Niagara launcher, kiss or kvaesto are the way to go. If you want a decent app search. I would also recommend Smart Launcher 6; the search bar is pretty good. Not to mention the automatic app categories you get for all your apps.
With time that will change. It’s like the 1st smartphones in the world. Not the best experience at 1st. But, now we have phones with processing power equal to desktops and the ability to do productive tasks on the go.
Yeah, this would be the main. There was a time when VLC had blacklisted huawei phones from installing their app on the Playstore when they had enough with the negative reviews.
Your phone needs to be connected to WiFi or data(depending on your settings) and needs to be idle and charging. Playstore will slowly auto update your apps as long as your phone is not too hot for auto-updates. This process takes a long time.