Back in February I wrote that I was excited to get my hands on the Rabbit R1. Mine arrived in the UK on the 24th June and I set it up on the 27th, meaning I had nearly two weeks to get to grips with it. Here are my first impressions:
First off, I absolutely love the Swedish hardware design. The R1 feels good in your hand, fits easily in your pocket, and repels dirt. My wife hates the bright orange color, but I love it. It's invisible in a snowstorm, so you won't lose it.
(Image courtesy of Future)
But the software needs a lot of work. Rabbit upgrades its software every Thursday, which is definitely needed. Connection to existing accounts is done through the “Rabbit Hole” website. However, so far these are limited to the following:
All of these except Suno require a paid account and setup appears to involve a VNC remote session to the service, which is pretty clunky. Even more amusing, Apple Music and Uber don't yet work in the UK.
The basic way to get something done is to press the grey button, telling the R1 to do something. In most cases it will respond using the free version of the Perplexity AI search engine, but it can also get answers from Wolfram Alpha.
The quality of the answers varies wildly from helpful to laughably wrong. For example, when I ask it what the weather is like, it tries to tell me the weather in Birmingham, Alabama. Sometimes it decides I'm in Birmingham, England – not very helpful either, since I'm actually in Trowbridge, Wiltshire. It also tries to tell me the temperature in Fahrenheit, and although it can convert it to Celsius, it promises to do so from now on, only to promptly forget.
When I ask where I can get the cheapest petrol within 10 miles it knows my true location but gives me a non-existent Asda petrol station and price. Rabbit tech support assures me that the device has a GPS chip, but it's not yet properly integrated, especially for use outside the US.
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Interestingly, double-clicking the grey button turns on the camera, and you can use the scroll wheel to switch between the front and rear. You can also ask the R1 questions about what it sees and it will answer you, including identifying plants.
Even more fun is that you can click the grey button to take a photo. Everything you do is recorded in Rabbit Hole's journal, where you can see the “magic” that happens as you take photos. For example, I went to see an outdoor performance of Macbeth in the pouring rain. Below is the photo I took and the magic version (note the rabbit!).
image 1 of 2
(Image courtesy of Future)
(Image courtesy of Future)
Somewhat surprisingly, despite the R1 having a mobile SIM in it, I can't make calls or send SMS messages – Rabbit's tech support assures me the functionality is there but can't say when it will be available.
So, for now, the R1 is just a gimmick gadget, but it has the potential to be much more. The most important feature missing is a teach mode, which uses a Large Action Model (LAM) to train the R1 to learn how to use smartphone apps. Technical support assures that it will be released this year, but so far there is no sign of it. If Rabbit can make this work, I think the R1 will find a business niche that will allow it to survive, but it will never replace the iPhone.
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