Hands-on with phone from T-Mobile owner answers the question on everyone’s mind

Deutsche Telekom (DT), who is a majority shareholder in T-Mobile, announced during the recently concluded MWC trade show that it was making a smartphone. The device is called the AI Phone and as its name implies, it’s going to be heavy on AI. Some more details have now emerged about the phone.

CNET got to play with an early version of the AI Phone. DT has teamed up with AI startup Perplexity to design the phone and its main selling point is going to be the incorporation of AI technologies. It will feature the Perplexity assistant, which was announced earlier this year as well as AI software from Google, ElevenLabs, and Picsart.

The initial impression is that AI is deeply baked into the phone. The integration of Perplexity makes AI the dominant interface. There’s even a pink button on the phone for summoning the AI assistant. If physical controls aren’t your thing, the assistant can also be activated by tapping on a lock screen icon.

The primary way to interact with the device is by assigning Perplexity a task or speaking a command to it, though you may also type your query if that’s what you prefer.

During the demo, Perplexity suggested restaurants and then helped book a table by going to the online restaurant reservation website OpenTable. The phone will also be able to assist you with productivity tasks such as writing emails and making calendar entries.When the news first broke about T-Mobile‘s parent company’s plan to bring its AI phone to the market, it wasn’t clear what operating system it would run. It has now been revealed that apart from its heavy focus on AI, the AI phone will be just like any other Android phone with Google Play apps.

What will make it stand out is that it will make it easier for you to achieve most of your tasks using the AI assistant instead of jumping between apps all day.

The device will be ready by the second half of the year, which is when it will officially be revealed, but it won’t go on sale until next year, and that too in Europe. Its price is expected to be below $1,000.

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