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The Rabbit R1 is probably running Android and is powered by an Android app

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211–220 of 309 posts

Re: The Rabbit R1 is probably running Android and is powered by an Android app

#211
post #194

I saw this news and my reaction was, "Of course it is, doing anything else would be stupid." But that on its own doesn't mean it could just be a phone app if the hardware adds something useful to the way the user interacts with it. For example, old Sony mirrorless cameras just ran Android under the hood but the specific hardware is what made those products, not the OS. As a hardware person, both the Rabbit R1 and the…

I feel similarly hopeful actually!

I think people do seem generally annoyed by the scroll wheel, but I think that's just a bad implementation in this case. I don't think that means that all physical controls (meaning: not a touch screen) are just pointless gimmicks. It's a bit myopic to think we've hit some perfect un-challengable UI paradigm with flickable scrolling and sheets of software buttons and fields that you tap.

Re: The Rabbit R1 is probably running Android and is powered by an Android app

#212
post #69
post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The eye catching hardware is what made this project interesting. Would we be talking about this at all if it was just an app?

That's their reason to make it a stand-alone device. What is my reason to want it to be a stand-alone device?

While I'm not interested in this device either, you could make this argument for many standalone devices. Why does Nintendo keep selling their own devices rather than putting their games on phones and PCs? They think having it as a physical, distinct device offers something that a phone app doesn't, which is pretty on brand for them.

Now, whether or not the buyers will agree with their thinking is another story.

Re: The Rabbit R1 is probably running Android and is powered by an Android app

#213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pikachu's everywhere were shocked. This is just the same guy, over and over. If he isn't too old, I bet he was into dropshipping too. Always on whatever new grift, always ready to start selling shovels to gold miners. I wish people were smarter about this stuff.

building a hardware company and shipping thousands of devices doesn't seem like a get-rich-quick grift to me. There are a lot of things rabbit can do that you couldn't do on an app since they own the hardware. Just shipped it too soon. The product is definitely not super appealing to me yet in the current state.

> There are a lot of things rabbit can do that you couldn't do on an app since they own the hardware. Just shipped it too soon.

I vehemently disagree with both of these statements.

For one, as far as I can tell every single hardware feature on the Rabbit (sans rotary encoder) has been present on every phone I've owned since 2011. Forward and rear-facing camera - check, nice bright touchscreen - check, speaker and mic - check... it's all there. Rabbit's "ecosystem" excuse is just as hollow as when literally any other company does it. They're trying to project a halo-effect, and too many people fell for it. Are there any software features that are exclusively enabled by Rabbit's form factor?

For two, waiting to ship it probably wouldn't have solved it either. Humane got absolutely humiliated last week with their own offering, it was a now-or-never opportunity to stage them up or let them set the tone forever. I don't think interest in AI or AI-focused hardware is liable to skyrocket any more than cryptocurrency-focused hardware was. Both of these things are software solutions; using it to sell you physical hardware is a 100% pure marketing gimmeck.

Re: The Rabbit R1 is probably running Android and is powered by an Android app

#214
post #30
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> i’m looking forward to having a new toy on my desk and I really like the teenage engineering vibes of it. I want more companies to try hardware! To quote the title, > a thing that should just be an app, is just an Android app Except the company doesn't own the hardware for distribution by being an Android app! People want developers to be subservient and taxed forever, as if Google and Apple own all of non-desktop…

Yeah Google not allowing 3rd party apps to be used as the voice assistant is 100% reason enough to release as hardware. I don't want to unlock my phone and type and click buttons just to ask about a task I'm working on.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40225838

”Android lets you choose which digital assistant app to use. Settings > Apps > Default apps > Digital assistant app. Stock Android will have this preconfigured to Google Assistant, but it's designed to be swappable.”

Re: The Rabbit R1 is probably running Android and is powered by an Android app

#215
post #194

I saw this news and my reaction was, "Of course it is, doing anything else would be stupid." But that on its own doesn't mean it could just be a phone app if the hardware adds something useful to the way the user interacts with it. For example, old Sony mirrorless cameras just ran Android under the hood but the specific hardware is what made those products, not the OS. As a hardware person, both the Rabbit R1 and the…

> It feels like we need to wait for the underlying technology to advance before we can get to the next set of interesting products. Probably. I think we've hit a plateau with user interfaces for most connected gear. Sticking a physical scroll button on what is essentially a phone buys me nothing but annoyance. Phones just kind of do what we want and have an acceptable enough interface that the alternatives get in our…

imo that laser display is awesome and I want one, but it's hobbled by the software. I'd gladly pay $700 if it was open and wasn't locked to their ecosystem.

Re: The Rabbit R1 is probably running Android and is powered by an Android app

#216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It feels like we need to wait for the underlying technology to advance before we can get to the next set of interesting products. Probably. I think we've hit a plateau with user interfaces for most connected gear. Sticking a physical scroll button on what is essentially a phone buys me nothing but annoyance. Phones just kind of do what we want and have an acceptable enough interface that the alternatives get in our…

imo that laser display is awesome and I want one, but it's hobbled by the software. I'd gladly pay $700 if it was open and wasn't locked to their ecosystem.

Even considering it does not appear to work well in bright settings, and can't map the laser beam to uneven surfaces? Conceptually, the idea could be interesting, but the implementation shown appears that it would not work well in most real life settings.

Re: The Rabbit R1 is probably running Android and is powered by an Android app

#217
post #35

Too much VC money into a gazillion startups without proper management. What can go wrong? This is the result of tech cultism and lack of proper production standards. Design Thinking is like some form of forbidden knowledge today. So much “disruption” with no clear product use case. AI is the new dotcom boom. 190 percent hype. 10 percent actual implementation. The startups have expectation to capitalize on testing wit…

> We need Skunk Works team quality

You mean the kind where plane literally leaks fuel mid flight? I think they're already there

Re: The Rabbit R1 is probably running Android and is powered by an Android app

#218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

you can already replace assistant with Gemini

And I won't until it lets me turn off my lights with my phone locked.

Yeah, I wanted really badly to love Gemini but it is really just mediocre. At this point I just want a voice command line. Teach me the magic words because it seems a lot easier for me to learn them than for the LLM to learn English well enough to understand me.

Now a ChatGPT-based Google Assistant would be damn tempting.

Re: The Rabbit R1 is probably running Android and is powered by an Android app

#219
post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not standalone, that's two pieces.

try the latest Ableton Push, or NI Maschine+

OP-1 is under half the size.

The whole kitsch with that device is being able to make music anywhere.

Re: The Rabbit R1 is probably running Android and is powered by an Android app

#220
post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They already have. Apple calls theirs "siri". The dumb part here is a company getting attention for making a virtual assistant just because they added "AI".

Siri is no longer seen as an AI assistant, at least not with the post-chatgpt meaning of the word 'AI'.

Yep, the meaning AI of is always changing. Search used to be considered AI because it could interpret human input.
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