So far, no product in the AI ​​wearable device track has achieved particularly good results. The AI ​​Pin, which was launched at MWC24 at the beginning of this year, once the evaluation prototype was sent out, the "AI myth" that was hyped at the time of its release began to be shattered, and it experienced large-scale returns in just a few months; the Rabbit R1, which also started selling well, It is relatively better, but it also received negative reviews similar to "Android cases" when it was delivered in large quantities.

Now, another company has entered the AI ​​wearable device track. Technology media The Verge published a blog post yesterday saying that AI startup Plaud has launched a product called NotePin. Unlike AI Friend, which is still in the "painting" stage, NotePin is now accepting pre-orders and is expected to start shipping in November.

Image source: Plaud

At this point, a new species of AI hardware has been Gathering together the "Four Little Dragons": AI Pin, Rabbit R1, AI Friend and Note Pin, Lei Technology has continued to report or experience these four products. Among them, AI Pin and Rabbit R1 are both claimed to be able to subvert or even replace mobile phones, but they are more popular than others. The market feedback of AI Friend, which is positioned as a personal AI companion, is not yet known. NotePin, which has just been launched, has taken a more realistic path: playing a supporting role in mobile phones.

NotePin: An AI recorder that looks like Xiaomi Mi Band 1?

Plaud has not released any technical parameters about NotePin. We can only find clues about this new product from the official introduction and website promotional video.

From a positioning perspective, NotePin is an AI wearable device that helps the wearer remember.

NotePin can be worn in four ways: necklace, wristband, clip, and magnetic suction. After activation, it can record the user's conversation in real time and use a large language model to Summarize audio content and work with the Plaud app to transcribe or output a summary of the meeting.

Users can use natural language to ask NotePin what was said at a specific time point, and AI will automatically generate a summary.

Photo source: Plaud

Battery life is the advantage of this new product , Plaud claims that the NotePin can last for 40 days in standby mode and supports 20 hours of continuous recording. In comparison, the battery life of the AI ​​Pin is only a few hours, and the NotePin is a "winner" in terms of battery life. However, long battery life is inseparable from such a design: the recording state will not be on all the time, and the user must tap to activate the device to start recording.

In terms of interaction, there are physical buttons on the surface of NotePin. Judging from the promotional video, they should be touch buttons. Users can activate NotePin’s radio mode by clicking on it, and its built-in microphone will Start radio. Neither the video nor the website introduction mentions that NotePin comes with a speaker. It seems that sending information to users through the mobile app is its only audio output method.

In fact, when Xiao Lei saw NotePin for the first time, he immediately thought of the first-generation Xiaomi bracelet released in 2014, especially the wristband mode, which was 90% similar. . I wonder if Plaud referred to the mysterious power from the East when designing this product?

Image source: Plaud

NotePin will become the first popular AI hardware?

In terms of product positioning, NotePin is different from AI devices such as AI Pin, Rabbit R1, and AI Friend. AI Pin and Rabbit R1 try to achieve the ultimate goal of "replacing mobile phones" by stacking functions, while AI Friend wants to be the user's "electronic friend." NotePin is more inclined to be a productivity device with limited functions, aiming to provide more practicality rather than pleasure.

In the promotional video, Plaud has been demonstrating the application of NotePin in various professional scenarios, such as meeting notes, brainstorming, daily blurted out ideas, etc. It fits well with NotePin’s official positioning of “transcribing, summarizing everything that happens in life, and getting action items from it”.

Photo source: Plaud

In Plaud’s press release, The company describes NotePin as being proactively activated, "learning and understanding its users over time to automatically activate before and after important meetings or events." It's not clear exactly how this is accomplished, but users still need to. Manual activation.

According to Lei Technology, NotePin is essentially a portable recording tool with AI functions. It is similar to the positioning of Limitless Pendant released in May this year, focusing on work scenarios. The difference is that the Limitless Pendant only costs $99, while the NotePin costs $169.

