Rabbit R1: Barely Reviewable

(upbeat music)

- So, this is the Rabbit R1.

And it's another AI in a box, and it's a sign of the times.

So this thing here,

it has a lot in common with the Humane Ai Pin,

for better or for worse.

But it's also supposed to have two specific things

that are supposed to set it apart from that.

Supposed to, anyway.

And we have to talk about it.

(letters clicking) (tense music)

So, stop me if this sounds familiar at any point,

but check this out.

This is a virtual assistant in a box.

But it's a different box.

This one is not wearable.

It's a thing you have to carry around with you

in your pocket, like a smartphone.

I'd say it's about the size of a stack of Post-its, maybe.

But it's this lightweight plastic cube,

designed by Teenage Engineering.

And boy, do people love some Teenage Engineering right now.

And it's super...

I mean, you can tell exactly what it is from a mile away.

This thing is very recognizable.

The thing has one button on the right side.

That's the one you press and hold to ask it questions.

And then instead of a projector,

it actually does have a built-in screen here.

And instead of built-in cellular,

it has a SIM card tray right alongside

that USB Type-C port for charging.

I'd say it does seem to send basically

every single request to the Cloud, but I will say,

it does feel significantly quicker

to answer questions than the Humane Ai Pin.

Now, that is a very, very low bar to clear,

but it's consistent, it's consistently quicker.

How far away is the moon?

- [AI Voice] The average distance

between Earth and the Moon

is approximately 384,400 kilometers.

- You can connect headphones via Bluetooth,

or turn the built-in speaker all the way up, like I have.

But it also shows you the text of your answer

on the screen, right underneath this bouncing rabbit,

and the time in the battery.

Matter of fact, it basically always shows

this bouncing rabbit all the time.

It's how you know it's awake.

You hit that button once to put it to sleep.

Or it would do that automatically after a few seconds.

Then hit the button again to wake it up.

Boom, just the rabbit waiting for you there.

And then to get to settings,

there's no button to press for that.

There's no gesture on the screen or anything.

You just shake it like an Etch A Sketch.

And as long as you do that,

then from there you can scroll up and down

with this scroll wheel, and select with the button.

That's how you get around the UI.

So, the other two things it has

are the scroll wheel and a swiveling camera.

So the scroll wheel for navigating around the UI

instead of the screen is...

I'll get to why it's odd in a second.

But then of course, the AI assistant is multimodal,

and so you can use vision to answer questions

about what it sees.

So we've seen this before.

With this one, you double-tap to swivel it open,

and then press and hold to ask.

I don't know. What type of plant is this?

- [AI Voice] Taking a look now.

The plant in the image appears to be a Monstera deliciosa,

also known as a Swiss cheese plant.

This is a type of tropical climbing evergreen plant

native to southern Mexico and parts of Central America.

The large glossy green leaves with distinctive-

- As a reviewer testing this thing,

I just feel like that DJ Khaled clip after a while,

where I'm just pointing at stuff,

like, "Okay, what is this?

And what is this?"

- And what is this?

- [Speaker] Those are pickled banana peppers.

- [DJ Khaled] And what is this?

- [Speaker] Berries and seeds.

- [DJ Khaled] And perhaps what is this?

- [Speaker] Water.

- But I've also, I've just pointed it at my computer screen

with a really long email on it,

and asked it for a summary,

and it just reads an instantly and gives me a summary of it.

It's done that with articles too.

I think that's pretty cool.

But yeah, it's just a...

It's an AI in a box.

It's best at just answering questions.

(text clicking) (soft music)

So yeah, this thing is also bad at a lot of stuff.

And this list is gonna sound pretty familiar.

Somehow, the battery life is just as bad as the Humane Pin.

It has a thousand million power battery inside

and it's brutally bad.

Like it's already bad enough

when you're carrying around a whole nother device

alongside your smartphone,

but when this one can sit in front of you doing nothing,

and the battery just visibly is draining

and dies in like four hours...

Then you have to charge it multiple times per day,

and it's still dead when you wake up in the morning.

Like, it's just exhausting.

Also, it took 45 minutes to charge this tiny battery

from zero to a hundred.

And it's also just straight up missing

a ton of what I would consider just basic features.

Like it can't set alarms, can't set timers,

it can't record videos, can't record photos,

can't send emails, there's no calendar built in.

