The Honor Magic 2 is one of the most interesting devices to cross my desk this year, but sadly is only available to buy in Mainland China. This means that itâs customized for the Chinese market and doesnât come with Google Play (and apps like Gmail, Chrome, and Google Maps) pre-installed.
If youâre based in the West and have been lucky enough to import one, youâre probably wondering how to install Googleâs Android apps on the device. Hereâs the good news: itâs ridiculously easy. You donât need to do anything potentially warranty-ending, like flash a new ROM.
First, open the Huawei AppGallery. This is the app store that comes with the Honor Magic 2 in lieu of the Google Play Store. Head to your profile by tapping âMeâ in the bottom-right corner, and then open your settings. Then change your region to China. Youâll have to confirm by typing your Huawei password, so make sure you have this handy.
Then, search for Google Play. For some reason, this is only available in the Chinese version of the AppGallery. I couldnât find it when my phoneâs region was set to UK. Tap âInstall,â and youâre pretty much set. In a few minutes, youâll have a fully working version of the Play Store on your phone.
Itâs worth mentioning that youâll then have to install all the Google apps from scratch. This includes things like Chrome, Google Maps, Gmail, and Google Drive. Unfortunately, thereâs no way to installing these as a bundle. This is undeniably tedious, but itâs not difficult.
And thatâs about it. When I said this was easy, I wasnât lying. Itâs just not exactly obvious, and from what I can tell, thereâs no documentation online that tells you how to do this.
The Honor Magic 2 is an excellent phone, and Iâm so ridiculously excited to share my review with you later this week. In the meantime, if youâre tempted to grab one for yourself, you can order one from GearBest and GeekBuying.
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