EMUI 10.1 has been made official by Huawei: among the novelties a new personal assistant that replaces Google Assistant. Here's when it will be available
It officially began, with the presentation of EMUI 10.1 and the P40 range that brings it factory installed, the post-Google era of Huawei: with the new interface, in fact, the Chinese giant introduces several new features designed not to regret the absence of Google Mobile Services, replaced by Huawei Mobile Services due to the well-known ban of Donald Trump against Huawei.
The biggest and most obvious novelty, but that shows how much there is still to do, is the personal assistant Celia. Conceived as a replacement for Google Assistant, it activates with the ritual formula "Hey Celia" but is still far from offering functionality comparable to that of Assistant, Alexa or Siri. Then there are other new features, more or less flashy, in EMUI 10.1. Among them is MeeTime, which already by its name mimics Google Meet and FaceTime. Many other features, however, are in the vein of what we've already seen on Huawei's previous user interfaces such as the various and effective simplified file and screen sharing options.
EMUI 10.1: Hey Celia
The new voice assistant on Huawei smartphones with EMUI 10.1 is called Celia and is activated by saying the words "Hey Celia". Nothing new, then, compared to other "colleagues" already known. At the moment its functionality is very limited, almost a draft: it works only in English, Spanish and French and is available in the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Colombia, Chile and Mexico. At the moment, through Celia it is possible to launch calls, write messages, play back music, ask for a translation or mark appointments on the calendar. One of the problems with Celia, paradoxically, is the name: pronouncing it in English ("Silia") if there is an iPhone nearby, Siri is activated.
EMUI 10.1: what else is new
In addition to Celia with EMUI 10.1 comes the MeeTime app, which is Huawei's version of Google Duo or FaceTime. With MeeTime we can make audio and video calls, share the screen, and change the background of the call. Huawei Share, on the other hand, allows us to stream music to Bluetooth wireless speakers. OneHop and Cast+, on the other hand, are apps for connecting multiple Huawei devices on the fly or broadcasting our screen. Both, according to Huawei, are very efficient even in case of suboptimal connection.
When EMUI 10.1 arrives
The new version of the user interface will be available first on the Huawei P40 series, and then it will arrive on the Chinese company's other models. For the moment, Huawei has not disclosed the timing of the release of EMUI 10.1, but most likely we will have to wait a few more months. The first models will be able to receive the update between the end of April and early May
EMUI 10.1: the list of Huawei smartphones
There is still no official list from Huawei on which smartphones will receive EMUI 10.1, but most likely they will be the same ones that also had EMUI 10. In total there should be more than fifty models between smartphones and tablets to receive the update in the coming months. Surely the list includes all Huawei smartphones released in this early 2020 and 2019.