Sharp’s crazy new smartphone is a robot

If you ever thought the good ol’ phablet was a bit cumbersome or difficult to shove into your pocket, you ain’t seen nothing yet. Earlier today, Japanese electronics maker Sharp revealed a humanoid robot-shaped smartphone that I promise won’t fit in your skinny jeans. It’s hard to say if it’s more phone or robot, but Robohon (yes, an amalgamation of robot and phone) attracted a whole lot of attention at this afternoon’s press-only preview event at the annual CEATEC convention just outside Tokyo.

The 19.5-centimeter (7.7-inch), 390 gram (0.9-pound) Robohon sports a 2-inch touchscreen, a quad-core CPU, and can connect to 3G, LTE, and wifi networks – but who cares! It’s a freakin’ robot that makes phone calls, shoots pictures and videos, and sends emails! Read more...