp app.

Zepp (formerly Amazfit) (Free, Google Play) →

There are a lot of wearables on the market, but the Zepp E series seem like solid options from a reputable company. It’s also nice that it comes in both square and circle designs, letting consumers choose their preferred style. Consumers can purchase the Zepp E series for $249 right now in the U.S. If you’re in the UK, the wearables will retail for £209 starting September 1.

Pre-order the Zepp E: U.S. ||| U.K.

Zepp E specs

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T-Mobile announces the $399 REVVL 5G smartphone alongside the REVVL 4 and 4+

T-Mobile yesterday unveiled a brand new lineup of affordable REVVL smartphones, including the REVVL 5G, the REVVL 4, and the REVVL 4+.

With many of today’s top 5G-equipped Android devices retailing for $999 or more, T-Mobile wants to offer something more accessible, so it’s offering the REVVL 5G for just $200 after 24 monthly bill credits if you switch or add a line. If you prefer, you can buy the device outright for just $399, which is comparable in price to some of today’s top mid-range handsets, including the Google Pixel 4a.

As for the REVVL 5G’s specs, it’s a decidedly mid-range affair:

REVVL 5G

  • Camera: 48MP (main) + 8 MP (Super Wide) + 5MP (Macros) RFC with 16MP FFC
  • Battery: 4500 mAh
  • Color: Nebula Black
  • OS: Android 10
  • Screen: 6.53” 19:5:9 FHD+ Display
  • RAM: 6GB
  • ROM: 128GB
  • Bands: 5G n71/n2/n66/n41/n25 LTE 2/4/66/25/26/41
  • Security: Face unlock and fingerprint sensor
  • Dimensions: 6.51” X 3” X 0.37”
  • Chipset: Qualcomm SD765
  • Processor: Octa Core (6*1.8GHz, 1*2.2GHz, 1*2.4 GHz)

That’s not a bad lineup of specs for a mid-range 5G device, especially one as affordable as this. But there are concerns about how often the REVVL 5G will be updated. How quickly will it get Android 11 when the software is released this fall? How often will it get security updates?

Either way, T-Mobile claims it offers the most coverage of 5G — more than AT&T and Verizon combined — making the REVVL 5G a great prospect for those curious about what 5G is all about. With a 4,500mAh battery, 6.53-inch FHD+ display, and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 765 processor, the REVVL 5G should be more than capable of handling everyday tasks.

T-Mobile REVVL 5G

In addition to the REVVL 5G, T-Mobile also unveiled the REVVL 4 ($120) and REVVL 4+ ($192), a pair of affordable handsets without 5G support. Here are their specs:

REVVL 4+

  • Camera: 16MP + 5MP RFC with 16MP FFC
  • Battery: 4000 mAh
  • Color: Steel Gray
  • OS: Android 10
  • Screen: 6.52” 18:9 HD+ Display
  • RAM: 4GB
  • ROM: 64GB
  • Bands: 4G 2/4/5/12/25/26/41/66/71
  • Security: Face unlock and fingerprint sensor
  • Dimensions: 6.51” X 2.96” X 0.32”
  • Chipset: Qualcomm SD665
  • Processor: 1.8 GHz Octa-core

REVVL4

  • Camera: 13MP RFC with 5MP FFC
  • Battery: 3500 mAh
  • Color: Graphite
  • OS: Android 10
  • Screen: 6.22” 19:9 HD+ Display
  • RAM: 2GB
  • ROM: 32GB
  • Bands: 4G 2/4/5/7/12/25/26/41/66/71
  • Security: Face unlock and fingerprint sensor
  • Dimensions: 6.26” X 2.99” X 0.32”
  • Chipset: MediaTek MT6761V/CA
  • Processor: 2.0 GHz Quad-core

T-Mobile’s new REVVL line, including the REVVL 5G, will be available beginning September 4. T-Mobile’s Desmond Smith has already unboxed all 3 devices on T-Mobile’s YouTube channel, giving us our first look at the 3 devices. AndroidPolice reports that the IMEI shown on the REVVL 4 identifies it as the TCL 500W while the REVVL 4+ is identified as the TCL 5062W. The former is similar to the Alcatel A2X on TracFone’s Total Wireless while the latter is similar to the TCL 10L minus two cameras. The REVVL 5G is the odd one out, though it shares some similarities to the TCL 10 5G.

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Source: The LG Wing will cost around $1,000 when it launches in the U.S. this fall

Do a Google search for “smartphones are boring” and you’ll find a handful of articles lamenting the state of smartphone design. 2020 has upended our expectations of what’s normal, though, with smartphone makers taking advantage of advancements in display tech to experiment with new form factors and designs. The industry seems to be trending toward smartphones with either under-display camera or foldable display tech, but Korean tech giant LG is experimenting with its own unique smartphone design. The company is rumored to be working on a smartphone called the “LG Wing,” an aptly named dual display smartphone with a secondary display that swivels horizontally behind the main display. Many in the media assumed that such an experimental smartphone will only launch in LG’s home market of South Korea, but we have now learned that LG plans to launch the Wing in the United States.

A source close to LG tells me that the LG Wing will launch in the U.S. this fall for around $1,000. That’s significantly cheaper than suggested by a recent report making the rounds from South Korean publication Herald Corp, which pegged the LG Wing at a price as high as ₩1,900,000, or ~$1,607 when converted to USD. Keep in mind that smartphone prices can’t be cleanly converted between markets because of differences in taxes, distribution, local market needs, carrier deals, etc. For example, here is a table comparing the starting prices of the LG Velvet, LG G8 ThinQ, LG V50 ThinQ, and Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra in Korea versus the starting prices of these same phones in the United States.

Smartphone Starting Price in Korea/Converted to USD Starting Price (Actual) in USA
LG Velvet ₩899,800 / ~$761 $599
LG G8 ThinQ ₩897,600 / ~ $759 $849
LG V50 ThinQ ₩1,199,000 / ~ $1,015 $999
Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra ₩1,450,000 / ~ $1,227 $1,299

As you can see, some of the U.S. models ended up being cheaper than their South Korean counterparts, but the opposite has also been true in some cases. The prices in South Korea include the VAT rate of 10%, and I’m told by some South Koreans that people in the country typically buy phones from carriers on contracts rather than buying them outright, much like in the United States. That’s why I recommend against converting South Korean launch pricing to U.S. launch pricing since the converted prices won’t always end up being accurate.

LG Wing Forums

LG Wing – Design, Specifications, Features

Our source can also confirm that the device that’s shown in videos published by AndroidAuthority is indeed the LG Wing. The publication earlier this week shared two videos recorded in a moving vehicle. The first video shared by AndroidAuthority shows the LG Wing’s two displays being used for navigation and controlling music playback; in that video, the primary display is shown in portrait orientation while the secondary display is in landscape orientation behind the primary one. The second video AndroidAuthority shared earlier today shows a passenger playing a game on the main display while the secondary display shows what appears to be an in-game map; in that video, the passenger is holding the LG Wing with the secondary display on top.


These videos give us brief glimpses at the potential utility of the LG Wing’s dual screen design, though they, unfortunately, don’t show the actual swiveling mechanism in action. Regardless, we can piece together an understanding of what LG is trying to achieve with the Wing. The company is no stranger to dual screen phones—they offer a Dual Screen attachment for the V50, G8X, V60, and Velvet that receives input via signals sent over what’s essentially mmWave. LG’s Dual Screen attachment is a great way to expand the viewing area, and hence, the multitasking capability. However, because it’s an attachment, it becomes yet another thing that you have to carry around in your pocket or bag. Having a secondary display that’s always there when you need it would be much more convenient, though we’ll have to wait and see how LG engineered the Wing to determine how practical it actually is. How does the secondary display get stowed away, if at all? How thick is the phone with this display behind it? How does Android treat this display, and what, if anything, do app developers need to do to support it? These are all questions that can only be answered once we see more of the LG Wing, either from official sources or from leaks.

Fortunately, we won’t have to wait long to find out. Our source told us that the LG Wing is launching in the U.S. this fall, so we’ll only have to wait for up to 3 months before we see an announcement. When it lands in the U.S., it’ll cost around $1,000. We’ve seen evidence it’ll be supported by Verizon, but our source could not confirm this.

Our source also could not confirm any specifications, but earlier rumors suggest the LG Wing will fall in line with LG’s new “mass premium” market strategy. ETNews reports that the device will feature a 6.8-inch main display, a 4-inch secondary display, a triple camera setup comprised of a 64MP primary image sensor, and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 700 series processor with 5G capability, which means we can expect the Snapdragon 765, the Snapdragon 765G, or the Snapdragon 768G. Multiple Geekbench listings for a device with model name “LGE LM-F100N” and code-name “winglm” suggest the device will feature the Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G in particular as the GPU is listed as the Adreno 620. Skipping the Snapdragon 865 would make sense if LG wants to keep the pricing down as they did for the LG Velvet.

I’m personally excited to see a smartphone company break the mold once again. My initial reaction to the LG Wing was to call it “crazy” and “weird”, but I’ll reserve final judgment until we see the phone in action.

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Huawei Watch GT 2e Review – A great fitness tracking smartwatch that needs more apps

Huawei made the switch from Google’s Wear OS to its own LiteOS back when the company launched the Huawei Watch GT towards the end of 2018. That came as a surprise as the first two Huawei smartwatches had greatly contributed to the Android Wear/Wear OS ecosystem. The original Huawei Watch especially is still hailed as one of the best Android-based smartwatches to have ever come out, despite being 5 years old now. I reviewed the Honor Magic Watch 2 with LiteOS back in December and I found the software was holding back the great hardware. I’ve been using the newer Huawei Watch GT 2e more recently, and I’ve largely come to the same conclusion.

XDA Best Award

The Huawei Watch GT 2e packs a 1.39-inch, 454 x 454 full-color AMOLED display, the Kirin A1 chipset, 4GB of storage, and a 455 mAh battery for up to two weeks of battery life on a single charge. It boasts fitness and health monitoring features like 85 custom workout modes, 15 professional workout modes, GPS, sleep tracking, Sp02 tracking, automatic workout detection, and stress monitoring. The smartwatch also supports local music playback, real-time notifications from your phone, and remote shutter for Huawei and Honor devices running EMUI 10.1 and above.

Clearly, the Huawei Watch GT 2e packs great hardware for a smartwatch, but LiteOS limits how useful it can be beyond health monitoring and fitness tracking. Here’s how.

About this review: I received the Huawei Watch GT 2e for review from Huawei UK and have used it for about 2 months. Huawei did not have any input into the content of this review.

Huawei Watch GT 2e Design

Huawei Watch GT 2e lava red strap

The Huawei Watch GT 2e that we received is the Lava Red variant. The straps are bright red and might actually induce trypophobia as a few people I showed it to disliked the strap design. Thankfully, I had the Honor Magic Watch 2 for review last year, and the genuine leather straps from that device fit in the Huawei Watch GT 2e. I’ve been rocking these genuine leather straps for a couple of weeks after getting the device. The red straps are certainly comfortable, but I really didn’t like how they looked.

Aside from that, the Huawei Watch GT 2e features a pretty basic design that from a distance looks exactly like a normal watch. On the right side of the device are two buttons—the top one accesses the app list while the bottom one can be configured as a shortcut for any of these apps. There’s nothing really special or unique about the Huawei Watch GT 2e, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Huawei Watch GT 2e buttons

On the underside of the watch are the heart rate and SpO2 sensors, alongside the charging pins. The Huawei Watch GT 2e sits in a basic magnetic charging cradle. Overall, it’s not the most original design, but watch designs are inherently subjective and personal. I don’t like the Lava Red straps, but you might.

Charging and battery life

The Huawei Watch GT 2e has a rather generous 2-week battery life, which makes it convenient to use constantly. If you turn on the always-on display (like I have here) that’ll be cut down to about 7 days of battery life, which is still very good. Huawei put a huge focus on battery life, and the Watch GT 2e charges rather quickly in the included magnetic charging cradle. The charging cradle is powered via USB-C, and the watch simply snaps into it when you hold it close. It can be a little bit finicky to get right at times, but for the most part, it works fine and will start charging instantly. Overall I have no complaints about the battery life, and even when GPS tracking is on, it doesn’t drain too much.

LiteOS

Sadly, though, LiteOS is still LiteOS. You don’t get a whole lot of apps to choose from, and you’re restricted to the Huawei-made watch faces that get added over time to the Huawei Health app. I don’t really like a lot of them, though I’ve managed to settle on one. To be honest, if I could use the always-on display one all of the time, I’d be happy. In China, it’s possible to add custom watch faces to your device, though I wasn’t able to find a way to do this on international variants without a Chinese Huawei Health ID.

