Even after 12 months of unprecedented innovation, one may assume that smartphone AI continues to be a superfluous gimmick. The business's largest gamers appear intent on spending their whole advertising and marketing price range showcasing their silliest software program – what number of adverts for Google's Greatest Take characteristic or Apple's Genmoji device did you see final yr? – however the broader toolsets that embody these options are (I promise you!) turning into an increasing number of helpful.
For its half, Honor has all the time maintained that AI ought to present human-centered options to human-centered issues (learn: make our on a regular basis lives simpler), and with MagicOS 8.0, the model launched its Intent-Based mostly Person Interface (IUI). The aim was to cut back the variety of steps required to modify between apps by predicting (and responding to) your intentions.
A key characteristic of this interface was Magic Portal – a shortcut device that allows you to swap between apps and providers with a single swipe – and in MagicOS 9.0 for the upcoming Honor Magic 7 Professional, Magic Portal will get a severe facelift.
Let's begin with the large characteristic improve. In its present state, Magic Portal lets you choose and drag blocks of textual content, photos, and recordsdata right into a contextual sidebar to work together with related apps. That alone was sufficient to set the perfect Honor telephones aside from the Android competitors – in truth, we described Magic Portal as an “excellent characteristic” in our Honor Magic V3 overview – however in MagicOS 9.0 the device is up to date with a pleasant new characteristic known as Portal to Anyplace.
Portal to Anyplace helps you to use your knuckle (sure, your knuckle) to attract something attention-grabbing on the display screen – be it an tackle, a picture or a product – and Honor's AI mind supplies apps (within the Magic Portal sidebar ). ) that it deems most related to that content material. For instance, for those who circle the quilt of a guide along with your knuckle, Magic Portal 2.0 means that you can drag that guide instantly into related e-commerce apps to buy it. Or in case your buddy mentions the identify of a restaurant you must go to in a textual content message, you’ll be able to circle that cafe's identify and drag it into Google Maps or one other appropriate navigation app.
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Particularly with photos, highlighting content material along with your knuckle is a way more efficient technique than the push, maintain, and drag required in Magic Portal 1.0. However I do know what you're pondering: “Isn't Portal to Anyplace simply Circle to Search by a distinct identify?”
Nicely, not likely. To start with, Circle to Search is already out there on choose Honor telephones. Crucially, this characteristic is a shortcut to Google Search and never a shortcut to a number of apps. You’ll be able to after all nonetheless use Portal to Anyplace to entry Google Search, however it’s also possible to drag your chosen content material into any variety of totally different apps. It's Honor's intent-based UI in motion.
Honor says Magic Portal 2.0 additionally has improved semantic understanding of landmarks and film IPs, so in concept it shouldn’t have any bother absolutely figuring out the whole lot from the Sagrada Familia to Timothée Chalamet dune gear.
The apps are coming
The second massive information for Magic Portal 2.0 considerations the extent of app help. Since its launch early final yr, Honor has steadily elevated the variety of Magic Portal-compatible apps out there outdoors of China – the software program now helps WhatsApp, Fb, Instagram and Google Maps – however Magic Portal stays a way more useful gizmo for customers on the opposite aspect of the world, not least as a result of the pool of appropriate ride-hailing apps for Westerners continues to be disappointingly small.
Happily, that's altering with Magic Portal 2.0, which introduces – in Honor's personal phrases – help for “a broader vary of purposes spanning leisure, transportation, productiveness and purchasing wants.”
This isn’t simply advertising and marketing communicate both. Uber, YouTube, TikTok, Outlook, Google Translate, properly, in every single place else.
When Honor introduced Magic Portal, I wrote that Honor's new “intent-based interface” would allow you to order meals and taxis with only one swipe. Now, a yr later, this utopian imaginative and prescient is turning into a actuality for a lot of extra individuals.
Magic Portal 2.0 will launch with MagicOS 9.0 on the Honor Magic 7 Professional, which is predicted to reach in European markets quickly.