Google is seemingly being very cautious about bringing these features to the smaller Pixel 8. The company also appears to be agreeing with the assumption that the reason the Pixel 8 was left out of the loop in the first place was its lack of RAM when compared to the Pixel 8 Pro (8GB vs. 12GB). This was a theory that many initially speculated, as there was no clear reason given by Google as to why the smaller device couldn’t support the same features as the larger.
We’ve seen a lot of excitement from users and developers since Pixel 8 Pro became the first smartphone to get Gemini Nano last year. Running large language models on phones with different memory specs can deliver different user experiences, so we have been testing and validating this on Pixel 8. We’re excited to provide the opportunity for more enthusiasts and developers to try out Gemini Nano, where we hope to get more feedback and see more innovation.
So the plan is that we would also make Gemini Nano available on Pixel 8 behind a developer option. So that developers, who know exactly what the impact to their user experience would be, are able to use this feature. And of course, any users that also understand the potential impact to the user experience are also able to use this feature. We’re still doing system health validations, because even if you’re a developer you might still want to use your phone on a daily basis, but we’re planning on getting it out by the next feature drop.
