Newnal Phone: Mobile phone with its own display for AI avatar

A two-part display that shows an AI avatar at the top: The company Newnal is causing a stir at the MWC with a cell phone curiosity. The Newnal Phone V1 is a demo device for the company's own operating system that puts a self-created AI assistant at the center – or rather on the top screen.

The core of this Android-based operating system is a personalized AI that constantly monitors the user's actions on the cell phone. It is designed to absorb as many personal details as possible so that it can ultimately process personal requests. An example from Newnal's press material: "Write my wife a letter for our wedding anniversary." The Newnal AI has carefully memorized the chat history with your partner and can therefore compose a personal and undoubtedly romantic message to your beloved.

With ChatGPT, Gemini or Deepseek

Newnal AI can also write applications tailored to your CV, transfer money and suggest sunglasses for purchase. To do this, the AI is supposed to work together with the appropriate app, which is why a separate operating system had to be developed. The concept is somewhat reminiscent of Telekom's AI cell phone.

Newnal AI is not picky when it comes to the choice of model: the specially developed operating system can work with ChatGPT, Deepseek, Gemini or any other LLM, says Co-CEO Joe Park in an interview with heise online at the MWC.

The magic is not in the respective AI model, but in the wealth of data available to Newnal AI. The calculations can generally be carried out locally, but the amount of data requires cloud storage secured via the blockchain, which the company itself offers. The user should retain control over the data at all times. Newnal is backed by the Silicon Valley company Blockchain Labs, which developed the COOV vaccination card app for South Korea, among other things.

AI avatar is always watching

Newnal has come up with its remarkable cell phone concept to illustrate the particularly personal characteristics of the AI assistant: with the Newnal Phone, an AI-generated avatar self sits attentively on the top screen. All you have to do is upload your own picture (or better still, a short video) and speak some text. Instead of interacting with a disembodied AI, you then speak to an AI version of yourself. It's particularly funny when you upload an old picture, says Park: "It's like talking to myself in the past."

Newnal's AI operating system is to be marketed to independent cell phone manufacturers. According to Park, Newnal actually wants to launch the Newnal Phone with AI avatar display on the market. Whether this will succeed remains to be seen. At the MWC, most of the Newnal Phones were dummies, with only two phones functioning in a makeshift manner.

(dahe)