Honor Robot Phone goes on sale in China; Engadget hands-on finds built-in gimbal surprisingly effective

The Robot Phone is an expensive experiment, retailing for 9,999 yuan (roughly $1,500) in China, with a limited production run similar to Samsung's Galaxy Z TriFold. Engadget says the gimbal is the standout feature: it folds away inside a small compartment on the phone's back, making the device 9.6mm thick. Honor claims it has created the world's tiniest gimbal, manufacturing its own 2.6-gram motor to make it fit.

The gimbal provides three-axis stabilization to the phone's 200-megapixel primary camera, which also has an f/1.6 lens and traditional optical image stabilization. Additional cameras include a 200MP telephoto with 2.7x optical zoom and a 50MP ultra-wide with a 122-degree field of view. A 50MP front camera is present, but Engadget notes the gimbal camera is more likely to be used for selfies.

Using the gimbal requires sliding a cover and tapping inside the camera app. The phone's screen makes it easier to adjust settings than on standalone gimbals, and Honor includes AI-guided shooting modes, including a 180-degree spin shot and a super-steady mode. In testing, the stabilization kept footage steady even when the reviewer bounced around London's Kings Cross station, though subject tracking sometimes locked onto strangers' faces.

Video recording is central to the Robot Phone, with Honor partnering with cinematic camera company ARRI on interface features and LUTs. The phone can capture in ARRI's LogC3 format and apply LUTs in preview. Engadget described the shooting experience as falling between using a regular phone and using a separate gimbal.

While the gimbal performed impressively, the Robot Phone is a proof-of-concept, and an expensive one. Engadget notes that if it were sold in Western markets, it would likely cost even more than the Chinese price, based on Honor's pricing of other devices.