rabbit r1

Source

Marques Brownlee (MKBHD)

Key Takeaways

• The advertised Large Action Model (LAM) fails over 80% of real-world tasks like ridesharing or food ordering.
• Disastrous battery life drains to empty in under 4 hours on standby while heating up uncomfortably.
• Wobbly scroll wheel lacks precision, and the rotating camera frequently fails to focus, yielding blurry shots.
• Underneath the Teenage Engineering shell lies a sluggish budget MediaTek phone running a locked Android app.

✅ Pros

• Eye-catching Teenage Engineering retro design
• Compact pocket-friendly form factor
• No mandatory recurring subscription fee

❌ Cons

• 80% failure rate on core cloud AI tasks
• Abysmal 4-hour standby battery with severe heat
• Loose, imprecise scroll wheel and blurry camera
• Could have easily been a simple smartphone app

📝 Verdict

"rabbit r1 is an overhyped, barely functional tech catastrophe that nobody should ever buy."

Source

• Video: Rabbit R1 review: somehow worse?
• Channel: The Verge | Type: Professional review | Based on: YouTube transcript

Key points

• David Pierce tested it for about a week and concluded that AI gadgets may simply be impossible to get right: when identifying plaques and monuments, "the vibe is right but the words are all wrong"
• Connecting Spotify was the feature he was most excited about, but it often played the wrong song or the wrong playlist
• DoorDash food orders and Uber rides failed repeatedly; he can't think of a single thing it does better than a phone
• An update during filming fixed major bugs such as "the battery draining within hours even when unused" and the wrong time being displayed, but it still can't last a full day; the 2.88-inch screen isn't good but is usable
• He thinks Rabbit spent all its time making it cute and fun rather than making it work; the recording feature's microphone quality is decent

✅ Pros

• Sensible screen + microphone + camera combination
• Cute and fun
• Decent recording microphone

❌ Cons

• Music and food ordering often fail
• Poor battery life
• Nothing it does better than a phone

📝 Verdict

Buying it means buying a US$200, fun-looking desk toy rather than a useful device; you don't need the Rabbit R1, nobody does—just charge your phone.

Source

• Video: Rabbit R1: Barely Reviewable
• Channel: Marques Brownlee | Type: Professional review | Based on: YouTube transcript

Key points

• A plastic cube designed by Teenage Engineering, about the size of a stack of Post-it notes; you hold the side button to ask questions, and it has a scroll wheel, a rotating camera, a built-in screen and a SIM card slot
• Almost every request goes to the cloud, but answers are consistently faster than the Humane AI Pin (he says the bar is very low)
• The screen is actually a touchscreen, yet it barely lets you use it; you can only shake it to enter settings and operate it with the scroll wheel, which is awkward one-handed
• It's US$200 with no subscription, but you need a separate SIM card to get online; the "large action model" currently supports only four apps—Spotify, Uber, DoorDash and Midjourney—he ran into wrong songs being played, and teach mode hasn't launched yet
• Battery life from the 1,000mAh battery is "abysmal," as bad as the Humane Pin

✅ Pros

• Low price, no subscription
• Answers faster than the AI Pin
• Highly recognizable design

❌ Cons

• Terrible battery life
• Touchscreen is barely usable
• Action model supports only 4 apps
• Frequent errors

📝 Verdict

Buy the product as it is now, not the future it promises; in this category that's the hardest thing to do, because the promises are so big.

Source

• Video: Rabbit R1 - We Gotta Talk...
• Channel: Dave2D | Type: First impressions | Based on: YouTube transcript

Key points

• He doesn't do a technical review, only first impressions, because like the Humane AI Pin it's too half-baked and in an "unreviewable" state
• The US$200 hardware feels like US$200: lots of plastic and not premium; the screen and speaker are mediocre, and the motorized flipping camera is fun
• The scroll wheel looks iconic and very Teenage Engineering, but isn't good to use
• The battery lasts maybe an hour and a half; CEO Jesse told him a firmware update would improve it within a few days
• He thinks Apple and Google control the phone ecosystems, and their system-level AI will be more useful than third-party devices like this in the future

✅ Pros

• Relatively low price
• Distinctive look

❌ Cons

• Severely lacking in features
• Battery life about 1.5 hours
• Scroll wheel is awkward
• Average build quality

📝 Verdict

In its current state it's too raw for most people to buy; it's only for those who want to try out early hardware.