This AI smartphone can pull off the hardest camera trick from Vertigo without a film crew. The Honor 600 Pro offers it as a preset, generating motion around a single still image.

Peng Jianteng, an AI engineer at Honor, explains that the technology aims to unlock content already sitting idle in the form of illustrations, old photos or designs. It can animate these images with character movement, camera motion or environmental changes, providing new creative possibilities.

Before launch, Honor handed the tool to students from art universities, who produced a range of innovative works, including short music videos and hyper-surreal movie-style concepts. Everyday users have also found their own uses, turning generated clips into Live Photos for social media or stitching scene templates together to create seamless transitions.

While the technology is impressive, Peng Jianteng notes that there are still limitations in terms of controllability, consistency and video length. He predicts future advancements will focus on giving users stronger control over camera movement, character actions, and timing, as well as better consistency across longer clips and personalisation based on user preferences.