This is a cute, orange gadget that has spent much of its brief time in my pocket.
I have little to reason to pull it out.
And why would I?
(Image credit: Future)
It does nothing better than myiPhone 15 Pro Maxand the dozens of apps I have on it.
It’s not even a better AI equipment than a smartphone with Gemini, Copilot, orChatGPT.
Even the design, which gets points for solid construction and cute, retro looks, fails to inspire.
(Image credit: Future)
The touch-screen, physical scroll wheel navigation is one of the worst system interaction strategies I’ve ever encountered.
RabbitOS’s incredibly linear navigation only exacerbates the problem.
Rabbit R1 was supposed to be different.
(Image credit: Future)
it was supposed to be special.
It’s not a smartphone and was never intended to be one or even compete with one.
What’s in the box:Rabbit R1Weight:115gDimensions:3in.
(Image credit: Future)
Would it shock you to hear that most of that didn’t work for me?
It’s not all Rabbit’s fault.
Spotify won’t accept third-party music requests unless you have a paid account.
Doordash couldn’t complete the sign-in.
Midjourney works but the image generation is happening in Discord and not inside the Rabbit.
LAM turns out to be unimpressive and somewhat jerry-rigged.
I wouldn’t, and neither should you.
The first run is done and new orders are shipping in June 2024.
Rabbit R1 is a 3x3in by a half-inch thick orange paint-covered and fairly sturdy slab.
There’s a surprising 128GB of storage that will mostly go unused.
AI image generation through Midjourney, for example, is not performed in-rig.
If I had it connected to my smartphone, the connection would often drop out.
There isn’t much about Rabbit R1’s operation that I’d call familiar.
If you pick it up, you’ll notice the screen is dark until you press the talk button.
The default screen is a graphical rabbit (Rabbit’s logo) with battery life and time.
There’s nothing else on the display.
Touching or tapping the screen does nothing.
At least Rabbit R1’s microphones are powerful enough to pick up my requests even when I whisper them.
Rabbit R1 gets points for cute graphics. This is what I saw when I recharged the handset.
Rabbit R1 doesn’t do much of anything on its own.
It’s also quite good at reading labels.
The built-in camera is not for taking pretty pictures (what do you expect from an 8MP sensor?)
and is instead used with Rabbit Vision.
After a few seconds, it usually responds accurately and in surprising detail.
It did well identifying a banana, a camera, and me as a late middle-aged man.
Most people not comfortable with technology might just give up.
It’s just an AI wrapped inside a gadget.
There are some prefs and controls for things like volume control.
To navigate the menu, you’ll need to use the large orange scroll wheel.
This wheel is one of Rabbit’s worst decisions.
I found it slippery and hard to turn.
Navigating the prefs menu required a series of turns and presses.
You navigate down to a menu item and then reverse those steps to get back home.
It’s almost as if the designers never used a smartphone.
If I weren’t testing the Rabbit R1, I might’ve pitched it out a window.
The average smartphone is more efficient and lasts far longer.
But that’s not the real world.
Rabbit R1 doesn’t do enough to replace your smartphone or even operate as a decent companion.
Should you buy it?
If you like being an extremely early adopter (read beta-tester) this product is for you.