There's just a lot of things that I would want

an assistant to do...

Not here.

And of course, being an AI assistant,

it also does still hallucinate,

and confidently answer questions wrong.

Like my baseline of asking a question

that I know the answer to,

and then getting the wrong answer happens all the time.

Which is one of the downfalls of this category.

So this device was designed by Teenage Engineering.

And they're really leaning into that.

Like that's why...

I mean, it's this bright orange, it is really quirky,

friendly looking device, I would say, intentionally.

But yeah, they really love their analog controls.

And this scroll wheel here doesn't surprise me,

but it's actually really frustrating to use.

First of all, it protrudes out the back a little bit,

as you can see.

Which looks kinda cool.

But that means if it was really sensitive,

that it would actually scroll if you just put it down

on a table or something.

So they've dialed down the sensitivity of the scroll wheel,

so it's actually super slow.

Like there's a surprising amount of scroll motion

required to go down one line in the settings.

And then there's no haptic feedback here as you're scrolling

to help you feel it out.

So fine, okay, you can get used to that.

You use the button to select...

But then you've also noticed,

there's no back button anywhere on this device.

So to go back up a level,

you have to scroll all the way back up to the top

every single time.

That also gets annoying.

And then to change brightness or volume,

you actually need two hands.

So you just go into brightness to select,

and you hold the button with one hand,

and then scroll the scroll wheel

with the other hand to adjust brightness.

Which, yeah, you can't do it with one hand.

It works, so you can learn it, and you can say, you know,

it's this quirky UI it's got going on.

But I feel like a lot of these problems would be solved

if this was a touch screen.

So what if I told you this is a touch screen,

and they just don't really let you use it

for almost anything?

Like moving through these menus would be easier

if I could just tap what I wanted to, right?

Going back after a long scroll would be easier

if I could just flip scroll back to the top of a list,

and hit back.

But you can't.

The only thing you can use the touchscreen for

is basically typing on the keyboard in terminal mode.

So with terminal enabled, you can turn it sideways,

a keyboard pops up, and you can type your questions

and get text answers.

Which is great.

And you can move between letters with the scroll wheel.

It's kind of a neat feature, I guess.

But why can't we use the touch screen for anything else?

Is it just them trying not to look too much

like a smartphone?

Maybe.

Probably.

(text clicking) (tense music)

So, okay, what's the point?

Why does this thing exist?

If it's so similar to the other one

that was also so bad, what are we doing here?

And really, there's two things

that I think they're hoping will be the things

that set it apart from the other one.

That should, in the words of their co-founder, Jesse...

- But I don't think MKBHD will say

this is the worst device he ever reviewed so far.

(people laughing)

- Which, low bar, but okay.

Those two things are the price tag,

and the large action model.

So the Humane Pin was so easy for everyone to dunk on

because it costs as much as a phone.

It was $700 with a $24 a month subscription

to not turn into a brick.

It's just insane.

So, this one right here costs $200 and no subscription.

So, you know, okay, that hits a little different.

But also, you can tell it's $200.

First of all, you will need a separate SIM card

to get it to work on cellular.

So while there is no subscription fee for Rabbit

to keep the device working,

that is still a fee you're gonna pay every month

to get data outside of wifi.

But then, okay, the unboxing experience

is extremely minimal.

It comes in a single cardboard box

with a cassette tape looking plastic container,

that doubles as a stand,

but there's literally nothing else.

No charging brick, no USB-C cable, no stickers,

no paper instruction manual, nothing at all.

And then the R1 itself is made of plastic.

Not to say that it's not built well.

You know, there's no flexing or creaking

or anything like that.

But it's definitely plastic.

The camera, very basic.

The speaker, very cheap.

You know, it's a low end MediaTek chip inside.

The same one that's in the Moto G8 Power Lite,

which is like $150 phone.

Hardly any battery, as we learned.

And no fancy fast charging or wireless charging.

And it comes in one color, really bright orange.

Like this ridiculously saturated bright orange.

I'm not even joking, the color you're seeing

in this YouTube video on your screen,

it's gonna be the best I can do

with my own color correction.

But it's legitimately hard to photograph.

Like the phone camera doesn't really

turn saturation up high enough

to really represent it accurately in real life.

It's the brightest orange thing

you've ever seen in your life, I guarantee it.

