The controversial Rabbit R1 is finally coming to the UK and the European Union

When the Rabbit R1 was announced at CES 2024 in January it attracted plenty of attention. The device - designed by Teenage Engineering so dripping in retro-futuristic cues - is now making its way to the UK and Europe, so you can get your hands on the curiosity and try it out for yourself.

Rabbit tells us that is has quietly been available for a couple of months, but now it's full steam ahead for the AI device, which you can pick-up for £159 in the UK - although shipping then costs £12. Rabbit says it will process and ship orders within 3 business days.

The Rabbit R1 is designed to pull together different AI models, giving you access to ChatGPT, Perplexity and Anthropic in one device. It is fitted with a camera, display, microphone and speaker, while it connects to Wi-Fi or can take a SIM card for a connection, which it will need to work.

rabbit r1: $199, no subscription. - YouTube

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Rather than offering a number of apps and services on the device, the idea is that you hand that over to AI to control. The aim is to help you get to what you actually want rather than making you go through the slightly analogue process of opening an app first.

The device runs RabbitOS, which was soon found to based on Android, so while it's running the Rabbit R1 device, there have been plenty who said – rightly or wrongly – that this could all just be an app on your phone instead.

What can Rabbit R1 do?

The Rabbit R1 is designed to be a pocket companion, putting the AI first and aiming to remove all the clutter that's associated with current technology. It's a challenging device, because it wants to push a change in the approach to getting things done and offer something different to your smartphone.

Rabbit then offers a full range of functions, including translation, searching, voice recording and note taking with AI summary, alarms and timers, lets you play music, create AI images, call an Uber and chat with AI services.

The Rabbithole - the web portal that keeps track of your interactions with Rabbit - is core to the experience, giving you access to the apps that you'll use with Rabbit. You'll have to login to those apps (like Spotify or Uber), but after that, you should be free to access those apps more seamlessly through Rabbit OS.

The Rabbit R1 faces plenty of competition in delivering AI services, not least from the phone you already have in your pocket. The unfortunate reality is that you're unlikely to replace your phone with the Rabbit R1, so it remains something of a novelty device.

If nothing else, that orange colour really pops, making the Rabbit R1 a great conversation starter. For some people, that's reason enough to buy one.