From the ashes of Pebble, a smartphone is being born

Pebble It’s a shattered dream, but that doesn’t mean that Eric Migicovskythe founder of the iconic company that rocked the world of smartwatchand members are short of idea.

Indeed, they relaunch, and in their viewfinder there is now a compact smartphone, a real one obsession per Migicovsky despite his height of 198cm! The initiative was launched last year with a petition on a properly named site smallandroidphone.comwhich collected 38,700 signatures, and has since become a real “community project”.

The recording of the “Design call“, e Benjamin Bryantone of the project leaders, told The Verge where are they at with the works. Let’s go find out!

“I want a small smartphone!“, yell out Migicovsky in the opening post of the site, which is called precisely smallandroidphone, so we can guess that the main feature of the new smartphone will be the small size.

But how small? The signatories of the petition and who hangs out on the channel Discord of the company often mentions Asus Zenfone 9, a device with a screen of 5.9 incheso iPhone Mini with his 5.4 inches.

The problem will be finding a producer for panels, because the new smartphone will be produced in something like 50,000 specimens and not millions, so it would be easier to use a already existing project (and practically nobody produces panels of that size nowadays). However, Bryant does not rule out that they could do it build from scratch.

The second aspect will be the design, which will need to be distinctive. The group’s designer, Alex De Stasio, showed some sketches, revealing how everything will play out on camera lock rear.

The designer says the phone will need to have style “to be able”, as one instrument, although accessible. In one image, he showed what these claims mean, showing how most smartphones concentrate in the area between “Serious” e “Instrument”, while in the area between “Instrument” e “Accessible” there is a market niche discovered.

Overall, the device will feature ahigh build quality: it will be one nice soft slab Very well put togetherwhich transmits a feeling of

solidity, and soft details that yes they feel really good on the fingers.

The team hasn’t decided what the phone will be made of. There is one at the studio metal structure covered in composite glass o aluminum coated in ceramic, and forged carbon, bio-resins and ceramic composites are also mentioned, but they don’t want to venture into unusual materials. The watchword is attention to detail.

As for the specifications, the team talks about a sensor from 50 MPable to shoot good photossupported by a software to be able. There are currently contacts with some developers Chinese and individuals who have worked on apps for RAW cameras for other phones.

As for the SoC, it is being thought about Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 (a flagship chip that is almost a year old) ea a mid-level Qualcomm chip yet to be released.

The battery, on the other hand, should guarantee an’autonomy of a day, e Asus Zenfone 9 is still the goal with his 4300 mAh.

Bryant he is convinced that you can cut 10 mm off the battery and still have a satisfactory range.

And as for the name? The team hasn’t decided yet, although its internal code name is Marvin. Bryant showed a list of potential candidates, which even include Pebble, but the real challenge will be the costs.

We have in fact understood how this device will be equipped with technical features first level, and it will certainly not be cheap, even for the low production numbers. Second Bryant, we might expect something on the order of $850, while a phone with similar features could cost between 650 and 700 dollars (list). This figure is assumed based on a production of 50,000 unitsso things could change if there were to be more interest.

In short, people will have to be willing to spend more to have a distinctive product. We are not talking about such a company here Nothing, but of a community project which has to scrape together something like 50 million dollars.

How will they do? At the moment it seems that the way of Kickstarter is not among the options, due to the platform’s commissions (2.5 million for a campaign of 50), but the crowdfunding, despite its difficulties, it is the way forward. According to Bryant, this will be a phone made for enthusiasts, and their interest will be the basis of the project’s success.

The new one will succeed Pebble to see the light? Enthusiasm is all there, and despite the disappointment shown by Migicovsky following the sale of Pebble to Fitbit, they are ready to bet. And you?