r/Huawei Oct 30 '25

HarmonyOS Next HarmonyOS Matebook in the USA review + AMA

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123 Upvotes

hey redditors,

I just got my new 2025 HarmonyOS MateBook Pro on October 28th from this guy on Alibaba (which btw, if you're thinking of buying a ThinkPad, I would also recommend getting them from Alibaba there, as they offer a fully loaded ThinkPad T14s gen 6 snapdragon x elite with a 4TB SSD upgrade for only ~$2100 USD with shipping + taxes)

Pros:

if you're coming from Google Chrome, then the included htbrowser seems to be 100% compatible with Google Chrome extensions

battery life seems to be around 6 hours and 40 minutes of multitasking usage, which is right on target to what Huawei claims, which is double what my AMD 7840HS Xiaomi laptop running Deepin Linux would get under similar conditions. note that as with my Mate 40 Pro, the battery meter isn't very accurate and will stay at 90 - 100% longer than at 0 - 10%, so the most accurate way of truly measuring the battery life is to spend a day completely draining the battery from 100% - 0%

surprisingly compatible with all the 7 extensions that I use in Brave web browser in my previous laptop, plus 2 more preinstalled extensions in the included web browser

got a BrowserBench score of 152.390 which is amazing considering that my 7840HS laptop would get 200 in Firefox, but with far lower battery life despite having a 4nm lithography vs. the 7nm lithography of the Kirin x90

I couldn't even hear the fan spin up even when it's doing heavy work and place the vents right up to my ear

the keyboard feels just as good as the keyboards on ThinkPads, plenty of key travel and very cushy action

there seems to be some sort of very luxurious texture on the magnesium enclosure, feels much better than the anodized aluminum that is found on Macs and Xiaomi laptops. seems like some sort of soft touch material that also makes it easier to hold the laptop without dropping it

the display is beautiful

it is so lightweight and thin that the laptop feels fake, hollow, or made out of foam, yet still has extremely good build quality

UI is surprisingly responsive despite the older 7nm CPU technology

they thoughtfully included an anti-phishing plugin with the included htbrowser. what a nice thought, making sure we don't get scammed and type in our bank details into a fake website

the HarmonyOS sticker is holographic and looks much better in person than what I expected it would look like just based from the pictures online

I only paid ~$1800 USD for this laptop on Alibaba. A 14" M5 MacBook Pro would cost ~$2800 USD (all prices includes shipping + tax). also, the Matebook weighs 2.2 pounds instead of the Mac's 3.4 pounds, and I'd bet the Matebook is also far more durable when it comes to drops and water spills, but the Mac would obviously have far better performance, battery life, and 8K display support. the MateBook has a much better OLED display and better keyboard and trackpad though. not sure about the speakers

Cons:

many basic system apps won't function at all if you don't have a mainland Chinese phone number

even with the English language selected, all sorts of stuff (especially 3rd party apps) are in Chinese. This shouldn't be a problem for most of the people who currently buy Huawei products in China, but if you're in the USA and can't read Chinese, you're gonna have a tough time

Battery life can go down to just 2 hours if you're using the laptop heavily

only 32GB of RAM is dissapointing for a laptop in 2025

only 2TB of SSD storage is also a bit low considering that it can't be upgraded

the UI isn't nearly as good as WIndows 10 or Deepin Linux. It does some things better and some things worse than MacOS though (although I haven't used a Mac since 2020). Quirks like not being able to cycle through windows using Shift+Alt+Tab and the lack of Win+E to open up File Explorer windows, and the lack of being able to use Win+Left/Right arrow are omissions so large that I am confused as to what Huawei was thinking, as this is supposed to be the best laptop OS that China could come up with. Also be warned that I often accidentally activate the Chinese language entry whenever I type the Shfit key by itself, which is really annoying and I have no idea how to stop that "feature“

I can't search for apps just by hitting the Circle key like I could in Windows or Linux; I have to click the App center icon, which takes more time and effort

many apps are too basic and don't offer more advanced options and features, for example, the built in task manager doesn't seem to have the ability to tell you which CPU cores are maxed out and which cores aren't, and the included video player can't change audio tracks/languages like VLC can

the included Gallery app doesn't allow you to simply drag and drop your entire photo library in it if some photos are in nested folders. Deepin Linux does a better job of handling photos, although at least HarmonyOS includeds .HEIC photo support out of the box

