Honor’s Robot Phone Officially Launches, Moves Its Camera So You Don’t Have To

Honor put a motorized camera arm on a regular-looking phone and started selling it in China yesterday. The device, simply called the Robot Phone, costs 9,999 yuan for the 12GB and 512GB version, roughly $1,500, with a higher 16GB and 1TB model at 12,999 yuan. Pre-orders opened immediately after the Guangzhou event, and full sales begin August 18. For now the phone stays in China.

When first turned on, the phone appears to be your standard device. Its dimensions are normal to say the least, measuring 9.59 mm thick, weighing 248 grams, and having a sleek metal body with modest, curved corners. There’s a 6.31-inch LTPO OLED display up front, which can produce 6,800 nits and switch between 1 and 120 frames per second seamlessly. All of this is powered by a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip, which also includes a 7,060 mAh battery, rapid charging (120 watts wired, 50 watts wireless), and just IP54 water protection.

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When you press a button, or even just wave your hand, something interesting happens. A glass cover swings open, showing a small titanium gimbal protruding from the rear of the phone. Someone at Honor evidently spent a long time figuring out how to make this thing smaller, as the mechanism is 65% shorter than typical, yet it also contains over 100 precise pieces. The 2.6-gram titanium motor can spin at a staggering 360 degrees per second. Want the camera to remain in a fixed position? Or keep your first-person perspective? Perhaps you just want to spin it 90 or 180 degrees on a whim? Not a problem; the arm can do it all, and more. Once up and going, the camera maintains its level even as the rest of the phone jerks around.

The main sensor is also impressive, at 200 megapixels and powered by a 1/1.28-inch chip and f/1.6 lens. You get a matched 200 megapixel telephoto with 2.7 times optical zoom, as well as a 50 megapixel ultrawide lens capable of shooting at angles of up to 122 degrees. Honor has partnered with ARRI to enable the phone to take footage in 10-bit LogC3, using the official ARRI Wide Gamut and all that jazz. When you take a photo, it is processed by Honor’s H1 imaging technology, which is excellent at reducing noise and other issues. Do you want to record some serious high-speed footage? There’s no need to worry because 4K at 120 frames per second is equivalent to 1080p at 240 fps. The cherry on top is that you can import the clips directly into DaVinci Resolve with the ARRI LUTs already applied.

The software portion is where things get very interesting. When you press a few buttons or tap a couple of faces, the YOYO Robot Mode activates, autonomously following individuals and keeping the camera focused on them without your interaction. Double tap a face to lock in, even if they stroll away for a bit, and it will immediately reclaim them. Alternatively, use gesture controls to flip the arm up and start rolling.

Want to tell the camera what to do? Voice instructions are available on the menu, and you can instruct it to swap angles or turn for a specific number of seconds. Still, all of this debate about modes and capabilities misses the point: this phone can be used to create video that is nearly identical to the original. Take a solo stroll or go live on a treadmill, and the phone will track the movement with much less tremor than if you held it by hand. Group photographs are also a breeze, since the arm swings from side to side, capturing a few shots and quickly stitching them together to create a lovely, broad panorama.
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