Remember the Sony Ericsson X8 or X10 or the HTC Wildfire? They were all were popular devices which suited a certain category of people; those who would certainly prefer to have a powerful, yet compact smartphone that can be literally single-handedly managed.

This is a clear opportunity for Google who may want to buck the trend that sees top-of-the-range smartphones being equipped with a 4in or bigger display. Heck! Even the Samsung’s Galaxy S3 Mini (note the suffix Mini) has a 4in display, hardly small. What shape and form would a prospective Google Nexus 3 take then?

If Google doesn’t want to follow Samsung’s example and provide a half-baked solution, then it would come up with a smaller version of the Google Nexus 4 (with a more compact chassis, smaller battery, a smaller display with the same resolution) and sell it at the same price.

5in displays with a full HD resolution are increasingly common. This means that there’s no technological barrier to having a 3.2in display with a 1,280 x 768 pixels resolution (which translates into a pixel density of 466ppi, about a third higher than the iPhone 5).

We would dearly want to see such a model at Mobile Word Congress and although there’s no hint that this ever happen, don’t be surprised if it does.