Google I/O 2023 kicks off tomorrow with lots of announcements, including new software features in Android 14, the Pixel 7a, the highly anticipated Pixel Fold, and more. Of course, there’s also his Pixel Tablet, Google’s tablet since his Pixel Slate in 2018. android It’s a tablet that Google has been manufacturing ever since the Nexus 9 in 2014.
A lot has changed since Google last entered the tablet game. The company’s hardware division, once considered by many to be an afterthought for the company, has really grown in the last few years, largely due to the release of his Pixel 6 series of smartphones and custom Tensor processors. So the Pixel Tablet he feels like would be a great addition to the Pixel family, but not for the reasons you might think.
I don’t use tablets much (I tend to use thin Chromebooks for casual browsing and cell phone use), but that doesn’t mean I’m against the idea of Google reentering the space. is not. What excites me most about the Pixel Tablet isn’t necessarily that it functions as a tablet, but that it can also be used as a hub for your smart home.
Pixel Tablet will be the smartest tablet on the planet
Source: Google
The Pixel Tablet is rumored to feature a 10.85-inch display with several POGO pin contacts on the back designed to dock with special docking accessories. In the photos Google has been showing off since its Pixel 7 event in October 2022, the Pixel Tablet’s setup looks a lot like the Nest Hub Max smart display in its docked state.
I’ve been using the Nest Hub Max since it launched in 2019. It has a 10-inch display on a fabric-covered base with built-in speakers. It looks very nice, but it always seemed like the tablet was stuck to it. to base. The Pixel Tablet lets you do just that.
But why is the idea of taking the display off the base so interesting to me? Simply put, the Pixel Tablet system aims to be the most powerful smart display ever.
We expect solid specs from the Pixel Tablet. These internal structures not only allow the device to operate smoothly as a tablet, but also help it handle queries and smart home tasks. The Nest Hub Max is the most premium product in Google’s smart speaker space, but it was never a high-end device on specs.
In true Google fashion, smart displays have relied on software magic to rise to prominence. The Pixel Tablet will likely have two modes for him, when using the tablet and when docked, so you’ll need to do a bit of something similar. But robust hardware works with software to help manage these modes. Specifically, the Tensor G2 processor if it’s actually in the device.
The Tensor G2 processor, like many other high-end mobile chipsets such as the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, handles a wide variety of tasks. But what sets Google’s processor apart is its focus on AI and machine learning. It’s this approach to both hardware and software that makes the Pixel Tablet the most capable and powerful smart home hub on the market.
Pixel Tablet is a smart home hub that doubles as a tablet
With its first Tensor Processor, Google has proven that it is investing in intuitive hardware. The 2nd generation processors in the Pixel 7 series are an extension of that. So it makes sense to introduce the same approach to the Pixel Tablet and its dock.
The Pixel Tablet system aims to be the most powerful smart display ever.
Would you leave your tablet on the base and never remove it? Of course not. It would probably make a great smart display, but the same things that help it achieve that status also help make it a great Android tablet. One caveat to this statement is that Android is still running. Android is expected for tablets, but now running on Fuchsia, it’s not expected for smart displays from Google.
I’m an Android fan, but it wasn’t great on big screens like tablets. Google has made some progress in this area with his Android 12L, but our review of the OnePlus Pad reveals that there is still work to be done. But part of my optimism is that Google finally releases its own tablet, so hopefully things will improve. However, when I’m having fun in docked mode, I don’t really care.
