The Rabbit R1 has been gathering dust on the shelf ever since I was disappointed that it didn’t live up to my initial expectations. It’s been two months since I used it. Jesse Lyu, CEO of Rabbit R1, over-promised and under-delivered on the Rabbit R1.
Sure, features like Vision, which showcases the Rabbit R1’s ability to identify objects by “seeing” them and describe what it sees, aren’t bad. I also liked the ability to identify foreign language, such as menus, and have it respond in English (although these features are already available on my phone via apps like ChatGPT Plus).
Rabbit R1
Credit: Joe Maldonado/Mashable
Additionally, some of the flagship features, like ordering an Uber or DoorDash via the Rabbit R1 or calling on the AI to play songs from Spotify, didn’t quite work.
Not to mention, Rabbit R1 had serious security flaws, according to The Verge. In response to reports of security breaches regarding API keys, Rabbit told Mashable that the keys were obtained illegally. The company said that after an audit, all affected secrets were revoked, and referred users to a blog post for more details.
Rabbit R1
Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable
To be fair, this isn’t just an issue with the Rabbit R1. rear The “give me money” tactic is rampant in the tech industry, but products like the Rabbit R1 and Humane Ai Pin have reportedly seen more returns than they were able to sell, showing how the strategy can backfire.
But Rabbit isn’t giving up yet. In a press email to Mashable, Rabbit said it had released a major update to its R1 devices and urged me to give them a try. The team warned that these new features, called “Beta Rabbit Mode,” are still rough around the edges, but are worth a try. So I did.
What is “Beta Rabbit Mode” on Rabbit R1?
Rabbit says the beta mode will enhance the R1’s capabilities by enabling more thoughtful and comprehensive answers to complex questions that require deep reasoning and multi-step investigation, and it can also be used in conjunction with Vision, which means the Rabbit R1 should be able to provide advanced answers to questions based on what it sees with its camera.
Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable
The beta version of Rabbit is said to improve Rabbit R1’s speech and intelligence.
I tested the “Beta Rabbit Mode”
To access Beta Rabbit mode, all I had to do was say, “Beta Rabbit.” When I tried to try out this Beta Rabbit mode, it suddenly updated and rendered my device unusable for about three minutes.
Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable
And it is Must The update requires connection to a USB-C charging cable to complete successfully. It took about 30 minutes. length Due to Wi-Fi connectivity issues (no issues on my end), it took about 10 minutes from start to finish.
Rabbit has provided the following commands to test the Beta Rabbit mode:
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“Beta Rabbit, can you recommend three similar books? Your current strength? Include the page length, publication year, and rating. Then save it as a note titled, “Reading List.” Also, include a photo of the author.” To demonstrate contextual ability, Rabbit suggested continuing with, “Beta Rabbit, can I get summaries of those three books as well?”
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“Hey Beta Rabbit, can you give me an itinerary for 2 days in San Francisco? I would like to visit one historical site, one museum, eat Japanese food, and go to a cocktail bar. Can you provide me with pictures of each place?
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Beta Rabbit, can you please find the best price on a Dyson V8 vacuum cleaner? I’d like to know the lowest price and a link to buy.
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Point to the nutritional facts label of a Japanese snack food, or a snack food written in a foreign language, and ask, “Beta Rabbit, what is the nutritional facts label for this snack food? Is it healthy?”
I’ve tweaked these a bit to fit my life – for example, in the first one I asked for movie recommendations instead of book suggestions (plus, I’m not going to follow Rabbit’s curated list, I want to challenge it).
Second, I chose Greece over San Francisco because I’m going to Greece in two months. Third, I was thinking about buying an Instant Vortex Plus air fryer, so I plugged it in. Finally, I don’t have any Japanese snacks, but I do have cup ramen, so I’ll ask “beta rabbit” if it’s healthy.
1. Movie and book recommendations
We initially tested the beta version of Rabbit Mode on August 8th and it worked well.
Mashable Lightspeed
Rabbit R1 will show you recommendations for movies similar to The Wolf of Wall Street.
Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable
I asked, “Beta Rabbit, can you suggest three similar movies? The Wolf of Wall Street? Please include the length of the film, the year it was released, and its rating. Also include a photo of the director.” It suggested The Big Short, American Hustle, The Social Networkwhich will be displayed next to the requested information. I hadn’t used the Rabbit R1 for two months, and one thing that caught my eye was that the device finally supported photos in responses, providing a photo of each director upon request.
I followed Rabbit’s suggestion and asked for book recommendations, to which I replied, “Beta Rabbit, can you recommend three similar books? Killer of the Flower Moon By David Grann. Please include page count, year of publication, and rating. Please also include a photo of the author.” Again, I found exactly what I was looking for. Devils of the White City Written and photographed by Eric Larson.
Rabbit R1 showing book recommendations
Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable
However, a week later, when we retested these queries, we found that the responses with photos had been replaced with crude, rudimentary, raw responses that exposed the backend coding. The photos were no longer displayed.
But as of August 22nd, the Rabbit R1 has undergone final retesting and is working fine (though Rabbit says it’s in beta mode).
