This AI Phone Isn’t a Smartphone! Future of Phones Explained

This is the time to show you a different device today. We talk about the latest smartphones each day. I share what changes are now available on the latest smartphones. Today I will share a device which is actually a smartphone, but it's not a smartphone. You'll be surprised to see it. The company that has made it says that it's a distraction-free phone, an always-connected phone, and an AI-first phone. So this is kind of a glimpse of what devices we'll see in the next 2–3 years.

What is the device actually?

 Please don't miss this article, as you'll get to know what the future is. It's just one step; I don't know if it'll happen or not, but after seeing this phone, you're definitely going to feel something. Let's start. It's called IKKO, it's a MindOne Phone Pro. The Internet is built into the global, that's all it says. Even if you look at the box, it's very different. IKKO MindOne. Alright, this is the phone.

Look at this, just look at the camera. Let me show you something about the camera: it's a swivel camera. You get a clear case. Just for the form factor, a lot of people will buy it because it fits perfectly in one palm. They've given 2 hard, good-quality scratch guards, not bad. Then you have the documentation and more screen protectors. And then you have the documentation, excellent. There is a USB Type-C to Type-C charging cable and a pill-shaped SIM card tool. 

Just look at the phone:

Wow, it's very different. Let's keep this aside and look at the phone. That is exciting, how it looks and the design of this device. I don't know what I'm feeling; It is a very small square phone. It's very different. It's really small. Okay, I can’t wait to see the camera here. It also looks different. It looks like a single pop-up camera. Yes, it is a single 50MP camera. It can work as a front and back camera. That’s nice. 

Now let’s start talking about the unique camera of this device; however, I think we need to take a pause here because, before discussing the camera, we should also discuss the port and button layout, which are seen in this device. The power button on the right side of the phone turns it on and off. The white button is next to the volume rocker. The camera shutter button is also located on the right side of the phone, giving a lot of buttons on this side of the device. 

What features do we get here?

There is a microphone, USB Type-C port and speaker grill at the bottom of the phone. There is a SIM card tray on the left of the phone. The AI key, a noise-cancelling microphone and a light sensor are located on the top of the phone.  It looks totally different from how it looked before. By the way, the weight is literally 136.2g, which is light! But this is a metal frame, so 136g is fine. It's a metal frame, feels nice. And you get sapphire glass for protection, so it's quite hard as well.

Doing a drop test could harm the phone or not?

Do you want to drop it? Let's drop it. I dropped the device and did a drop test. It survived easily on it. By the way, it can even stand. Okay, what's different in this phone? If I talk about the specifications quickly, then there's nothing special: Helio G99 is a 4G processor, 8/256GB variant with a 2200mAh battery. There's no charger in the box, but there should be a 20–25W charger. 

The battery is low but decent:

But yeah, it has a 2200mAh battery. So, as a companion device, if you want to work full-time, you can't look at it as a smartphone. Because the OS is Android 15, but it has its own ecoOS. It's basically AI-first; you can chat. If you want to stream on YouTube, you can do that; if you want to watch podcasts, you can watch them.

AI features of this device:

If you want to transcribe a document, you can do that. So whatever you do with AI, it's basically AI-first. In AI-first, you can use GPT, Gemini, etc. But we tested it; use any model, you'll get the same output. But locally, there's a model which is running. But there's a very unique thing in this: if you buy the Pro variant, you get a Nova Link. Essentially, you're always connected. 

If you go to 60 regions in the world, you'll be connected. Yes, the subscription isn't using your SIM data; it's using data from Nova Link. And you can use the chat, transcribe, and AI tools with it. So it is the reason why it says that it is always connected. But if you actually want to use your SIM on this mini phone, you can use it. In fact, it's a single SIM. But there's a V-SIM, which runs in 140 countries, so you can technically call it a dual SIM.

The display is good, though:

The uniqueness of this display is primarily due to the fact that it is an AMOLED display; however, this does not mean that the quality of the display itself is poor. The device is also equipped with a 4" 90 Hz squared display (yes, it really does use a square-shaped face for its display). While we're on the subject of unique features of this device, let's talk about the camera that is utilised in this device; in this case, there is only one camera available on the device.

Is the camera worthy?

To clarify, this device has a single 50-megapixel pop-out camera that resides at the rear of the box.

This same camera can also double as a selfie camera on the front, meaning you will take good pictures with it.

I think it's just for the name sake, but it shoots good photos; if the light is good, it'll shoot good photos. But yes, that's what it is, only a single camera. Do check it out. It has Android 15 OS, but it also has ICO OS.

Updates and features:

And this thing is open-sourced by Inore. So if the community wants to build something, they can make their own OS on it. If you think about the updates and support features, let’s complete this in one sentence now. You will receive major updates for 3 years and will get security updates for 5 years. Android will continue with versions 16, 17, and 18 after the release of Android 15. This device is able to connect through multiple channels, such as Bluetooth 5.2, dual-band Wi-Fi, and NFC. It is also "always on", like most other IoT devices will be these days. It performs well in terms of multimedia, but due to its square shape, you'll get black bars on the top and bottom of anything you try to watch using it.

Price and other details:

Because it only has one speaker, the audio won't be great either; as such, it doesn't really qualify as a multimedia device. Its only accessory is a case that provides an extra 500mAh of battery capacity, has a 3.5mm jack and does have support for high-quality audio output with its DAC processing capabilities. The device was originally funded through a Kickstarter campaign priced at around $300 USD. Now in retail, it's around $400–$450. 

The price is high, but the reason we did this video was because of the devices that are going to be launched in the future. What will happen with smartphones? Something like this is going to happen: smaller devices, it's not optimised for audio yet, but you'll use a device like this. You'll talk, and all the processing will be done by AI, and it'll show you on the screen. That's about it. There are no icons at all. If you want to watch vertical videos on something, it'll generate and show them to you.

My thoughts about this device:

That's how it's going to be. I'm excited for the future, that's for sure. With this a huge respect to "Trakin Tech" channel's YouTube video from where I took the idea of creating this article. This is just one very small step ahead. This is the Echo Mind 1. Do you have an interest in such devices? In this form, I'm not too sure, but in the future, who knows? That's all for this article. Until the next one, please share your valuable feedback in the comment section. If you like this device and want to purchase one of these, then let me know here. I am impressed with this kind of innovation. Let’s see if it can reshape the future of smartphones or not.