Rabbit, the brand that took it upon itself to make a competitor to the $699 Humane AI PIN came up with the R1 which can answer all your queries with a few taps but it turns out that isn’t doing anything unique that a smartphone couldn’t do. If that wasn’t enough, Rabbit R1 seems to be running on an Android app interface which can be tweaked and can run even on an entry-level smartphone.
Rabbit R1 is doing tasks even your smartphone could do but as a companion device for you dedicated towards just AI and not other functions such as calling or texting. However, there are more similarities than differences between a device like that of Rabbit R1 and a smartphone, it seems after all. That’s because Mishaal Rahman at Android Authority and a few others were essentially able to extract the whole software of Rabbit R1 in the form of an APK and were able to make it run on an entry-level smartphone.
After some tweaks, Rahman was able to use the app as if it was running on Rabbit’s R1 and even set it up using the volume-up key of the smartphone in place of the R1’s single hardware button. He was then able to set up an account and start asking it questions, exactly like the R1.
For obvious reasons, not all the functionalities of the R1 would work as they were baked into the system with privileges built only for R1. “Rabbit R1’s launcher app is intended to be preinstalled in the firmware and be granted several privileged, system-level permissions — only some of which we were able to grant — so some of the functions would likely fail if we tried”, said Rahman.
Soon after, Rahman’s IP address or device ID got blocked due to which he couldn’t send any more queries. If that wasn’t enough, someone was even able to get regular Android apps to work on the Rabbit R1. However, the video showing the process seems to have been taken down.
Even if not all the features could work, it’s interesting to note that the basic functionality of the Rabbit R1 was ported to a sub-par Android smartphone and even worked without any issues. This leads us to believe that Rabbit R1 could have just been an Android app instead of a standalone device.
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Rabbit’s Response
Rabbit CEO responded to Rahman with a statement where he said, “rabbit r1 is not an Android app. We are aware there are some unofficial rabbit OS app/website emulators out there. We understand the passion that people have to get a taste of our AI and LAM instead of waiting for their r1 to arrive. That being said, to clear any misunderstanding and set the record straight, rabbit OS and LAM run on the cloud with very bespoke AOSP and lower-level firmware modifications, therefore a local bootleg APK without the proper OS and Cloud endpoints won’t be able to access our service.”
Rabbit further adds that they rolled out an OTA yesterday which introduces “multiple cloud verification improvements to validate the device/client requests” so that the modified use of its software can be put to a stop.
Rabbit R1 hasn’t been able to find the success it thought it would at launch because it seems to be laden with issues at the moment that hamper the daily experience of using it, multiple tech reviews have noted that including that from YouTuber MKBHD, Dave2D and publications like The Verge, CNET, Mashable, and more.
Rabbit’s promise of a bright future for the R1, backed by upcoming updates, loses some appeal given that it utilizes the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) as its foundation and could have been simply distributed as an APK. This revelation makes purchasing an already subpar device even less enticing.