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Rabbit R1 is Just an Android App (www.androidauthority.com)
submitted 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) by thequantumcog@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world

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

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[-] lobut@lemmy.ca 134 points 1 month ago

R1s statement in response from the article:

“rabbit r1 is not an Android app. We are aware there are some unofficial rabbit OS app/website emulators out there. We understand the passion that people have to get a taste of our AI and LAM instead of waiting for their r1 to arrive. That being said, to clear any misunderstanding and set the record straight, rabbit OS and LAM run on the cloud with very bespoke AOSP and lower level firmware modifications, therefore a local bootleg APK without the proper OS and Cloud endpoints won’t be able to access our service. rabbit OS is customized for r1 and we do not support third-party clients. Using a bootlegged APK or webclient carries significant risks; malicious actors are known to publish bootlegged apps that steal your data. For this reason, we recommend that users avoid these bootlegged rabbit OS apps.”

So there's literally no reason for this to have been a device at all.

[-] infeeeee@lemm.ee 49 points 1 month ago

AOSP and lower level firmware modifications

But it's android, so linux, so GPL2, so they have to share these modifications (if they really exist). It's bootleg until soneone sues them.

[-] redcalcium@lemmy.institute 45 points 1 month ago

You'd be surprised how many companies ignore GPL. Providing broken links to the source code tarballs, telling you to send an email request to get the code then proceed to ignore the requests, etc. Only the most famous case got sued, the rest simply got away with it.

[-] infeeeee@lemm.ee 22 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Yes, I know, but that shouldn't be a norm.

There was a case this year, where SFC, a nonprofit organization won against Vizio for LGPL violation. It's important, because SFC was just a normal consumer, not the owner of the original code. So now just a random user can sue this Rabbit company, and they should win, more details here: https://blog.lukaspanni.de/2024/01/09/the-significance-of-the-vizio-judgment-for-open-source-compliance-programs/

Edit: the case is not settled yet, but ongoing since 2021: https://sfconservancy.org/copyleft-compliance/vizio.html

And there are other funny solutions, like when a Chinese "tech influencer/diy maker" Naomi Wu aka SexyCyborg just simply walked into the office of a Chinese manufacturer, and requested the source code in person: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vj04MKykmnQ

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[-] cyrus@sopuli.xyz 10 points 1 month ago

The Linux Kernel is GPL2, the Android OS is Apache.

[-] woodgen@lemm.ee 6 points 1 month ago
[-] infeeeee@lemm.ee 11 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

They wrote "lower level firmware modifications", AOSP runs on Linux kernel, and firmware modifications usually mean they modified the Linux kernel. This device seems like a regular Android phone, and afaik this rules apply to all Android phones, that's why Android rom cooking can exist.

[-] jj4211@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago

They may be compelled to release any driver code associated, however firmware is not covered by relation to kernel. Linux runs on mostly proprietary firmware. The "linux-firmware" package in many distributions that contains hot plug firmware is mostly proprietary blobs.

That said I doubt they had much significant firmware work, it may just be logo and some tweaked configuration from their SoC vendor. They likely had to modify AOSP a bit more to allow their launcher unfettered access to the device in ways not modeled by standard AOSP, but that's user space that isn't GPL.

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[-] VeganCheesecake@lemmy.blahaj.zone 46 points 1 month ago

Was that in question? I thought it was clear from the beginning that it does pretty much everything in the cloud.

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[-] bcgm3@lemmy.world 11 points 1 month ago

No rea$on at all, except for that one little rea$on that we alway$ $eem to keep coming back to...

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[-] ar0177417@lemmy.world 100 points 1 month ago
[-] redcalcium@lemmy.institute 23 points 1 month ago

Technically you can't call it "Android" without paying Google for certification and play store/gapps license. It's AOSP.

[-] cyrus@sopuli.xyz 29 points 1 month ago

Just so you know, AOSP is short for Android Open Source Project.

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[-] MossyFeathers@pawb.social 72 points 1 month ago

Dude, maybe it was meant to be a joke, but that doom picture is so fake. C'mon.

[-] gears@sh.itjust.works 18 points 1 month ago
[-] ChanchoManco@lemm.ee 22 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

His point still stands as the image in the thumbnail is as fake as it gets.

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[-] chrash0@lemmy.world 58 points 1 month 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

[-] thequantumcog@lemmy.world 54 points 1 month 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 33 points 1 month 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.

[-] chrash0@lemmy.world 9 points 1 month 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

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[-] arc@lemm.ee 43 points 1 month 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.

[-] Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world 17 points 1 month 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.

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[-] jkrtn@lemmy.ml 7 points 1 month 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.

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[-] heavy@sh.itjust.works 37 points 1 month 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.

[-] dm_me_your_boobs@lemm.ee 14 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Do you not carry 3 phones already? Just swap one out.

[-] wreckedcarzz@lemmy.world 8 points 1 month ago

Do you guys not have 3 phones?

[-] Ghostalmedia@lemmy.world 32 points 1 month ago

Wait until people realize that it’s just ChatGPT.

[-] Cosmos7349@lemmy.world 13 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

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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[-] lorkano@lemmy.world 28 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month 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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[-] tomjuggler@lemmy.world 26 points 1 month 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..

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[-] Cosmos7349@lemmy.world 26 points 1 month ago

Haha can’t run R1 on an iPhone. Take that Apple. Absolute gamechanger.

[-] Ghostalmedia@lemmy.world 18 points 1 month ago

Challenge accepted. I’m going to get an IPhone, load up an Android cloud emulator, upload the Rabbit R1 app, then use it to access its orange version of ChatGPT.

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[-] photonic_sorcerer@lemmy.dbzer0.com 25 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

What's with the terribly shopped doom pic?

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[-] ZILtoid1991@lemmy.world 20 points 1 month 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).

[-] xthexder@l.sw0.com 15 points 1 month ago

Note that since it's just an Android app, there is no purpose in selling this e-waste device other than increasing the price, since it does nothing you can't already do on your phone.

[-] macaroni1556@lemmy.ca 9 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Broadcom is actually terrible, the Rpi foundation just had an in.

NXP deserves some credit for good board support packages and documentation.

[-] thequantumcog@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago

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

[-] vext01@lemmy.sdf.org 19 points 1 month ago

Watched a review of this thing. Don't see the appeal. Especially don't see why it needs to be a separate bit of hardware.

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[-] egeres@lemmy.world 16 points 1 month ago

How many android apps are designed by teenage engineering?

[-] nomadjoanne@lemmy.world 14 points 1 month ago

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

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[-] aniki@lemm.ee 12 points 1 month ago

Anyone have a hacked APK? I wanna test it out.

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[-] Alpha71@lemmy.world 9 points 1 month ago
[-] fubarx@lemmy.ml 7 points 1 month ago

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

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this post was submitted on 01 May 2024
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