This Chinese New Year stay focused and determined on your fitness goals with Huawei's connected products to aid you

 

Chinese New Year 2021 is right around the corner and with the Year of the Ox upon us, it’s time to get more focused and determined on things that really matter, such as your health. With the theme of the Year of the Ox building heavily on diligence, persistence and honesty, it’s time to stick to a healthier lifestyle without breaking away from it and most importantly, be honest to yourself with goals and progress. But how can you do that? Well, Huawei is here to help and it’s brought a couple of friends along.

 

Being honest with yourself is the key factor of any fitness journey, which is then followed by the hard work towards it and tracking your progress along the way. Huawei makes all of this possible with great ease thanks to its cloud services, its range of smart products and an inter-connected ecosystem that brings it all together.

 

For instance, you can go for a run, hit the gym, go swimming or do any physical activity and rest assured, your HUAWEI WATCH GT 2 Pro Moon Phase Collection resting on your wrist will keep track of it all. This way, you have a solid record of your progress and you can also keep an eye on how well you did overall. Once recorded, it automatically updates on Huawei Health on your smartphone, the HUAWEI Mate 40 Pro for instance, and now you are able to keep proper track of everything as you make your way towards your fitness goal.

 

Most of us even like to have a little music while we work out, which is where smart audio devices like the HUAWEI FreeBuds Pro comes in for an immersive audio experience with dynamic active noise cancellation to ensure that you are in the zone at all times! Don’t worry if you are out for a run though, because the HUAWEI FreeBuds Pro’s Awareness and Voice Modes ensure that you don’t miss out on surrounding sounds such as cars, alerts or even of people have to talk to you. On the other hand, if you want some music at home, the HUAWEI Sound X is your solution, where you can simply tap your Huawei smartphone to instantly play music at top-notch quality without any connectivity hassle.

 

But how does Huawei do all of this? It’s quite simple, by having every product and service connected under one ecosystem as a part of the HUAWEI Seamless AI Life. This allows for a more connected experience especially in everyday scenarios and changes how things are done with the help of shared data and more interactions. On top of this, all the devices from Huawei are connected under one Huawei ID. This allows access to all of the cloud services from multiple registered devices, making it easier to view data, have preferences shared and even allowing for customization through Huawei Themes. This basically means that all of your devices are connected and all your data is shared between them, making using multiple devices a whole lot easier.

 

This Chinese New Year make the decision to get healthier, which can be done with a change in lifestyle and an overall change in your fitness regime. Keeping the themes of diligence, persistence and honesty close at heart, commit yourself to a new and healthier life and you can do it all with Huawei’s range of connected devices and service at your disposal.

Fragile economic confidence early in 2021

South Asia showed a marked improvement in confidence and orders in Q4, after exceptionally weak Q3 survey results

 

Accountants and finance professional experts say economic confidence in Q4 2020 stalled and remains fragile heading into 2021, finds the latest ACCA and IMA Global Economic Conditions Survey (GECS).

 

Tracking confidence and fear indices, the global survey of more than 3,000 senior professionals with 201 in South Asia - including Pakistan - reflects the outlook and experiences of the thousands of businesses they advise.

 

The results for South Asia show:

·       South Asia has been hit hard by the pandemic as economies reliant on services and tourism are prevalent in the region.

·       The Q4 survey shows signs of recovery with a rise in all the main activity indicators, including orders and employment.

·       But any growth revival will be fragile and subject to avoiding renewed COVID infections.

·       The ‘fear’ indices - concern about suppliers and customers going out of business – fell back in Q4: the former remains elevated but the latter is close to its long-run average. 

·       South Asia recorded the biggest jump in orders in Q4,,recovering after a big drop in the Q3 survey.52 per cent of respondents in South Asia expect a significant economic recovery  in the second half of this year or later – the highest among the major regions.

Sajjeed Aslam, head of ACCA Pakistan says: ‘The impact of COVID-19 on the global, South Asia and Pakistan economies has been significant. However, respondents across South Asia appear reasonably confident about the year ahead, looking to a recovery, perhaps spurred by policy responses and the news of vaccines being available. 2021 presents a long road to recovery ahead, and one in which accountants will be playing a key role.’

