The experience without Google services on the daily mobile is not easy, but contrary to what happened before, it is not impossible ea little by little, users have more alternatives to correct this absence on mobiles that do not have these services than most smartphones.
I have been using for a few weeks Huawei P40 Pro, the top of the Huawei range for 2020 of which I have already given you the first impressions, and which has been crowned as the best terminal in the history of the company but which, due to the company's conflict with the United States government, does not have Google and its services. And the truth is, after a few weeks with the terminal, I can confirm that it is something perfectly possible.
What's the experience of living without Google in 2020?
Right now, practically all of us who have an Android mobile depend to some extent on Google to use it, but not only to use it, but also to enjoy the full experience, with our backups, our favorite applications and the structures that we give the big G in every way.
After taking the first steps with the mobile phone, I looked in the App Gallery, Huawei's application store, for some of the applications I wanted to install, and the truth is that there are more and more alternatives in the Chinese company's store, however, I had need other essential apps on my terminal. App Suche can also be an alternative to download some applications, but not all.
That's why I went to download the application from Uptodown, an alternative application store, which we have already told you about on a few occasions and which allows you to download practically any application that we find in Google Play, although it is not the only alternative for do it as we also have other shops like Aptoide or Apkmirror.
Having done that, I downloaded the applications I use daily such as WhatsApp, Telegram, Microsoft Teams, Snapseed - that despite come from Google, it works without their services - Squid o Twitter. Excluding, of course, Google apps like Keep, Gmail or Google Calendar, which, for obvious reasons, I didn't download. And the truth is that, in general, the experience is the most satisfying in this Huawei P40 Pro.
The biggest disadvantage of having a phone without Google services that I have encountered in recent weeks has been, basically, the fact that I use Google to memorize some passwords - which I had to recover - besides that, because this terminal is not certified by Google, Netflix is not compatible –Even with the version of the application downloaded from the web–. Other than that, no problem.
I am a person who uses Google Play services a lot, especially Google Photos, but I tried to suspend the absence of these in my terminal and I'll tell you how I did with each of the Google applications that I use:
- YouTube: by downloading YouTube Vanced, an application modified by the platform
- Google photo: adding a link to the web version in the launcher. It's not that practical and intuitive, but it does the job.
- Google Drive: adding a link to the web version.
- Google Keep: adding a link to the web version.
- Google Maps: using alternatives from the App Gallery, although the truth is they don't work as well as the Google app.
- Gmail: using Huawei's native application or by downloading an alternative
On the other hand, there are some other applications that cannot work without Google Play services and the solution with these is find a replacement or access that application via its web version, even if the truth is that not with everyone This is possible, so you will have to be the one to evaluate how important it is what you can and what you cannot use.
Beyond this, I have realized that the experience is more or less rectified and that if you decide to bet on a mobile without the presence of Google, the experience may not be as comfortable as if it integrates the services of the big G, but it's not even impossible to use, as it was a few years ago.