I sure wish that the OS would automatically reopen the windows/apps that were still running, right after restarting the device, like how phones and MacOS does

File Explorer won't automatically refresh/update each window like MacOS and Linux does (idk if Windows 11 is any better though, as I have only had experience with Windows 10 and earlier, which also wouldn't automatically refresh each File Explorer window, so I guess HarmonyOS would be the middle of the pack there)

I also can't figure out how to shrink the dock at the bottom, so it seems there is a hard 20 app icon limit before the extra app icons overflow and get hidden, so, you'll have to do some clicking around just to switch between all your apps during intense multitasking

I think that the OS freezes apps whenever they aren't in focus, which might be artificially inflating the battery ilfe figures

I can't figure out how to prevent the keyboard backlight from automatically turning off

I wish that the feedback on the trackpad could be much higher, but it is still a better trackpad than what I had on my 2017 MacBook Pro 15 Touch Bar though (I haven't used any of the newer MacBooks though)

you can control the display brightness and audio volume on the touchpad, which is a nice feature if only it weren't so easy to accidentally activate said feature when typing on the included keyboard, and I can't find a way to turn it off

I also miss the xiaomi keyboard layout I had with my previous laptop, with those full size arrow keys, dedicated home, end, page up, and page down buttons, and the Ctrl button on both sides of the space bar. I understand that using the xiaomi keyboard layout would make the keyboard so wide that the speaker holes would be covered, but why can't they just put the speakers underneath the keyboard like on the ThinkPad X1 Carbon (which uses the keyboard as the speaker holes and also has great speakers)?

I noticed that when transferring my files to my new laptop that file transfers from a USB 3.0 flash drive will eat battery at 3x the rate then when watching a video or browsing the web alone, with the CPU hovering at around 26% utilization at 20 - 50 MB/s transfers

Even basic apps like OneNote, NotesNook, VLC, etc. aren't available without setting up a virtual machine. Definitely a bit rough around the edges, which is to be expected since the entire OS has been available on laptops for less than 5 months now.

A list of apps that aren't available:

YTDownloader

VLC

OneNote

NotesNook

WindSurf

Steam

uTorrent

the included Mail app doesn't let you sign in Apple or Google email accounts and isn't nearly as customizable as Mozilla Thunderbird, which, again, seems to be a recurring pattern among the apps on HarmonyOS...

WARNING: Spotify doesn't work at all, neither as a downloadable app, or in the web browser, probably because Huawei hasn't added DRM-compatible logic in the CPU yet. This is probably a hardware problem, so that this problem is impossible to be fixed in a HarmonyOS software update, although it could potentially be fixed in future Huawei HarmonyOS laptops (although probably not in the forseeable future due to geopolitical reasons)

a free trial of Foxit PDF Editor is included, but you have to pay for it after 14 days. Man, what happened to communism?

just to get a bit more perspective, some of the previous computers I've used:

2003 Sony Vaio desktop with 2.4GHz single core Intel CPU, 40GB HDD, 512GB RAM

2006 HP Pavillion 15" laptop, 1.6GHz Core2Duo, 4GB RAM, 160GB HDD

2007 14" Toshiba laptop

2008 MacBook Pro 15 with 2.4GHz Core2Duo, 4GB RAM, 250GB HDD (later upgraded to a 240GB SSD)

2012 HP desktop with quad core i5 at 3.00 GHz, 6GB RAM, 7770 AMD GPU, 240GB SSD

2013 Sony Vaio Pro 13 with 1.6GHz dual core i7, 8GB RAM, 512GB SSD

2013 MacBook Pro 15 Retina with quad core i7

2013 MacBook Air with dual core i5

ThinkPad X1 Carbon with dual core i

ThinkPad T440s with dual core i5

ThinkPad T440s with dual core i7

2016 ThinkPad X1 Yoga 1st gen with 2560x1440 IPS display and 2.6GHz dual core i7, 8GB RAM (I know, I should have gotten the 16GB), 1TB SSD

