Popping aside the product itself, because I haven't (and probably won't) had hands-on with the form factor..

This is a good lesson for Android OEMs especially - but products generally.

Someone will tear it down.

In ways you haven't considered, through means you may not know exist. It'll happen, and the inner workings will probably be pretty well mapped out when it does.

For the Rabbit R1, that was -

• it runs Android 13 (AOSP), with a May '23 SPL
• it's core function is via a custom launcher app which can run on other devices
• it runs on a BSP, vs ground-up AOSP

How you handle this matters; don't goad the community with statements about the product being super bespoke, highly secure, or attempt to skew how it really works, because they'll treat it as a personal mission to prove the statements untrue.

Like this - https://www.androidauthority.com/rabbit-r1-bespoke-android-3439760/

rabbit OS and LAM run on the cloud with very bespoke AOSP and lower level firmware modifications - rabbit CEO

As soon as I saw alps/BSP in the build fingerprint I assumed they were talking nonsense because they're the pre-built images chipset vendors offer requiring little work to get certified for GMS/Play Protect.. which then Mishaal & co tore down further and confirmed.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with this, many OEMs rely on these BSP/turnkey images, and I used them on the prior hardware I built for enterprise.. but now we know the team behind the product aren't transparent 🙃

If you're building on something, own it. In the case of Android, bespoke form factors are exciting and interesting. Could you have "just offered an app"? Sure.. but focus on the benefits of providing hardware and enhancing the overall experience with it. There's likely USPs of controlling the hardware/build image after all.

Oh, and don't ship with an SPL a year+ out of date while making statements about being secure with an internet-connected device, please.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk.