24 Hours with Google's On-Device AI: Privacy-First, Slower, Not a ChatGPT Killer
A Tom's Guide writer spends a day testing Google AI Edge Gallery’s Gemma 4 E2B on-device model, using Thinking Mode and airplane mode for true offline use. The experience offered strong privacy benefits—no data leaves the device—and a surprisingly usable draft tool for personal questions and offline productivity. However, performance is slower, memory isn’t persisted across threads, and it lacks cloud-like deep research and cross-device syncing, so it isn’t yet a ChatGPT replacement; cloud AI remains superior for serious tasks, but local AI shows a promising offline future.