If there’s one The overarching takeaway from the Rabbit R1 launch event last night is that hardware may be fun again. After a decade of undisputed smartphone dominance, there’s once more excitement in consumer electronics. The wisdom and longevity of a single product or form factor, while vital, may be put aside for a moment. Just sit back and luxuriate in the show.
Although I fly out of an airport every month, last night was my first night on the TWA Hotel, nestled between the labyrinthine branches of JFK Terminal 5. After all, you rarely stay in hotels where you reside. The space is a nod to a different time, when people dressed as much as board flights and smiling chefs prepared to serve whole legs of ham.
Photo credit: Brian Heater
Parked out front was a rented DeLorean emblazoned with the “Rabbit” logo, serving as a postmodern homage to the event’s decades-long tradition. Less strident was the song by Ritchie Valens, sandwiched between Motown hits, from the elevator speakers as we descended three floors to the underground performance space.
When I entered the room, there have been already a whole bunch of participants lined up. Familiar faces from the world of tech journalism pondered it, but a big variety of them were enthusiastic early adopters. The two groups were differentiated using “press” or “VIP” lanyards. A person ahead of me in line volunteered that he had flown in from Los Angeles specifically for the event.
Like Humane, the Rabbit team clearly values ​​spectacle. The approaches are similar but different, with the previous investing heavily in viral videos, including a teaser for the solar eclipse this clearly envisioned itself as a kind of spiritual successor to Apple's famous “1984” spot. However, one gets the impression that Rabbit really didn't anticipate how much of a stir the corporate's debut at CES 2024 would generate.
“When we began constructing r1, we said internally that we can be glad if we sold 500 devices on launch day,” the corporate said Posted on X. “Within 24 hours we’ve got already exceeded that by an element of 20!”
It would have been difficult to time the discharge higher. The hype around generative AI had reached its peak. Humane had featured its Ai pin but hadn't released it yet. Intel declared 2024 the yr of AI PC and shortly Samsung would do the identical for the smartphone. Apple, meanwhile, promised big news of its own on this front in the approaching months.
Photo credit: Brian Heater
If a tech company desires to placed on an enormous show, it needs to decorate accordingly. The concentrate on product design is one other vital parallel between Rabbit and Humane. Although the shape aspects are very different, each the Ai Pin and the R1 are a testament to the worth of business design. Rabbit, for its part, took a cue from Nothing's preference and commissioned the experts at Teenage Engineering to develop an especially original-looking product. In fact, the R1 looks more like a murals than anything. It's a squat, orange object – something it is advisable to attach to the handlebars of your bike in inclement weather.
While the Ai Pin's defining physical feature is its lack of a display, Rabbit embraces the screen – albeit modestly. The display is just 2.88 inches in size and feels almost insignificant at times. This goes double for the touch functionality. While, much like the Ai Pin, much of your interactions shall be done with voice, a mixture of analog scrolling and buttons largely fills within the gaps.
Other than entering a Wi-Fi password, there aren't many reasons to the touch the screen. This is the perfect. The most daunting and ongoing task facing the emerging field of AI devices is justifying its existence outside of the smartphone. After all, anyone with a half-decent mobile device (and plenty of not-decent ones) has access to generative AI models. These are currently largely accessed via browsers or standalone apps, but models reminiscent of ChatGPT and Google Gemini will increasingly be integrated into mobile operating systems in the approaching months and years.
Photo credit: Brian Heater
When I asked Humane the query, co-founder and CEO Bethany Bongiorno shared the next anecdote: “(Humane's co-founders) had gone to this dinner and there was a family sitting next to us. There were three children and a mother and father who were on the phone the entire time. It really began a discussion concerning the incredible tool we had developed, but in addition among the unwanted effects.”
The lack of a screen on the Ai Pin is basically a feature. Again, there are numerous reasons to query the wisdom and effectiveness of this design decision, but regardless, it’s critical to the product. It's value noting that the worth fairness hurdle is significantly lower than the Ai Pin's asking price at $199.
Brian Heater
The truth is that novelty is an enormous selling point at this early stage of the primary generation. Either you see the appeal of a dedicated LLM access device otherwise you don't. Rabbit's relatively reasonably priced price opens up lots to this world. You also needs to have in mind that the R1 has no monthly service fee, while Humane charges you $24/month for functionality. Combined with the (albeit limited) touchscreen and truly outstanding design, you may see why the product took among the wind out of the Ai Pin's sails.
None of the devices handle apps like modern smartphones. They interact exclusively with the onboard operating system. However, this may be linked to other accounts including Spotify, Uber, Midjourney and DoorDash. The system can record voice and perform bidirectional translation. The system also can capture environmental context via the onboard camera.
One of the primary tests I undertook was describing my bookshelf. I pointed the camera at a set of 4 hardcover books: “Moby Dick” by Herman Melville; “The Barbary Coast” by Herbert Asbury; “Understanding Media” by Marshall McLuhan; and “Dodsworth” by Sinclair Lewis. There was general difficulty with the last book – understandably so, because it was the least clear within the group.
It largely recognized and understood what it was seeing with “Moby Dick,” calling it a “classic” and sometimes offering a transient summary. The two middle books were recognized in 50 to 75% of cases. An attempt was also made to supply context to the curatorial decisions and sometimes went too far in complementing the curatorial work.
However, there have been times when the context was a bit complicated. I asked the R1 when the Oakland A's were playing (I added the town after an initial request for just “A's” showed up as “Ace”) and it showed me today's game time before giving me an inventory of next I played through 10 or 10 so which teams they play against. But hey, I'm a lifelong A's fan. I enjoy defeats like this.
Photo credit: Brian Heater
What's notable about all of those early articles is that these kinds of devices are designed to enhance and adjust results the more you employ them. I'm writing this after picking up the device just yesterday evening. I'll send it to Devin for a more detailed description.
After fooling around with the R1 for just a couple of hours, I can definitely inform you that it's a more accessible device than the Humane Pin as a consequence of the touchscreen and price. It doesn't solve the cultural screen obsession that Humane is serious about – nor does it seem to be it's aiming for such grandiose ambitions in any respect. Rather, it’s a beautifully designed product that gives a compelling glimpse into the possible future.