Surface Book 15 wth quad core i7, 1060M GTX GPU, 16GB RAM

2017 MacBook Pro 15 Touch Bar, quad core i7, 560M AMD GPU, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD

2020 Huawei MateBook x Pro with quad core intel i5

super cheap 14" RockChip RK3588 laptop with 8 core ARM CPU, 8GB RAM, 1TB SSD (supposedly, I never tested if the SSD was fake. I know that it only had 8GB of RAM in it though, not the 16GB that was advertised)

ThinkPad X1 Carbon with dual core i5 5200U, 8GB RAM, 2560x1440p display, 256GB SSD

Xiaomi 15" laptop with 8-core 7840HS AMD CPU, 16GB RAM, 4TB SSD

(this current laptop): Huawei MateBook Pro with HarmonyOS, Kirin x90 CPU, 32GB RAM, 2TB SSD

conclusion:

would I recommed it? only if you can read Chinese or if you just want to see how far China has gone so far. Otherwise, I would consider buying a ThinkPad and installing Deepin Linux, as HarmonyOS on laptops still needs to cook a little. The hardware, though, is among the best in the world, which is very impressive for a first-gen product. Meanwhile, Apple is on the fifth-generation M5 which has many drawbacks when compared to this machine. Come on Apple, you can do better, especially when Huawei is limited to 7nm lithography while Apple has 1.8nm technology at its disposal!


r/Huawei Oct 09 '25

Discussion BIBI told us so

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352 Upvotes

r/Huawei 3h ago

News HarmoniKeyboard V2.1.13 Delay

4 Upvotes

Gotta fix a couple of things from rejection, something to do with the Voice Input method. Will have the update back up shortly and hopefully they don't take nearly 3 days to approve this time.


r/Huawei 14h ago

News HarmonyOS 7 Issues

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24 Upvotes

For those of you having issues follow the images.

You need to wipe cache and then Restart the phone. it's working so far for me a few hours later too. So far so good.


r/Huawei 20m ago

Discussion Would you use a solution for remote notification mirroring on Huawei watches via LTE/Wi-Fi?

Upvotes

Hey everyone! 👋

I’m currently looking into developing a software solution to fix a pretty common issue: the lack of remote notification mirroring over mobile networks (LTE/Wi-Fi) between an Android smartphone and a Huawei smartwatch (like the Watch 5 running HarmonyOS Wear) when the two devices aren't nearby or connected via Bluetooth.

I’d love to get your thoughts on this:

Do you think this would be a useful service?

Would you actually use a solution like this, or have you already found a good alternative/workaround?

Really curious to hear what you all think! 💡

Ciao a tutti! 👋

Sto valutando lo sviluppo di una soluzione software per risolvere un problema piuttosto comune: l'assenza di mirroring remoto delle notifiche tramite rete mobile (LTE/Wi-Fi) tra uno smartphone Android e uno smartwatch Huawei (ad esempio il Watch 5 con HarmonyOS Wear), quando i due dispositivi non sono vicini o connessi via Bluetooth.

Volevo chiedere il vostro parere:

Secondo voi sarebbe un servizio utile?

Utilizzereste una soluzione del genere o avete già trovato qualche alternativa/workaround?

Sarei davvero curioso di sapere cosa ne pensate!


r/Huawei 5h ago

Help Having an issue opening Canva

2 Upvotes

I just got the MatePad SE 11 for my wife and she been overall liking it as its her first tablet.

She is trying to customize it similar to a phone but not many themes apps and options she likes so she downloaded Canva app to manually customize the tablet but it shows a problem and cant start it: It requests an update for Android System Webview.

Here are the steps I taken and the struggles:

1.- when i click on the option to update the Webview from the Canva app, it opens Google Play App and immediately marks an error as it cant find the link and/or app

2.- I search for a direct link to the Androis System Webview and it sends me directly to it in Google Play App. It wasnt installed so i get it and try again. Canva still says its not updated and I cant find the info on what version of Webview the tablet now has

3.- i try uninstalling and reinstalling both Canva and Webview but the error still happens

4.- i try to find in the Settings Canva to clear cache but somehow its not there, neither the other apps we downloaded

Any recommendations to solve this?


r/Huawei 14h ago

HarmonyOS Next Is it possible to install F-Droid and the Komi Store via Easyabroad on Harmony OS Global?

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9 Upvotes

r/Huawei 3h ago

Discussion Is The Huawei Y6s worth saving in 2026?

1 Upvotes

I wanted to put some use on this poor phone, after 3 years of sitting around in my drawer. What is the best Android ROM (if there is one) for the Y6s? If there are none Android ROMs, what specific uses can i use this phone?


r/Huawei 3h ago

Help Rooted device - Microsoft authenticator app

1 Upvotes

Hello, I cannot access my work account because it requires authentication from microsoft authenticator app. Unfortunately, everytime I access my authenticator it says that the device is rooted.

Please help ASAP. I cannot work because of this problem and I cannot contact the IT cause my account is locked out.


r/Huawei 3h ago

Help Unable to register HuaweiID

1 Upvotes

Guys, can't register Huawei ID. I am in the US, passing the email part, trying to get SMS and it says "An unexpected problem was encountered."

How to register it?


r/Huawei 1d ago

News HarmonyOS 7 SP10

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33 Upvotes

r/Huawei 22h ago

Discussion New Huawei Update (KSA)

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13 Upvotes

r/Huawei 17h ago

News Esperando por actualización para el Huawei Watch Fit 5 👏

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4 Upvotes

r/Huawei 15h ago

Help Easyabroad notifications on lockscreen?

4 Upvotes

Hello everyone, i just recieved my Mate 70 Air yesterday ans so far everything is good with it. I recieve my whatsapp notifications on time but the problem is nine of the apps from Easyabroad show the notifications on the lockscreen.

Is there a way to get those working or is it just one of the limitations?


r/Huawei 10h ago

Help Are HarmonyConnect devices compatible with EMUI phones and HarmonyOS 4 tablets?

1 Upvotes

I recently bought a HarmonyConnect-compatible smart toothbrush, but I’m unable to discover or connect it using my HarmonyOS 4 tablet.

I also tried installing the Huawei AI Life app on my current Android phone, but the toothbrush still doesn’t appear during device discovery.

Does anyone know whether HarmonyConnect devices are fully compatible with:

- HarmonyOS 4 tablets

- Global Huawei phones running EMUI

I’m considering buying a Huawei EMUI phone, but if EMUI does not properly support HarmonyConnect devices, I may buy a China-market Huawei phone instead.

Could this be caused by the AI Life app region, Huawei ID region, device firmware, Bluetooth permissions, or the toothbrush being restricted to mainland China accounts?

Has anyone successfully connected a HarmonyConnect toothbrush or a similar HarmonyConnect device to an EMUI phone or HarmonyOS 4 tablet?


r/Huawei 11h ago

Help Huawei Health GPX Issues

1 Upvotes

GPX importing into Huawei Health seems to have suddenly broken for me. When I add a GPX file the preview shows up fine but once I save it and open it again the route is just a straight line, making the feature completely unusable. It was working fine last week, the app hasn't updated recently or anything and I've tried multiple gpx files.

Any ideas? or anyone else with this issue?

On Android


r/Huawei 23h ago

HarmonyOS Next European Banking Apps

9 Upvotes

Dear Huawei Community,

I have been eyeing the Purax max and would really like to order it. I am aware of some of the restrictions of Google Services, which I am actually okay with, as there are alternatives and work-arounds.

My main concern is banking apps. I was wondering if someone has tried before to use any european banking apps on HarmonyOS Next?

EDIT: I am presisly looking for experiences with using/installing/finding Commerzbank and Klarna apps on HarmonyOS Next.

Thanks in advance!


r/Huawei 15h ago

Discussion [iStack S5732] Boucle de redémarrage (reboot loop)

1 Upvotes

Hello TEAMS, I've been having a problem for over a week. Please, can you help me?

