After some stops Y beginGoogle is going back to tablets, but with a smart homey touch. The company first teased the next Pixel Tablet at I/O this year, saying the device would launch in 2023. Although that launch window is at least several months away, Google was eager to share more details at its event. hardware launch today.
Google’s vice president of product management, Rose Yao, said during the keynote that the company thinks of the tablet as part of its Pixel product portfolio, and that it doesn’t feel complete without a “big screen device.” That could be confusing if you remember the The unlucky Pixel Slate Y pixel bookwhich were “big screen” Pixel-branded devices.
Like other Pixel devices, the tablet will be a canvas for Google’s own expression of Android. And as the company already hinted at its developer conference this year, the tablet will be powered by the same Tensor G2 chip found in flagship phones. Since this is still just a tease, the company is still keeping details like screen size, resolution, RAM, and more under wraps.
Google it is ready, however, to share more about the design of the Pixel tablet. It resembles older phones like the Pixel 3, with a rounded rectangle shape and a matte glass back. In fact, Yao said the company developed a new “nano-ceramic coating” that she says is inspired by “the feel of porcelain.”
In an interview with Engadget, Yao said the best way to think of this finish is to imagine the coating on a Le Creuset dutch oven. He said the Pixel tablet’s skin should feel equally durable and premium, and that it’s basically embedding small ceramic pieces into the frame of the device, which is made from recycled aluminum. This creates what she said is a “smooth matte finish” with a “grippy feel” that should alleviate what her team believed was a sore spot with tablets: “They’re really big devices that are a bit slippery.”
The Pixel tablet will also run Android, complete with Material You customization and big-screen-friendly features like split screen and stylus support. When I asked for more information on stylus support, Yao said, “We’ll talk more about that next year,” though he added that “you can use a third-party stylus.”
The fact that the Pixel tablet is powered by Tensor, which Yao said is the first time Google has brought its own processor to a type of product other than a phone, enables a few different things.
“I have so many stories I want to share about what that means,” Yao said. But it can’t at the moment, as well as citing voice recognition, video calls, photo editing and image processing as areas to consider.
He also mentioned Assistant, which will be able to “work seamlessly between a tablet and phone” thanks to Tensor. But not only that, Google wants you to think of your tablet as a place for an Assistant that always listens, like you would a Nest speaker. Yao said his team watched how people used tablets and learned that “tablets are home.” According to her, most tablets are at home 80 percent of the time and are only active for a small part of the time.
Another thing Yao said was that although tablets tend to stay in people’s homes, “they don’t really have a home at home.” They are often left in drawers or charging sockets, and can be forgotten or get in the way. To make a tablet that is “really useful 24/7” and “brings the best of Pixel and home together,” Yao said his team made a charging speaker dock.
The dock doesn’t just charge the device, Yao said it also “unlocks a lot of new experiences and makes the tablet useful all the time.” His favorite feature is the photo frame, which is similar to the one on the Nest Hub smart display. But the Pixel Tablet also has front and rear cameras, making it useful for video calls.
Yao said the angle “is really perfect for me,” though based on the images Google has shown so far, it looks like the camera might shoot at an unflattering upward angle. He also confirmed that the base won’t allow for adjustable angles, so if you don’t like the position, you probably won’t be able to change it.
“I really think it’s one of the most versatile tablets on the market,” Yao said, adding, “We’ll talk more next year.” While Google has yet to share information such as screen size and price, we’ll likely find out closer to launch.
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