The Founder Of Pebble Wants To Create A New Practical And Compact Android Phone – SlashGear

The Pebble founder had previously shared a fairly thorough outline of what he wanted the little smartphone to look like. He acknowledged some shortcomings of the form factor, namely reduced battery size and, fairly obviously, a smaller screen — but claimed these are outweighed by the potential phone’s benefits. The concept idea, at least, would feature a stock version of Android and a 5.4-inch display running at 60 Hz. He also listed some things that would be nice to have, including IP68 dust and water resistance, a fingerprint sensor, a hardware mute switch, wireless charging, and an eSIM.

In his interview with The Verge, Bryant offered some insight into how the phone’s design is panning out now that work is underway. The specs haven’t been locked down yet, but he did share a number of concept designs featuring unique cameras, noting that the main camera may top out at around 50 megapixels. The team may end up designing its own camera software, though Bryant suggests some other options have also been explored.

Eager buyers shouldn’t anticipate the “novel use of unusual materials,” Bryant noted about the device’s build. As for the hardware under the hood, it’s possible the unnamed Android mini model could feature an upcoming mid-range Qualcomm chipset or go with the now-aging Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1. Buyers could be looking at a fairly hefty $850 price tag, and they may get at least two years of software updates, but many details are yet to be finalized.