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| The Pixel C attaches to the QWERTY keyboard thanks to a nifty hinge and some strong magnets |
GOOGLE'S Pixel C is a sleek and stylish tablet with a stunning 10inch display that can transform into a productivity-focused hybrid, thanks to a nifty hinge and some powerful magnets. Read our first impressions as well as full details of UK price and release date –
Google wants to make Android tablets more productive. And the Pixel C – developed by the same team responsible for the £1,049 ChromeBook Pixel laptop – is a stylish proof of concept.
Director of Product Management at Google, Andrew Bowers first unveiled the Pixel C at the US firm's annual device refresh, back in September.
"Tablets are great for games, reading or watching movies but they often force you back to a laptop when you want to write a document or respond to a long email," he told the audience.
"And while there are plenty of keyboard accessories, they're often just that – accessories."
The Pixel C hopes to solve both of those problems.
And it succeeds. Well, almost.
NewsNewsBlog.blogspot.com has been playing around with the Pixel C for the last couple of days and these are our first impressions of this brand-new Google device –
The Pixel C is a brilliant tablet – especially when compared to the somewhat disappointing build quality of the creaky, plastic Nexus 9.
Svelte and stylish, the Pixel C is a meagre 7mm thick but feels solid in the hand, thanks to the anodised aluminium frame.
The subtle curves around the edges of the device mean it's a pleasure to use as a tablet – with the keyboard either magnetically attached to the back or tucked away in your rucksack.
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| The Pixel C is easily the best Android tablet you can buy anywhere right now |
Google has packed a pair of stereo speakers into the thin chasis, alongside a new USB Type C port for data transfers and fast-charging and a standard 3.5mm headphone port.
The stereo speakers – which are placed at the top and bottom of the device when it's held in portrait mode – are surprisingly loud and pleasantly clear, although they can't hold a candle to the iPad Pro.
Unfortunately the placement of the speakers is a bit of a problem.
If you're lounging on a sofa and holding the Pixel C in portrait mode, you will more than likely bury one of the speaker grills in your lap.
Spin the tablet around and hold in it landscape, and you'll likely cover the speaker grills with the palms of your hand.
Powering the Pixel C is a 64-bit Nvidia Tegra X1 coupled with 3GB of RAM. Predictably, this keeps the tablet smooth and responsive – even when it's required to do some heavy lifting.
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| Google has crammed a staggering 2560 x 1800 resolution display into this svelte tablet |
Google has also fitted the Pixel C with a eight megapixel rear camera and a two megapixel video chat camera. Both are fine, but nothing to write home about – unlike the shooter on Google's recent Nexus 6P smartphone.
The US search firm has placed the front-facing camera so that it sits dead-centre in the top bezel while the Pixel C is docked in its keyboard, like a webcam on a traditional laptop set-up.
Most of the time, that works well. Although it does result in a slightly strange angle when you use the tablet in portrait mode to make a Skype call.
But that's a small quibble and there are always going to be compromises with these two-in-one hybrids – also dubbed convertibles, which is incidentally what the 'C' in Pixel C stands for.
The Pixel C is a phenomenal tablet, thanks to its eye-watering 10.2inch display.
Google has crammed a staggering 2560 x 1800 resolution Low Temperature PolySilicon LCD display into this tablet – resulting in an impressive 308 pixels-per-inch.
The playful and colourful visuals in Android 6.0 Marshmallow shine on this bright, vibrant and pin-sharp display.
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| Magnets keeps the keyboard attached to the Pixel C – and they are staggeringly strong |
Although Google wants the Pixel C to be a more productivity-minded device – ogling at the latest blockbusters or playing stunning games like Monument Valley is a joy.
The Pixel C also packs an impressive battery life – some 34 hours by Google's count.
NewsNewsBlog.blogspot.com hasn't had a chance to put the Pixel C through its paces with our own battery test, which we will run before the full review, but we've rarely found ourselves reaching for the charger while using this tablet.
The Pixel C is easily the best tablet Google has ever shipped – and its probably the best Android tablet on the market right now, but how does it stack-up as a productivity machine?
Well, that depends entirely on what you want to do.
Director of Product Management Mr Bowers said the Pixel C was designed to stop tablets forcing us to reach for a "laptop when you want to write a document or respond to a long email".
And judged by those requirements, the Pixel C is a rip-roaring success.
The Google team has built a staggeringly good chiclet QWERTY keyboard that's fast and enjoyable to use.
Unfortunately it's not quite full size, although Google has slimmed down many of the symbol and function keys – like @ and TAB – to keep the letter keys as close to full-size as possible for this 10.2inch tablet.
This takes a little getting used to – but this is unmistakably a brilliant keyboard.
Google has also engineered a solid mechanism to attach the keyboard to the tablet.
The tablet attaches to a hinge, which allows users to adjust the screen angle from 100 to 135 degrees over 1.4 mm of travel, via strong magnets on the rear of the tablet.
The anodised aluminium keyboard is also solid enough to balance on your lap – unlike the Microsoft Surface Pro kickstand – and charges over inductive charging.
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| The keyboard accessory is solid and can be used on your lap, unlike the Surface Pro |
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| The Google lights, which also work as a battery indicator when the device is closed, is a nice touch |
Unfortunately the Pixel C begins to fall-down as soon as you attempt to do anything more than "write a document or respond to a long email".
Android Marshmallow still doesn't have split-screen support baked into the operating system, which immediately limits your productivity when compared to the aforementioned Surface Pro or Apple iPad Pro.
The Pixel C is a flawless writing machine, thanks to the brilliant Google Docs app and accurate and enjoyably clicky keyboard.
But attempt to do anything more involved and the frustrations of Android Marshmallow will have you reaching for your laptop once again.
The Pixel C is a brilliant tablet – and the solid keyboard is a great bonus.
But this killer accessory does not transform the Pixel C into a post-PC laptop replacement. It simply makes typing on the Pixel C much more enjoyable.
• Google Pixel C is available now on the Google Store.
• UK Prices for the Pixel C – £399 for 32GB of internal storage, or £479 for 64GB
• Pixel C Keyboard costs an additional £119
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