See, it turns out that the Rabbit R1 seems to run Android under the hood and the entire interface users interact with is powered by a single Android app. A tipster shared the Rabbit R1’s launcher APK with us, and with a bit of tinkering, we managed to install it on an Android phone, specifically a Pixel 6a.

Edit: Someone also got doom and Minecraft running on this thing

  • chrash0@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    what else would it be? it’s a pretty common embedded target. dev kits from Qualcomm come with Android and use the Android bootloader and debug protocols at the very least.

    nobody is out here running a plain Linux kernel and maintaining a UI stack while AOSP exists. would be a foolish waste of time for companies like Rabbit to use anything else imo.

    to say it’s “just an Android device” is both true and a mischaracterization. it’s likely got a lot in common with a smartphone, but they’ve made modifications and aren’t supporting app stores or sideloading. doesn’t mean you can’t do it, just don’t be surprised when it doesn’t work 1-1

    • Quantum Cog@lemmy.worldOP
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      7 months ago

      You are missing the point. The point is that there is no need for such a device, a simple android app can do everything that rabbit r1 does.

      • erwan@lemmy.ml
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        7 months ago

        Yeah, but everyone could see that as soon as they released it.

        It doesn’t matter how it’s implemented, it could have been done as an app from day one.

        But they made it a device instead because it makes it easy to raise funds and to get journalists to talk about it. As simple as that.

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        7 months ago

        i didn’t think people would really be surprised. but maybe i’m jaded by my experience in the industry.

        if we’re arguing whether or not it’s objectively stupid, i think that’s up to the market to decide.

        kinda seems like a toy to me anyway, and it’s kind of priced that way

    • utopiah@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      nobody is out here running a plain Linux kernel and maintaining a UI stack while AOSP exists.

      Wrong, that’s even why I bought a SteamDeck (edited to add the most famous), PineTab2, PinePhone, and a reMarkable and use them pretty much daily.

      Are there a lot of these compared to Android? No, but please do not say “nobody” when you mean “most” or “the vast majority” because by doing so you are reducing the perception of choice. Some people, like me, DO prefer plain Linux when they can. By hiding the fact that commercial solutions do exist this is helping an already dominant solution.

  • arc@lemm.ee
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    8 months ago

    I saw the Marquess Brownlee review of this thing last night and I wonder why companies make this crap and who is fool enough to fund it. It’s obviously doomed to fail, as are most “smart” gadgets & devices. The best that can be said for it, is at least there is no subscription to use it and it’s not outrageously expensive but that’s damning it with faint praise.

    • Diplomjodler@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      VCs will just follow the hype of the day and invest in anything that spouts the right buzzwords. But they’re aware of course, that most of those will fail. It takes just one out of ten to make it for it to be worthwhile.

      • arc@lemm.ee
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        7 months ago

        If they weeded out some of the shittier ideas they’d be one in nine or eight.

    • jkrtn@lemmy.ml
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      7 months ago

      This is the second time I’ve read about this specific reviewer having a sane perspective on way overhyped gadgets. Sounds worth checking out. I’m used to videos being completely worthless because they are usually trying to get product affiliate money and YouTube ad revenue at the same time.

      • RGB3x3@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        I don’t remember a single occasion where he was sponsored by the company he’s reviewing. He gets sent products all the time, but it seems to always be with the stipulation that if he thinks it sucks, he’ll say so.

        • jkrtn@lemmy.ml
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          7 months ago

          I watched this review to check him out after writing that. I think he’s pretty great. YouTube is fucking awful, I’ll have to catch him somewhere else.

      • drislands@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        He’s my go-to for tech reviews. He’ll happily gush about what he likes, but he isn’t shy about what isn’t good.

      • yamanii@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        For a counterpoint, I ask you to see his Cybertruck review, he definitely put his kiddy gloves for it.

    • yamanii@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      It’s 200 USD contrary to the 700 USD humane pin, I think it’s ok as a niche toy, it’s why Marquess was also much more forgiving of it.

  • heavy@sh.itjust.works
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    8 months ago

    I heard about this thing but couldn’t really tell what the idea was. I think I want to carry less, not more on me.

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      It’ll be cool when the concept of “Large Action Model” works well. But def not worth it to tie your money to a single horse this early; a lot of people want that concept to work well, so I’m sure there’s a lot of work being done in that area. Rn I agree that it’s just a worse ChatGPT.

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      8 months ago

      We know it’s just ChatGPT (and Perplexity). That’s why we bought it. It’s just a fun frontend for a chat bot. That’s like the main point.

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        7 months ago

        It’s more just a waste of resources. This thing has no reason to exist.

        It’s the ‘this could have been an email’ of consumer devices.

        • jg1i@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          Lol. “Why are you all happy?! Stop having fun!” I bought it and I’m satisfied with it. If you don’t see the appeal, that’s ok. Just don’t buy it.

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    8 months ago

    Rabbit is paying for processing those Ai requests. If everyone starts to download it to their android devices they will literally go bankrupt

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    7 months ago

    As a former Android developer, you can’t just do anything in an android app on a modern smartphone. The system is fighting you for resources the whole time. It makes sense to have something like this running as root on a device that you control.

    Not that I’m sold on it, just saying…

  • ZILtoid1991@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    Note that this is mostly due to the closed source drivers and nonexistent Linux support for smaller SoCs. Some manufacturers are quite good in that front (e.g. Broadcom/Raspberry Pi, Rockchip), with others you’re lucky if they allow you to use Linux at all, with no GPU drivers (which you often have to pirate the binaries, thanks ARM for making Mali a completely closed source project from its open source origins).

    • Quantum Cog@lemmy.worldOP
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      7 months ago

      Broadcom is also closed source (I think). I have to use closed source drivers for my broadcom wireless adapter on Linux.

  • nomadjoanne@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    Yeah in the presentation of it was clearly idiotic. I often wonder how seriously these silicon valley people actually take themselves privately.

  • fubarx@lemmy.ml
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    7 months ago

    Big whoop. MediaTek eval kits offer either Linux or Android AOSP. Why is this news?