Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
Honor has announced what it calls the “Robot Phone,” a concept device with an AI-powered gimbal-mounted camera that opens from the back of the phone and can take photos and shoot video in any direction.
The phone – which has so far only been seen in CGI form in a teaser video, with no glimpse of the real hardware yet – looks like a typical smartphone, albeit a thick one. Instead of the Honor logo, it has an alpha representing the company’s logo Company vision “Alpha Plan”.The main clue that something is up is the chunky camera module, which is divided into two parts.
From here the camera lever opens up with a cartoon laugh (it’s… actually laughing, at least in the video), revealing that the main camera can flip to take selfies, but also to take photos from a variety of positions and angles, and appears to move under its own direction. That would make this a more advanced successor to the likes of 2019 Asus Zenfone 6which flipped its main cameras up and down to take selfies.
It looks for all the world like the little gimbal up there DJI Pocket 8although Honor’s video would like to give the impression of being imbued with enough intelligence to frame pictures, soothe children, and gaze in amazement at the stars above.
“With the Robot Phone, Honor envisions the phone of the future as more than just a gadget,” the company wrote in a press release. “It becomes an emotional companion that senses, adapts and evolves autonomously like a robot, enriching the lives of its users with love, joy and wisdom.”
We’ll find out more about the robot phone — and maybe get a chance to see it in the flesh — when Honor reveals more at Mobile World Conference next spring.
The robot phone was Honor’s “one more thing…” announcement at the end of a more typical launch event for Honor’s two phones Flagship phones Magic 8which will go on sale in China this month and will be launched globally before the end of the year.