 

The global 2020 Q4 findings reveal the 'fear' indices - concern about customers and suppliers going out of business - edged lower in Q4 but remain elevated. This clearly underlines the extreme uncertainty in the global economic outlook at the start of 2021. The confidence measure fell back in North America, having surged in the previous Q3. By contrast there was a big improvement in Middle East confidence, buoyed probably by continued recovery in oil prices. Inflation concerns remain negligible with concern about costs staying close to an all-time low.

 

Outlook for 2021

Looking ahead, over 50% of respondents in Asia Pacific, North America and South Asia expect sustainable recovery in the second half of this year. The most optimistic in this respect is the Middle East, where 54% expect recovery during the first half of the year.

 

Michael Taylor, Chief Economist at ACCA says: ‘Last year was the worst for the global economy for several decades. 2021 will see recovery but precisely when and how strong it will be is very uncertain. We anticipate a weak start, followed by a recovery gathering momentum through the second half. Much depends on the evolution of the COVID virus and variants relative to the progress of vaccination programmes and there is great uncertainty surrounding these developments.

 

‘Since our polling in December, many countries have seen increased COVID-19 infection rates, prompting governments to re-impose restrictions including national lockdowns. This means that global economic prospects early in 2021 have deteriorated since the Q4 survey. At the same time there has been progress on the approval of vaccines, raising hopes of a permanent improvement in economic conditions later this year.’

 

However, ACCA and IMA highlight that, unemployment rates will be rising in many countries, potentially undermining consumer confidence and limiting the strength of a rebound.

 

Raef Lawson, Ph.D., CMA, CPA, IMA vice president of research and policy, said: ‘The pandemic has forced millions into extreme poverty as emerging markets suffered recession for the first time in decades last year. Policy responses to the pandemic have left the public finances of most economies in a perilous state with budget deficits in the range of 10% to 15% of GDP in many countries with debt to GDP ratios well over 100%.’

 

He added: ‘All this presents a big test for policy makers in terms of when to withdraw policy support and when policy should be tightened to rebuild public finances. Policy mistakes would risk derailing economic recovery.’

 

Fieldwork for the 2020 Q4 survey took place between 20 November and 8 December 2020 and attracted 3086 responses from ACCA and IMA members, including over  300 CFOs.

GECS can be found here:

https://www.accaglobal.com/gb/en/professional-insights/global-economics/2020-GECS-Q4.html

Top 3 free messaging apps alternatives that you can download from HUAWEI AppGallery right now!

Are you adept at social messaging and in search of the best alternative free apps to benefit from? Don't waste your time searching further… here are the top-performing messaging apps available on the HUAWEI AppGallery right now. Ranked by the highest number of downloads across the MEA region, Botim, Imo, and Moya have made their way to the top four most downloaded apps falling under the "Communication" category in HUAWEI AppGallery.

 

BOTIM

BOTIM - Unblocked Video Call and Voice Call is a free worldwide calling and messaging app for everyone. It can bring your family and friends closer than ever. The application supports both video and audio calling among BOTIM users. In addition, it lets you sent text messages, photos and short videos.

 

imo

imo is a global instant communication platform aiming to provide the most convenient, interactive and fun way for people to connect. Through accessible audio and video communication services, rich multi-media content and other features such as games, imo connects over 200 million users in 62 languages, across more than 150 countries around the world.

 

Moya

Moya App is a #datafree super-app for messaging, browsing, checking your SASSA grant, live scores and more. No airtime? No worries! The Moya App works in all countries and is #datafree.

 

With over 96,000 applications available across all categories, HUAWEI AppGallery, the third-largest global app distribution platform from Huawei, offers a wide range of diverse apps and enables the users to use these applications seamlessly with strict protection of their privacy and security. In fact, HUAWEI AppGallery deploys the highest level of verification to isolate and protect users’ sensitive data and privacy. Personally-sensitive information will never be processed outside the Huawei device, giving the user complete control over their personal data[1]. Moreover, thanks to Huawei EMUI services included on Huawei smartphones, users have complete control over apps user permission.

