San Francisco-based startup Humane has recently unveiled its first-ever product, the Ai Pin. It is the first gadget of its kind, pitched to be a smartphone alternative device that’s capable of fulfilling most of the latter’s role through generative AI, voice recognition, and lasers. Yes, lasers.
As implied by its name, the Ai Pin is designed to be worn on your shirt, hoodie, blazer and so on like a pin badge. But rather than using an actual pin, it relies on a custom designed magnetic array that snaps onto the included accessory – in this case, the battery booster – that’s placed underneath the aforementioned clothing. The device itself is compact, featuring a rounded square design with slanted top section which houses an indicator light, laser projection system and a 13MP ultra-wide camera. Its bottom half is where the touchpad is located, so it’s probably a good idea to place the Ai Pin a bit higher on your chest to avoid any… misunderstandings.
Meanwhile, at the bottom is what’s referred to as the “Personic Speaker” audio system, which Humane says is able to create a “personally optimised bubble of sound” so calls or music can mostly be heard by you. Of course, Bluetooth connectivity is also available to pair your headphones or earbuds if you wish to enjoy audio the boring mainstream way. Then there’s the onboard Ai Mic that’s used for calls and voice commands.
In regards to the latter, the voice recognition feature is not activated by default for privacy purposes, and will require you to enable it manually if you wish to utilise it. To do this, you’ll have to tap and drag along the touchpad (remember, attach the device as high as possible) until the indicator light – known officially as the Trust Light, by the way – glows in orange, which lets everyone around know that you’re accessing one of Ai Pin’s features. On that note, purple is for Phone mode, white is for Scan and green is for camera, while pulsing purple, red, aquamarine, yellow and white represent trusted contact call, area alert, trusted contact message, thermal alert and services message respectively.
As to how it actually works, Humane says you can speak to the Ai Pin “naturally” when issuing orders, as its Cosmos OS-powered AI is capable of recognising and contextualising your requests through speech. Notable features include real-time translation, and the “catch me up” voice command which lets the device sift through your messages and calls to give you a quick rundown of what you need to know.
On top of understanding inputs such as replying to messages or launching features, you can also ask it to quickly look up certain information such as event dates, addresses, and even the nutritional details of a food product that you’re currently holding in your hand. Keep in mind that situations like the latter will have the device activate its camera in order to utilise its onboard image recognition abilities.
Speaking of the camera, you can actually use the device’s imaging system to capture 4208 x 3120 px photos by issuing a voice command or double tapping the touchpad with two fingers. The only drawback is that you can only review photos later by transferring them to an external device or uploading them to Humane’s .Center website, where all of your images, notes, lists and more are stored. There’s no video recording capabilities just yet, but the company promises that it will be added via a future update.
Next up is the built-in laser unit, which projects the Laser Ink Display on the palm of your hand. This shows you notifications and messages, as well as an interface for the onboard Tidal-powered music player. Rather than tapping into the projected display, interactions rely on gestures such as titling and rolling your hands or closing your fingers a la Apple’s Double Tap feature.
Under the hood, the Ai Pin features an unspecified octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset with 4GB RAM and 32GB storage via eMMC, LTE connectivity via eSIM, as well as Wi-Fi 5, Bluetooth 5.1 and GPS support. In terms of battery life, TechCrunch reports that the device can last up to five hours per charge, while the battery booster accessory provides an additional five hours.
If the Ai Pin reminds you of fictional gadgets such as the communicator badges from Star Trek: The Next Generation, then you’re not alone – as it is quite clear where Humane has gotten its inspiration from. Whether or not the device is actually practical or revolutionary enough to replace smartphones remains to be seen, though it is still very unlikely for now. But hey, at least someone’s trying to think outside of the box.
The Ai Pin by Humane is set to be available for pre-order in the US on 16 November 2023, starting at US$699 (~RM3,300). Colour options include Eclipse, Equinox, and Lunar. Orders are expected to ship in early 2024, though there’s no word on whether the device will be released internationally.
(Source: Humane official website)
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