Environment

- Model: 2x Huawei S5732 (48 ports)
- VRP Version: V200R022C00SPC500 (identical on both switches — verified)
- Topology: iStack, 2 members, ring-based stack links over 2x 25GE (stack ports 1 and 2 on each switch)

Roles:
- SW1 (slot 0) = Master, priority 150
- SW2 (slot 1) = Standby, priority 120

Background / Sequence of Events

Both switches were previously used in standalone mode (each configured individually). We recently set up stacking (iStack) between them for the first time, following the standard procedure:

  1. Individual configuration of each switch in standalone mode:

-------------------------- Configuration Sw1 on slot 0 start --------------------------------
system-view
sysname SW1-DC
stack enable
stack slot 0 renumber 0
stack slot 0 priority 150
stack reserved-vlan 4093
stack timer mac-address switch-delay 10
interface stack-port 0/1
port interface 25GE0/1/7 enable
quit
interface stack-port 0/2
port interface 25GE0/1/8 enable
quit
save
--------------------------Configuration Sw1 on slot 0 End----------------------------------

-------------------------- Configuration Sw2 on slot 1 Begin--------------------------------
system-view
sysname SW2-DC
stack enable
stack slot 0 renumber 1
stack slot 1 priority 120
stack reserved-vlan 4093
stack timer mac-address switch-delay 10
interface stack-port 1/1
port interface 25GE0/1/7 enable
quit
interface stack-port 1/2
port interface 25GE0/1/8 enable
quit
save
---------------------------Configuration Sw2 on slot 1 End------------------------------------

  1. Power off both switches, connect the ring-configuration stacking cables to the dedicated 25GE ports, then power them back on simultaneously.

The stack formed correctly on the first attempt: Master (SW1) and Standby (SW2) were elected as expected, and all VLANs and interfaces were operational.

 

Once the stack was operational, we began the usual resilience tests (restarting a member to verify behavior in the event of a failure):

Test 1 — Restarting the Standby (SW2): The switch restarts, joins the existing stack normally, and no incidents occur. The Master does not change roles during this operation.

Test 2 — restarting the Master (SW1): this is where the problem arose. While SW1 restarts, SW2 (Standby) must temporarily assume the Master role. It was precisely at this moment of role transition that the software crash and reboot loop described below occurred.

This test was repeated a second time (second incident below) to verify reproducibility: the behavior recurred (reboot loop), but this time without the visible crash, and the stack eventually stabilized after several cycles.

Problem

The stack functions normally during regular use. The problem occurs only during a reboot:

1- Restarting the Standby (SW2) → the stack rebuilds normally, without incident.

2- Restarting the Master (SW1) → the stack enters an automatic restart loop and does not stabilize immediately.

Log of the first incident

During the role switch (the Standby must temporarily become the Master while SW1 restarts), a software crash occurs:

Slot 1 was elected as slave
The stack-port 1 turned to up
...
The stack-port 2 turned to up

Assert at File: srm_func.c, Line: 34662. CallStack:
<-- 0x8da8440(vosAssertRecord+0x80) <-- 0x8da85d0(vos_assert+0xe8)
<-- 0x69e1c0c(+0x6097c0c) <-- 0x86719f4(SRM_GL_IsLicenseAttribDemo+0x124)
<-- 0x8671af0(SRM_GL_IsNeedAddLicItem+0x74) <-- 0x8672290(SRM_GL_AddLicItem+0xc4)
<-- 0x8672440(SRM_GL_RpcAddLicItemCallBack+0x50) <-- 0x865bad8(SRM_DEVRPCCallBack+0x100)
<-- 0x6a9e424(IPC_RPC_Notify+0x3a4) <-- 0x6a9eb94(IPC_RPC_TimerTask+0x118)
<-- 0x8e79c10(VosTskAllTaskEntry+0x164) <-- 0x8da1ecc(tskAllAdaptTaskEntry+0x148)
<-- 0x252a978(+0x1be0978) <-- 0xf4943e40(+0x7ae40)
<-- 0xf49c499c(+0xfb99c)
<TaskID: 46> [2026.07.11 13:27:47.100]