At first glance, everyone may think that NotePin is overpriced. But a careful calculation revealed that there is no such thing: AI hardware generally adopts a "hardware + subscription" charging model. Although NotePin is more expensive than Limitless Pendant, the monthly subscription fee for using all AI functions is only about US$6, while Limitless Pendant costs $19. Judging from the monthly AI function subscription fee, NotePin is much more favorable than Limitless Pendant, and as the usage time increases, the cost-effectiveness will become higher and higher.

When analyzing AI devices, we generally do not regard them as pure hardware products, but as the entrance to various services. NotePin currently only focuses on a single work scenario, rather than using science fiction imagination as a guide. It can be seen that Plaud's development strategy is relatively pragmatic.

In addition, for a product like NotePin that focuses on office scenarios, what is tested is not only the function of the device itself, but also the data privacy processing behind it.

Image source: Plaud

Privacy has always been a problem for AI devices Problems. For example, Rabbit R1 was exposed to have security vulnerabilities in its API, which risks leaking user data. NotePin's AI processing is also highly dependent on the cloud, with transcription being handled using OpenAI Whisper, while summarization and other advanced tasks are handled through cloud computing using LLMs like GPT-4o or Claude 3.5 Sonnet.

To reassure users, Plaud promises to provide "industry-leading encryption", utilizing its own PLAUD Privacy Cloud (PPC) to ensure data is handled securely to ensure user privacy Safety. Of course, this is only an official statement. Whether user privacy can be properly handled depends on subsequent developments.

The "ambition" of NotePin, which focuses on work scenarios, is obviously not as big as general AI devices such as AI Pin and Rabbit R1. Its essence is an all-in-one recording and transcriber. NotePin. However, in Lei Technology’s view, NotePin’s focus on segmenting scenarios and solving practical problems is more pragmatic than the big business of “replacing mobile phones”. Once the product positioning is OK, whether it can be popularized depends on product strength and marketing capabilities.

In short, Xiaolei believes that NotePin has the potential to become a hit. Chinese AI giants, especially those with deep accumulation in voice AI, will also have a bright future. It may cross the river by touching NotePin and launch similar "memory capsule" AI hardware. Especially iFlytek, which has a particularly strong presence in AI voice hardware, is a powerful player in this category.

Why is it a false proposition to say that AI hardware will replace mobile phones?

Prior to this, Plaud has launched the AI ​​recording device PLAUD NOTE, which has almost the same function as NotePin and also requires the use of a mobile phone, but differs in form. Compared with the PLAUD NOTE that fits on the back of the phone, the NotePin has a more natural shape and can even serve as a decoration.

Image source: Plaud

Positioning concept of PLAUD NOTE and NotePin They are similar: they have no ambition to replace mobile phones, they just want to become an extension of mobile phone AI interaction. Xiaolei believes that this route is correct. After being connected to the large model, the functions that AI devices can achieve can be achieved by mobile phones; but conversely, AI devices may not be able to achieve the functions that mobile phones can achieve, such as AI Pin and Rabbit R1 The screen is very poor or even has no screen, and the imaging function is negligible. Do you still want to replace the mobile phone? I'm afraid the product manager is still too engineer-minded and has not really thought clearly about the value of the mobile phone.

Of course, AI wearable devices also have unique advantages. Their biggest feature is that they are wearable. This is the essential difference between them and mobile phones, and it is also important for consumers to buy them. The reason is, for example, NotePin does rely heavily on mobile phone interaction, but at least it is designed to be lightweight and can be worn everywhere. If it has a built-in speaker, it can also perform direct voice interaction. In some specific scenarios, such as driving, running, and cooking, it is indeed better to use than a mobile phone.

In short, Lei Technology believes that AI hardware should not regard mobile phones as "direct competitors", just like smart watches: although Apple's Apple Watch Ultra can be used independently , but usually still needs to be used with an iPhone for the best experience. Currently, smartphones are still an indispensable tool in our daily lives due to their comprehensive functionality and rich application ecology, and AI devices cannot completely replace them.

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