The Rabbit R1 isn’t a particularly impressive product, but there’s a neat camera mode hidden within this disappointing AI gadget that’s enough to make it worth buying: it’s called Magic Camera, and it’s very similar to Google’s generative AI photo mode, where the AI essentially re-imagines the scene you present it to.
What sets the R1 apart is not only its unique style, but also how it uses the device’s shortcomings to make it an enjoyable experience. Taking photos with the R1 and AI has been the most fun I’ve ever had. Here’s why:
What is Magic Camera?
Andy Boxall / Digital Trends
Don’t worry if you’ve never heard of the R1’s Magic Camera feature before. The feature was added in a software update a few weeks after our original review was published, so if you dismissed the R1 at the time and haven’t paid any attention since, that’s why it might be unfamiliar to you. Magic Camera isn’t a mode on the Rabbit R1; it’s an AI image generator in the cloud, ready to give photos you take with the R1 a whole new look.
Luckily, using the Magic Camera couldn’t be easier: just point the Rabbit R1’s camera at your subject, press the side button twice, and you’re ready to take a picture. From this point on, there’s nothing else you need to do, but this is where you’ll encounter the first quirk or quirk of the R1 and Magic Camera: you can’t see any of the original images or the ones generated by the Magic Camera on the device.
Instead, you have to go to Rabbithole. And that’s not just a cute way to say it: Rabbithole is the name of the Rabbit R1’s online portal, where all the content captured and generated by the R1 is stored and displayed. To see the R1’s photos, you have to pick up your phone or go to your computer, but that’s not a drawback (it goes against the “phone replacement” concept of the R1), and for me, it somehow adds to the excitement. It’s like waiting for your film to be developed after you’ve taken pictures on vacation.
Turn a bad photo into something special
Andy Boxall / Digital Trends
I love Magic Camera because it takes a mundane, ordinary, poorly composed photo and makes it fun and eye-catching. Also, sometimes I’m not interested in the subject at all, so I can create something new rather than just retouching the original. But if I notice a detail in the photo, I’ll use that detail as the center and build a new image around it. It’s creative in the best sense of the word.
Original Magic Camera
Let me show you what I mean. The first photo of my MacBook next to the muffins is poorly composed, taken with zero attention to detail, and is a photo I would have deleted from my phone any other time. But Magic Camera ignores all of that and creates a compelling image. Everything from the phone to the flowers is in there, and you immediately get the R1’s trademark pixel-art style look.
Original Magic Camera
The second photo was a coincidence. I was using R1’s visual search to find the name of someone on the calendar (it’s Kang Hyewon, a Korean actress and singer, which R1 didn’t know), and discovered that the photo had been processed by Magic Camera during a visit to Rabbithole. All the elements of the photo were captured, and even the sun-drenched early morning feel was preserved in the recreated photo. See the rabbit sitting on the couch? That’s the Magic Camera mascot, and there’s always a rabbit hiding somewhere in the image.
Original Magic Camera
In the final photo, the R1 recognises the Porsche emblem on your steering wheel and preserves it in the Magic Camera image, filling the world beyond the windshield with Porsche-like cars. Interestingly, the camera also turns a right-hand drive car into a left-hand drive, and a manual. It often gets even more creative, coming up with entirely new interpretations of phones and watches, and turning you into a totally different person in a selfie.
Is the camera any good?
Original Magic Camera
I find the Magic Camera a lot of fun, and it does a good job of hiding just how terrible the R1’s camera actually is: the image quality is very poor, lacking detail, washed out colors, and a resolution of just 1080×1080 pixels, meaning the photos you take are ones you’ll never want to save. Magic Camera photos are even lower resolution, just 1024×1024 pixels, but they make the most of the pixel art style and digitally rendered detail.
Original Magic Camera
Perhaps even worse than the photo quality is the actual experience of taking photos with the R1. The screen is barely visible in sunlight outdoors, even at full brightness. You can squint and just about make out things in the frame, but there’s no chance of taking a photo. You’re outdoors pointing the camera in the direction of something and hoping for the best. But this isn’t an issue, as the Magic Camera doesn’t care about any of this.
Original Magic Camera
The Rabbit R1 is a lousy photographer, its camera is barebones and its screen is practically useless unless you’re indoors. The camera shutter is slow to respond and takes a while to process a photo before you can close it. This camera rivals the Nokia 3210 as one of the least satisfying cameras I’ve used in the last year, and yet I still go out of my way to take photos with it. This is all completely ignoring the fact that the Magic Camera is a terrible camera.
The best or worst of AI?
Andy Boxall / Digital Trends
The Rabbit R1’s camera has its shortcomings, making it very hard to do anything creative, but the AI does all the creative work so I don’t have to. It turns my boring photos into quirky, eye-catching, unique photos. I can safely say I haven’t taken a single photo with the Magic Camera, only photos that inspire me. Depending on how you feel about AI taking on an increasingly creative role, this is either exciting or depressing.
Original Magic Camera
Right now, AI in consumer tech is centered around productivity and other boring but necessary functions, so I bought the Rabbit R1 hoping to find some personality in it. I found some of that personality in the Magic Camera. Rather than just giving it something new to do every time, or offering keyword choices that influence the end result, I love how the engineers took the time to create a unique and cohesive character for the images. It’s fun to watch the AI having fun.
Original Magic Camera
Just as I was about to publish this article, Rabbit announced a new Magic Camera feature called Freestyle, which lets you tell the camera how you want the AI-generated image to look, such as “Take a photo of this and make it a pencil sketch.” This sounds fun, but for me it’s more fun to watch the AI get creative without my input.
While other aspects of the Rabbit R1 fell short of expectations, the Magic Camera exceeded them by giving me the freedom to create striking images within a carefully curated set of guidelines to continually maintain my own unique style. What’s even more interesting is having to wait for the results when I get home.
The R1’s Magic Camera mode is a great display of AI creativity, and I love it. But is it worth buying the Rabbit R1 just for the Magic Camera? If you like what you see here, don’t mind that it’s otherwise pretty lame, and have $200 to spend, I’d say it’s actually worth buying. It’s that much fun.