Now, if you want something a little more low key

than the neon orange,

channel sponsor dbrand actually does have you covered here.

I've got this black camo looking one here,

and now the orange bits that show through

are kind of like more accent pieces, which is pretty dope.

But fun fact, dbrand also collaborated with Rabbit

ahead of the release to make sure

screen protectors for this thing

were also available on launch day.

So, that includes mine.

If you wanna check it out,

screen protectors or skins for the R1,

you can hit up the link below.

But yes, speaking of the screen,

this is a 2.9 inch diagonal TFT screen,

with no auto brightness.

So, yeah, I think you get the idea.

(letters clicking) (soft music)

So you know how the Humane Ai Pin had no apps?

Well, this thing also has no apps.

But the other thing that they're hoping

will separate it from the other stuff,

is what they're calling a large action model.

So you know, large language models are just the words,

the language that we use.

So it's an AI that can take our natural language,

and process it, and turn it into words in return.

And that's how we interact with it.

So a large action model is supposed to take our words,

and then process it, and turn it into actions.

That's the theory.

So it's basically going to be able to use apps for you

like a human would,

based on what you tell it to do.

Now, importantly, this isn't the same as an API,

where you know, a company might work with the others

to have some sort of a plug into their services

so that they work together.

Because an API can be a little too restrictive,

or not give all the features, or just not quite...

I mean, there's lots of good reasons

why they don't wanna rely on an API.

So what this is supposed to be doing,

is just going in and using the app, just like a human,

essentially with like a mouse and a keyboard.

Think of it as like a virtual agent.

Honestly, I think it's a really cool idea.

I think it's a really, really cool idea.

You know, large language models have been trained,

with all their data,

to talk back to us just like humans would,

and some are very convincing.

So a large action model, in theory,

should be able to use these apps and services

just like a human would.

From Spotify to Twitter, to your banking app,

to whatever else.

It's already good enough at recognizing major UI elements

like a play button or a buy button and things like that.

So with enough training data, could get really good.

With enough training data, could get really good.

But the thing is,

they don't have a ton of training data yet.

So as of right now, they have made four apps available.

Four.

They have this online portal called the Rabbit Hole,

where you can log into and enable all of them.

Spotify, Uber, DoorDash and Midjourney.

So the Rabbit can talk to these four apps,

and has a UI on the screen for doing so

in the exact way that we're theorizing.

So it'll play Spotify songs.

Like I can ask it for a song,

and it'll try to play the right one,

and it'll show you any info you need on the touch screen

to confirm or refine the actions you're taking.

But even now, they kinda work.

Like, I've already had issues with it

playing the wrong song.

I've also seen other people already have issues

with the DoorDash app getting things wrong,

which is even more frustrating.

I can't imagine how frustrating the Uber app

messing up would be.

It definitely seems like it needs more training data.

And that's just for these four starting apps.

Now, Rabbit says they have

800 different apps trained already,

but they just haven't built a UI for it yet,

so it's not available on the Rabbit yet.

And so that's still in the works.

Now they've also theoretically

started working on something called a generative UI,

where essentially it can recognize

what type of app it is,

and then build a UI for it so Rabbit doesn't have to...

But that's also still theoretical,

and also on the roadmap and still in the works.

And then if there's another app or service

that you want your Rabbit to be able to do,

like something for work,

or something super niche that you've invented,

they've talked about something called "Teach Mode".

Which is basically having the Rabbit watch you

do what you want it to do on your mouse and keyboard,

and then it learns from what you did,

and can then repeat your actions later, which is sick.

Unfortunately, you can probably already

see where this is going,

Teach Mode is also not available as of right now.

This is something they're still working on

vetting and finishing.

And so that's just later this year, also in the works.

So as of right now,

this device has none of that stuff,

just the four kind of half working apps

that we went over at the beginning.

What are we doing here?

(letters clicking) (soft music)

Okay, I'm gonna try not to turn this into a rant,

but I feel like we need to acknowledge at least,

that a lot of these tech companies

are developing tech kinda backwards.

Like they're delivering such unfinished products,

that it actually makes them nearly impossible to review.

Like, it feels like it used to just be,

make the thing, and then put it on sale.

Now it's like put it on sale,

and then deliver the half-baked thing,

and then iterate and make it better,

and hopefully with enough updates, then it's ready,

and it's what we promised

way back when we first started selling it.

