OPINION : Rumours have been swirling online this hebdomad about Google ’s Pixel Tablet lineup , with claim that we likely wo n’t be seeing a Pixel Tablet 2 or Pixel Tablet 3 .

Is anyone really that surprise given the state of the first - genPixel Tabletthat graced the desks of many around the cosmos at release in 2023 ? I ’m certainly not .

To say that the Pixel Tablet was a gadget out of its time is fairly of an understatement . found in the same period as theSamsung Galaxy Tab S9andOnePlus Pad , the Pixel Tablet looked comparatively go out in its design , with a thick bezel and a looking more reminiscent of the former Pixel smartphones .

It was also lacking in power compared to likewise price Android tablets , pack Google ’s own Tensor G2 chipset that was already over a year old by the fourth dimension the pad of paper was released .

It was my public opinion then , and remain now , that this was very much a tab that was first conceived in the mid- to late 2010s and , for whatever reason , it took longer than Google expected to get it right . Rather than redesign the tab to better excogitate the state of the pill market in 2023 , Google essentially said ‘ have ’s just get it out of the door and see what happens ’ .

Now , the hybrid nature of the Pixel Tablet – half tablet , half smart CRT screen when docked to its speaker mount – meant Google had a bite of leeway with the overall look . After all , other smart displays like theAmazon Echo Show 8have similarly chunky bezel and a rather simplistic look , but the implementation was also flawed here .

That ’s mainly down to the intercrossed speaker dock that the Pixel Tablet magnetically attach to when not being used as a pill , and specifically , the audio quality on offer .

I ’m not expecting Sonos - level audio quality , but considering its exchange premium price tag end , I was surprised when I heard just how poor the output was while my colleague Max Parker was reexamine the scheme at the Trusted Reviews office . So much so that I ’d ab initio assumed that it was n’t the dock playing medicine , but the tablet itself . I was wrong .

The sound tone was just sorry , I ’m not quite certain there ’s another direction to put it . The sound miss any kind of bass , meaning you likely wo n’t act euphony on it as you might with a steady wise video display , with far-famed distortion when attempting to play bass - heavy tracks . To me , it equate to the sound you ’d get from a knock - off Bluetooth speaker you ’d discover for about £ 30 at a Sunday market place .

Max also noted in his recapitulation that , rather ironically given Google ’s success with similarNest HubandNest Hub Maxsmart screens , the Pixel Tablet impudent screen experience was n’t that feature - fertile .

He manoeuvre out that family integrations are n’t that square to memory access , and that “ you ’re often push out into the principal Android interface ” when using it in its docked mode . It also lacks characteristic like facial realisation offered by other Google - branded sassy displays .

So , it was n’t a very good pad of paper , nor was it a very good wise screen . That could ’ve been forgiven had it come with a budget - friendly monetary value tag like Amazon ’s Echo range , but that also was n’t the eccentric . Instead , Google went in the complete opposite direction , especially in the UK where it cost £ 599 at launching compared to a slightly more affordable $ 499 in the US .

For a Pixel Tablet 2 to do well , the whole system would need a double-dyed redesign – and is it really worth it ?

Considering we ’ve not really seen much in the manner of smart displays released in 2024 , the market may not be there for Google to cash in on , peculiarly with the no - doubt - expensive R&D costs colligate with plough the current Pixel Tablet into a more competitive product in both the tablet and smart concealment market place .

I jazz the mind of the Pixel Tablet , but the execution was flawed , and I remember the penning has been on the wall since it was first release – this hebdomad ’s rumours are just confirmation of that .