I spent two hours with the Honor Robot Phone, and this ridiculous, remarkable device made me feel like a kid again

Date:
Wed, 12 Aug 2026 11:32:15 +0000

Description:
TechRadar got hands-on with the Honor Robot Phone in China here are our
first impressions of this weird and wonderful device.

FULL STORY ======================================================================Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter First there was the phone. Then there was the iPhone. And now, according to Honor , there is the Robot Phone a revolutionary, category-creating device that shatters the physical boundaries of traditional mobile technology.

Now look, I love to call out marketing department hyperbole as much as the next journalist, but notwithstanding its description as the evolutionary successor to Apple s greatest-ever product sell 3 billion units, then well have that conversation the Chinese tech company is right to position the Robot Phone as something wholly different to whats come before. No smartphone Ive ever come across features a fully motorized, three-axis mechanical gimbal built directly into its chassis, nor such a comprehensive suite of professional-grade camera features, some of which are autonomously controlled by a physically expressive AI agent (it even has a name: YOYO). Were in full The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy territory here, and while the Robot Phone may never become as mainstream as the iPhone, it most definitely is as revolutionary as Honor wants us to believe. Latest Videos From TechRadar
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First teased in October 2025 , the Robot Phone appeared in prototype form at MWC 2026 , before finding its way to the Cannes Film Festival and, more recently, the World Cup final (Spains Eric Garcia was spotted filming with
the device). Now, its officially launched in China, and I was among the first group of journalists permitted to hold, capture, and critique the Robot Phone at its extravagant Shenzhen showcase. Gimme, gimme, gimme a gimbal Yes, the Robot Phone is like a prop from 2001: A Space Odyssey (Image credit: Future) Lets start on that gimbal, which marks the Robot Phone out as something entirely different from any of the best phones money can buy in 2026. It really is as if Honor has strapped a DJI Osmo Pocket to its flagship Magic 8 Pro , except the gimbal in question can tuck itself away into the phones rear panel when not in use, almost like an S Pen slipping discreetly into a
Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra . You may like Honors wild Robot Phone now has a release window and it's just months away Honor 600 review: I was blown away by this phones blazing display, epic battery life, and occasionally uncanny
AI Honor Magic V6 review: the battery life and durability king

Why would you want a gimbal attached to your phone? For several reasons. Theres the improved video stabilization, which results in steadier footage; the manual 360-degree control of the gimbal camera itself; the AI-powered subject tracking; or even the many automatic shooting modes like AI SpinShot (a 90- or 180-degree camera roll) and Tilt Locked (which locks the phones gimbal at your chosen angle).

This is no knock-off gimbal, either. Honor says the Robot Phones mechanical gimbal system which features more than 100 individual components is some
65% smaller than mainstream gimbal systems like the Osmo Pocket, and its structure is 200% stronger as a result. The gimbal motor itself weighs just
2. 6g and facilitates movement speeds of up to 360 degrees per second, while
a dedicated Flip Motor delivers a torque density of 120 Nm/L. Get daily insight, inspiration and deals in your inbox Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. Full disclosure: I did not know what the torque density meant before seeing the Robot Phone for myself, but I now know its a measure of how much twisting force a motor can produce relative to its size. A figure of 120 Nm/L is, apparently, very good it means the Robot Phones motor is powerful enough to turn the gimbal with speed and precision, despite being small enough to fit snugly into the phones rear camera module.