 

Popular messaging apps such as Botim, imo, and Moya are fully usable within the Huawei Mobile Service thereby enabling smooth and enhanced user experiences. This highlights Huawei’s commitment to continually develop its app portfolio to provide users with innovative and high-quality apps that meet their needs and enhance the overall user experience.

 

To discover more messaging apps on HUAWEI AppGallery, click here

Today's Digital Era Demands for More Interconnected Devices. Here is How Huawei Tackles This with Its Smart Ecosystem

 

Huawei has embarked on an all connected digital future with not only digital devices but a host of incredible services designed to usher a new, seamless experience for people

 

With the explosion of the Internet of Things (IoT), users are being exposed to more connected devices. This technological and societal change has impacted both business and general households alike, with studies show that households have at least 10 connected devices today and in the future, it could go up to even 50 devices. Business opportunities now enjoy big data, allowing better business insights and experiences, while having more smart devices in the mix to enable better efficiency and productivity, even paving the way for new business models. Households have also seen the impact of this change, with more data being shared across devices and services, contributing to personal health, easier working-from-home solutions and more.

 

This all-connected ecosystem sets the building blocks for the upcoming connected future and Huawei has heavily contributed to it with its 1+8+n ecosystem concept and Seamless AI Life Strategy, bringing in more smart devices to homes and offices. Simply put, the 1+8+n strategy forms an all-scenario hardware ecosystem with three layers (1 + 8 + n), where, ‘1’ stands for the smart phone as the center of it all, ‘8’ stands for the 8 categories of Huawei-developed products and ‘n’ stands for the abundant IoT ecosystem devices. Finally, the ‘+’ sign stands for what connects these layers such as HUAWEI Share and HUAWEI HiLink.

 

This ecosystem ushers in a more connected experience for users, allowing them to adapt better in today’s digital era. By being constantly connected, users change the way how daily tasks are done and how they interact between multiple devices. Thanks to Huawei’s ecosystem, adapting to this trend is less challenging and in turn enable efficiency, productivity and ease of access, be it for personal or business use. By connecting to multiple devices and services under one HUAWEI ID, it is smooth and simple to connect and share between them. For example, Huawei Music can be used for music across smartphones, earphones like HUAWEI FreeBuds Pro, or speakers like the HUAWEI Sound X, with a single tap thanks to OneTap, while tapping the smartphone to laptops like the HUAWEI MateBook X will enable Multi-Screen collaboration for screen mirroring and drag and drop data transfer. With HUAWEI ID connecting these devices, all data can be accessed and securely shared across devices.

 

What does this mean for the end-user? Simply put, with more Huawei devices being readily available and connected with each other, data is easily and safely shared across devices and services, allowing for a more efficient daily life. This plays a major role in various segments, such as health management, entertainment and even for working, be it at home or office.

 

The implementation of IoT and connected devices is the stepping stones of a wider digital transformation strategy, which once combined with new technology and services, creates a connected experience like no other. Technology around us is ever growing, changing how things are done and revolutionizing the end-user experience. With a strong array of smart devices and cloud services at its disposal, Huawei is paving the way for a smart digital future with its all-connected ecosystem that brings everything to the palm of the user.

Kick-start Your New Year Fitness Resolutions with the Best that Huawei Has to Offer

The New Year has arrived and you must be thinking of some resolutions, which you want to try to achieve. Be it in terms of fitness, health or having the latest connected gadgets to keep you moving in today’s fast-moving tempo. The world is now very much tech-driven, therefore it is no surprise that tech gadgets have made their way to the top of this New Year’s resolution simply because they can be used to help us stay fit, healthy and connected with the world around us. Thankfully, with Huawei expansive range of product ecosystem, that includes smartphones, audio devices, wearables, laptops, tablets, kick starting this New Year with your resolution in mind is less daunting than ever. Here, we peep at how some of Huawei’s hottest tech gadgets can help you kick-start your New Year’s fitness resolution and remain true to it.

