It's been an interesting few months for pocketable tech, with the smartphone's supremacy finally appearing to be threatened by a bunch of plucky AI upstarts. From the Humane AI Pin to Rabbit R1, all manner of weird and wonderful gadgets have launched recently, and they're all trying to be anything but a smartphone. But judging by the initial responses from reviewers and early adopters, the iPhone in danger just yet.
Reviews of the Humane AI pin this month have been damning, with one prominent tech YouTuber even releasing a follow-up video responding to claims that his critique could "kill" the brand. (Not ready to throw away your smartphone just yet? Check out the best iPhone 15 Pro deals available now.)
Indeed, Marques Brownlee called the AI Pin the "Worst product [he's] ever reviewed", with particularly criticism afforded to the battery life, slow speed and lack of basic features such as an alarm or timer. The Verge described it as "so thoroughly unfinished and so totally broken in so many unacceptable ways that I can’t think of anyone to whom I’d recommend spending the $699 for the device and the $24 monthly subscription."
And now, the spotlight is moving the Rabbit R1. We've wondered aloud exactly what this thing is for, and now that it's getting into early adopters' hands, we're getting a clearer idea. The response to Rabbit R1 seems to be a little more positive so far, with social media users praising the fast responses to questions and the device's ability to identify objects.
Updated the Rabbit R1 and it cannot link to my account. Lol. Not a single AI gadget has worked straight after unboxing. Not the Ai Pin and not the R1🤦🏻♂️🤦🏻♂️🤦🏻♂️🤦🏻♂️ pic.twitter.com/ngYxM3KHGUApril 24, 2024
But it like the Humane Pin, early hands-on reviews suggest that the Rabbit R1 feels unfinished, and is filled with typical AI quirks. One X user (above) found that straight after unboxing, they couldn't link the device to their account. Oh, and it doesn't have an alarm yet either.
"Almost immediately, though, I started running into stuff the R1 just can’t do," shares The Verge's reviewer. "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."
But while the AI gadgets are clearly having teething problems, the era of the smartphone could well be coming to a gradual end. We're already seeing the likes of ChatGPT make its way into various hardware and peripherals (including the humble mouse), and even Apple is promising that the future of computing is on your face (ok, maybe not in those exact words).
