Verdict
The Google Pixel Tablet is a perfectly serviceable slab with one standout feature that plow it into a communal hub gadget . There ’s plentitude to care here , but odd pricing and some unusual decisions stop it from being truly large .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
Google has aimed to do something worthwhile with its first Pixel Tablet by combining a received Android slate with a docking facility that turns it into a chic home hub when not in use .
Trying to create of full stop of specialisation for a tablet has often been tricky , with many brands focussing either on cheap , subject matter - consumption devices or pricier laptop replacements .
The Google Pixel Tablet instead is positioned as a sort of communal kinsfolk gimmick that , when not being used , sits on an include commit stand and morphs into something not dissimilar to theNest Hub Max .
It ’s a smart option , peculiarly with Google ’s Assistant taking centre stage , yet there are still a wad of the age - oldAndroid tabletissues here , not to bring up the high UK price and the chintzy , arguably better - specced competition like theOnePlus Pad .
Design and Screen
After a identification number of fairly sluggish designs , Google really upped its secret plan with the last two generations of Pixel phones . I ’m not say thePixel 6orPixel 7were the meridian of phone design , yet the tasteful multi - tone coloring material choices and oculus - capture tv camera visor sure enough helped them stand out .
It ’s a lilliputian surprising then that the Pixel Tablet seems to completely cast out any of these progression , going back to a far more canonic overall look that ’s mostly underwhelming . There are two colouring material ( some regions have three ) either with a white-hot or black front . Both colours have a soft , almost eggshell - comparable last on the back .
There ’s a USB - nose candy port for charging on the perpendicular side , a fingerprint - enabled power clit , volume rocker and some fictile feet that help the pad of paper from scrap airfoil when commit on its burden stand . A small cutout for the single rear camera and a set of charge pins are the only thing to adorn the back .
It ’s a really simple design and it looks perfectly adequate . The soft - feel rounded back and side make it nice to hold and at 493 M ( slightly less than the OnePlus Pad , slenderly more than theiPad 10 ) it ’s light and well-fixed .
The screen is more of the same . It ’s expert – but nothing you wo n’t find elsewhere at this monetary value range .
The highlight of the 10.95 - inch venire is the sharp 2560 x 1600 resolution , which render picture , videos and school text very sharply . It ’s a decent LCD with good colour reproduction , but it ’s sure as shooting miss in some of the more high - close area . The locked60Hz refresh rate , for instance , gives it a juddery look when swiping that is n’t there on the 144Hz OnePlus Pad .
I also fight with the display ’s brightness . It ’s o.k. when used inside , but on occasion I took it outside the overly reflective projection screen made it virtually impossible to use . Even when sit beside a window , the screen was often difficult to see .
Speaker Dock
It ’s a bold move include a turn on speaker dock with every single version of the Pixel Tablet , but in realism , it ’s the one addition that helps Google ’s tablet offers something not found by the like of Samsung , OnePlus and Apple .
The standpoint is a sturdy , framework - covered closure with a magnetic top that the tablet attaches satisfyingly to . Once attach , the tablet starts charging and any sound recording play is rout through the built - in speakers , rather than those on the tablet itself .
Once it ’s all fix up , the tablet also go into what Google call in Hub Mode whenever it ’s docked . This is a slimmed - down interlingual rendition of the UI found on theNest Huband Hub Max , giving you quick access to some smart home controls , the Google Assistant and various screensavers .
For instance , it can scroll through your Google Photos library – turning the whole thing into a constantly updating digital photo frame . It can also show the weather , selected artworks , photos others have shot on Pixel or just a big clock . If you ’ve ever used , or even realize , one of the Nest Hub machine this will all be very familiar .
As someone who employ a Nest Hub Max and Nest Hub on a daily foundation , the UI here is n’t quite as characteristic - robust . The plate integrations are n’t as straightforward and you ’re often pushed out into the main Android interface . There are escape feature too , like the ready to hand way the Nest Hub Max can realise different substance abuser by their faces .
form music over to the twist and you will get some nice custom interfaces : in Spotify for example , album artwork is enlarge and the UI is unproblematic and easier to navigate without picking the tablet up .
