At CES this January, startup Rabbit unveiled its first device, just in time for the end of the Lunar Year of the Rabbit. It’s a cute little orange square that’s been positioned as a “pocket companion that turns AI from words into action.” In other words, it’s basically a dedicated AI machine that acts like a walkie-talkie for a virtual assistant.
Sound familiar? You’re probably thinking of the Humane AI Pin, which was announced last year and is shipping starting this month. I gave it a 50 rating (out of 100) earlier this month while outlets like it Wired And The edge gave it similarly poor marks of 4 out of 10.
The folks at Rabbit have been closely monitoring the fallout from the launch and review of the Humane AI Pin. This was evident in founder and CEO Jesse Lyu’s address last night at an unboxing event at the TWA Hotel in New York, where the company showed off the Rabbit R1 and eager early adopters listened enthusiastically before picking up their pre-orders. Engadget’s sample unit is on its way to Devindra Hardawar, who will be handling this review. But I was there last night to try out the devices at the event that industry colleagues were unboxing (thanks). Max Weinbach for the help!).
What is the Rabbit R1?
As a reminder, the Rabbit R1 is a bright orange square jointly developed by Teenage Engineering and Rabbit. It features a built-in 2.88-inch color display, an 8-megapixel bi-directional camera, and a scroll wheel reminiscent of the Playdate’s crank. The latter, by the way, is a compact gaming handheld also designed by Teenage Engineering, and the Rabbit R1 shares its charming retro aesthetic. Here too, the Rabbit R1, like the Humane AI Pin, is intended to be your portal to an AI-supported assistant and operating system. However, there are some key differences, which Lyu covered in detail at the launch event last night.
Rabbit R1 vs Humane AI Pin
Let’s get this out of the way: The Rabbit R1 already looks much more appealing than the Humane AI Pin. First, it costs $199 – less than a third of the AI Pin’s $700 price tag. Humane also charges a monthly subscription fee of $24, otherwise the device becomes virtually unusable. Rabbit, as Lyu repeatedly emphasized throughout the night, charges no such fee. You’re just responsible for your own cell service (4G LTE only, no 5G) and you can bring your own SIM card or just use good old WiFi. You will also find the USB-C charging port there.
However, the advantages of the R1 over the Pin do not end there. Because of its integrated screen (instead of a shaky, if fascinating, projector), the orange square is more versatile and much easier to interact with. You can use the wheel to scroll through the items and press the button on the right to confirm a selection. You can also tap the screen or press a button to talk to the software.
I haven’t taken a photo with the device myself, but I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the images I saw on the screen. Maybe my expectations were pretty low, but when reviewers set up their devices in a media room and scanned QR codes using the built-in cameras, I found the images on the screens clear and impressively vivid. With the Rabbit R1, users can not only take photos, videos and QR codes. It also has a vision feature like the Humane AI Pin, which analyzes an image you take and tells you what’s in it. In Lyu’s demo, the R1 informed him that he had seen a crowd at “a venue or concert venue.”
We’ll have to wait for Devindra to actually take some pictures with our R1 device and download them from the web-based portal that Rabbit cleverly calls “Rabbit Hole.” The name for camera-based features is Rabbit Eye, which is just adorable. Another thing that sets Rabbit apart from Humane is the former’s personality. The R1 is bursting with character. From the funny feature names to the retro aesthetic to the screen animation and the fact that the AI actually makes (cheesy) jokes, Rabbit and Teenage Engineering have created something that has a lot more flavor than Humane’s almost clinical appearance and approach .
Of all the things Lyu talked about on Humane last night, conspicuously missing were any words about the R1’s thermal performance or the AI pin’s heat issues. To be clear, the R1 is slightly larger than the Humane device and uses an octa-core MediaTek MT6765 processor compared to the AI Pin’s Snapdragon chip. At the moment, there’s no indication that the Rabbit device will run as hot as Humane’s Pin, but I’ve been burned (figuratively speaking) before and remain cautious.
I’m also a little concerned about the R1’s shiny plastic construction. It looks good and feels lighter than expected, weighing only 115 grams or about a quarter of a pound. The scroll wheel moved smoothly when I pushed it up and down, and there were no physical grooves or notches, unlike the rotating hinge on Samsung’s Galaxy watches. The camera body sat flush with the rest of the R1 body and in general the device looked classy and finished.
Most of my other impressions of the Rabbit R1 come from Lyu’s stage demonstrations, where I was surprised at how quickly his device responded to his questions. He was able to type on the R1’s screen and tilted it so that the controls were below the display rather than to the right of it. This way, there was enough space for an on-screen keyboard that Lyu said was the same width as the original iPhone.
What’s next for the Rabbit R1?
Rabbit also drew attention with its so-called Large Action Model (LAM), which acts as an interpreter to convert popular apps like Spotify or Doordash into interfaces that work on the R1’s simple-looking operating system. Lyu also showed some of these at the event last night, but I’d rather wait until we test them out ourselves.
Lyu made a lot of promises to the audience and seemed to acknowledge that the R1 might not have all the features when it gets into their hands. Even on the company’s website there is a list of features planned, in the works or being researched. For one thing, an alarm is coming this summer, along with a calendar, a contacts app, GPS support, memory recall, and more. During his speech, Lyu repeated the phrase “We will work on it” with veiled references to Humane (for example, emphasizing that Rabbit does not require an additional subscription fee). Ultimately, Lyu said, “We’re just continuing to add value to this thing,” referring to a roadmap for upcoming features.
Hopefully Lyu and his team can keep their promises. I’m already very intrigued by a “teach mode” he’s touting, which is basically a way to generate macros by recording an action on the R1 and letting it learn what you want it to do when you tell it something . Rabbit’s approach certainly seems more tailored to hobbyists and enthusiasts, while Humane’s is ambitious yet closed-minded. It feels like Google and Apple all over again, only it remains to be seen whether the race for AI devices will ever reach the same level.
Last night’s event also highlighted what Rabbit wants us to think. The event took place at the TWA Hotel, which itself was formerly the headquarters of the TWA Flight Center. The entire place pays homage to retro vibes, and the entrance to Rabbit’s event was lined with display cases containing gadgets like a Pokedex, a Sony Watchman, a Motorola pager, a Game Boy Color, and more. Every glass box I passed made me scream and evoked a pleasant sensory memory that resurfaced as I played with the R1. It didn’t feel high quality or durable; It felt good because it reminded me of my childhood.
Whether Rabbit succeeds with the R1 depends on how you define success. The company has already sold more than 100,000 units this quarter and appears poised to sell at least one more (I’m already pulling out my credit card). I’m still skeptical about the usefulness of AI devices, but thanks to its price and ability to work with third-party apps at launch, Rabbit has already managed to make me feel like Alice is entering Wonderland .