I Thought Small Phones Were Dead, But I Want AI To Bring Them Back

I’ll probably tell you again that I’m a big fan of small phones. Give me a phone that fits comfortably in my pocket and I’ll choose it over a larger phone with better cameras and a bigger battery any day. Unfortunately, many of the things we do on our phones today are easier to do on larger screens: writing, reading articles, and playing games. But what if the way we use our phones is, in theory, about to change? If there’s one thing I wish for from the coming AI revolution, it’s the return of small phones.

The first thing we need for small phones to make a comeback is a set of highly capable smart assistants, whether they run on Android or with a highly customized skin. To settle for a smaller screen, you need to trust that your phone can do more things right for you. This isn’t my favorite aspect of the AI ​​overhaul—I still like to control most of my phone—but it’s an important one for freeing up pocket space. Sure, Google and Apple have both touted the features coming to their Gemini and Apple Intelligence models, respectively, but we’re still a long way from realizing their full potential.

Right now, you have a choice to make when you set up a new Android phone: do you prefer to let Google Assistant do the work? Or are you willing to give Gemini a try? Unfortunately, you can’t use both assistants simultaneously on the same device, so you have to decide which features you need and which you can give up. Right now, Gemini is better at answering factual questions and can handle phone calls and setting reminders, but Google Assistant is better at routines and controlling a wider range of streaming services.

One day, Google will combine the two and offer Gemini as the default on all Android devices, but we’re a long way off from that. While it will allow phones to get smaller, relying heavily on Gemini will mean jumping through hoops. I tested the Assistant on the Cover Screen of Motorola’s new Razr (2024), and while it technically worked great, opening the keyboard to enter text essentially blocked me from seeing the rest of Assistant. Then, when I minimized the keyboard, I couldn’t always see Gemini’s responses. Sure, there’s a lot at play here, like the app having to find its way around the Razr’s camera cutouts, but it suggests there’s a lot of optimization to be done before Gemini can take over on a truly small screen.

On iOS, the updated, more conversational Siri assistant isn’t available yet, even in beta form. When it does arrive, the AI-powered Siri appears to be using Gemini as a model. While Google is moving beyond typing-based queries, Apple is moving toward them and adding Siri-based hints when you pick up a new device, just like the Pixel 8 series offers.

Perhaps the most important aspect of Apple’s Siri update is that it will be better able to understand you, even when you don’t understand yourself. Apple gave the following example: if you ask for a timer but aren’t sure how long to start with, the new Siri will be able to do what you want rather than just setting two timers and hoping for the best. It should also understand cross-app commands, like sending a specific email to a contact without you having to switch between Messages and Mail. You know, multitasking in a way that doesn’t require you to interact with your phone itself.

For me, a more capable assistant only covers the basics of resurrecting small phones. The other key to freeing up space in your pocket is where that assistant does its work. This may not be a popular opinion, but the more work that’s done in the cloud, the better. I know it sounds counterintuitive — on-device queries are faster to execute, after all — but moving some tasks off-device means your phone doesn’t have to work as hard.

As it stands, Gemini doesn’t do much on-device, mostly handling summaries in the Pixel Recorder app and generating replies via Smart Reply in Gboard. Oddly, I think it should stay that way. Provided we can trust the security of the data we send to Google, relying on its data centers would mean less work for the chipsets we carry in our pockets, which would mean less strain on the batteries we could make smaller.

Some of our favorite features, like the ability to generate AI wallpapers, only exist in the cloud, and we have no problem with that. Sure, it takes a second, but Google gives you a few different wallpapers to choose from every time you tap Generate, so it’s easy to find one that works. And yes, keeping most of the AI ​​processes off-device means you’ll need a reliable data connection, but unless you’re heading into the wilderness or spending hours a day on the New York subway, that shouldn’t be too difficult.

In fact, there is an (admittedly terrible) device on the market that sort of has the right idea…

Okay, hear me out: The Rabbit R1 is right about one thing. Yes, it’s a terrible product. Its design, with a rotating camera and a scroll wheel that renders the touchscreen useless, is absurd. Its Rabbit OS and Vision mode are imprecise and inconsistent, and its integrations with Spotify, Uber, and DoorDash are shaky at best. But the one thing I have to give the much-vaunted little companion is that it’s not designed like a traditional smartphone.

Granted, I know it’s not designed as a smartphone because it’s not a smartphone, but it at least allows us to envision a future where we don’t use our smartphones the way we do today. The R1 has a smaller screen because it doesn’t expect you to type on it, it has a smaller battery because it doesn’t perform any tasks on the device, and it has a rotating crown similar to a watch because, well, I can’t explain that when it has a touchscreen.

But the fact is, the Rabbit R1 is a good idea poorly executed. It’s a device that recognizes that it can ditch the traditional smartphone form factor because it doesn’t need a big battery or a big screen when it relies on voice commands. I think it would still have been better in a form factor more like the Palm Phone – something that leaves a bit more room for decent cameras and offers the ability to scroll through social media throughout the day – but it’s on the right track when it comes to saving space.

If only I could convince people that we don’t need the biggest screens to scroll through movies and watch TV shows on the best Android phones, we could usher in a new era of small screens. It might just be the one thing that can free some of us from the screen time that we find unbearable on a daily basis.