The Rabbit R1 device promises to be a lot smarter than your typical digital assistant. For example, it already does a lot of things Siri can't, such as order food on your behalf from DoorDash and book a ride from Uber — when it works properly. But after spending my first day with the R1 and learning its features, I wanted to see how well it fares against Siri in common queries people might make every day.
From checking the weather and the latest sports scores to getting the news and an update on the stock market, I tested the Rabbit R1 vs Siri using an iPhone 15 Pro Max on the same Wi-Fi network. Apple wins big on speed, but definitely not on intelligence.
Rabbit R1 vs Siri: What's the weather?
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I asked both the Rabbit R1 and Siri about the weather where I live and Siri came back with the latest conditions in less than 2 seconds, while the the R1 took nearly 8 seconds to provide an answer.
I do appreciate that the R1 gave me the hourly forecast, which I could scroll through using the analog wheel on the right side of the device. But ultimately this round goes to Apple's assistant.
Rabbit R1 vs Siri: Who won the Yankees game?
I actually missed the Yankees game so I asked both assistants "What was the score of the Yankees game last night? Once again, Siri was way faster at under 2 seconds and Rabbit took about 7 seconds.
Both got the score right at Yankees 7 and Oakland A's 3, but only Siri showed the score along with the logos and team records. So you get much more info at a glance.
However, when I asked "Did anyone hit home runs?" Siri just gave a weird generic result about Barry Bonds' home run record, while the R1 was smart enough to know that this was a follow up question and proceeded to share that Aaron Judge, Anthony Rizzo and Juan Soto all went yard.
Play Taylor Swift's latest album
Both Siri and the Rabbit R1 have access to Spotify, so I thought both assistant would make quick work of this query: "Play Taylor Swift's latest album on Spotify."
Both Siri and the R1 took a bit under 9 seconds to start playing "Fortnight featuring Post Malone" on Spotify, though Rabbit's device took an odd detour at first and played the older Delicate track from 2018.
Overall, though, this round was pretty much a tie until I asked how many songs were on the album as a follow-up question. Siri didn't respond and the R1 told me there's 15 tracks. Too bad the right answer is 31 tracks.
Stock market update
The stock market was having a particularly down day so I figured let's check in and ask both Siri and the Rabbit R1 "What's the latest on the stock market for today?"
Both the R1 and Siri gave me the latest status on the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq composite, but once again Siri was way faster and also kept the numbers on screen.
The R1 ran through the three indices one by one and then summarized the percent down for each separately, which I found less helpful. It would be better to share the percent up or down while touching on each one.
What's the latest news on the TikTok ban?
Here's a very easy win for the Rabbit R1. I asked it and Siri "What's the latest news on the TikTok ban, and Siri came back with the embarrassingly wrong answer about "Here's some news about 'TikTok band." I promise you I did not say "band."
In fact, I repeated this query several times to make sure I was pronouncing the words correctly and every time Siri got it wrong. So Apple's speed in this case didn't help at all.
Meanwhile, the Rabbit R1 gave a correct answer, summarizing that the "U.S. Senate has passed legislation giving TikTok's Chinese owner, ByteDance, about nine months to divest the U.S. assets of the short-video app, for face a nationwide ban." It then gave some more background on the bill.
Bottom line
The Rabbit R1 definitely loses to Siri on speed, but I'd say that it's definitely smarter than Apple's assistant — at least for now. Apple is expected to potentially introduce big changes with the upcoming iOS 18 at WWDC 2024, including a possible Siri 2.0.
But right now I'd say that the R1 does a better job understanding your queries and answering follow-up questions. And Rabbit will of course be updating the R1 as well. I'd like to see more graphics along with queries along with more words staying on the screen as a quick summary.
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