For the past week, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about Humane’s Pin ai.
As someone who has used and reviewed wearables of all shapes and sizes, this pin baffles and confuses. The premise is that it’s supposed to help you look at your phone less, something many people say they use their smartwatches for. For $699 with a $24 monthly subscription, you’ll supposedly be able to call friends (also like smartwatches), talk to voice assistants (also like smartwatches), interact with a camera (also like smartglasses), and project a screen (also like smartwatches ). glasses).
None of these concepts are new, so it’s amazing to me that this thing blew up the way it did. Sure, the form factor is flashy, but it violates the cardinal rule of good portable design: you have to want to use the damn thing. Preferably, as much as possible. In public. Where people can see you, judge you and interact with you.
Humane seems to think that making this trendy will do just that. The pin debuted at Paris Fashion Week on supermodel Naomi Campbell’s lapel. But ask Apple how the fashion route for the first Apple Watches worked (poorly). While the style is key, the most important thing about wearables is that they are versatile enough to use all the time. This is effectively a high-tech brooch. And in the case of brooches and pins, they are normally worn with outerwear. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that if you look at Humane’s marketing images, almost all of them show the device pinned to jackets or hoodies. But what happens when you come in and take off your outerwear? What exactly are you going to pin this on in spring and summer?
Considering that this ai-pin-700-dollar-smartphone-alternative-wearable/#:~:text=It%E2%80%99s%20altogether%20about%2055%20grams%2C%20or%202%20ounces”>weighs as much as a tennis ball, will drag any t-shirt and forget blouses, dresses or shirts with flimsy buttons. I’ve used lighter magnetic lapel mic clips when filming videos and if your shirt doesn’t have structural integrity, you’re going to have a bad time. If you want to wear this pin every day, you’ll also have to be extremely intentional with your clothing. In the announcement video, Humane co-founder Imran Chaudhri certainly wasn’t. You can see the pin. drags the collar of his sweater when he puts it on.
This is less of a problem with most other portable devices. Smartwatches, hearables, smart rings, smart glasses, and AR/VR headsets are worn on the body. Once you put the device on, it stays in place regardless of what else you’re wearing. You don’t have to transfer the device from one set to another, which is a hassle and increases the chances of losing it.
The other problem with wearables? Water. A few years ago, I reviewed L’Oreal’s My skin track – a wearable sensor that is placed on clothing to measure UV exposure. I used it on jackets and shirts. And then I threw it in the washing machine and accidentally destroyed it. Of course, this sensor was small and would be harder to do with the ai Pin. But still, there’s a reason why earbuds, smart rings, and smart watches have water resistance ratings from IPX4 up to 5ATM. People get wet! An unexpected storm, sweat, washing dishes, spilling drinks, being splashed by a passing car because you were too close to the curb – these are all things that successful wearables can withstand. Meanwhile, at Humane Product FAQssays that “For optimal performance, your ai Pin and its electrical accessories should not be exposed to water.”
These things combined are fair It’s inconvenient enough to see most people leave this pin in a drawer to collect dust. But usability aside, emerging technology like this has yet another obstacle: culture.
I have seen the Pin ai compared to Star TrekThe communicator badges, but there’s a big gap between that and what Humane is doing. It is a fictional device in a fictional universe that has established rules for how these devices are used. When an officer needs to speak to a crew member, he taps the badge and speaks to him. It’s not strange because everyone around them understands what’s going on. That’s not a luxury Humane and other next-generation wearable makers have in the real world.
Let me put it this way: in public settings, would you rather scream in your chest to talk to a voice assistant or pull out your phone to look up the information yourself? I know what I would choose because I recently had to do it.
When I was reviewing the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, the thought of saying “Hi Meta” in public made me cringe. I did it once on my trip to see how it would feel. It was embarrassing and I never did it again. And that’s on a device where there’s a microphone that sits directly on the bridge of your nose, pointing directly at your mouth. While some people have no problem yelling at Siri, doing so in public is still a social faux pas. The Humane pin has a “personal speaker”, but you shouldn’t underestimate the power of ambient noise. Even with the excellent nose microphone and omnidirectional speakers of the Meta glasses aimed at my ears, you still had to speak quite loudly for the ai to register what you were saying. These glasses were discreet, so at least it looked like she was talking to air. Yelling at my shirt… that’s going too far. That has nothing to say about the camera and how we as a society still don’t know. how we feel about body cameras in general.
These are a fraction of the scenarios and questions running through my brain. But it all comes down to this: We no longer measure the success of a wearable device by how well it replaces your phone. The best wearables act as an extension of it or do something your phone can’t, like collect real-time health data. So why is Humane trying to close a gap that doesn’t really exist?
While I have my doubts about this pin, I would be delighted let my portable world be interrupted. But for that to happen, I would need to try one of these myself. So human, the ball is in your court.
