Honor Robot Phone needs to speak to you. Welcome to the Future.

Because, apparently, telephones that hear aren’t sufficient—now, they need to be companions.

Maybe I’m bored with seeing AI slapped onto each new product this 12 months…or I’m simply getting cranky in my outdated age. But “eh” was my response after I noticed the teaser video for the Honor Robot Phone, an idea that can go on show at MWC in March. Our telephones already hear in. Do they actually need to look at and discuss to us, as properly? This Wall-E-like phone appears to suppose so. 

Despite my interior curmudgeon, I couldn’t assist however rewatch the video. Because a cellphone with a digicam that serves as a robotic head is both genius or fully unhinged…and I needed to know which.

What the Honor Robot Phone really is

So, what precisely is the Honor Robot Phone? For now, we solely have the teaser video to go on. But right here’s what we all know: it’s bought a built-in gimbal-style digicam that rotates and tilts like a mini robotic head. It follows no matter or whoever it’s pointed at. Think of the DJI Osmo Pocket 3, however constructed right into a smartphone.

Honor calls it an idea system, which suggests they’re testing it out, seeing if folks like me might be intrigued. There’s a ton of AI performance rumored, too. So the digicam isn’t simply transferring for present…it’s alleged to work together with people; discuss and reply to them.

Part of me is impressed. As a working mother, I’d love a cellphone that’s just a little smarter, one which helps out extra. If it might have a look at my open fridge and design a meal plan for the whole week utilizing solely what I’ve available, I’d be thrilled. Especially if I bought just a little robotic nod of approval for cooking the recipes proper. Since I don’t have specifics about that, I can solely dream.

Cool…but in addition just a little creepy

I perceive why Honor is looking this the long run. Phones that transfer and observe like this might really change how we work together with tech. Video calls may lastly really feel much less awkward, selfies would all the time end up nice, and creators may discover the built-in gimbal indispensable. On paper, it’s fairly intelligent.

But alternatively…an AI phone that actually locks its eyes on me feels…uneasy. I like my devices, however I’m undecided I’m able to have my cellphone watch me. I’d half-expect it to begin giving me recommendation: “Lauren, maybe skip the third cookie.” And whereas the AI options are in all probability simply making an attempt to make life simpler, I’ve to marvel: do we actually need our telephones to behave like companions, as an alternative of units?

It’s a fragile steadiness. With chatbots, we’ve seen that expertise that interacts in human-like methods will be each enjoyable and useful. But as soon as it’s in your cellphone and may affect {hardware}, it turns into a presence.

Why we’re so obsessive about humaniod tech

Maybe that is the place we’ve been heading all alongside. Our telephones already end our sentences, predict what we’ll kind, and discuss again once we ask them for the climate. The subsequent logical step was giving them a face—or not less than one thing that mimics one.

There’s one thing comforting about tech that behaves like us. It feels acquainted and private, fairly than chilly and expressionless. That’s why we title our robotic vacuums, discuss to Alexa like a roommate, and depend on voice assistants to maintain our lives organized. The Honor Robot Phone takes that familiarity a step additional—giving bodily kind to the AI in our telephones.

Welcome to the long run, I suppose

At the top of the day, the Honor Robot Phone is an idea, a glimpse into what telephones may seem like sometime. I can see it altering the way in which we movie, talk, and work together with our units. How a lot it interacts with people as a companion stays to be seen. And to the extent that it does, I’d count on the units to have equally complete privateness controls.

So sure—Honor needs its robotic phone to speak to you, comply with you, possibly even perceive you. Welcome to the long run, I suppose. And if nothing else, it’s a reminder that smartphones aren’t simply getting smarter—they’re beginning to work together. We’ll have to attend till the MWC occasion subsequent 12 months to study extra.

The Robot Phone served as Honor’s “One more thing…” announcement following a launch occasion for its two Magic 8 flagship telephones. They’ll go on sale in China later this month and can launch globally earlier than 2026.