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Last week’s Google I/O keynote was perhaps the most gadget-heavy Google presentation we’ve seen in nearly a decade. Google’s developer conference has often hosted the launch of consumer hardware, but between the Pixel 6a, Pixel Buds, Pixel 7, and Pixel Watch series, this keynote felt like it was aimed at Pixel fans as much as it was software engineers. And far from being gadgets you’ll actually be able to buy anytime soon, many of Google’s new gadgets won’t be available for several months.
The strangest is the device we call the Google Pixel Tablet. Google hasn’t officially named this new tablet yet, just calling it “our Android tablet.” Thanks to the renders revealed on stage, we more or less know what it will look like and that it will use a Google Tensor processor – although it’s unclear if that will be the current first-gen Tensor from the Pixel 6. or the second-gen SoC heading for the Pixel 7 series.
And we also have an exceptionally vague launch window of “2023,” raising the prospect that a full year — maybe even more — could elapse between now and when we can actually buy Google’s first Android tablet since 2015. It’s pretty odd for a product to be pre-announced this way, especially when the lead time is so long, and particularly when the thing itself appears spectacularly unremarkable.
Some Google observers are enthusiastic. Others not so much.
In terms of appearance, the Pixel tablet is as generic as you can imagine. This doesn’t look like a device that will challenge the best Android tablets. There are large bezels that wouldn’t look out of place on a slate from half a decade ago. A single rear camera juts out from the back, which appears to have a Pixel 5-like plastic coating. In fact, it all looks like someone just grabbed a Pixel 5 and expanded it into a widescreen tablet form factor. There’s a power button, volume controls, and a capital G on the back. It looks almost intentionally unremarkable.
So it’s hard not to look at a tablet like this and wonder what the point is – both in Google announcing this thing in mid-2022 and it exists from the beginning. Neither the company nor Android itself has a stellar track record when it comes to tablets, and the Pixel tablet looks a lot like it just another Android tablet.
However, there are reasons to believe that this tablet could be different and more commercially successful than flops like the Nexus 9 and Pixel C. First, Google’s decision to show the Pixel tablet at I/O for the first time is one Statement of intent the future of Android tablets. For the past few months, before rolling out Android 12L, Google has been adamant that it’s serious about Android on big screens. However, many of us have assumed that all the benefits of Android on tablets are just a side effect of Google chasing the foldable market. Announcing an “Android tablet” now is in a way Google putting its money where its mouth is. (Though let’s be honest, launching a single tablet in a year’s time is a pretty low bet.)
But there’s also a strong possibility that this will be more than just a Pixel-branded Android tablet designed to do typical tablet stuff. The slate’s design is arguably closer to Google’s Nest range of smart home products than its Pixel phones – the crisp white front matches the current Nest Hub Max perfectly. And one could well imagine using this for charging or in to dock a speaker base
why many smart people think this is actually a Nest product – to be precise, the rumored detachable Nest Hub reported by 9to5Google in March.
“According to a source familiar with Google’s plans, the next Nest Smart Display will have a detachable screen that can be used as a tablet.
According to this report, this detachable, dockable Nest Hub should come out of cover in 2022. However, it’s easy to see how such a complex project could have been delayed until next year – whether due to supply chain issues or technical challenges.
Google has been adding more tablet-style UI elements to smart displays over the past year, so a full-fledged Nest tablet capable of doing double duty as a smart display would make a lot of sense for the Google ecosystem. The Pixel Tablet’s larger display suggests it’s primarily designed for home use, and there’s no sign of cellular capabilities in the renders shown at I/O. The neutrality of the design also corresponds to Google’s smart home portfolio.
This could be a tablet meant to move around your home, perhaps docking in your kitchen or living room, and possibly used by multiple people in your household. It would be more of an Echo Show rival than an iPad competitor – I don’t think we’ll ever see a keyboard dock for this product, for example. That said, tablet features first introduced in Android 12L could make Google’s new tablet a more capable all-around computer than Amazon’s offering.
There’s still plenty of time to think about Google’s Pixel tablet (or Nest tablet) ahead of its eventual launch. But so far, despite a seemingly mundane design, there’s every chance Google could surprise us with a unique take on the tablet form factor.