This would be a skillful smart base utterer however the audio quality is far from the best around . When I first pop out play birdsong in the Trusted Reviews office , a few the great unwashed thought the connection had n’t been properly base and the audio frequency was still coming from the tablet itself – it was n’t .
There ’s a real lack of basso here , with especially instrument - heavy songs fight . The beginning of Brianstorm by Arctic Monkeys sounded mucky , to a great extent malformed and not at all pleasing . It does a ripe job with lighter dada – Dua Lipa ’s Dance The Night had more detail and the vocals were crisp and clean . I ’d put the sound quality on par with acheaper Echo deviceand below the Nest Audio .
For basic audio penury , like streaming radio set , podcasts , audiobooks and listening to Assistant answer the verbaliser is more than adequate and has far more detail in voices than audio from the pill itself .
Performance and Software
Like all of Google ’s current harvest of devices , the Pixel Tablet is powered by theTensor G2 chipset . You ’ll find this chipset in everything from the budgetPixel 7ato the approximate $ 2000/£2000Pixel Fold . There ’s also 8 GB Aries the Ram and either 128 GB or 256 GB of computer storage . As usual with Pixel product , there ’s no expandable memory .
While I might be a piddling disappointed in my foldable phone having older internals , in a tablet project primarily for place manipulation the Tensor G2 is more than subject . In our celluloid benchmarks , the Pixel Tablet performs on par with the OnePlus Pad in most tests , however theDimensity 9000 - power slating has a picayune more multi - core oink . Still , there ’s enough power here for everyday tasks . you could see a excerption of benchmark score below .
Like the OnePlus Pad , I found most games – including Stardew Valley and Call of Duty Mobile – played well , with the lozenge keeping completely cool throughout . There was n’t even any heat coming from the divide after a tough 30 - hour benchmark . Pair up a Bluetooth controller and widescreen makes this a large pick for game streaming .
There are two speakers on each unforesightful close of the Pixel Tablet and they sound serious if a niggling muted . There ’s a decent stereoscopic picture feel when you ’re observe film and the 16:10 aspect proportion make for an immersive content - watch over experience . Other specs let in Bluetooth 5.2 and Wi - Fi 6 .
There ’s much less a photographic camera focussing here than on Pixel earpiece , with an average 8MP fasten - focussing sensor on both the back and front . The front camera is good for video calls , while the rearward one is detail enough for scanning documents . I found it slightly odd that Google bothered to let in camera features like Night Sight and Top Shot here , as there ’s not really any reason to use this tablet as an actual camera .
Android tablet have , in the yesteryear , always been criticised for their software – notably the lack of reliable tablet version of popular phone apps . The iPad has long overlook this quad and I ca n’t really see Android enamour up anytime soon .
There are pile of tablet - optimised apps here , though . Plenty of Google ’s own apps have bespoke versions for the larger presentation , like Google News and Chrome , while third - party religious service like Disney Plus and Netflix sense at home on the bigger exhibit . It ’s more the powerful apps the iPad has you wo n’t find here , thing like expanded versions of Lightroom , Photoshop and Procreate . There is the good LumaFusion telecasting editing app , which is very welcome .
Google ’s interpreting of the Pixel Launcher , build up uponAndroid 13 , is nice and one of the more mobile Android tablet UIs I have used . There ’s a ready to hand dockage that look when you abstract up from the bottom of the screenland , give you quick approach to frequently used apps . you may then hold down an app icon and drag it into the main presentation for quick multitasking . you’re able to have two apps undefendable side - by - side , with a float video windowpane as a third .
There ’s a lot more Google could have done with the software , but I get the impressions it preferred to keep thing simple and focus on the users it recall would bribe this tablet . For instance , there ’s no desktop - alike UI akin to Dex on Samsung tablet and Stage Manager on iPadOS , but then this is n’t a tab for productiveness and it ’s not seek to caricature a laptop computer , The everlasting lack of keyboard cases and pen accessories make this pointedness abundantly exculpated .
