Play<\/span><\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\nHere\u2019s what you need to know about the Honor Robot Phone, so you can tell us if Honor should bring this to the Singapore market.<\/p>\n
Honor Robot Phone is a regular flagship smartphone in every other way<\/h2>\n A common snag we see in concept devices turning real isn\u2019t just about how often these wishes come true. As with Carlo Collodi\u2019s Pinocchio, <\/i>wanting to become a real boy (or, in the case of consumer tech, wanting to move from lab prototype to retail shelves) usually comes with caveats. Either the product is astronomically priced like a rich man\u2019s toy, or it leans too heavily into its unique selling feature, or an essential function is overlooked, making it impractical for the real world.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s not the case with the Honor Robot Phone.<\/p>\n\nHonor Robot Phone<\/p>\n
Photo: HWZ<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
For starters, it\u2019s a 248g<\/b> smartphone with 9.59mm<\/b> thickness, which is nearly indistinguishable from a standard Ultra-sized handset. The 200MP 4DoF Gimbal System camera (also its main camera, f\/1.6 aperture, OIS) relies on a motor that weighs a mere 2.6g. Honor said this component is 65% smaller<\/b> than motors from mainstream gimbal cameras, making it the (self-claimed) industry\u2019s smallest 4DoF Gimbal System that exists thus far.<\/p>\n\nAndroid 16, using Honor\u2019s MagicOS 10<\/p>\n
Photo: HWZ<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Crucially, the phone is slated to have Honor\u2019s flavour of Android 16<\/b> out of the box: MagicOS 10<\/b>. We won\u2019t go into the details of its China-specific YoYo agentic AI companion on the device, but knowing that the Robot Phone uses a widely compatible operating system and a reskin of its existing firmware is strangely reassuring. Perhaps it\u2019s that faint hope that Honor would consider bringing it outside of their home market.<\/p>\n
More importantly, being an Android phone also brings us to its flagship-grade parts. It uses Qualcomm\u2019s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5<\/b>, which is the leading 2026 processor powering many of the Ultra-grade Android handsets that thrive among Singapore users. This chip is also on Honor\u2019s 2026 flagship bar-type and foldable devices: Honor Magic8 Pro, and Honor Magic V6, respectively.<\/p>\n\nSummary of Honor Robot Phone features<\/p>\n
Photo: HWZ<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Other specs seemed up to scratch. It packs a 7,060mAh silicon-carbon battery<\/b> supported by 120W wired and 50W wireless charging. There\u2019s also a 6.31-inch LTPO OLED display panel (2,640 x 1,216 pixels) with 1 to 120Hz refresh rates, and even the supporting cameras next to the gimbal lump are pretty decent (200MP periscope telephoto, f\/2.6, OIS, and 50MP ultrawide, f\/2.0). Even the little details checked out: the Type-C port (USB 3.2 Gen 1 with OTG) seems fast, it has dual-SIM compatibility, and NFC support.<\/p>\n
The only missing piece of the puzzle was a verified IP rating for dust and water resistance. However, the fact that Honor Robot Phone was even possible and available at retail was enough to distract us from that. The next section is why we thought it was impossible.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not just a 200MP gimbal camera, but a wholly functional one<\/h2>\n\nHonor Robot Phone<\/p>\n
Photo: HWZ<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Let\u2019s be clear: for users of up-to-date gimbal pocket cameras from brands like DJI, Insta360, or many of the other Chinese alternatives available on the market, the Honor Robot Phone is a hard sell, because you already have the habit of carrying a phone and a gimbal camera together. However, it\u2019s exactly the backup video camera you need if you accidentally left the main one at home, or if its battery is dry.<\/p>\n
From a technical standpoint, Honor Robot Phone is impressive because it includes all the core controls and functions expected of any basic gimbal camera. Our trial confirmed it can do\u00a0basic camera movements<\/b>\u00a0(tilt, pan, zoom up to 4x), plus three tracking features<\/b>: Standard Mode, Hero Follow, and Framing Follow. To make life easier, you can double-tap the subject to start tracking them.<\/p>\n\nGimbal camera tucked away inside the phone\u2019s housing<\/p>\n
Photo: HWZ<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Why it\u2019s not a full-fledged gimbal camera comes down to its lack of critical physical controls and the default speed of the gimbal\u2019s movements. As you can see from our embedded hands-on clip above, it\u2019s slow at tracking, and even slower at panning\/tilting. The panning controls require you to hold down on the phone\u2019s display in the same way you hold down a nub on a gimbal pocket camera.<\/p>\n
It sounds nitpicky, but the phone heats up considerably<\/b> during serious videography. We believe that\u2019s why Honor pre-emptively offered an optional Heat Dissipation accessory (CNY199, approx. S$37.80), which is very compatible with the back of the Honor Robot Phone.<\/p>\n
Another pain point is a manual glass pane housing that holds the gimbal arms and cameras. For some reason, Honor needs you to manually slide the glass pane open\/close to activate the gimbal, on top of an extra button press on-screen. Perhaps the double-confirmation helps to protect the gimbal joints when it\u2019s not in use, but we don\u2019t see why the glass pane cannot automatically move away once you start up the fancy shooter.<\/p>\n\nThe 4DoF gimbal system on the 200MP main camera<\/p>\n
Photo: HWZ<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
That said, the gimbal mostly works wonderfully. It\u2019s a titanium alloy, three-axis stabilisation system <\/b>that confers excellent stability to highly erratic videography movement (again, in our embedded clip above). Honor not only added its imaging chip to boost its processing (Imaging Chip H1<\/b>), but also partnered with ARRI <\/b>(Arnold & Richter Cine Technik), a German film equipment manufacturer whose camera systems have helped produce stunning cinematography for several award-winning films in the last decade.<\/p>\n
Adding to the ARRI partnership for videographers is the ability to shoot in ARRI LogC3 for post-production editing, use ARRI Looks for visual stylisation, and tap into ARRI Wide Gamut 3 for colour-space work.<\/p>\n
Honor also said its ARRI partnership extends into Magic series phones, which practically makes this film equipment brand the chosen optics partner for Honor\u2019s rear cameras in the near future.<\/p>\n
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