Whether we like it more or less, the fact is that the vast majority of Spanish users use Google services. Some links sent to us via Maps, Gmail, Chrome, Google Drive. It is possible to live without Google, yes, in the world cows (Live long cows, we are in Xataka). But in the “real world” this is not a very attractive option.

I recently had the opportunity to review the Huawei Pura 70 Ultra. A phone whose software I didn’t like, but curiously my complaint was about bloatware and the EMUI design language: Google services were not a problem (or at least not a big problem).

I want to tell you The status of Google Services on a Huawei mobile phone in 2024Because as a user who does not want to give up on these, I found myself surprisingly comfortable using this device during analysis.

All thanks to microG

Mobile phones Huawei may have Google Services. Officially not because of the US blockade, but thanks to microG. This open source project has been around for many years and is not focused solely on Huawei: its much less intrusive suite of Google services (with fewer apps) has given life to many custom ROMs.

“While the core of the operating system is still part of the Android open source project, many of the core apps are not. What’s worse: There are more and more libraries and APIs available on phones that only come with a few Google apps pre-installed. Android restricts third-party apps to the Google ecosystem.” For all these reasons, it is clearly described as a “look but don’t touch microG” system.

Although AOSP is an open source operating system, as its developers explain, the truth is that Google is creating an ecosystem dependent on GAPPS. Many applications cannot run without Google services.

Similarly, the suite of Google apps and services out of the box on Android comes with a fairly high presence of its own apps. We won’t use many of them, but they can’t be removed.

MicroG is an alternative to these stock Google services and consists of the following elements:

• Service Core (GmsCore)– It is a library application that provides the necessary functionality to run applications that use Google Play Services or the Google Maps Android API (v2).
• Services Framework Proxy (GsfProxy)– A small utility that allows applications designed for Google Cloud to Device Messaging (C2DM) to use the compatible Google Cloud Messaging service available in GmsCore.
• Unified Network Location Provider (UnifiedNlp)– A library that provides Wi-Fi and cell tower-based geolocation for applications that use Google’s network location provider. It is included in GmsCore but can also run independently on most Android systems.
• Maps API (mapsv1)– is a system library that provides the same functionality as the deprecated Google Maps API (v1).
• Store (Phonesky)– It is a front-end application that facilitates access to Google Play Store to download and update applications. Currently development is in an early stage and there is no app available yet.

Although microG consists of all these elements, its installation is quite simple. You only need to install three APK files:

• mikroG Services
• microG Helper
• Services Framework Proxy

We install the APKs, restart the phone and… that’s it. The phone will be able to access Google services like (almost) any other. I still remember the time when I had to install Huawei P40 Pro Services: it was real hell.

WhatsApp (backed up to Google Drive), Chrome, Gmail, YouTube… and even Gemini. (Almost) everything works perfectly. And I have to settle for “almost” because some games like ‘PUBG Mobile’ didn’t work for me with a Google account because they didn’t recognize the GMS version I was using. Google Pay does not work either, so this phone is not suitable for mobile payments with this solution.

Image | Xataka

in Xataka | Huawei is close to achieving 100% Chinese production. This is the worst news possible for the USA