Celia is an artificially intelligentvirtual assistant developed by Huawei for its latest Android-based EMUI smartphones that lack Google Services and a Google Assistant. The assistant can perform day-to-day tasks such as, making a phone call, setting a reminder and checking the weather. It was unveiled on 7 April 2020 and got released to the public on 27 April 2020 via an OTA update solely to selected devices that can update their software to EMUI 10.1. Huawei had initially made reference to the new assistant in late 2019 by saying that there would be an English version of their already Chinese speaker assistant, Xiaoyi, to be released into the European markets. Due to the aftermath of the China–United States trade war, the company's newly released smartphones were left without a virtual assistant, which lead to the development and release of Celia. AI technology is integrated into the software of Celia which allows her to translate text using a phones camera and to identify objects - similar to that of Google Lens.
Features
Celia has many features that are similar to that of its rivals, i.e. the Google Assistant and Siri. She can be triggered by the words, "Hey Celia" or be summoned by pressing and holding the power button. The default search engine for Celia is, Bing, but this can be changed in settings. Celia can make calls, check the agenda, send a message, show the weather, set alarms and control home appliances. The assistant also has the ability to integrate itself with the stock apps of the EMUI software and toggle with the device's settings, such as by turning on the flashlight and playing multimedia content but with the users command. With the AI that is installed in Celia, she can identify food, everyday objects and translate text using the phones camera.
Availability by country and language
Currently, Celia is only available in English, French and Spanish and has only been released in the UK, France, Spain, Chile, Mexico and Columbia. Huawei has said that there will be more regions and languages to come.
Compatible devices
Celia only became available with the EMUI 10.1 update that was released in April which means that limited devices are compatible with her. More devices will be added to the list throughout the coming months as Celia's availability increases. The current list of devices are the:
Technology reviewer, Engadget, has noted that when saying, "Hey Celia", out aloud in the presence of an iPhone, Siri will respond along with Celia but this is probably due to the fact that the pronunciation for "Celia" is similar to that of "Siri".
