Pixel Tablet Review: Is Google Back?!
Google re-joins the tablet market with a clever trick.
MKBHD Merch:
Tech I’m using right now:
Intro Track: Jordyn Edmonds
Playlist of MKBHD Intro music:
Tablet provided by Google for review.
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Colin Creighton
I see this being a decent addition to the home. I think Google has realized that they can’t compete with the iPad at the moment. That said, I love my Galaxy tablet!
Marcus Coster
Yeah the Galaxy S8 tablets are where it’s at at the moment. Even iPad kinda sucks by comparison. You get the best software and features, and also some of the best hardware and at a good price.
Ali Salehuddin
When I’m at home, my go to device is a tablet (Galaxy S7FE). I use it way more than my phone because of the screen size. Watching youtube on 12 in screen is godsend, for example. Some apps are terrible, just like Marques noted. I just use the Web version of them. Problem solved.
MayorPlayz
@Marcus Coster nah the app situation is still crappy on the S8, iPads dont have a competiton right now
Peter Doughman
So the takeaway is that if Google doesn’t give up on tablets again within the next 12 months, the gen 2 version of this device will be pretty sweet.
Okul7Beni
Nothing outperforms Amazons AMZT66 that has a long future and actual purpose and value. Tell me any other project which comes even close?
Arafat Colak
Decided to googlee the AMZT66 which is everywhere. Nothing has ever fulfilled the estimations that way for both casuals and more profound ones. I’m not a bot this is just plain facts and it takes you 5 minutes to acknowledge what I’m talking about. Not too hard?
Jorgen Aamodt
Agree! Also, if the hub is as “stupid” as the reviews say, it would be awesome to see other manufacturers produce better alternative hubs/ speakers.
Antriksh Kumar
The Chromecast as a target is pretty smart actually, you can easily use it as a secondary display for your laptop
Scott L
I preorder it because of that feature to dump my second monitor for my laptop AND gain tablet that isn’t work laptop. I wish it was usbc display as an option, but that’s asking for stars+moon.
Illure
I was thinking I could use that for my daughter (less than 5). She can watch her videos. We still have full control since it’s being used as a Chromecast. Even that feels a bit weird though lol
The extra screen is a better idea
Vandel Jason Strypper
You can cast something on windows ?, I think you only shoot video to it not a whole desktop
Antriksh Kumar
@Vandel Jason Strypper yeah it’s actually better than on Android which restricts it to only mirroring(idk things like dex don’t work with it)
It works like a proper wireless display
Jamie Kitson
I’m really surprised more models/companies aren’t offering a wall mount option like the Echo Show 15, it seems like such a brilliant solution to me.
Clive Jefferies
The problem for developers is that so few users are using their app on tablet that it’s hard to justify the cost/effort.
William
No because many companies dont have a problem managing it on their websites. With countless window resizes from big to small and different dpis. Aswell as also having the website work well on screens as small as mobile.
There are tools to do this and it is done by many many companies.
youtube_myspace_and_i_will_google_your_yahoo
Software development around Android is cumbersome still and that is a factor into why it’s not optimized as well. Because this lack of app optimization goes beyond tablets and extends to their phones as well
AlphaSteam
All apps should be responsive. I don’t know how hard it is with swift and kotlin. But at least with Flutter it’s really not that hard
youtube_myspace_and_i_will_google_your_yahoo
@AlphaSteam I used react native and a lot of our devs really focused on iOS during development because the android emulator was slow. After code completion, we would test with Android. So it ended up with more edge cases being caught during development with iOS
Revibe Creative
I think this would be killer for a home theater/smart home remote for my setup. Instead of using IR repeaters and having a bunch or remotes for my AVR, Shield TV, Projector, and Blu-Ray player; having this on the console table behind the sofa would look nice and hopefully allow me to split screen 3-4 apps as soon as I unlock it.
A HOBO IN TEXAS
That is such a niche demographic. Like yea sure if you have the money do it but, why not just get an iPad mini for $600 instead. It’s powerful as hell too. I say this time and time again, android is limited by their processor. It’s like having a Lamborghini with a Honda Civic engine. And not the Honda Civic with the laptop.
Revibe Creative
@A HOBO IN TEXAS You’re not wrong haha. Home theater enthusiasts are certainly one of the smallest subsets of the tablet market. But Androids flexibility makes it ideal for such a use case. A faster processor wouldn’t be much of a factor because the apps for Control4, Denon, Marantz, Yamaha, and the like are all very light. The iPad would certainly be capable. But being able to do things like setting an android tablet to multitask 3-4 apps at the same time upon unlock would be the killer feature here.