Fit, healthy and stylish

If staying fit and healthy is at the top of your New Year’s resolution with Huawei’s devices such as the flagship HUAWEI Mate 40 Pro and the premium HUAWEI WATCH GT 2 Pro Moon Phase Collection things are to get easier. Both devices work together in harmony, simply pair your HUAWEI WATCH GT 2 Pro Moon Phase Collection with your HUAWEI Mate 40 Pro to track and monitor your health and fitness levels when working-out, which can be viewed via the HUAWEI Health app one of HUAWEI’s ID services installed on both the smartwatch and smartphone. If you want tunes to pump you up when exercising, search for them on the HUAWEI Music streaming app and play it via the HUAWEI Sound X loudspeaker by simply tapping your phone onto the loudspeaker’s body for an intensive and immersive workout session. With over 100 sports modes You can also track your fitness whenever you’re practicing sports (swimming includes) as the HUAWEI WATCH GT 2 Pro Moonphase collection supports 5 ATM water resistance* – up to 50 metres down! You do not need to worry about taking off the watch.

*Leather straps are not water resistant

 

Get stepping

It is not just working-out and exercising, walking also helps in maintain a healthy lifestyle. The HUAWEI WATCH GT 2 Pro Moon Phase Collection and the HUAWEI Mate 40 Pro can both tell you how many steps you have taken, and the WATCH GT 2 Pro can even tell you how many more you need to take in order to reach your goal. This way, both devices can encourage you to take the stairs or get off the bus a stop or two early. It all adds up! Moreover, the HUAWEI WATCH GT 2 Pro Moon Phase Collection will sit on your wrist and buzz to celebrate when you have hit a new record number!

Know your vitals

Most smartwatches come with a host of health and fitness tracking features and the HUAWEI WATCH GT 2 Pro Moon Phase is not an exception, in fact, you might regard it as in improvement on this front. The new and improved version of Huawei’s latest TruSeen™ 4.0+ technology and SpO2 monitoring for 24/7 health management features will both provide you with intelligent reminders if your heart rate goes above or below normal levels. All these data is stored and can be viewed via the HUAWEI Health app installed on your phone and smartwatch.

Sleep is essential

We also know that we need a decent night’s sleep to stay fit and healthy. The HUAWEI TruSleepTM 2.0 technology which comes pre-installed on the HUAWEI WATCH GT 2 Pro Moon Phase Collection helps in measuring sleep quality as well which includes real-time heart rate tracking, breathing during sleep and big data analytics. You can also keep track of your relaxation data, thanks to the HUAWEI TruRelaxTM technology that provides 24/7 pressure monitoring, which allows to maintain a relaxed state of mind at all times.

Stay connected

We need to stay connected; many of us nowadays have smartphones, smartwatches, earphones, laptops, tablets that we use in a wide range of scenarios. As great as each device can function and help us get things done, wouldn’t it be greater if we could use multiple devices at the same time? Huawei has a range of devices which could all be connected together to provide us with a very customized user experience. Huawei’s latest flagship smartphone; the HUAWEI Mate 40 Pro along with the HUAWEI WATCH GT 2 Pro Moon Phase Collection smartwatch, HUAWEI FreeBuds Pro earphones, the HUAWEI Sound X loudspeaker in addition the HUAWEI MateBook X and HUAWEI MatePad Pro laptops and tablets range; all can be used simultaneously to enrich our experience. This also includes HUAWEI ID Cloud services such as HUAWEI Health, HUAWEI Music, HUAWEI Video and HUAWEI Themes, which are intertwined with the products playing a significant role in enhancing the overall experience and connecting us all with the things and people around us.

