Eric Migikowski, who founded and runs the Pebble smartwatch company and is working on a chat app that will bring iMessage to Android, has a new demand: to get someone, everyone, to make an Android phone that you can actually use with one hand. He wants, as he said in an interview with The Verge, to “unite” a community of small phone lovers to manage phone manufacturers and suppliers.
To do this, he created a website – smallandroidphone.com – that explains his dream phone. Basically, he wants a flagship with the size and shape of the iPhone Mini, but running on standard Android. The site claims that small phones are actually good and asks like-minded people to sign a petition. Migikovski says he is looking for 50,000 or more people to help prove to manufacturers that it’s worth their time and money to make Android’s flagship with less than a 6-inch screen. Within 12 hours after the launch of the site, he passed over 6,000 signatures. By Wednesday, that number was over 10,000.
Migikowski has done some “very, very back napkin” trying to persuade companies to do what he wants
After talking to him, I’m not entirely convinced that he has a sure plan to turn signatures into a real product – persuading companies to invest in niche phones instead of trying to do the next big thing is difficult (though not impossible). ), even if you prove that this audience is relatively large and willing to pay. However, I came out of my conversation with Migikovski absolutely sure that he was an ardent fan of small phones, revealing the good word why they should return.
“I had a good idea because I was watching the Pixel 7 announcement and I said to myself, ‘Damn, they’re just making another giant phone,’ and that really pissed me off,” Migikowski said. That’s almost how I felt when I heard that the “smallest” phone in the Pixel 6 range already has a 6.4-inch screen.
On his website, Migicovsky shows how much Pixel has grown in one generation. Image: Eric Migikowski
At first glance, it seems unrealistic that so few people could persuade a company like Google or Samsung to invest in this phone, and Migikowski tells me that his goal of 50,000 signatures is based on some “very, very back of the napkin.” ”Mathematics. “If you look at the initial cost in a very rough way, it’s like $ 10 million to make your first phone. And then the others cost as much as the cost components. ”
Its goal today is simply to suggest to anyone who would consider creating a compact phone with Android that there is a market that can be profitable. “It is difficult to make money from phones, let alone make money in the smallest segment in the world. So my idea is: charge more. We are all here and we are shouting that we want this. We have to be willing to pay a little more. ” If 50,000 people actually buy the phone based on the $ 700-800 price it offers on its website, a company could make tens of millions in profits from its $ 10 million investment. Again the very back of the napkin.
In the wish list: 5-stage Pixel cameras and an unlockable charging tool
At this price, however, I do not think that his dream phone would be difficult to sell to enthusiasts. He says he is looking for a phone that looks “as close as possible” to the iPhone Mini and has:
5.4-inch 1080p OLED display (60 Hz good)
The cameras should be as good as the Pixel 5
must have excellent performance in low light
Standard Android OS
Snapdragon 8 (or other host processor equivalent)
5G world phone
Drilling holes front camera
2 rear cameras (normal and wide angle)
8GB RAM
128 / 256GB storage
4 hours on screen time (SOT)
Unlockable charging tool
NFC
For what it’s worth, I absolutely click on the button on his site to say that I would be interested in buying this. Especially if there was one or two of the features on his “nice to have” list that are:
Sturdy enough not to need a case
IP68 water resistance
Power button fingerprint sensor
Hardware sound switch
Wireless charging
eSIM
However, even with a ton of signatures – and I’m not entirely convinced that 50,000 people are considered a ton – it’s still a very difficult position for a company like Samsung, Google or even a boutique manufacturer. (Migikovski admits that he is not sure what size company would be best to take on this project, but he is ready to listen to everyone at this time.) Creating phones is not easy in the best of times, and the history of smartphones is full of well-meaning companies like RED, Nextbit (which was folded at Razer) and Essential, which all tried to make phones to serve a certain niche audience and all failed in some way.
To make matters worse, we are not in the best of times. Chips are difficult for everyone to access, and supply chains are a mess. Who in their right mind would want to go through the headache of building a niche phone when people who insist on them may decide to settle for a big phone in the meantime? Even for established companies, the alternative cost of placing scarce chips and components even in a “small” batch of reasonably sized phones can be huge; no product manager wants to take the risk of putting scarce hardware in small phones that may not be for sale, instead of forcing them into the big, cheap phones that the public seems to love.
Migikovski believes there is a solution that would address the risk of investing in a niche project and the difficulty of buying chips. “One of the things I would do is sell them in advance,” he says. “I have some history on Kickstarter and my premise is that people who want a small phone know they want a small phone. And if you put it in front of them, say, “Okay, we’re going to make a small phone, do you want one?”
However, obviously having money in hand does not guarantee that you will be able to make things work. It can be difficult to understand who is reliable and even companies with previous success can take much longer than expected to deliver a product. That doesn’t mean it’s never worked before (you can buy a Unihertz Jelly 2 if you want a really small phone), but it’s not as simple as pre-order = profit.
The default phone was extremely pocket-sized. Now this size class is hard to find. Image: Dan Seifert / The Verge
As for attracting people to invest, Migikovski does not think it would be particularly difficult, as no one else will make a small phone. I have to agree. I know myself well enough to know that I would do almost anything for a compact and convenient device. “And then that solves the component problem,” he says, “because you just go to the manufacturer and say, ‘Hey, give me the components.’ Here’s the money. ”He also says that if a smaller company takes over the project, their best bet would be to work with an OEM that already makes phones, instead of trying to set up production themselves.
If Migikowski’s poll eventually convinces the manufacturer to take on the project – if anyone sees all the names they’ve collected and agrees that there should be a small phone that is not bound by iOS restrictions – he really has a tip for them: stay focused.
“As someone who has built a lot of hardware, it’s a slippery slope,” he says, explaining that people can immediately start thinking about adding an SD card reader or headphone jack if they already want a niche phone. I admitted that my immediate thought when I heard about his idea was “this phone should have a 3.5mm jack” and he laughed.
Instead of adding any feature for enthusiasts, he believes that manufacturers should focus on creating a good little phone with great cameras – although he admits that this is no small task. (Also, great cameras don’t automatically equate to great success, as Pixel’s market share estimates can confirm.) The site, he says, is that he “planted a line in the sand and said, ‘I think I know what is correct. And if you agree with me, press that button. But if you don’t agree with me, don’t push the button. “
Migikovski believes that the window for searching for a small Android phone could be closed. “This may be the last chance for us to take a stand and show support for small phones,” he said in an email. “If Apple kills the iPhone Mini, every OEM will say, ‘Even Apple can’t do it,’ and there’s an easy excuse for not doing it.”
This is a legitimate concern, although no matter how quickly you get your signatures, it is unlikely that anyone will come up with what they are looking for before it happens. Rumors almost everywhere indicate that Apple is abandoning the Mini from its range when it announces the iPhone 14 this fall (although we claim that it can absolutely live as an SE model).
The Mini is a great phone and Migikowski and I use it. But it’s not perfect – I and many others had a problem with its battery life and I heard from several colleagues that they stopped living the Mini lifestyle because they had to charge it too often.
Migikovski says he uses a magnetic battery pack to keep his Mini charged, which is one way to do it. Dieter Bon / The Verge
It can be very difficult for a company to navigate the potential outflow, especially when it comes time to launch a second small phone. Even with his experience, it was a difficult question for Migikowski to answer when I asked him …
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