With no respite from the US in sight, Huawei continues to double down on its own GMS (Google Mobile Services) alternatives. Aptly named HMS (Huawei Mobile Services), the company’s app ecosystem has grown many folds since its introduction.
Huawei has AppGallery as an alternative to Google Play Store while and Petal Search rivals Google Search. Now, the company has launched in-house alternatives to two more GMS products. Petal Maps and Huawei Docs are the two latest entrants. Petal Search is also picking up more Google-rivaling features.
Huawei launches Petal Maps
Huawei’s AppGallery already offers a few third-party map apps. However, the company is now coming up with its own outright alternative to Google Maps. Petal Maps offers turn-by-turn navigation in both 2D and 3D views and supports gesture control to switch navigation route views. You can also zoom in and out, pan, or tilt the map through neatly designed on-screen controls.
Petal also displays the fastest route for your commute along with real-time traffic and information about the local public transport commute, though the latter will be limited to select major cities. Additionally, you can search for nearby places such as restaurants, businesses, and other locations and mark them as favorites. Huawei promises end-to-end encryption for your location data on the map.
Petal Maps will be soon available on AppGallery in Beta. It will be supported in over 140 countries and regions at launch. The app will be available in multiple languages including English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, and Mandarin.
Huawei Docs arrive as the company’s first-party office suite
With support for document viewing and editing across over 50 formats including PDF, PPT, and DOC, Huawei Docs is an all-in-one office suite solution from the company. It offers real-time cloud sync and lets multiple users seamlessly work on the same document on different devices simultaneously. Huawei Docs will be available in more than 100 countries and regions globally.
Petal Search adds Google Lens-like capabilities
Huawei launched Petal Search as a search engine to find Android apps and games that weren’t available on AppGallery. Over time, the app has grown into a full-fledged search engine. It now lets users quickly find out information and services across more than 20 categories, including apps, news, videos, images, shopping, flights, local business, and more.
Petal Search supports over 50 languages and is available in more than 170 countries and regions around the world. Users can already search for information through both voice and text input. Going forward, users can search for things through the camera as well.
Simply point the camera to an object and Petal Search will turn in with search results matching that object. This Google Lens-esque feature recognizes a wide range of objects such as people, animals, and landmarks. Plants identification is also planned for a future rollout. If there are multiple objects in an image, you can tap on an object and the app will come up with suggestions on that particular object.
Part of this visual upgrade is information cards. Instead of simple web links, Petal Search now shows certain information in card-based results so users don’t have to dig through multiple websites for every information they search for.