Google enters "productivity" tablet market with Pixel C

[GreyFox7]

Who's going to get one of these and who won't?

First look: Google Pixel C hands-on: A well-built but clunky convertible Android tablet

The hinge on our demo unit was stiff, but in laptop mode the screen would wobble after being poked. There is no trackpad on the Pixel C, so you'll be poking the screen a lot.

The Pixel C display has a 1:1.4141 aspect ratio (1:sqrt 2).

Weird keyboard:
The keyboard moves around a lot of the traditional laptops keys to make more room for the primary letter keys. There's no function keys, the enter key is this odd long shape, and shift is a little smaller than normal. An entire column of keys on the right side of a normal keyboard are missing. There's no bracket or pipe keys, and the number row plus key has been moved down an entire row.

The top of the pixel has four microphones, which seems really excessive. We didn't have time to train the voice activation stuff, but we imagine "Ok Google" commands on this will be really, really good.
My what an array of microphones you have... all the better to surveil you with my dear

Overall, the Pixel felt clunky. The lack of a trackpad on hardware like this is really disappointing, but Android's trackpad support is awful anyway. If this is the start of a new tablet push by Google, where it will update a ton of its apps with a dual pane tablet mode and enable split screen functionality in Android, we might change our tune. We've thought that with every new Nexus tablet though, and Google's tablet support never seems to get any better. We'd rather have a Chrome OS laptop.

specs are sketchy... but it comes with a powerful Nvidia Tegra X1 (perhaps its only saving grace) nothing about cameras, or fingerprint sensors, or extra ports ...
Operating System Android 6.0 Marshmallow
Display 10.2 inches
2560x1800, 308 ppi
500 nit brightness
sRGB color gamut
Processors NVIDIA Tegra X1 (8 core CPU) with (256 core) Maxwell GPU
RAM 3GB LPDDR3 * (this might be LPDDR4)
Internal storage 32GB $449 or 64GB $599
Charging USB-C
Keyboard Optional Bluetooth wireless keyboard $149.

Google promises more details to come but it's supposed to be available for the Holiday shopping spree.

Hmm, I don't see much here... but the Google faithful will likely eat it up to the tune of millions. the Cult of Google.

Edit: engadget reports the back camera is 8 mp while the front is 2 mp.
Weak but not unlike older iPads

 

[GreyFox7]

No Function keys, No trackpad, no display or hdmi port, not a single luxury... like Robinson Crusoe, as primitive as can be. Didn't see a micro SD card slot, the only visible ports are 1 USB-C and a Headphone jack.
Google's Island.

 

[hughlle]

Android tablets have had keyboards for years and productivity on android never caught on. How is this any different?

It's just yet another android tablet, nothing more. Or does marshmallow somehow turn the playing field by 180 degrees?

 

[leeshor]

I'm inclined to agree. The Type C port is the only thing that makes me look twice. That says a lot.

 

[GreyFox7]

Android tablets have had keyboards for years and productivity on android never caught on. How is this any different?

It's just yet another android tablet, nothing more. Or does marshmallow somehow turn the playing field by 180 degrees?

MM enables split screen which of course Samsung tablets have had for years... now it's native to Marshmallow.
Maybe Google is holding the showstoppers for later ... but from what I've seen so far this is pretty weak and shouldn't sell. That said this has the potential to ignite the Google cult because it's from Google and they might sell millions to schools. Beware of the evil geniuses successful products have rarely been technologically great you just have to create a following.

 

[leeshor]

On another forum, (an Android forum), there are a lot of people who stopped using their Android tablets in favor of a Phablet. I think they are losing steam.

 

[GreyFox7]

I'm inclined to agree. The Type C port is the only thing that makes me look twice. That says a lot.

The only thing that interests me is the X1. I have been hoping for a device with an X1 since it was announced, sadly I find this disappointing enough that i might consider not getting the first general purpose tablet with potentially teraflop processing capability to keep in my collection of computing memorabilia. No doubt within the constraints of the tablet form factor it would take some external chilling to reach the Tereflop mark if it's possible at all.

 

[jrioux]

Google is clearly learning from Apple. Introduce a device with no ability to expand the memory and then charge $150 for an extra measly 32 GB.

 

[GreyFox7]

Google is clearly learning from Apple. Introduce a device with no ability to expand the memory and then charge $150 for an extra measly 32 GB.

Yep. This device appears to be aimed squarely at the iPad Air. I don't believe they are making an iPad Pro play here at all and IMO not a shot at the Surface market. Even in decline, a 10 billion market is worth going after. i.e a rough estimate of Apple's share of the tablet market not counting the Android tablet market or Surface market. Any take from the latter two is gravy.

Edit: IMO all the analysts comparing Pixel C to the Surface are off base and just firing their wads into the air. Maybe Google will release a follow-on product that challenges iPad Pro or even the Surface but this just isn't it.

 

[jrioux]

Yep. This device appears to be aimed squarely at the iPad Air. I don't believe they are making an iPad Pro play here at all and IMO not a shot at the Surface market. Even in decline, a 10 billion market is worth going after. i.e a rough estimate of Apple's share of the tablet market not counting the Android tablet market or Surface market. Any take from the latter two is gravy.

Edit: IMO all the analysts comparing Pixel C to the Surface are off base and just firing their wads into the air. Maybe Google will release a follow-on product that challenges iPad Pro or even the Surface but this just isn't it.

Perhaps shooting their wad is the only fun they have? (I'd hate to see the bottoms of their desk drawers.)

I agree that this is definitely aimed at the iPad, but I wonder why it doesn't have features that will make it more competitive, like a microSD slot and/or a 128 GB version and a trackpad on the keyboard. I also wonder how fast the NVIDIA Tegra X1 is compared to the Apple A8X.

It's interesting to see all the new tablets/2-in-1s popping up. The Toshiba Click 10 starting at $350 including the keyboard may cut into sales of the S3 if its quality is reasonable. For a number of years, I only bought Toshiba laptops (the 286 to 586 days). The Lenovo Miix 700 at $700 including the keyboard may attract both S3 and SP4 buyers. I hear the Dell also has a Surface clone in the works.

 

[GreyFox7]

X1 light green vs A8x white

X1 1.7x more power efficient for the same performance.

 

[hughlle]

Looks like the typical load of crap graph to me... The title alone tells me to take it with an overdose of salt