I danced with the Honor robot and he complimented my “shiny” hair.

The day after crossing Mobile World Congress In the exhibition hall, I was feeling a little disheveled. I was about to shoot a video, and I was worried that I wasn’t doing my best, but… Honor automatic phone I disagree.

“What do you think of my hair?” I asked that. The pop-up camera on top of the device was rotating on its axis, looking me up and down.

“Your long, flowing blonde hair looks soft and shiny,” he told me. “It goes well with your black outfit, giving you a warm and lively feel, which is great for this tech event!”

I’m still not sure I believe it, but it was definitely the confidence boost I needed at that moment.

I’ll raise my hand and admit it when Honor first said that Making a robot phoneI didn’t necessarily think it would see the light of day. But all credit to the Chinese tech company – it has already delivered.

At CES last January, I saw an early version of the phone that didn’t work, and this week in… MWCI finally saw him in action. Inside the back of the phone, hidden by a sliding cover, is a robot arm with a gimbal and camera. To take the camera out of its case, simply hold your palm up to the front camera, twist that same hand, and it comes out.

The camera has AI object tracking and can monitor you while you are shooting or interacting with it, and track you even if you turn the phone. This is how he was able to look me up and down and tell me that my hair and clothes fit me well.

For several years, we have seen an influx of artificial intelligence Smartphonesbut so far, this has mainly led to software changes – not hardware. The robot phone turns this trend on its head by completely changing the design of the phone to imbue it with physical AI capabilities.

Artificial intelligence is evolving rapidly, Thomas Pei, Honor’s mobile product expert, told me as he demonstrated the device at the company’s booth. He added that it was time for the phone’s body to catch up with its brain.

Read more: First steps? Honor’s humanoid robot makes its debut by walking on the moon and jumping backwards

How do you put a robot inside the phone?

I’m not the only one who thought Honor might be trying to achieve the impossible by putting a robot inside the phone. The company also wasn’t sure it would succeed. It went to a small engine company, which told Honor it couldn’t help, Pai said.

Instead, Honor had to go it alone. She realized that the engine needed to meet two criteria, Pai said. “One is extreme lightness, the other is extreme strength.” That was a wake-up call, he added, “because it’s exactly the same challenge we faced when we built the folding hinges.”

In this sense, Honor’s foldable phones are like brand new phones Magic V6walked so the robot phone could work (or at least rotate on a three-axis gimbal). The same material that Honor uses for its folding hinges – superior steel and titanium alloy – is now inside the tiny motor, which is 70% smaller than anything currently on the market.

This wasn’t even the hardest part of building the Android phone. “Space is the biggest challenge, because inside a flagship smartphone, every millimeter counts,” Bai said. Despite this, Honor did not have to make any concessions, he added.

“Everyone says, if you want to put a gimbal in a phone, you have to sacrifice battery life,” Pai said. Once again, Honor’s experience in building ultra-thin and power-hungry foldable devices comes into play here. Same thing Silicon-carbon battery technology The one that powers the V6 engine is inside the robot phone.

The target market for the Robot Phone, which Honor wants to start selling in the second half of this year, is clearly content creators; The type of people who are currently using the DJI Osmo Pocket. It’s sure to get their attention — no one wants to carry two devices when they want one — but people who own Osmos tend to have high standards for image quality.

Will the robot phone be able to match the Osmo? “Absolutely,” Bay said. “We are very confident in the quality of our video.” It refers to Honor’s newly announced partnership with Ari, a camera company Loved by cinematographers for its professional photography, in addition to the company’s existing phone camera capabilities. “All of this will be done inside the robot’s phone,” he said.

The 200-megapixel sensor, combined with stabilization and what Honor calls AI Spinshot (intelligent 90- and 180-degree rotational motion for fluid, cinematic transitions) looks promising, but we’ll have to test it ourselves to be sure.

In my short trial time with the phone, I can say that it definitely managed to spin fast enough to keep up with me as I moved, and I certainly appreciated the compliments it gave me not only on my hair, but also on my outfit, which he declared to be perfect for a slightly chilly and overcast Barcelona day.

By the end of my demo, the robot Vaughn and I were dancing side by side Believers of Imagine DragonsI almost feel like we’re friends. This wasn’t my first choice of song, but that’s what true friendship is about – sometimes you have to embrace each other’s bad taste in music in order to bond.