Small phones, particularly running on Android, have fallen out of favor. Pebble co-founder Eric Migicovsky wants to change that by developing a new phone from scratch that can fit easily in your pocket while weighing significantly lesser than their larger siblings.
The Pebble co-founder said the shortcomings of a smaller Android phone, such as battery life, can be ignored
Migicovsky currently has no working concept for this device. However, the executive has set up a webpage to gauge the interest among users. “The drawbacks of a small phone (smaller screen, smaller battery) are fundamentally less of an issue than the size, for me at least,” says Migicovsky.
The co-founder of Pebble is motivated by the fact that no major Android OEM has plans for a smaller device. Migicovsky’s self-stated goal is to “put pressure on Google/Samsung/anyone” to develop a smaller smartphone.
There are some exaggerated claims here, like this being “your last chance” to get a smaller phone into the market. But the fact remains that there aren’t a lot of smaller Android phones in the market, with smartphone screens usually bordering on the 6-inch range.
Migicovsky said his “Dream Small Android phone” would sport dual rear cameras and a hole-punch selfie camera
Migicovsky’s “Dream Small Android phone” would feature a 5.4-inch 1080p OLED display (60Hz), coupled with stock Android, dual rear cameras (regular and wide-angle) with great low light performance that are at least “as good as Pixel 5.”
He also wants a hole-punch front camera, a Snapdragon 8 series SoC, 128/256GB storage, 8GB RAM, and NFC. Features like IP68 certification, a hardware mute switch, wireless charging, and a rugged exterior are listed under “Nice to have.”
While this may seem like the Pebble co-founder is thinking out loud, that’s certainly not the case. With more than 6,000 responses to the survey, there’s undoubtedly some interest among people. Migicovsky expects a price range of $700 to $800 since there are no alternatives. He added that customers should be comfortable shelling out more because of this reason.
The executive also has a plan if the manufacturers don’t pick up this idea. “Worst case scenario, if we can get NO ONE else to build a small Android phone…maybe I’ll just have to build one myself. But man, I really hope that it does not come to that,” Migicovsky said in a tweet.
Worst case scenario, if we can get NO ONE else to build a small Android phone…maybe I’ll just have to build one myself. But man, I really hope that it does not come to that.
— Eric Migicovsky (@ericmigi) May 17, 2022
2022-05-19 15:07:16