LiteOS is Huawei and Honor’s alternative to Wear OS, which is still alive even today despite all its faults. LiteOS is even more locked down than Wear OS as you’re limited to what comes pre-installed on the smartwatch. My issues with LiteOS are the same ones I had with the Honor Magic Watch 2. For example, why is the always-on watch face different from the one that I select and set for day-to-day usage? Why don’t the watch faces have a built-in AMOLED mode specific to that watch face? Just like on the Honor Magic Watch 2, the transition between the two looks somewhat clunky.

Huawei Watch GT 2e watch face

That’s without getting into the lack of apps, which I sorely miss from Wear OS. I can’t really control my music playback, nor can I even respond to messages (even with pre-defined responses). On Wear OS, you can control Spotify even down to choosing playlists, and typing on the original Huawei Watch was surprisingly viable in a pinch, which I made use of it quite a lot. Even my smartphone’s train tracking app has a companion Wear OS app that I can use to plug in my local station to see the times of the next arriving and departing trains. Shazam also has a Wear OS app! There’s so much that I miss when using LiteOS, and it feels like its potential is extremely limited as a result.

However, LiteOS has a number of useful and cool features, even if a lot of them I don’t end up getting to use. You can raise to wake the smartwatch to view a notification, for example. These notifications can also be configured on a per-app basis, and raising your wrist will show you the most recent notification. The one major improvement I’ve noticed since the last time I’ve used LiteOS, though, is how much smoother it feels on the Huawei Watch GT 2e. There are no real slowdowns, apps launch quickly, and there’s no noticeable lag. Overall, for what it is, LiteOS is no longer frustrating to use and navigate. Big improvement in that department!

Huawei Wear (Free, Google Play) →

Workout mode

The Huawei Watch GT 2e is primarily aimed at those looking for a fitness tracking smartwatch. It’s filled with various workout features and packs a GPS tracker for outdoor usage. One aspect that I quite liked is that the watch can automatically detect certain workouts. When walking outside, I’ve had it pop-up and ask if I’m walking indoors or outdoors. If I select outdoors, it will then start tracking my location. Pretty neat!

Huawei Watch GT 2e automatic workout detection

The data you can view for your workouts is displayed in the Huawei Health app in great detail. GPS tracking seems really accurate on the watch, which I compared against my phone. You can also copy music to your watch in MP3 format, connect a pair of earphones to it, and then listen to your music while you workout. While I can understand the appeal for truly offline and remote use, I think adding support for popular music streaming apps would make more sense. I’d rather save and/or control my music from Spotify as I don’t listen to music from MP3 files anymore, and I haven’t in years. There are loads of other workouts supported by the Huawei Watch GT 2e—far too many to list. From running to triathlons to belly dancing to Taekwondo… it really does seem to have everything. It’ll cover basically anything you can think of when it comes to workouts, so I wouldn’t worry about your sport of choice not being trackable on the Watch GT 2e.

Huawei Health (Free, Google Play) →

Heart rate monitoring

Health tracking is the main focus of the Huawei Watch GT 2e, so I’d hope that the heart-rate monitoring is active. While I don’t have any medical tools to confirm the data, heart rate monitoring seems to be accurate. The results were corroborated by my Honor Band 5, which also matched the results from my Fitbit Inspire HR and Xiaomi Mi Band 4. It tracks your heart-rate 24/7, and the layout of the app is easy to understand. There’s no real ambiguity across any of this data, and it’s easy to know where you’re looking.

Stress monitor

The Huawei Watch GT 2e has a stress monitor, just like the Honor Magic Watch 2, and I still don’t see its utility. I have been quite stressed out recently, yet the watch measures generally within the region of “10-20” consistently. Anything below 29 is considered “relaxed” while a high of 54 is comfortably in the “normal” stage. When writing the Honor Magic Watch 2 review, it said that my stress level had spiked to 57, well within the normal range. Right before an exam that I had that morning, I was sitting at a consistent stress level of 15 for several hours. The stress monitor doesn’t seem to actually match how I perceive my own level of stress.

Sleep tracking

However, the sleep tracker certainly does work. In fact, it works extremely well and picks up on the odd nap or two that I’ve needed in the past couple of months that I’ve used the watch. I only have one minor criticism of it, though, and it actually relates to taking naps. If you wake up in the morning and then go back to sleep, it identifies any subsequent sleep as naps and thus doesn’t analyze any in-depth data. Furthermore, the watch nags at you in the sleep summary and may tell you that you napped for too long. I don’t understand why, if I’ve woken up from sleep and then fallen back asleep within 5 minutes, it doesn’t just continue counting it as the same cycle. It doesn’t seem to do this in the middle of the night, though, as I’ve only had this happen after 8 am.

Overall, though, it seems to have an incredibly accurate sleep tracker, and it’s really easy to digest the data that it records.

Other features

The Huawei Watch GT 2e has other features too, including breathing exercises, a compass, and a weather app. The weather app pulls in information based on your current location, while the compass requires calibrating it first. I didn’t have an actual compass on me to compare the output, but it did reasonably match what my phone showed. The breathing exercises are exactly as they sound, and can be used to help with anxiety with a small animation that shows on the display that you can focus on. Finally, there’s also a “Find my phone” feature, which does exactly what it says. Selecting it will make your phone begin to shout loudly “I’m heeeere” and ring until you pick it up or cancel it from your watch.

Conclusion

The Huawei Watch GT 2e is a pretty great smartwatch, and I enjoyed using it. Sadly, I feel that LiteOS is still too limiting. If fitness and health are your prerogatives, then the Huawei Watch GT 2e is definitely worth taking a look at. It’s packed to the brim with health-related features, and the sleep tracking is very accurate as well. There are so many fitness tracking modes, too, that I imagine it’s hard to find a competitor actually capable of so much. I just really wish that I could choose more watch faces and have access to more apps on it. It doesn’t even have NFC on the global model, so you can’t use it for contactless payments.

Huawei’s Watch GT 2e feels like it’s trying to be both a smartwatch and a fitness tracker, despite lacking somewhat in the former. It excels when it comes to fitness, and it definitely smokes the likes of Fitbit in terms of value for money. It’s not the cheapest fitness tracker out there, but it’s also not the most expensive smartwatch. If the Watch GT 2e’s sports and health features appeal to you and you’re interested in picking one up, you can find one for between €120-€200 depending on the retailer, so it’s definitely not the most expensive smartwatch out there.

    Huawei Watch GT2e
    The Huawei Watch GT2e is a pretty great smartwatch, and despite some limitations to the smartwatch functionality in LiteOS, it remains one of the best fitness trackers you can buy. It excels when it comes to fitness, and it definitely smokes the likes of Fitbit in terms of value for money. It's not the cheapest fitness trackerout there, but it's also not the most expensive smartwatch.

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The Unity Distribution Portal helps developers launch Android games on alternative app stores

While the Google Play Store is the biggest mobile game market on Android, there are several other third-party app stores where developers can publish their games. By publishing their games on these third-party app stores, developers can multiply their revenue manyfold but every app store has its own set of requirements, and publishing on multiple platforms could prove to be a daunting task for developers with small teams. This is where the Unity Distribution Portal comes in.

In case you’re an Android game developer, the Unity Distribution Portal (UDP) can help you easily publish your games on alternative app stores with just one build managed from a single dashboard. UDP is capable of automatically creating builds with all required SDKs in the background for each alternative app store, which can help you save a substantial amount of time while publishing to multiple app stores. The portal is designed in a way that even a solo developer can use it to share their game on several app distribution platforms.

To get started, all you need to do is create a developer’s account on each target app store where you want to publish your game. Then you can create a listing for your game, add the screenshots/description, and add your game binary. UDP will then create store-specific builds for your game and help you push them to each individual store. You get the option to choose which app stores you wish to publish on and the best part is that it’s completely free to use. In case you have any further queries, you can check out the tutorial linked above to start distributing your games with UDP.

Unity Distribution Portal supported app stores

UDP works closely with several app stores, including Samsung Galaxy Store, Huawei AppGallery, Xiaomi GetApps, QooApp, Uptodown, SHAREit, ONE store, TPAY Mobile, and more to help you easily distribute your games on multiple platforms. The portal can help you reach users in 188 countries and it keeps adding support for new stores to expand your reach even further. Over 400 Android game development studios already use UDP to boost their sales and you can now join this list by following the link below. You can learn about all the participant stores by following this link and if you have any feedback, you can submit it on the UDP forum.

Try the Unity Distribution Portal

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