Rabbit R1's note-taking demo gives us a glimpse into an AI-driven, app-less future

AI has been disrupting every industry, and there’s potential for AI to disrupt the smartphone industry too. We see players like Google and Samsung incorporating AI into their phones with features like Magic Editor and Galaxy AI, but there’s room for even more disruption. That is where devices like the Rabbit R1 come into the picture, a device that reimagines the concept of a smartphone with the help of AI. We’re learning more about the Rabbit R1 as the days go by, and now we have a glimpse of its note-taking ability.

Rabbit Inc.’s CEO, Mr. Jesse Lyu, has shared a hands-on demo of the Rabbit R1’s note-taking ability. The device is shown to voice record a conversation, upload it to the cloud, and then present an AI-generated summary of the recording.

As we can see in the demo, note-taking on the Rabbit R1 is a speech-driven action. You start a note-taking session with your voice and stop it with the press of a button. There are no apps to fiddle with here, so the process appears natural, like talking to an assistant.

However, one can see some limitations of the Rabbit R1’s approach once the note-taking is over. If you want to access the recording, you have to access it from a web portal. However, this approach also has some advantages, as you get access to the recording on the cloud and an AI-generated summary of the recording. The demo also shows a button for a transcript, so we presume it can also be generated.

The Rabbit R1 is expected to begin shipping in the US in March, with a pre-sale price of $199. It is interesting to witness a reimagination of the smartphone that goes back to the basics by going app-free. While this future may not work for everyone, there are bound to be takers for a simpler and more intuitive smartphone.