When Chinese phone maker Honor first teased its Robot Phone back at the end of last year, I wondered if the concept would ever see the light of day. But after interacting with the first version of the device at the Mobile World Congress in March, I had confidence that it would indeed happen. Now, it has a launch date — almost.
Honor will launch the Robot Phone in the third quarter of this year in China, the company announced after taking the device on its night at the Cannes Film Festival last week. As for Honor’s Humanoid Robot, which also debuted at MWC? It looks like that possibility isn’t ready for a full consumer launch yet.
When I saw the Robot Phone in action at MWC, it struck me as part of a trend where we’re starting to see less boring phones come to the fore. But even among the new seas, there is nothing like this.
Watch this: Honor’s Robot Phone is the first of its kind, integrating robots into a smartphone
At first glance, it may seem that there is something unusual about the Robot Phone, but look again, and you will see that the sliding cover hides a robot arm with a gimbal and a camera. To trick the camera into its hiding place, you simply raise your hand towards the camera facing forward, turn that same hand, and it swings.
Thanks to the gimbal, the camera is able to stabilize tracking images. In my short time playing with the phone, I also noticed that the robot arm can dance in time with movement, and that the camera can work in conjunction with AI software to look you up and down and check your outfit. (In my case, the outcome was favorable.) But the real test of the Robot Phone is yet to come.
Confirmation of cinema to attract creators
The Robot Phone appears to have been designed with influencers in mind.
The clear target audience for the Robot Phone are influencers and creators who currently use handheld action cameras, such as the DJI Osmo Pocket. These devices are popular because they are small and versatile, while offering excellent image quality.
For Honor to dream of competing with handheld cameras, it will need to ensure it can at least match, if not exceed, that quality. As announced at MWC, it has a secret weapon on the department in the form of a partnership with ARRI, a company that has been making high-end cinema cameras since 1917.
“Today, consumer smartphones have become an essential tool in professional filmmaking, used in blockbusters around the world,” said David Bermbach, managing director at ARRI, in a press release. “That’s why we believe it’s time to bring these worlds together. For the first time, the core features of ARRI Image Science are integrated directly into the consumer’s device.”
If Honor can bring the quality that ARRI is known for to its well-regarded phones, and make sure that the mechanical features of the Robot Phone are really strong, it could have a compelling product on its hands that encourages creators to throw their standalone cameras aside.
Mark your calendars for fall — this could be the strangest and most exciting phone launch of the year.
