There is no doubt that Humane AI Pin is an intriguing and original product: it is small, you wear it, it integrates generative artificial intelligence and promises to replace the smartphone. On paper, however, because the first reviews are rather disappointing, it is still too immature, but if we want to sum up what the experts halfway around the world think, we could say: ‘curious, yes, but don’t buy it’. And included in this consideration is the cost: $699, taxes and fees not included, which is a good $24 per month, taxes and fees not included, must be added.
The Humane AI Pin is one of the most curious tech objects around: officially announced last November, it was expected to be on the market in March, but some problems – also of an economic nature – delayed its debut, so much so that as an apology the company offered the first purchasers three months of free subscription (no small gesture, considering that it costs $24 a month…). With its availability on the market, the first international reviews have arrived, allowing us – albeit indirectly – to get a first idea of what it really means to wear a device that makes no secret of its ambitions daily.
Cute and a little more
AI Pin may be a killer device, but only in the future. To date, it is not. It has an assistant that makes suggestions based on artificial intelligence, but now its functions are very limited. An example? It is impossible to set the alarm clock. “Slow and barely intelligent. It is an interesting concept; technologically, it is advanced, but it completely fails in the service it is able to provide to the user. It might be useful for translations, but why use AI Pin when we already have a smartphone that already does it?
Cnet says it is not yet able to replace the smartphone. Its daily use is frustrating and not up to the mark, at least at the moment. It doesn’t always work on the first try, and you always have to pay attention to the angle of your palm. To activate Wi-Fi, then, you must navigate through settings with almost impossible gestures and dictation. Postponed.
It can only get better
Faced with this flood of complaints, Humane responded on X, stating that the reviews are ‘very valuable’ and describing the path from the device’s launch to today as a ‘wild ride’. The company acknowledged that there is room for further improvement, especially regarding the Cosmos operating system, and said it is ready to figure out how to refine the product, making the AI Pin better for everyday use.
Despite the company’s good intentions, the criticism and technical problems encountered cast a shadow over the future of the Humane AI Pin. It remains to be seen whether the company will be able to overcome these initial difficulties and turn its device into a truly innovative and useful product for users. In an increasingly competitive and evolving market such as that of wearable technology, Humane will have to prove that it can deliver on its promises and offer a user experience that lives up to expectations.
The result, however, is a $700 device that does nothing, or almost nothing, of what it was designed to do, and which shows that Humane have indeed set their sights too high in relation to their actual capabilities. As much as the leitmotif of all the reviews is that this is still an embryonic product, Humane’s inability to make ends meet in the realization of this first version of the Pin doesn’t leave much room for a new version that could solve the device’s hardware problems. All that remains now is to hope that the company will improve the product, at least for early adopters, they will be able to enjoy what, at least for the moment, seems to be just an expensive decoration for their shirt lapels.
