After a day of traversing the Mobile World Congress show floor, I was feeling more than a little disheveled. I was about to film a video, and was worried that I wasn't putting my best foot forward, but Honor's Robot Phone disagreed.
"What do you think of my hair?" I asked it. The pop-up camera perched atop the device swivelled on its axis, looking me up and down.
"Your long flowing blonde hair looks soft and shiny," it told me. "It pairs really well with your black outfit, giving you a warm and vibrant feel, which is great for this tech event!"
I'm still not sure I believed it, but it was certainly the confidence boost I needed in the moment.
I'll hold my hands up and admit that when Honor first said it was making a robot phone, I didn't necessarily think it would ever see the light of day. But all credit to the Chinese tech company -- it's actually delivered.
At CES back in January, I saw an early, nonworking version of the phone, and this week at MWC, I finally saw it in action. Inside the back of the phone, hidden by a sliding cover, is a robot arm with a gimbal and a camera. To lure the camera from its shell, you simply hold your palm up to the front-facing camera, turn that same hand around, and out it comes.
The camera has AI object tracking and can lock onto you as you're filming or interacting with it, following you even if you turn the phone around. This is how it was able to look me up and down and tell me my hair and outfit were working so well for me.
For several years, we've seen an influx of AI come to smartphones, but so far, that's resulted primarily in changes to software -- not to hardware. The Robot Phone flips that trend on its head by switching up the entire design of a phone in order to imbue it with physical AI capabilities.
AI evolves fast, Honor's Robot Phone Product Expert Thomas Bai told me as he demoed the device at the company booth. Now, he added, it's time for the phone's body to catch up with its brain.
Read more: First Steps? Honor's Humanoid Robot Makes Its Debut With a Moonwalk and a Backflip
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