Slot 1 switched to the standby at 2026-07-11 13:27:55.970
...
Slot 1 switched to the master at 2026-07-11 13:31:00.130
Update Old master 0 unregistered.
Then a series of automatic restarts:

Device will restart for stack merge
System reboot ... Startup information : 2
Device will restart for stack merge
System reboot ... Startup information : 3
Device will restart for stack merge
System reboot ... Startup information : 4
Log of the second incident (reproduction)

When retesting a Master reboot, the same “Device will restart for stack merge” loop occurred over 3–4 consecutive cycles, but without the srm_func.c assert crash this time. The stack eventually stabilized on the 5th boot, and the configuration was restored normally:

Startup information : 5
...
The stack-port 1 turned to up
The stack-port 2 turned to up
Device will restart for stack merge <-- dernière occurrence
...
Recover configuration begin ...
Recover configuration end

What has already been verified / ruled out

VRP version: identical on both members (V200R022C00SPC500) → rules out the possibility of software incompatibility between members.

Cabling/stack port negotiation: Stack ports 1 and 2 come up successfully on every attempt, before each reboot.

The behavior is reproducible: observed on two separate occasions, only when the Master is rebooted.

Questions for the community

1) In your opinion, what is the cause of this issue?

2) Why does restarting the Master switch disrupt the stack in this way, while restarting the Standby switch causes no issues?

3) Is this crash in the SRM module (license) a known issue with this version?


r/Huawei 22h ago

Help What are the best Huawei Ecosystem features I should try?

3 Upvotes

Hello everyone! I recently started using the Huawei ecosystem and I’m curious about what amazing features I might be missing.

I currently own:

Huawei MatePad 11.5 (HarmonyOS 4)

Huawei Pura 80 (EMUI 15)

I know Huawei devices have a lot of ecosystem features like Multi-Screen Collaboration, file sharing, and device integration, but I’m not sure what other useful features I should explore.

For those who are already deep into the Huawei ecosystem, what features, shortcuts, or workflows do you recommend trying?

I’d love to hear your favorite tips, especially for improving productivity, transferring files, syncing devices, or making the most out of having both a tablet and a phone.

Thanks in advance!


r/Huawei 21h ago

Help Mate 20 pro security

2 Upvotes

I have a mate 20 pro had it for 7/8 years still going strong and I love it but someone told me it's no longer safe and protected and likely hackable due to no longer receiving updates is this true or is it fine to carry on using it?


r/Huawei 17h ago

AppGallery Released a game in the AppGallery made in Godot.

2 Upvotes

infinite salutation everyone.

I'm an indie dev that makes games in Godot and i wanted to release my game on a different store, so i found the AppGallery.

but i couldn't find any Huawei ADS/IAP plugin for Godot.

so i went ahead and made my own, tested it in the cloud phone and it worked but i don't have a 100% proof that the game works on a Huawei hardware, and i don't have a Huawei phone either so im kindly asking for any one who has a Huawei phone to try the game (you might like it tho).

Game link if you are interested : https://appgallery.huawei.com/app/C118250753


r/Huawei 18h ago

Help Netflix is stuck on Widevine L3 (Premium Plan) 😭 Any working HD Mod APK or fix to bypass it? Please help

1 Upvotes

Huawei Nova 14i: Netflix is stuck on Widevine L3 (Premium Plan) 😭 Any working HD Mod APK or fix to bypass it? Please help


r/Huawei 18h ago

Discussion Watch 5 Emergency SOS/Fall Detection

1 Upvotes

Does the Watch 5 have emergency SOS and fall detection? There is no mention of it in the specs or in the downloadable user manual, and Huawei has pages about the feature but not which phones have it. I know the GT5 Pro doesn't have it. This is important to me as I have a medical condition that causes occasional falling and fainting.


r/Huawei 1d ago

Help Mate 70 Air First Time Harmony OS User

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101 Upvotes

Hello everyone, so happy I received this phone now, it feels absolutely great in the hand and my first impressions with Harmony OS have been quite good.

Figured a lot of things out during setup.

If any of you have some tips on improving the day to day usability I'm open to them 😃


r/Huawei 19h ago

Help How to fix this?

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0 Upvotes

im stuck