It is now possible to simply play audio from your smartphone by a single tap onto your loudspeaker thanks to the OneTap feature of HUAWEI Share. This intuitive way does not only provide ease and simplicity but it also saves us time consumed by manually pairing devices. Another great feature is Multi-Screen Collaboration, which enables you to stream your phone’s screen onto your laptop with a single tap. Once streaming is initiated, a world of countless possibilities is upon you. You can use the laptop to edit files saves on your smartphone, watch movies on the laptop’s larger display, make video calls, play games and so much more!

All of these devices and services can be logged-in with one universal Huawei ID, which allows you to access the cloud services such as HUAWEI Music, HUAWEI Video, HUAWEI Themes, HUAWEI AppGallery etc.

With Huawei’s interconnected smart devices forming an ecosystem together with cloud services which can all be accessed from any of your Huawei devices. Staying fit, healthy and connected hasn’t be easier.

Join Huawei’s “Light up Your Community Tree” Activity to Celebrate New Years

 

Spread love and get a chance to win some amazing gifts from Huawei upon participation

 

As the festive season approaches, Huawei is inspiring its consumers and the public to come together on a digital platform – 'Light up Your Community Tree', by visiting the #HUAWEICommunityPK and light up a tree to celebrate the beginning of a New Year and bid farewell to 2020. Every participant will get an opportunity to win the latest, most popular smartphones of the year. This activity aims to engage the community, to pray for the health and prosperity of the whole humanity in the year 2021 and beyond.

 

Huawei – the global technology leader has come up with this socially-engaging and rewarding activity to say farewell to 2020 - a year that brought some unusual socio-economic challenges that can only be resolved through a cohesive response from the whole world.

 

Huawei believes that a fortunate and progressive future awaits the global community and every individual must contribute towards the society's well-being and happiness. As the new decade begins, people must strive together for finding solutions and improving public health standards, with positive thinking, while adding some green and gold in our lives!

 

Huawei has invited everyone to join this activity between 16:00 on 23 December, 2020 and 23:59 on 04 January, 2021, as the Huawei Community in Pakistan is 'Planting' a vibrant New-Year tree on 'Light Up Your Community Tree'. Many lucky participants will win exciting gifts like high-valued smartphones, including: a HUAWEI Y9a, Huawei Y5p, Huawei Y7a, Huawei Y6p, besides Hands-Free kits, personal stars, Medals on community profile and much more. To add more excitement, the value of prizes will increase with the total number of lights added, in three different levels of prize-pools in this activity. So hurry up and join the community now: consumer.huawei.com/community/pk/

 

The participants have to simply go to the HUAWEI Community on the page: 'Light Up Your Community Tree', Click the shining star to light up your tree, Click 'Share My Community Tree' on Facebook or Twitter, Copy & send the invitation link to your friends directly. Add your invitation; "Come to #HUAWEICommunityPK and light up the Tree on New-Year!" Huawei wishes best of luck to every participant, for a chance to win these fantastic prizes and have a delightful new year.

 

For more details, see: [Contest Introduction] Light up Your Community Tree

Release of HarmonyOS 2.0 Developer Beta for Smartphones, a Step Closer to Making Seamless AI Life a Reality

HarmonyOS 2.0 Developer Beta for Smartphones was officially released at HUAWEI Developer Day Beijing 2020, representing a milestone in the construction of the all-encompassing HarmonyOS ecosystem. Smartphone app developers with interest in the 2.0 beta can apply for it on the HUAWEI Developer official website.

Comprehensive HarmonyOS system capabilities, a multitude of APIs, and powerful tools such as the optimized DevEco Studio simulator, have all been made publicly available, facilitating efficient HarmonyOS-compatible smartphone app development. Huawei hopes to welcome more partners to the ecosystem, and give users access to the full range of benefits offered by Seamless AI Life, with smart services that interact with, entertain and educate them in new and profound ways, at home, in the gym and in the office, on the go and on the road.

Wang Chenglu, President of Huawei's Consumer Business Group Software Engineering Department, remarked, "HarmonyOS is a true milestone, as it has redefined how people and devices interact with each other in every facet of daily life. Devices and services are no longer limited to specific life scenarios, now that users can freely customize how their devices work to account for any setting. HarmonyOS will create 'super devices' that come with more enriching apps than ever, as well as life-altering 'super services'."