In terms of software updates , Google has said the Pixel Tablet will be supported with five years of certificate update .
Battery Life
There is no standard courser included with the Pixel Tablet and unless you provide your own USB - blow cable and plug the only way to juice it up is with the speaker dock .
This is an interesting move , and considering the price it would have been nice to get at least get a USB - C to USB - nose candy cable television service in the box . That being say , throughout my workweek with the Pixel Tablet I have n’t used cable charging ( aside from for some tests ) as whenever I am done using it I just sequester it back on the dock and it charges back up .
The tablet wo n’t be sell without the dock , but Google has aver extra docks will be available – so one could be placed in the lounge , and another in the bedroom .
electric battery life history itself has been about what I would ask from an 11 - inch tablet – that think it ’ll last a few days of multi - hour usance before needing a charge and it ’ll only lose a act of power each Clarence Day if it ’s left untouched in a purse .
An hour of Netflix cyclosis deal 14 % off the shelling , which is more than I would expect , but I did ascertain myself upping the brightness more than common to be able to well check . 30 arcminute of abstemious gambling took off 7 % , more on par with the sweat from OnePlus .
Charging via the 15W wharf can be dim – multiple hours are require for a full explosive charge – but then it ’s more of a place the tablet will sit for extended periods and just charge . Google has also bring an option to limit charging , so having it secure in all the time should n’t harm the battery over an extended period .
Cabled continue the dissipated way to charge , but if you ’re intimate with Google ’s headphone then you ’ll roll in the hay fast charging is n’t one of its specialty . As no charger was included , I used one designed for the Pixel phones and it take 160 minute for a full care . A 30 hour charge only took the assault and battery up by 22 % , which is slow .
As a comparison , the OnePlus Pad can get to 55 % in the same amount of time and a full charge hold just over an hour .
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Should you buy it?
confiscate the Pixel Tablet to the include dock and it turns into a digital photo soma , a smart home hub and a speaker . The musical accompaniment for multiple user also induce this a great family tablet to result dock in the waiting room . The iPad feels like a much more remarkable equipment .
Unlike some pill from Apple , Samsung and even OnePlus , this is n’t really a productivity tablet . Google is n’t selling a keyboard case or a stylus and it ’s far more of media tablet .
Final Thoughts
The Pixel Tablet is a solid if slightly underwhelming Google slating . The ‘ hub ’ functionality and include bear down dock help oneself it stand out from the crowd and offer a unique reason for its universe , but beyond that , it does n’t do much to propel Android tablets frontward in any meaningful room .
It ’s a good capacity - uptake gadget with a sharp showing and squeamish software program . It pairs well with Google ’s other product , like thePixel Buds , and is visually appeal in a basic form of mode .
Yet , the competition is knotty . If it ’s just medium watching you ’re after , something like the £ 249.99/$279.99Amazon Fire Max 11offers undecomposed specs and is far cheap . Samsung ’s Tab S8 serial publication is dear but has the tools to bid more productiveness skills and the OnePlus Pad is not only cheaper but put up various accessory and has a much nicer 144Hz showing .
The odd US - to - UK Leontyne Price differentiation also puddle it gruelling to commend this over an iPad if you ’re in the UK . In the US , the Pixel Tablet ’s $ 499 price put it up against the iPad 10 , however in the UK it is £ 100 pricier than the same machine . With that £ 100 leftover , you could easily pick up a loudspeaker that sound better than the charging dock .
As we ’ve seen with the Pixel phones in the past times , improvements do stocky and tight once Google gets going and I already have Leslie Townes Hope a Pixel Tablet 2 would set many of the issue I have here – hopefully , it arrive soon .
Trusted Score
How we test
FAQs
Yes , currently there is no means to buy the pad of paper without the bob . However you may purchase extra docks .
Google states there is musical accompaniment for five long time of certificate updates .
