Pebble fans have long lamented about the smartwatch company shutting down, missing its simple but clever wearables. One of Pebble's alumni, Eric Migicovsky, is involved with a “community-based project” to produce a new device, but hold your excitement, it aims to create a compact Android smartphone instead of resuscitating the Pebble watch brand.
Thanks to The Verge, more details about the project are now known. While the “Small Android Phone Team” isn't a company just yet, it's got as far as discussing funding and hardware specifications for the device. The project is being run via a small Discord channel where those involved are able to give feedback as each feature and target is reached.
The project also features a number of other Pebble alumni including Ben Bryant, Alex De Stasio, Chris Hendel, and Susan Holcomb. In an AMA held on YouTube, De Stasio said that the phone will be small and feature a distinctive camera, with a specific focus on the design of the camera bump which “has a huge impact on the visual icon of the phone”. Check the list of must have and nice to have specifications below:
Ideal specifications
Must have
- Follow Mini industrial design as closely as possible
- Consistent width bezels around the entire display
- 5.4-inch(ish) 1080p OLED display (60hz ok)
- Cameras must be as good as Pixel 5
- must have great low-light performance
- Stock Android OS
- Snapdragon 8 (or other flagship processor equivalent)
- 5G world phone
- Hole punch front camera
- 2 rear cameras (regular and wide angle)
- 8GB RAM
- 128/256GB Storage
- 4 hours Screen On Time (SOT)
- Unlockable bootloader
- NFC
Nice to have
- Rugged enough to not need a case
- IP 68 water resistance
- The fingerprint sensor on the power button
- Hardware mute switch
- Wireless charging
- eSIM
There are many aspects of the Small Android Phone that are up in the air such as whether it will have a metal, glass, or ceramic construction, with an aim to “stand out with attention to detail” rather than using exotic materials. Carrying the internal code-name of “Marvin”, the phone will be targeted at those wanting a premium smartphone experience but without the weight and size of current flagship handsets, with pricing coming in somewhere around the $850 mark.
You can add your voice to the mix by heading to the Small Android Phone website we've linked to below:
