Some of Google’s coolest AI features don’t work on the 9a.

Google can’t make a move in 2025 without veering into the realm of generative AI, and the release of the Pixel 9a is no exception. Curiously, the AI experience on this phone may not match what you’ve seen from the company’s high-end smartphones. Google has confirmed to Ars that the phone’s lower memory prevented it from implementing the full suite of Pixel AI features. You can still talk to Gemini by holding the power button or opening the Gemini app, but the on-device Gemini Nano model has seen a downgrade on the 9a.

  • Ulrich@feddit.orgEnglish
    101·
    3 days ago

    You’d think they’d just spend the extra few bucks on ram instead of spending probably countless hours making this new tiny model.

    • jcarax@beehaw.orgEnglish
      3·
      3 days ago

      Well, they probably want a leaner version for lower end phones anyway, along the lines of the Go versions of many of their apps. Luckily I won’t have to worry about this shit running Graphene, with no intention of running an LLM, so 8GB would be fine if I had any need to move on from my Pixel 8 prematurely.

      Hey, maybe it’ll cause some fairly quick, large discounts. My Pixel 5 backup with a rather shattered screen could use a replacement.

    • QuadratureSurfer@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      3 days ago

      Yeah, they definitely should focus on adding more RAM to their flagship phones, but smaller models are ideal for smartphones.

      Smaller models are quicker to run and use up less battery. Besides, if they’re using some AI models I would rather it be run locally than have my data uploaded to some server somewhere (big assumption that they wouldn’t do that anyway, I know)… Or at the very least I can still run it even if the network goes down.

      • Ulrich@feddit.orgEnglish
        3·
        3 days ago

        I understand that but they’re making an entire model just for this one device?