In November 2023, two previous Apple employees revealed their latest project, the Humane AI Pin, a piece of technology that was designed to ‘reimagine the human-technology relationship’, with the plan to cut down our reliance and dependence on our smartphones helping us to focus on our actual lives more and living in the moment. It sounded like a great idea and with the current growing interest in AI, fans were excited to see what this could mean. 

Now, less than 6 months after the announcement, the Pin is here. Officially available to order in the USA on the Humane Official Website, lots of people have been getting their hands on it and lots of people have been giving their opinions… and most of them are negative. 

So let’s have a look at what has been said and give our own opinions on the brand new Humane AI Pin.

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Related blog: How Technology Impacts Our Daily Lives

For an in-depth look at what the Humane Pin is and what it does, please check out our previous blog What Is The Humane Ai Pin.

 

The Website:

To start this review off, let’s begin where everyone has to start when ordering their AI Pin, at the website. Since we last checked it out, there have been significant updates including an Accessories Section and a Gift Section. Various AI Pin 'Shields' are now available which are protection covers to keep your Pin safe. These are available in a selection of colours including Rose, Lavender, Sand, and Fog. As well as this, different contraptions to lock your Pin onto your clothing are available, like Clips and Latches.

 

Accessories available and their prices:

• Shields - $29
• Clip - $49
• Latch - $39
• Charge Pad - $79
• Charge Case - $149
• USB-C Adapter & Cable - $29
• Booster - $69

 

By taking a look at the website, it appears that in your order you receive a Charge Pad, Charge Case, Adapter And Cable and a Battery Booster. We did notice however that there is no sign of a latch or clip being included within the order. We assume that this is now an additional purchase that must be made but to use the product itself, a latch or clip needs to be involved so therefore needs to be purchased. We don’t quite understand why this needs to be purchased additionally as it isn’t an accessory which will cause frustration for many users.

Besides this Accessory Section, there is a separate one called the Gift Section. Taking a closer look at this, it shows a page where customers can choose between a $25-$799 gift card. Again, this concept seems pointless. If the AI Pin is being compared to a smartphone why would it need a gift card? Most other major phone companies don’t offer gift cards for their products, so will anybody use this?

 

The Pin:

Now we have taken a look at the website's updates, let’s get onto the main event, the Pin itself. 

The Humane AI Pin is relatively easy to work, simply tap the device to activate it, if a projection is required provide the tech with a flat surface like a hand or wall and then ask whatever you desire! This tech makes hands-free calls a lot more seamless and useful, especially as the Pin has a clip where you don’t have to worry about losing the tech whilst busy talking. The design of the Pin is also one of its strengths, with a strong structure this Pin is very durable and strong. The hands-free design of the tech also, makes it much easier to use compared to a smartphone, and as there is no actual screen to look at… this stops additional strain on the eyes. And as the name states, the AI features in this Pin are also very impressive. Great real-time translation capabilities and access to AI tech and speech models make this device very useful.

 

But despite these positives, there are still plenty of problems that customers have been having with their AI pin which we cannot ignore. Almost all reviews have stated their Pin has overheated after a short period. This doesn’t completely shock us though, considering the product is so small and compact plus is slotted against fabric constantly with little air ventilation. And due to the physical size of the Pin compared to the software demand required for the tech to work, when people also mentioned that the Humane AI Pin is slow and runs out of battery quickly, again this wasn’t a shock. Because there is no screen on the Pin due to all images being projections, these projections can be difficult to see in daylight and can be hard to interact with. Photos can look poor when in low lighting and overall accuracy on the camera can be weak.

Lots of these problems were expected, but not at this severe volume. Also, considering the price of this Pin, poor camera quality, battery life and overheating aren’t problems you would expect to see. So where did Humane go so wrong with this invention?

 

What went wrong:

In our opinion, there are two major factors indicating why the Humane Ai pin device was such a failure. 

Firstly, the website and product don’t communicate well together. The website is promoting the product as an innovative device that will change the way we interact with our smartphones, however, the main functions we use a smartphone for (camera and battery life), seem to be failing on the AI Pin. 

As well as this, there are many pricing problems when it comes to the brand overall. Like we have mentioned the product is very pricey for all the problems and what it is. The additional accessories are equally as expensive which in our opinion should be severely cut down and make the Humane look bad when all these problems occur. We are aware big companies like Apple regularly upcharge their phone cases and charging accessories, but Apple is a very reliable and trusted brand whereas Humane is brand new, and people most likely won’t buy. 

Related blog: Could We See A Retro Return For Tech

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Conclusion:

As we mentioned, we don’t think the AI Pin Humane was the success that Humane hoped for. Many disappointing aspects didn’t help with putting the device in a good light, for example, the pricing and promotion. 

We do hope that a positive can come out of this, that future tech brands can look at the failure of the Humane AI Pin and adapt to it, improve its cons and make an even better, advanced fully AI device. Until then, take a look at the smartphones available on our website! From Apple to Samsung, we have it all.