There
were
times
I
wasn’t
sure
the
Rabbit
R1
was
even
a
real
thing.
The
AI-powered,
Teenage
Engineering-designed
device
came
out
of
nowhere
to
become
one
of
the
biggest
stories
at
CES,
promising
a
level
of
fun
and
whimsy
that
felt
much
better
than
some
of
the
more
self-serious
AI
companies
out
there.
CEO
Jesse
Lyu
practically
promised
the
world
in
this
$199
device.
Well,
say
this
for
Rabbit:
it’s
real.
Last
night,
I
went
to
the
swanky
TWA
Hotel
in
New
York
City,
along
with
a
few
hundred
reporters,
creators,
and
particularly
enthusiastic
R1
buyers.
After
a
couple
of
hours
of
photo
booths,
specialty
cocktails,
and
a
rousing
keynote
and
demo
from
Lyu
—
in
which
he
made
near-constant
reference
to
and
fun
of
the
Humane
AI
Pin
—
we
all
got
our
R1s
to
take
home.
I’ve
been
using
mine
ever
since,
and
I
have
some
thoughts.
And
some
questions.
It
might
be
a
little
big
for
some
hands,
but
the
R1
fits
nicely
enough
in
mine.
From
a
hardware
perspective,
the
R1
screams
“kinda
meh
Android
phone.”
Here
are
the
salient
specs:
it’s
about
three
inches
tall
and
wide
and
a
half-inch
thick.
It
weighs
115
grams,
which
is
about
two-thirds
as
much
as
the
iPhone
15.
It
has
a
2.88-inch
screen,
runs
on
a
2.3GHz
MediaTek
MT6765
processor,
and
has
128
gigs
of
storage
and
four
gigs
of
RAM.
It
has
a
speaker
on
the
back,
two
mics
on
the
top,
and
a
SIM
card
slot
on
the
side
right
next
to
the
USB-C
charging
port. It
only
comes
in
one
color,
a
hue
Rabbit
calls
“leuchtorange”
but
is
often
known
as
“brilliant
orange”
or
“luminous
orange.”
It’s
definitely
orange,
and
it’s
definitely
luminous.
At
this
point,
the
best
way
I
can
describe
the
R1
is
like
a
Picasso
painting
of
a
smartphone:
it
has
most
of
the
same
parts,
just
laid
out
really
differently.
Instead
of
sitting
on
top
or
in
the
back,
the
R1’s
camera
sits
in
a
cutout
space
on
the
right
side
of
the
device,
where
it
can
spin
its
lens
to
face
both
toward
and
away
from
you.
The
R1
is
like
a
Picasso
painting
of
a
smartphone
After
spending
a
few
hours
playing
with
the
device,
I
have
to
say:
it’s
pretty
nice.
Not
luxurious,
or
even
particularly
high-end,
just
silly
and
fun.
Where
Humane’s
AI
Pin
feels
like
a
carefully
sculpted
metal
gem,
the
R1
feels
like
an
old-school
MP3
player
crossed
with
a
fidget
spinner.
The
wheel
spins
a
little
stiffly
for
my
taste
but
smoothly
enough,
the
screen
is
a
little
fuzzy
but
fine,
and
the
main
action
button
feels
satisfying
to
thump
on.
When
I
first
got
the
device
and
connected
it
to
Wi-Fi,
it
then
immediately
asked
me
to
sign
up
for
an
account
at
Rabbithole,
the
R1’s
web
portal.
I
did
that,
scanned
a
QR
code
with
the
R1
to
get
it
synced
up,
and
immediately
did
a
software
update.
I
spent
that
time
logging
in
to
the
only
four
external
services
the
R1
currently
connects
to:
Spotify,
Uber,
DoorDash,
and
Midjourney.
The
Rabbithole
app
is
for
managing
your
logins
and
seeing
your
notes.
It
needs
some
work.
Once
I
was
eventually
up
and
running,
I
started
chatting
with
the
R1.
So
far,
it
does
a
solid
job
with
basic
AI
questions:
it
gave
me
lots
of
good
information
about
this
week’s
NFL
draft,
found
a
few
restaurants
near
me,
and
knew
when
Herbert
Hoover
was
president.
This
is
all
fairly
basic
ChatGPT
stuff,
and
there’s
some
definite
lag
as
it
fetches
answers,
but
I
much
prefer
the
interface
to
the
Humane
AI
Pin
—
because
there’s
a
screen,
and
you
can
see
the
thing
working
so
the
AI
delays
don’t
feel
quite
so
interminable.
Because
there’s
a
screen,
the
AI
delays
don’t
feel
quite
so
interminable
Almost
immediately,
though,
I
started
running
into
stuff
the
R1
just
can’t
do.
It
can’t
send
emails
or
make
spreadsheets,
though
Lyu
has
been
demoing
both
for
months.
Rabbithole
is
woefully
unfinished,
too,
to
the
point
I
was
trying
to
tap
around
on
my
phone
and
it
was
instead
moving
a
cursor
around
a
half-second
after
every
tap.
That’s
a
good
reminder
that
the
whole
thing
is
running
on
a
virtual
machine
storing
all
your
apps
and
credentials,
which
still
gives
me
security-related
pause.
Oh,
and
here’s
my
favorite
thing
that
has
happened
on
the
R1
so
far:
I
got
it
connected
to
my
Spotify
account,
which
is
a
feature
I’m
particularly
excited
about.
I
asked
for
“Beyoncé’s
new
album,”
and
the
device
excitedly
went
and
found
me
“Crazy
in
Love”
— a
lullaby
version,
from
an
artist
called
“Rockabye
Baby!”
So
close
and
yet
so
far.
It
doesn’t
seem
to
be
able
to
find
my
playlists,
either,
or
skip
tracks.
When
I
said,
“Play
The
1975,”
though,
that
worked
fine
and
quickly.
(The
speaker,
by
the
way,
is
very
much
crappy
Android
phone
quality.
You’re
going
to
want
to
use
that
Bluetooth
connection.)
The
R1’s
Vision
feature,
which
uses
the
camera
to
identify
things
in
the
scene
around
you,
seems
to
work
fine
as
long
as
all
you
want
is
a
list
of
objects
in
the
scene.
The
device
can’t
take
a
photo
or
video
and
doesn’t
seem
to
be
able
to
do
much
else
with
what
it
can
see.
The
R1
has
a
camera,
but
it’s
not
a
particularly
useful
one
yet.
When
you’re
not
doing
anything,
the
screen
shows
the
time
and
that
bouncing
rabbit-head
logo.
When
you
press
and
hold
the
side
button
to
issue
a
command,
the
time
and
battery
fade
away,
and
the
rabbit’s
ears
perk
up
like
it’s
listening.
It’s
very
charming!
The
overall
interface
is
simple
and
text-based,
but
it’s
odd
in
spots:
it’s
not
always
obvious
how
to
go
back,
for
instance,
and
you
only
get
to
see
a
line
or
two
of
text
at
a
time
at
the
very
bottom
of
the
screen,
even
when
there’s
a
whole
paragraph
of
answer
to
read.
Rabbit’s
roadmap
is
ambitious:
Lyu
has
spent
the
last
few
months
talking
about
all
the
things
the
R1’s
so-called
“Large
Action
Model”
can
do,
including
learning
apps
and
using
them
for
you.
During
last
night’s
event,
he
talked
about
opening
up
the
USB-C
port
on
the
device
to
allow
accessories,
keyboards,
and
more.
That’s
all
coming…
eventually.
Supposedly.
For
now,
the
R1’s
feature
set
is
much
more
straightforward.
You
can
use
the
device
to
play
music,
get
answers
to
questions,
translate
speech,
take
notes,
summon
an
Uber,
and
a
few
other
things.
The
back
of
the
R1
has
its
speaker,
scroll
wheel,
and
camera.
And
fingerprints.
That
means
there’s
still
an
awful
lot
the
R1
can’t
do
and
a
lot
I
have
left
to
test.
(Anything
you
want
to
know
about,
by
the
way,
let
me
know!)
I’m
particularly
curious
about
its
battery
life,
its
ability
to
work
with
a
bad
connection,
whether
it
heats
up
over
time,
and
how
it
handles
more
complex
tasks
than
just
looking
up
information
and
ordering
chicken
nuggets.
But
so
far,
this
thing
seems
like
it’s
trying
to
be
less
like
a
smartphone
killer
and
more
like
the
beginnings
of
a
useful
companion.
That’s
probably
as
ambitious
as
it
makes
sense
to
be
right
now
— though
Lyu
and
the
Rabbit
folks
have
a
lot
of
big
promises
to
eventually
live
up
to
and
not
a
lot
of
time
to
do
so.
Photography
by
David
Pierce
/
The
Verge
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