Sure, Siri, Cortana, and Google’s voice search let you talk to your smartphone and listen to it talk back. But you know what your phone probably can’t do? Walk.

Fortunately, Sharp is on it.

The Japanese consumer electronics company has unveiled a new smartphone called the RoboHon. But it’s not just a phone. It’s also a robot. And a projector. And downright weird… but still kind of awesome.

robohon_10

The RoboHon will be available in Japan in early 2016. Don’t expect to see this phone anywhere else anytime soon, because it kind of screams Japan.

Here’s the deal: the phone looks like a little robot with legs, arms, and a head that can move. It’s huge for a phone, but small for a robot, measuring about 7.7 inches high and weighing about 14 ounces. It should be small enough to put in a bag, or even some (large) pockets.

There’s a 2 inch, 320 x 240 pixel touchscreen display on the back and the little guy is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 quad-core processor and it supports 802.11n WiFi and 4G LTE.

Oh yeah, and RoboHon knows how to dance.

robohon dance

While most phones ring or play a chime to alert you about incoming messages, RoboHon can walk over and tell you about them. According to a demo video (with some heavily staged, possibly exaggerated action), the eyes can also light up when a message comes in, RoboHon can respond to voice prompts to send text messages or read them out loud to you, and it can answer your questions and requests with its own voice.

In addition to a camera which can be used to snap photos, there’s a projector which can display on a blank surface, allowing you to view slides, photographs, or other images. The projector doesn’t look particularly bright or powerful, but it’s one more thing that helps RoboHon stand out (although it’s not the first phone with a built-in projector).

via Engadget

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7 replies on “Sharp’s RoboHon smartphone is also a robot (and a projector)”

  1. Never have I laughed so hard at a video. At the same time this is cool and sadly pathetic. The guy in the suit holding the robot to his ear, I just busted out laughing.

    This would not replace my phone, but if it can do half of the things it shows, it will still be a cool toy.

    If they made this, but as hello kitty, every girl in japan that likes hello kitty would have one. And that is a lot of people.

  2. The projector is based on Microvision tech so it’s laser and doesn’t need focus ( a must here). Should be HD but likely just 20-30 lumens- hard to do more in that space and battery constrains.
    The concept is more interesting than it seems at first. Sure it’s kinda ridiculous as a phone but in the end it’s just a robot that does things and can evolve into more. The projection can become better, audio can become better, the projection can gain touch. The robot could grow in size and mobility, become smarter. Today it is tiny and limited but who knows where it will be in 5 years from now.

    1. Could a laser projector compete with the typical 2500-3000 lumen projectors?

      1. The brightness is a limitation of the form factor here, no matter what you use as a light source.The latest IMAX projectors are laser based for example https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jU3w_hBkuns
        Laser lighting (as opposed to LED or OLED) is also an emerging segment, some cars are already starting to use headlights with laser. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WvK5WC4ns0
        Sure there are cost and power considerations too but i couldn’t provide projections on how that will evolve over the next years.

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