And good news! This mechanical gimbal system works very well. I was skeptical about how effective a phone-mounted gimbal could possibly be, but after playing around with the Robot Phones various shooting modes, it produces dynamic, professional-grade footage or at least footage thats comparable to what you can achieve with larger, dedicated gimbals like the DJI Osmo Pocket. The key distinction, of course, is that the Robot Phone doesnt ask you to
walk around with (or purchase) a separate gimbal. The Honor Robot Phone (right) alongside an Insta360 gimbal (left) (Image credit: Future) The gimbal camera is a 200MP 1/1.28-inch sensor with an f/1.6 aperture, supporting up to 4K video with special recording formats like LogC3 and ARRI Cinema. The
latter comes as a result of ARRIs partnership with Honor on the Robot Phone; the German brand known for producing motion picture film cameras lends its expertise to help bring Hollywood-grade color science to Honors smartphone pipeline. What to read next The Honor 600 Pro has some absolutely crazy AI video features The Honor 600 Pro Molly Limited Edition is the most Gen Z
phone I've ever used Motorola Razr Plus 2026 review: an eye-catching flip phone with a limited shelf life

Not to get too technical, but Honor says the Robot Phone performs noise reduction earlier in the RAW domain, processes data in 14-bit 4:4:4, and outputs 10-bit LogC3 and 4:2:2 video, preserving more usable image
information for post-production. ARRI LogC3, meanwhile, preserves more highlight and shadow, while ARRI Wide Gamut 3 provides a broader color spectrum.

If that sounds like a foreign language to you, thats because the Robot Phone is absolutely intended for video creators, rather than regular folk; its
video stabilization capabilities are certainly useful for everyday shooting, but for me, theyre not leagues ahead of what youll get from software-based stabilization features in other phones, like Apple's Action Mode or Samsung
's Super Steady with Horizontal Lock. The real juicy benefits are those post-production features, which were hard to capture and quantify in my short hands-on session, but were certainly present. Say hello (again) to YOYO Image 1 of 3 (Image credit: Future) (Image credit: Future) (Image credit: Future) Image 1 of 3 View Original Image 2 of 3 View Original Image 3 of 3 View Original I did, however, get a taste of the Robot Phones YOYO agent. This agentic assistant initially debuted on the Magic 8 Pro in China as a tool for carrying out cross-app smartphone tasks on your behalf its not dissimilar to Googles Gemini Intelligence feature in that way but on the Robot Phone, YOYO uses the existence of a gimbal to express itself physically. At launch, YOYO can nod, shake its (gimbal) head, dance to music, and perform other motorized oddities, which are complemented by over 100 on-screen facial expressions.

The desired effect is that YOYO feels like a physical companion in your pocket, unlike any other smartphone-based assistant on the market. The
reality is that these physical gestures and on-screen expressions are the definition of gimmickry, though the ability to give YOYO gimbal-related commands using natural language turn left 45 degrees or turn around for five seconds, for instance is genuinely useful, and worked well.

Outside of its gimbal and YOYO agent, the Robot Phone is every bit a 2026 flagship. Its got a 6.3-inch display; it measures just 9.59mm thick (for context, thats less than 1mm thicker than an i Phone 17 Pro Max ); theres a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset, a sizeable 7,060mAh battery, and two additional flagship-grade cameras (a 200MP telephoto and 50MP ultra-wide).

In the hand, the Robot Phone doesnt feel too dissimilar to existing 6.3-inch phones on the market, which is quite the feat given that theres a full-on gimbal on offer here. That said, Im not sure how well that gimbal is going to hold up to real-world use I felt, for instance, like I could easily (or accidentally) snap off the plastic shield covering it. And thats to say nothing of its vulnerability to dust and debris when fully extended. Face-on, with the gimbal deactivated, the Robot Phone looks like a regular 6.3-inch phone (Image credit: Future) But none of this really matters. The Robot Phone is not meant to be treated like a regular phone, because it is not a regular phone. Heck, almost nobody reading this can even buy it. Its a ridiculous, remarkable product that should be thought of more like the Samsung TriFold i.e., an example of whats technologically possible than as a genuine disruptor to an industry that foldable phones have barely managed to dent.

The Robot Phone is essentially Honor saying, Look at what weve been able to
do with technology, and I dont think theres anything wrong with that. To have brought a fully functioning robotic phone to market is no mean feat, and its exciting to see and touch a device thats so drastically different from the phones weve become used to.

In many ways, the Robot Phone is like one of those outlandish gadgets from science fiction movies. And using it made me feel like a kid again. Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds.



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