2. Travel Itinerary
I’m planning on visiting Greece later this year, so I asked Rabbit R1 to put together a trip plan for me: “Hey Beta Rabbit, can you give me an itinerary for Athens for 2 days? I want to visit the closest beach, historical sites, eat Greek food at a highly rated restaurant, and go to the best rooftop bar. Can I also get pictures of each location?”
Rabbit R1’s handpicked Greek travel plans
Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable
To my surprise, Rabbit R1 actually created a useful itinerary for me, with Athens as the base point. I’ll have to check out the places Rabbit R1 suggested to see if the AI device will work as a travel assistant. But looking at what Rabbit R1 created, it looks like a good choice for when you don’t have time to do the research required to create a detailed itinerary.
Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable
There doesn’t seem to be a way to get the answer history. Actual The Rabbit R1 device itself, So you have to be careful not to accidentally press a button that erases your two-day itinerary from the screen, but the itinerary can be accessed through Rabbithole, an online portal that lets you see a lot of your past interactions with the Rabbit R1, and can also be retrieved through prompts such as “View Athens itinerary,” although again, it’s a bit difficult to keep your itinerary permanently visible on the Rabbit R1’s screen itself.
One other note: if Rabbit ever releases an R2, we hope the screen gets brighter for better visibility in tough lighting conditions. The screen can be a bit too dim at times.
3. Bargain hunting
As I mentioned before, I am on the hunt for a new air fryer (Instant Vortex Plus Air Fryer).
Rabbit R1 sets off to find the best air fryer deals
Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable
So I asked the Rabbit R1 to show me the best deals, and it showed me an Amazon “deal” of $131. But after doing a little research of my own, do not have At the time, it was the cheapest offer online. The best discount on an air fryer was at Williams Sonoma, where the same fryer was on sale for about $99.
(Interestingly, two weeks after testing, as of this writing, Amazon’s $131 deal has dropped to $99.)
4. Nutritional Information Analysis
I took out a cup of instant ramen. Using the Rabbit R1’s “vision” feature, I aimed the camera at the back of the ramen, where there was a nutritional label. I asked, “Beta Rabbit, what’s the nutritional label on this instant ramen? Is it healthy?”
Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable
When I said “cup ramen,” Rabbit R1 gaslighted me, do not have I was holding a cup of ramen noodles and I asked again, this time simply saying, “Beta Rabbit, what is the nutritional value of this food? Is it healthy?”
In response, they were told that ramen contains too much salt and saturated fat, which could affect cardiovascular health. Rabbit R1 went on to say that the product was “lacking in essential vitamins and minerals.”
Rabbit R1 is ramen do not have I was advised not to eat it as it is good for my health.
5. Timers and alarms
Surprisingly, when it launched, the Rabbit R1 didn’t let users set timers or alarms, but now you can use the cute orange gadget to wake you up or let you know that your cookies are almost done.
Could the Rabbit R1 make a comeback?
Unfortunately, the Rabbit R1’s chance to impress the masses has passed. I think there would have been a ray of hope if Rabbit had unveiled the device’s half-baked feature set from the start. Some Some utilities worked smoothly from day one. For example, the translation and vision features worked better than expected. So did the recording feature and the relatively fast Perplexity-based AI assistant (although with limited contextual capabilities). Meanwhile, the team promised a ton of other perks, like ordering from UberEats and DoorDash, seamless integration with Spotify, and more. But these features struggled to work properly.
In addition, people One Question Rabbit Probably dislike “Why can’t this just be an app? Why should I pay $200 for a device that already does what I can do on my phone every day?” you may be asking. (This investigation has led to some shocking reports, including the revelation that the term “RabbitOS” is a bit disingenuous, as it’s actually just an app that runs on a cheap Android device.)
And in Rabbit’s defense, would people really care about R1 if it appeared in the Google Play Store as a $20/month app?
The Rabbit R1 has the same functions as a mobile phone, Done The Rabbit R1 is a success if nothing else, being a bright orange, nostalgia-inducing device with funky, fidgety controls that evoke childhood memories. But the Rabbit R1 is too inglorious a product to ever see a comeback. But the Rabbit R1 is such a hot topic in pop culture these days that it wouldn’t be surprising if the Rabbit R2 were to return to the limelight if Lyu dares to try again. Its popularity is likely fueled by people wondering if the R2 will be yet another half-baked gadget.
I think consumers are frustrated by technology that over-promises and then under-delivers — at the very least, they want something as close to perfect as possible (as opposed to deliberately exploitatively releasing half-baked products to ensure a return on their investment). Hopefully, the wave of negative reviews that the Rabbit R1 and Humane Ai Pin have received will ignite a fire in the tech industry to move away from sloppy practices.
Updated: August 22, 2024 at 10:21 PM EDT The update clarified that while it’s easy to lose your itinerary on the Rabbit R1 screen, users can still access it through Rabbithole, an online portal. You can also retrieve your itinerary via a prompt. It also added a statement from the Rabbit team itself about the critical security flaw.
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artificial intelligence
