I put Honor's Robot Phone against a pocket gimbal camera — here's which one I'd buy

(Image credit: Sanuj Bhatia / Tom's Guide)

The Honor Robot Phone is no longer just a concept. We went hands-on with the final version of the Honor Robot Phone, and it's officially going on sale in China starting August 20 for RMB 9,999 (around $1,480), putting it roughly in the same price bracket as the iPhone 17 Pro Max in the country.While I compared the Honor Robot Phone with the iPhone 17 Pro Max, one question has been on my mind ever since I first used the device: Is it actually better than a dedicated pocket gimbal camera?I tested the Honor Robot Phone alongside the Insta360 Luna Ultra to find out, and the answer surprised me. The dedicated gimbal is still better overall, but Honor has gotten so close that you might not need to carry one anymore.Honor got surprisingly close to a dedicated gimbal on its first try

(Image credit: Sanuj Bhatia / Tom's Guide)The most impressive thing about the Robot Phone is just how similar the shooting experience feels to using an actual pocket gimbal camera. Honor has mounted a 200MP f/1.6 camera on a physical arm that can move around to stabilize footage and follow subjects.Of course, the form factors are completely different. The Luna Ultra is designed specifically to be held as a camera, so it's naturally more comfortable when you're recording for longer durations.But the core idea is pretty much the same on both. Even on the Robot Phone, you're getting pretty much the same moving gimbal setup as the Luna Ultra, except it's built into a standard slab smartphone that doesn't feel ridiculously thick.