{"slug": "it-s-a-phone-it-s-a-gimbal-it-s-honor-s-robot-phone", "title": "It's a Phone! It's a Gimbal! It's Honor's Robot Phone!", "summary": "Honor unveiled its Robot Phone, a smartphone with a built-in 4-DoF titanium gimbal camera, at an event following Google's Pixel 11 announcement. The device features a 6.31-inch OLED display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor, up to 16GB RAM and 1TB storage, a 7,060mAh battery, and a 200MP main camera on the gimbal, supporting ARRI Cinema LogC3 recording. The phone will not launch in the U.S., but signals Honor's push into AI-driven robotics and camera innovation.", "body_md": "Just as Google reveals its decidedly regular Pixel 11 phone lineup, Honor comes out swinging with an entirely new product category. The new \"species\" is Honor's [Robot Phone](https://www.honor.com/global/events/honor-robot-phone/), a radical departure from the phones you're used to, mainly due to the camera gimbal on the back.\n\nHonor [previewed](/mobile-phones/163471/honor-hoping-to-stand-out-debuts-a-robot-like-phone-and-more-at-mwc) the Robot Phone at MWC earlier this year, but now we've officially gotten our hands on it. This phone won't launch stateside, but it offers plenty of insight into what's happening with smartphone design overseas.\n\n## It's a Phone With a Gimbal\n\nThe Honor Robot Phone is, of course, a smartphone, but it's built with AI and physical mechanical capabilities that match what else Honor is attempting in the industry. The phone has a 6.31-inch OLED display and runs a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor, with a few of Honor's custom chips for power management and image processing. It comes standard with 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage, though you can upgrade to 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage. The Robot Phone runs Honor's own MagicOS, built on top of Android 16. There is also a 7,060mAh battery, plus support for 120W wired charging and 50W wireless charging.\n\nThe Robot Phone uses a three-lens camera system: a 200MP primary camera (the gimbal), a 200MP periscopic telephoto camera, and a 50MP ultra-wide. The front holds a 50MP wide camera. Since the Robot Phone is all about facilitating camera use, Honor makes a big to-do about the up to 4K recording capability on both the front and rear camera systems. The main camera—the one that's on the gimbal—supports a variety of protocols currently used in the entertainment industry, including ARRI Cinema LogC3 recording and ARRI Wide Gamut 3.\n\n## The Gimbal Is Always There\n\nWhat if you don't want to carry the Robot Phone's gimbal around all the time? Unfortunately, you don't have a choice. The gimbal is built into the phone and stows away in the back when you're not using it. The result is a particularly bulbous backside—about 0.38 inches thick—which I could see becoming a pain to drag out of a deep pocket or purse. For comparison, the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra is 0.31 inches. The Robot Phone weighs 8.75 ounces, making it significantly denser than the same phone, which weighs 7.55 ounces. You *really* have to want that gimbal for the real estate it takes up.\n\nHonor says its primary camera features the industry's smallest all-titanium 4-DoF (Degrees of Freedom) mechanical gimbal system. The three-axis gimbal is 65% smaller than traditional gimbal cameras and uses an ultra-lightweight titanium-alloy motor weighing just 0.09 ounces.\n\nThe gimbal does more than point either way. Its mechanical system enables rapid head-turning movements that anthropomorphize the little camera. The camera can nod, shake, and appear curious, giving off major Wall-E vibes. There's even an option that makes it dance, keeping rhythm with the beat.\n\nThe camera can be summoned by the tap of a button. It's not recommended that you pry it out yourself. You can also flip on the \"Yoyo Pro\" AI mode with a physical flip gesture, then direct the gimbal using your voice: ask it to turn left 30 degrees or point to the sky. The camera has a Bluetooth sensor for tracking that helps it orient itself. When it's docked and not in use, the rear camera stays in its space and works as if the gimbal isn't even there.\n\nGimbal cameras are a popular category, and although Honor is proud of its cinematic connections, the point of the gimbal is to promote its AI. Honor would like you to see you talk and interact with the phone in ways you don't, like typing out a prompt to a chatbot or yelling at the phone while holding it sideways. It also subtly showcases the work Honor is doing in its robotics division.\n\nHonor isn't the first Android maker to integrate a mechanical element into its camera system. Vivo and Oppo phones have relied on various gimmicks, like smaller gimbals and pop-out lenses, to improve camera performance, though not to the extent of a physically retracting gimbal. Honor takes the cake for that one.\n\nHonor debuted the Robot Phone at a launch event in China. It's still unknown whether any other markets will see it.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/it-s-a-phone-it-s-a-gimbal-it-s-honor-s-robot-phone", "canonical_source": "https://uk.pcmag.com/mobile-phones/166670/its-a-phone-its-a-gimbal-its-honors-robot-phone", "published_at": "2026-08-12 13:55:42+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-08-12 14:37:31.021485+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "ai-products", "robotics"], "entities": ["Honor", "Google", "Pixel 11", "Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5", "MagicOS", "Android 16", "ARRI", "Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/it-s-a-phone-it-s-a-gimbal-it-s-honor-s-robot-phone", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/it-s-a-phone-it-s-a-gimbal-it-s-honor-s-robot-phone.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/it-s-a-phone-it-s-a-gimbal-it-s-honor-s-robot-phone.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/it-s-a-phone-it-s-a-gimbal-it-s-honor-s-robot-phone.jsonld"}}