Experience all-AI Android smartphones at MWC 2024

At Mobile World Congress 2024, Deutsche Telekom unveiled a concept Android phone completely based on AI. Essentially, this phone (officially named Deutsche Telekom Concept AI Phone) uses AI to replace the need for apps. The company sees this as a step towards an “application-less” future.

Now, I know what you’re thinking. Using apps is a fundamental aspect of using any smartphone, whether it’s an Android phone or an iPhone. That may be true today, but in the future we may be far less dependent on individual apps than we are today. That’s what’s especially interesting about this phone. Let’s dive in!

We’re so addicted to apps at the moment that it can be hard to imagine a future without them. Anyone reading this probably has over 50 of his apps installed on their phone. If you think about it, this is insane. To arm yourself with the right knowledge, let’s review the hypothetical steps to purchase a product using your mobile phone today.

First you need to think about what you want. This may include searching Google or watching YouTube videos in a browser app. Once you have an idea of ​​what you want, you need to look for the right brand. This may include using another app, such as Amazon. You’ll probably poke around there for a while, check out some reviews, and maybe even go back to Chrome or YouTube to check out external reviews as well. Finally, you find the product that best suits your needs, realize it’s cheaper on eBay, and jump there to buy it. That means you’ll need a total of 4 apps per purchase.

AI phones are trying to fix this cumbersome multi-app process. Instead of jumping through all these hoops, what if you could have a conversation with an AI that did all the work for you? You had access to all the information in every app you had open, and you didn’t even need an app. What if you could do it all step by step?

According to the Deutsche Telekom representative who showed me the AI ​​phone, the system uses both on-device and cloud AI power. When you talk to AI using natural language, it quickly creates temporary “apps” to complete tasks.

Keeping the previous shopping example in mind, let’s look at a similar process with an AI system. First, ask the AI ​​questions about what you’re looking for. The representative did this using voice, but I found that I could type in my questions instead if I wanted.

The first question he asked was what gift he should buy his daughter. After a few seconds of processing, the AI ​​returned a list of products suitable for gifting. Products were placed in a grid with important information such as price. I then asked for product reviews and within seconds I had the list. He then requested some videos and received a scrollable list of the “best” videos and clips worth checking out. Finally, he was ready to buy and was able to press his checkout button. At no point in the process did he open the app.

The rep showed us that it works with several types of Android smartphones, including high-end and mid-range devices. Using a combination of on-device and cloud-based AI, he says it can handle almost anything. In general, the system relies heavily on on-device power if the phone can handle it, and focuses on cloud operations if the phone’s processing is not powerful enough.

This system isn’t just for shopping. You can ask AI to suggest travel destinations, create slideshows with photos, post to social media, draft documents, and more. Think of all the apps you use to do those things and imagine not needing them anymore.

This sounds great, but what if you just want to check your email? Wouldn’t it be easier/faster to use a standard app instead of relying on an AI? The representative assured me that they do not intend to block you from using the app on your phone. He told me that all he gets back from the AI ​​system is his typical Android home screen with Play Store apps.

However, the vision is to make this AI system the primary means of interaction with the phone. When you turn it on, the first thing you’ll see is AI.

If this seems completely unrealistic, remember that back in the day, you had to memorize phone numbers. Eventually I stopped remembering phone numbers, but I still had to remember websites. These days, we don’t really remember websites, but we do need to remember apps.

Deutsche Telekom and AI developer Brain predict that in 10 years, people won’t even be able to remember apps. Just talk to the AI ​​and it will do all the work for you.

What struck me most about this demo was that it wasn’t trying to abandon the concept of using a smartphone altogether. It was still a typical Android smartphone, but with new layers and the power of AI to make it easier to use. For this reason, I liked it much better than something like the Humane Ai Pin or the Rabbit R1. Both assume that we are ready to move into a post-smartphone world. I don’t think we’re quite ready for that, so the Concept AI Phone seems like a logical stepping stone between where we are now and humans and rabbits and so on. Assume that it will eventually happen.

However, it goes without saying that there are still concerns with this type of system. For example, how can we trust that AI is giving us a wide range of choices and not just Deutsche Telekom/Brain showing us products to buy? How do we know? What happens when we move beyond normal shopping and into more delicate situations, like finding a new doctor? There’s a lot to be concerned about here, but don’t jump to conclusions. It’s too early. After all, this is just a concept.

Unfortunately, the company could not reveal when it plans to launch the actual product. Brain has an iOS app similar to the one we saw at MWC, but more rudimentary (focused only on shopping). In fact, this app has a lot of negative reviews, with many complaining about things like never having their items shipped after purchasing something, or not being able to contact customer support. Because of this, I’m a little nervous about giving Brain the thumbs up, but what was demoed at MWC seemed solid enough.

In any case, we’ll have to wait and see if this gets beyond the concept stage. Even if it doesn’t, I’m intrigued by the idea of ​​AI augmenting my smartphone experience in this way. I’m not ready to move to a world without smartphones just yet, but I am ready to significantly cut down on the number of apps on my phone. This could represent the direction we’re headed, even if Blaine can’t make it.