And then this whole period in the middle is a mess.

And it's across all kinds of product categories too.

We've seen this with gaming.

Like huge studios are delivering half-baked games saying,

"Oh, you know, it's an alpha version.

There will be updates."

But meanwhile, it's a full price AAA game

that's just gotten an unacceptable number

of bugs and issues.

It's also happening with cars.

And vehicles getting announced,

and then delivering with like a half-finished state,

where you just don't get a lot of the features

that you paid for.

And they're eventually coming soon,

with a software update.

You know, smartphones, obviously,

we've been seeing this for years,

but it does seem like now more than ever,

there's at least one feature,

one major feature of every smartphone launch

that gets announced,

but that's not coming until later in the year.

And now these AI based products are at like the apex

of this horrible trend where,

the thing that you get at the beginning

is like borderline nonfunctional

compared to all the promises and all the features

and all the things that it's supposed to maybe someday be.

But you still pay full price at the beginning,

which is what makes it so crazy.

And that sucks not only obviously

for the people buying it at full price at the beginning,

but also for reviewing these things in general.

Like, how do you assess a product

where the version of what's promised in like three years,

what it could be is amazing,

but the version that's being delivered now is dog water.

Like, how do you connect those dots?

Do you even connect those dots?

Are you supposed to give them the benefit of the doubt?

I don't know. What are we even doing here?

I mean, I guess on one hand,

it is good that tech products,

these things can get better over time and improve,

and the thing you buy can be better tomorrow.

That's all great.

That didn't used to be true,

and that's beautiful and everything.

But on the other hand,

it's just, the other side of that coin,

is some very unfinished products being delivered,

and I just feel like it's gonna get worse

before it gets better.

(letters clicking) (tense music)

So, let me just say,

I am personally very excited

by the idea of a super personalized AI assistant

that can do everything that a human assistant could.

That's my dream. I want that to happen.

And I'm interested that these different companies

are approaching it from different angles.

And hopefully, we'll get there eventually.

But this is also so clearly going to take

a lot of time and effort and technical development,

and also a lot of data.

Like, I've said this already in the Humane review,

I'm pretty sure, which is a good assistant needs to know

everything about you, whether it's human or virtual.

Like it needs to know your preferences,

and your location,

and what you're doing, and what you like to do.

And every single little thing.

It's so much data.

So as for the Rabbit...

I think that's why they focused on getting the price so low.

Like, this stuff is all a tough sell,

because you're taking a gamble

on what the product could be someday.

But for the Pin, you have to drop $700, and $24 every month,

on the chance that it might someday get there.

Like that's a lot of money.

But for this cute little thing, 200 bucks.

Feels like a much easier investment to make.

A much easier pill to swallow,

to just take a gamble on it.

And on the off chance it turns out to be awesome

in a couple of years, it'll feel like it's worth it.

You know, on the chance that some of those 800 apps

are super useful.

Or you know, even though you already have a smartphone,

maybe the Teach Mode lets it do something

with a single button press

that you could never dream of before,

then it could be totally worth it.

The whole situation reminds me kind of...

If you look back at the beginning

of when Tesla started shipping cars

with all the autopilot stuff.

They were selling cars,

and they got popular for other reasons.

It was a good electric car with good range,

and a good charging network.

And then people started sort of beta testing

this autopilot stuff,

and Tesla starts collecting

millions of miles and hours of data,

from how it works in the real world.

And so all of that data helped their systems learn,

and get the head start that they need,

on trying to make the best autopilot software.

So the Rabbit, I'm sure,

would like to use their price advantage,

and get as many of them out

into the real world as possible,

into people's hands,

so they can start beta testing,

and having it trained and getting good

at a variety of tasks.

But the Rabbit's problem is,

it doesn't have like the other reason

why people would get it anyway today.

So it's like a kind of chicken and egg problem.

So if you want my advice, you've heard it before.

Buy the product based on what it is today,

and not what it's promised to be in the future.

And with this category, that's like the hardest thing to do,

the hardest thing to keep in mind.

'Cause the promise is so big.

But that's still my advice.

And I guess we still also have yet to see

what big companies like Google and Apple

are gonna try to do in this space, probably this year.

So, with all of that, we'll see.

Thanks for watching.

Catch you in the next one.

Peace.

(mellow music fades)