- The Pocket is the latest AI-powered standalone device to be revealed.
- For $79, it promises to record, transcribe and organize conversations.
The hype around AI-powered hardware at the beginning of the year has mostly died down, as customers seemed reluctant to pay for the Humane AI Pin, Plaud.AI NotePin, or Rabbit R1, regardless of their many AI capabilities. However, a new device called Pocket is approaching the market from a different angle, with a compact design and a much lower price.
Created by Open Vision Engineering, Pocket promises to record, transcribe and organize conversations as an affordable companion for professionals or those who want to document their day. The $79 (around £79) device can be ordered now, and is expected to ship in early 2025, and is linked with a companion app for Android and iOS.
The device itself can be attached magnetically to the back of smartphones and activated with a button to capture live conversations and phone calls and encrypt the recordings. Once recorded, Pocket transcribes the conversations and distinguishes between multiple speakers in the document.
The AI also analyzes interactions with its Conversation Map feature. This tool breaks down the flow of the discussion and helps you see how ideas developed, who contributed, and where the conversation went off on that inevitable tangent. Combine this with the thousands of customizable templates and you have a flexible way to organize your thoughts.
Pocket Pricing Plan
Pocket comes with 200 free minutes of recording per month and then requires users to purchase credits. Even so, it is much cheaper than its competitors. The Plaud NotePin, which clips to your clothing, costs $169 and provides just 100 more minutes per month compared to Pocket, although there is a $79 annual Pro plan with 1,200 minutes per month and other features.
Then there's the Rabbit R1, whose bright orange case is priced at $199 and is also designed for web searches and app controls. Lastly, the $699 Humane AI Pin comes with voice commands and projects information onto your hand. All of these devices offer different types of AI assistance and a lot of extra power, but that may not be what people want from AI hardware.
Pocket keeps things simple in comparison. Instead of trying to be a portable marvel or flashy lifestyle device, Pocket focuses exclusively on recording, transcribing and organizing conversations. Whether this simplicity will help Pocket gain a foothold or get lost in the shuffle remains to be seen, but for those who just need a simple way to keep track of conversations, Pocket could be the perfect choice.
