Teenage Engineering x Rabbit R1: Is the smartphone era over?
A new AI-assisted mobile device
The Teenage Engineering x Rabbit R1 is an AI-powered mobile device that is half the size of the iPhone and multitask in a range of areas.
Designed in collaboration with the funky Swedish tech manufacturer, Teenage Engineering, the Rabit R1 is not yet designed to replace or supersede the smartphone. For now, it’s working alongside with a certain amount of utility overlap.
Teenage Engineering x Rabbit R1
As you’d expect from this collab, the Rabbit R1 is somewhat retro in appearance, landing somewhere in between a Playdate console and a handheld TV from the 1990s.
It’s equipped with a 2.88-inch touchscreen for operations and a rotating camera that captures stills and video. In addition, there’s a scroll wheel for easy navigation and a push-to-talk button for activating voice commands.
The R1 is powered by a 2.3 GHz MediaTek processing chip with 4 GB of RAM and 128 GB of onboard storage. While this might not seem like much, remember that it isn’t designed to run the same OS as your smartphone.
Instead, the device runs Rabbit OS, a Large Action Model software platform that provides a control system for a variety of applications including entertainment, communication, transportation, deliveries, and more.
Here, we see a singularly focussed interface in use that allows you to flip through the different app categories. However, the Large Action Model is designed to create automated workflows within your most frequently used apps.
![The R1 Design Layout](https://cdn.gearnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/teenage-engineering-rabbit-r1-design-1024x565.jpg)
With its specialized training mode, you can teach the software to order a car, or your dinner this evening, or play songs from your favourite artists. How well the system works in practice still remains to be seen, but it sure is an exciting prospect.
In a market where smartphones have become status-driven accessories that cause you to pay for far more features than you ever end up using, the R1 is a refreshing minimalistic device.
Pricing and availability:
Priced at only $199, the third batch of Rabbit R1s has already sold out already! You can place your order via the Rabbit website.
More about the Teenage Engineering x Rabbit R1:
- Official product page
- Teenage Engineering
- More Tech Stories
- The R1 Design Layout: Rabbit
14 responses to “Teenage Engineering x Rabbit R1: Is the smartphone era over?”
TE has a real talent for releasing a killer product one time and then releasing something that looks like a bad SNL sketch prop the next.
Thank you for reminding me to ignore this brand.
okay but how is that relevant because teenage engineering was only involved with the design, so basically the aesthetic. The thing looks good because teenage engineering is basically a company surviving only on the fact that their products look good visually. their sequencer is not better than anybody elses is sequencer.
But it’s a different company that’s doing the software and designing what the device actually does.
More useless crap from the pre-pubescent wanna be engineers.
You can’t see crap from crapola.
you all seriously cannot be this dumb If you look into it teenage engineering is only a collaborator and the only thing they’re responsible for is how it looks. the aesthetic which is the thing that their company runs on.
it’s somebody else that’s doing the software.
Many people were down on Nintendo back when the Switch was the NX. Now they all have a Switch.
I’m not a TE fan, but I’ll never discount the efforts of people/companies who have a vision that’s not my thing.
That’s one expensive app.
There is absolutely no reason this can’t be replicated on existing phones you already own as an app or integrated into assistants. I honestly can’t believe they went with a hardware at that price instead of the masses as an app purchase.
Skip the $199 middleman.
I might drop $200 on a new piece of tech, but there’s no way in paying $20 for an app.
I know how silly that sounds, but it’s how my brain thinks. And I’m sure lots of other people think the same way.
Yes, the world is full of silly people who are content to think like this ๐คฃ๐คฃ
Yes, the world is full of silly people who think people are โsillyโ for thinking differently than them.
lol he called himself silly, not me. I was only teasing.
That is to say, we don’t “think differently”. I was literally agreeing with Froggo ๐คฃ๐คฃ
Yay, maybe this new innovative contraption can ‘Unglue’ me from all of those attension horder aps that steal all my time away….
Im so confused. They didnt show it do a single thing. Why would I want to carry thatโฆ and why would I want a separate device? The LAM is a great conceptโฆ. Make it so it works FROM YOUR PHONE.