Google was known to offer almost the same hardware in the latest models of its Pixel 8 series, i.e. Google Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro, except for the RAM. But now, the tech giant has revealed information about the Pixel 8 phone, which has disappointed a section of fans. Google has made it clear that the standard variant will not get the Gemini Nano. Now the question is, what is this Gemini Nano? This is the smallest version of the company’s AI model, which was released last December. This is disappointing news for all those Google Pixel 8 users who were hoping to get mobile-friendly LLM on their phones.
Google says Pixel 8 does not have Gemini Nano
In a recent episode of The Android Show on the Android Developers Channel, Google confirmed the absence of the Gemini Nano on its Pixel 8 phones. Google’s developer relations engineer, Terence Zhang, said that this is due to smartphone hardware limitations. He didn’t elaborate on what those limitations are, but the only difference between the standard and Pro variants of the Google Pixel 8 series is that the former has 8GB of RAM and the latter has 12GB of RAM.
Note that Gemini Nano runs on Pixel 8 Pro and Samsung Galaxy S24 series. The AI model offers features like Summarize in Recorder app, Smart Reply in Gboard, WhatsApp and photography enhancement without network connection. The lack of an AI model in the base variant widens the gap between the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro. Now if anyone is thinking of buying the Pixel 8 phone, then they should keep this thing in mind.
Also, Google has confirmed that they are currently working on extending the Gemini Nano’s compatibility to more high-end devices. Recently chipset maker MediaTek also teamed up with Google to optimize Gemini Nano for the Dimensity 9300 and Dimensity 8300 chips. In addition, Google has also outlined plans to integrate Gemini into Android smartphones from 2025 onwards.