Unparalleled user experience, made possible by "super devices" and seamless services

A new era is upon us, brought about by the Internet of Everything and powered by the rapid growth of 5G, AI and IoT technologies. The past decade has been dominated by the rise of the smartphone and mobile internet, but over the next decade, no single device offers similar breakthrough potential. Instead, it is multi-device connections that will pave the way to the smart services of tomorrow.

HarmonyOS and its underlying distributed technology are designed for this futuristic Internet of Everything paradigm. By helping create "super devices", which are formed by pooling software and hardware resources from previously physically-independent devices, the system has been making the lofty ambitions in Seamless AI Life a full-blown reality. HarmonyOS helps ensure that all devices are responsive to the user's every whim, and equipped to handle any conceivable usage scenario.

A good example of this principle in action is how HarmonyOS leverages phone-watch collaboration to provide for next-level smart travel solutions. Ride hailing has been made hands-free, with important information such as the taxi's real-time location and license plate number, displayed on the watch screen. Likewise, online shopping will soon be easier than ever, now that group-buyers will be able to view eligible items in other buyers' shopping carts, and make informed decisions with real-time post-discount pricing – or even initiate MeeTime calls to share screens and discuss purchasing strategies.

HarmonyOS encourages all developers to release their imagination and come up with promising ideas on how to create Seamless AI Life services for all users. Therefore it's no small wonder that over 120 mainstream app builders, including JD.com, China UnionPay, Youku Video and iFlytek, have opted to make HarmonyOS their system of choice.

Comprehensive support for developers, facilitating multi-device deployment through one-time development

Today's vast array of IoT devices share little in common, as they can be subdivided into different device types and operating systems. This reality has hindered traditional app development, as apps needed be adapted to fit all of the different screen sizes and systems prior to release. Huawei has made IoT fragmentation a thing of the past, by opening all of HarmonyOS's frameworks and platform toolchains to developers.

Over 15,000 APIs have now been made available, including distributed system services, software and hardware abilities. In doing so, HarmonyOS aims to help create innovative and competitive apps that are compatible with all device types and oriented toward all usage scenarios, with as much ease as experienced in the independent-device app development era. The distributed UI framework fits all screen sizes, and facilitates hassle-free deployment with substantially increased efficiency. The new and improved DevEco Studio 2.0 can realize real-time preview and distributed debugging, which are also ideal for boosting development efficiency.

More than 100,000 developers have joined the HarmonyOS ecosystem, thanks in large part to expert-level support, a wealth of enriching training courses and easy-to-access materials, and open-minded developer communities. The kickoff of the HarmonyOS Developer Innovation Contest, which offers 1.5 million Chinese yuan in prizes and mentorship resources from 20 prominent industry professionals, hopes to drive further engagement among the talented developers that have made HarmonyOS their professional home.

Ground-breaking HarmonyOS technologies, driving the industry forward and unlocking the boundless possibility of Seamless AI Life

HarmonyOS will also transform the business of hardware vendors, by helping them turn products into services. Software innovation will be channelled to bring about differentiated and flexible hardware usage. Hardware resources from all connected devices will be pooled, to enable partners to extract more value by selling services on an ongoing basis, rather than being limited to the one-time product sale. Enticed by this promising new model, more than 20 hardware vendors have become a part of the HarmonyOS ecosystem.

Multi-device interconnectivity has likewise been made seamless, from the very bottom layer, where the connection is unaffected by any software or hardware differences. The user can, for instance, simply tap their phone against a home appliance to establish an instant connection, and have the device information visualized on the phone screen. Connected appliances will also be able to "tell" their user how they're working, laying the foundation for genuine smart homes of the future.

HarmonyOS will be made open-source for a greater range of devices in the near future. The HUAWEI Developer Day 2020 event series will make stops in more major cities, including Shanghai and Guangzhou, to provide aspiring developers with invigorating discussions on cutting-edge technologies and applications.