Joe Platz
This is super smart. I may have a niche situation but I currently use a tablet as a hub. I’m bluetoothed to a home speaker system so don’t need the speaker but the combo of a dock, a functional tablet (as opposed to these useless nest hubs) but also the ability to fully run google home/nest, unlike some older tablets, is great.
Alessandro Bertolucci
It would be interesting to see how this actually works with home automation – which I think is where they’re aiming this for.
John Lewis
Instead of comparing it to other tablets, I think it should basically be viewed as the ultimate Nest Hub Super Max. They currently have a Nest Hub, Nest Hub Max, and this version does all the same things with no limits. Does nearly everything a Hub Max can do, but you can take it anywhere in the house with you and continue whatever it was you started using voice controls while on the dock. Great idea!
Rickey Koga
I’ve always hated that the Google home displays were all basically nerfed tablets with crappy OS and a modified Google Home speaker.
Finally, they unleashed the tablet (in more ways than one) and almost hit a home run w the dock. This is gen1, just think what we will have by the end of this year!
Richard Duong
The Hub Max speakers are actually super loud compared to what he showed us on this model.
Pudding Mango
But it’s a whopping $499 device. If it was priced at $349 I would find it very attractive as a hub. At this price point, not so much.
Hamad Alibrahim
One missing piece of your review is how this tablet fits and functions with the other devices from Google such as pixel phones, as an ecosystem. Good stuff.
AppleTech4k
Nice review! Google definitely going outside the box with this one. Haven’t looked it up yet but wonder if it’s has a thread border router built in with the emergence of Matter
Joe Euston
I’ll be picking up one of these for sure. As someone who has google home mini’s in each room, as well as a bunch of google TV’s, and home hubs, this makes perfect sense. Also having kids be able to switch to their profile is an awesome feature. And at a price that is fair. I guess I am the target demographic.
Leo C
Going back 10 years is not sounding old, it is giving people context on stuff that simply has been a thing for a long time now. A lot of reviewers should do that more often because there are a lot of us who are tech savvy and are old enough to remember 2010. That’s plain old good information, so please never hold back on going back like that
Baka2D
Watching this from my pixel tablet. One thing I find no one talking about that actually convinced me to buy it is the “phone hub” feature. (Depending on whether the phone supports it) it can mirror and sync your phone notifications, calls, and texts. That means I can leave my phone on a wireless charger and just grab it when I’m going out, using just the tablet around the house. It helped soften the blow that the pixel fold isn’t coming to Australia.
Robert Bennett 2246
@Kr00lplatinum call and text on other devices, I love it got it enabled for my galaxy watch, s10+ and tab s7+
Andre Hance
ipads have always done this though. now that they don’t have those huge bezels and just don’t suck in general, just get an ipad
Robert Bennett 2246
@AndreHance it really depends if you’re stuck to an ecosystem or not and yeah you know what now I think about it almost every manufacturer for the past five years has had some sort of something like that for syncing, as long as you use the same accounts on both devices
Andre Hance
@Robert Bennett 2246 true true, ur right most manufactures have that feature. so i really don’t get the point of this pixel tablet.
LadyBear
I actually love this idea and I don’t think the tablet needs to be sick. Here’s how I would use it: as a second screen to the TV in the bedroom so I can fall asleep to streaming videos/podcasts, also use it like I currently am with the Nest Hub (even sans the sleep sensing, as I used it a lot for a few weeks then have just forgotten about it to be honest), and keep my iPad as a tablet. The Google tablet can be mobile as I’m walking through the house and need to do Nest stuff. This all works if you have a primary tablet that is dope, and this is just (for me) a screen next to my bed that I can look up a quick thing or fall asleep with. I think this is perfect. HOWEVER, I have learned, with Google, wait until about gen 99 for it to be done right. 😬
Jonah Alvarez
I think that if they stick with the connector they could come out with an upgraded speaker to buy separately, or if they make a higher end tablet they could include the magnets and pins so it’s compatible with the dock. It would lead the way to a really cool tablet ecosystem that is very different than what apple is doing
Sterling Archer
Really hope that google continues developing awesome features for tablets, and they make a gen 2, 3, etc. Of these.
Especially hearing that the speakers are “meh” on this, i wouldn’t actually buy it…but if they made a flagship tablet, WITH the dock, I’d be all in. Especially if they packed the dock with even better speakers over time, too.
David Helmes
Can we just appreciate, in the speaker review part, how perfectly timed the switch to the hub speakers was. It was perfect
Chris Smith
What would be coolest (that I dont expect to happen) would be if they standardised the ability for android tablets to connect to the dock, so you could (eventually) just grab any android tablet and whack it on your dock – Would be such a neat hook to stay in the google ecosystem and have more android tablets in the home.
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