I’m not sure about you, but i’m tired of AI. The term loses its meaning when every company in the field uses it. I’m tired to hear about AI use cases I hardly use.
The first era of AI focused on generative uses. It has created millions of ways, can help anyone to become an artist, has led to a fake era, and is also a problem that phone makers hope to solve using AI.
But, the lack a use-case that everyone wants has also meant that we’re about enter the next era agentic AI. The key difference is that the first era focused on creating new content. The second era focuses on using AI to make your life easier.
After experiencing five different examples of AI’s future, it’s obvious that we are finally going to get the AI we’ve been dreaming of.
Gemini Live
Google pushes AI on smartphones for the hundreds and millions of users that use Gemini or OEM partners AI solutions. I was blown away by what I saw at the Android Avenue during MWC 2025.
Firstly, AI is finally addressing the biggest issue since the advent of smart homes: getting things to function properly. Gemini can now build complex routines for you, so you don’t have to.
To demonstrate, a dog was shown stealing a cookie off a kitchen counter. The demo had the user ask Gemini to first review the footage and determine if it was a child or a pet. The demo then asked Gemini to create a routine that would turn on the lights and send a preset message to all speakers in order to stop the situation.
This is the type of AI feature that I can see my mother using, as is the preview of the new Gemini Live. In the coming weeks, all Gemini Advanced customers will be able to share a screen with Gemini, and mobile users will also be able to use their phone camera to ask questions about their surroundings.
The possibilities are endless with these new features, and I love that Google is also making them incredibly user-friendly. They’re simple enough that anyone can use them.
Moto AI & Smart Connect 2.0
Motorola didn’t unveil any new hardware at MWC, but that didn’t stop it from showing off a suite of new AI features that will transform how you use your phone.
The biggest of these is Smart Connect, which will transform the integration of all Android and Windows devices, not just those made by Motorola and its parent company, Lenovo. It also provides the best ecosystem integration I’ve seen, aside from Apple’s.
Smart Connect allows you to link a laptop, tablet, and phone together to open a range of new features. These include easily transferring files and mirroring the screen. There are also some nifty AI tricks, such as being able to search images, documents, and files across all your linked devices and launching apps on a device using Moto AI on another device.
In particular, Lenovo and Motorola are taking a different approach to the one deployed by many tech companies. Instead of limiting the feature to just their devices, it’s instead available to help any Android or Windows user. It’s refreshing, and I hope it’s a sign of the things to come in the industry.
Real-time translation from Oppo, Honor, and Tecno
One of the AI use cases I’ve been most excited about is real-time translation. I used to be great at learning new languages, but I need to refresh this skill. Yet, I travel a lot and have many meetings where translators are required. I’ve longed for a setup that made conversations seamless on the go, and Oppo, Honor, and Tecno revealed new solutions that could make this a reality.
Oppo launched the world’s thinnest foldable — the Oppo Find N5 — two weeks before MWC, meaning its presence during the show was focused on its AI efforts in partnership with Google Gemini. The most exciting part of the AI Summit was the reveal of real-time translation during phone calls, which should roll out to users in the coming months. It’s unclear whether this is just for Oppo phones, but it’s a huge benefit for travel and work.
Honor also tackled the same problem using an entirely different approach. While Oppo’s translation feature is only for phone calls, Honor’s is designed to tackle the problem of live translation during conversations. Its solution? Its first open-ear earbuds, the Earbuds Open, have ANC and offer real-time translation; pass one to the other person, place one in your ear, and you can have a conversation with no one else needed.
Tecno took a third approach to solving the same problem but focused more on business meetings and less on portability. Its new MegaBook S14 computer features the ability to translate a conversation or business meeting in real time, allowing you to conduct business without the need for human translators. Particularly interesting is that it runs entirely on-device and offline, so it should even work if you need to have an impromptu conversation in the skies.
Each of these features has the ability to make your interactions with other humans much easier, but the next generation of AI is also designed to be the assistant that gets things done for you.
Honor’s AI Agent
There’s a lot of growing apps and services that offer some form of agentic artificial intelligence, or in simpler terms, the ability to do things like a human would. Consider the difference between AI right now and a human assistant: if you ask the latter to book a table, flight, or hotel with your set preferences, you’re not likely to have to use multiple prompts to do so.
Alongside several new products and announcements — including its new AI-focused Alpha plan corporate strategy, 7 years of updates for its flagship smartphones, and several AI demos — Honor showed off its new AI Agent. It’s a GUI-based mobile AI agent that can read your screen and perform task,s and the example above was used in the company’s demo.
The actual user experience won’t display all the steps, but the demo showed each of the steps it takes. For security reasons, you also have to confirm before the final step is executed. It can work with other third-party applications as well, and it can adapt to use your preferred app instead of the pre-programmed options.
Welcome to the era of helpful AI
Yes, it doesn’t sound as cool as Agentic AI, but the future of AI seems to be about helping people solve complex problems or perform mundane or repetitive tasks. It’s designed to help you live life on your terms, and each of these products will help you do that.
I’ve been in plenty of situations where real-time translation is needed, and recording to translate later hasn’t always been feasible. Many people would like an assistant for tasks like b ooking hotels or restaurants just to save them time, while Motorola Smart Connect could have a huge impact on all Android and Windows users.
The biggest impact will be from Google Gemini. Google is at the forefront of Android efforts around AI, but it has thankfully recognised that supporting partners is the way to get AI in the hands of the masses.
A partnership that started with Samsung Galaxy AI has extended to also working closely with phone makers — including Motorola, Honor, and Oppo — to develop and build new AI experiences. I am a big fan of Apple Intelligence Notification Summaries, but in the same week that Apple delayed the next generation of Siri, it’s telling that we’re getting the AI we deserve from multiple Android phone makers working together.
