Meet Robohon: the world’s first robot smartphone
Smartphones have come in many shapes and sizes but Japanese electronics company Sharp have come up with one of the most unique takes on the device yet – a smartphone built inside a robot.
Robohon is as crazy as it sounds – a 20cm high robot which walks and talks yet is still able to make calls, run apps and shoot video.
Not looking too dissimilar to the Android robot’s face, the Robohon will certainly win over many fans due to its looks but can it really function as both a robot and a smartphone?
Novel features charm
The Robohon certainly has its charms that will entice itself to users who have seen the demonstrations made in Tokyo over the past few months.
Firstly, it can not only stand on its own two feet and move in a variety of different ways. It can walk and dance on its own two feet enabling it to interact with its different surroundings.
In terms of impressive tech, the most standout feature is both the facial and voice recognition system which can enable users to have basic conversations with the Robohon over several preset topics.
The only downside to the conversations is that they are generated from a cloud network which costs $9 a month to subscribe too.
Impractical and ill-prepared
After the initial novelties have worn off, the Robohon’s faults starts to let you realise that this might not all that’s it cracked up to be.
Its smartphone capabilities aren’t fantastic and users have only a 2in LCD screen to operate on whilst the 8MP camera is below what most modern smartphones use.
It does come with Android 5.0 though and its face can light up to show high quality images which can either be uploaded into its memory or downloaded from the cloud network.
On top of this, Sharp has valued the Robohon at $1800 making it twice as expensive as a new iPhone despite it lacking in half the power and being twice the size.
Does the Robohon have a future?
Considering its extremely high price and distinct lack of hardware, it seems unlikely that the Robohon will usher in a new revolution overnight.
Despite the setbacks, it is a unique gadget which further goes to underline how far smartphone technology has come and how it can fit in with almost any other gadgetry on earth.
Robohon goes on sale in Japan on May 26 through NTT DoCoM