Google launched its first self-branded Android telephone in 2010, and has been releasing regular new fashions at the least annually since then. Its historical past with tablets is extra tumultuous: After getting early hits with the inexpensive Nexus sequence, Google tablets have misplaced out to Samsung and Apple at each flip, and it’s been nearly 5 full years because the ill-fated Pixel Slate. The $499 Pixel Pill, absolutely revealed at Google I/O 2023 after a 12 months of ready, is taking a brand new method by taking part in on Google’s sensible residence prowess.
What’s completely different in regards to the Pixel Pill?
The Pixel Pill is each a traditional, media consumption-focused slate, corresponding to the iPad Air, and a sensible residence administration station, a la Google’s personal Nest Hub or Amazon’s extra premium Echo gadgets. Pull the factor out of your bag and it’s an everyday pill, preferrred for browsing or streaming video. However place it on the magnetic speaker dock with POGO pin charging (included within the field, no much less!) and it turns into a kind of super-powered Nest display in what Google calls “Hub Mode.” From there it’s able to handle all your private home’s lights, music, and different devices, or operate as a Google Forged display for the media in your different gadgets — a primary for an Android pill.
What are the specs of the Pixel Pill?
If this appears a bit acquainted, it ought to: Amazon tried one thing related just a few years in the past, promoting charging docks that will flip its Fireplace-branded tablets into de facto Echo gadgets. The distinction is the scope. Google is aiming the Pixel Pill as a extra premium gadget competing straight with mid-range iPads, versus Amazon’s always-budget Fireplace line. The Pixel Pill makes use of an 11-inch, 2560×1600 LCD display, Google’s Tensor G2 processor (the identical one discovered within the Pixel 7 telephone), 8GB of RAM, and a fingerprint unlock constructed into the facility button.
The pill’s seems are a bit on the plain aspect, extra just like the unassuming Pixel 5 than newer Google telephones, with a single 8MP digital camera on the rear and an identical one on the entrance. The case makes use of aluminum with a nano-ceramic coating for a matte end, accessible in “Porcelain” (white, with matching white bezel on the entrance) or “Hazel” (gray). An off-pink “Rose” shade is accessible in some markets, and all are matched to the speaker dock included within the field.
Google Pixel Pill with Charging Speaker Dock Way of life Images
Talking of that dock, it consists of a powerful 15-watt speaker with a 43.5mm driver for “4 occasions the bass than the Pixel Pill alone.” If you dock the pill audio will seamlessly transition to the dock, and the pill’s distinctive triple far-field microphones will begin listening in your “Okay Google” instructions, similar to any of Google’s Nest gadgets. Oddly the Pixel Pill lacks the face-scanning powers of the Nest Hub Max, however in any other case it’ll basically flip itself into a cheerful (and cute) little sensible display. You should buy additional docks to relaxation and cost the pill round the home or your workplace, and equipment just like the kickstand-packing first-party case work with the dock. Off of that 15-watt charger, Google says the pill will final for 12 hours of video streaming.
What software program does the Pixel Pill run?
The Pixel Pill comes with Android 13, the newest model of Google’s cellular working system, with 5 years of assured updates. And it’s positively cellular — in contrast to the extra professionally-targeted Pixel Slate which ran ChromeOS and was closely marketed with keyboard add-ons. No, Google’s backing off the thought of a productiveness gadget and never meaning to compete with cheaper laptops or Microsoft Floor-style devices, leaving that area to Chrome-powered tablets just like the Lenovo IdeaPad Duet. This factor is all-tablet, on a regular basis…when it’s not a sensible residence hub. The pill additionally consists of some first-to-Android help for a number of consumer profiles, preferrred for sharing the gadget across the individuals in your house.
How a lot will the Pixel Pill value?
Which brings us to the value. Google is asking $499 for the Pixel Pill (£599 within the UK). It’s up for pre-order now, transport in June. That places it between the value of the usual iPad and the upgraded iPad Air, with higher storage (128GB on the bottom mannequin versus 64GB) and the included dock within the field, however sans the choice for a 5G improve. On paper it’s a fantastic deal, even when Google’s pill is thicker and heavier than the svelte Air.
However Google has spent the final 5 years roughly ignoring the Android pill market, ceding the {hardware} area nearly completely to Samsung, Amazon, and Lenovo, and giving app builders little to no motive to give attention to software program experiences for larger screens. Maybe the announcement of the Pixel Fold, Google’s first foray into folding telephones, will give Android a long-overdue motive to give attention to greater than five-to-six inches of display area. And maybe pairing the Pixel Pill to Google’s extra stable place within the sensible residence area will give it a crucial enhance on the competitors.
However talking as somebody who’s been with Google {hardware} since that very first telephone, varied Nexus tablets, the Pixel C and the Pixel Slate, I wouldn’t maintain my breath. Positioning this as a premium pill in the identical area because the iPad, and thus competing with Apple’s best-in-the-industry pill interface and app help, is an aggressive transfer from an organization that hasn’t earned the belief of pill customers after a decade of makes an attempt.
