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A smartphone without apps? This AI assistant aims to replace them all

If you liked Rabbit's R1, behold Deutsche Telekom's T Phone. The AI-powered prototype will be revealed at next week's MWC.
Written by Sabrina Ortiz, Editor
MWC T-Mobile AI smartphone
Sabrina Ortiz/ZDNET

Applications make our everyday lives easier, enabling us to perform all sorts of tasks, from ordering food to booking a trip right from our phones. But what if all those apps could be replaced by one seamless AI assistant that performs every task for you instead?

At Mobile World Congress (MWC) next week, Deutsche Telekom -- T-Mobile's majority stakeholder -- will present a concept AI phone that uses an AI assistant to perform tasks on your phone, bypassing the need for apps. 

Also: This new AI Assistant from Adobe lets you chat with your PDFs at no additional cost

The phone's generative AI interface, powered by Brain.ai, can take over the function of a wide range of apps, predicting and generating what to do next to carry out the end goal prompted by the user. 

"An assistant based on artificial intelligence (AI) replaces the countless apps on the smartphone," said Deutsche Telekom in its press release. "Like a concierge, the assistant understands your goals and takes care of the details."

For example, if you wanted to book a trip, instead of having to visit several apps yourself to complete the task, you would ask your phone via voice or text to do it for you, and it would take the necessary steps to do so, without you having to open any apps.

The concept will be showcased at MWC on Deutsche Telekom's T Phone, which is already available for purchase in European markets, and on the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 Reference Design, in which the AI processing is done on the device. 

As eager as you may be to try a smartphone that could streamline all your everyday tasks, don't get too excited. At MWC, Deutsche Telekom will be showcasing prototypes, with the actual product taking "some time" before they are available in stores for customers, according to the company. 

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This smartphone's approach to tasks resembles that of the Rabbit R1, a $199 handheld device that leverages AI and natural language processing to replace apps and complete all sorts of tasks for you.

The sixth batch of the Rabbit R1 is available for pre-order now, with the first five batches having sold out already. If you pre-order today, you can expect the Rabbit R1 to ship to US and Canada addresses in June and July 2024. As noted above, the T Phone's AI assistant does not yet have a release date.

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