Google Pixel Tablet formalized: the sedentary tablet

The Google Pixel Tablet has just been made official. This Android tablet has the particularity of being delivered with an essential dock to take advantage of certain features.

It’s been a year since the Google Pixel Tablet was teased. Here it is now formalized as it should be on the occasion of Google I / O 2023. Android tablets have been on the rise for some time, but this one has the particularity of standing out mainly thanks to its dock.

However, let’s start with a brief presentation of the tablet. It offers an 11-inch screen, three microphones, four speakers and two photo sensors (front and rear) of 8 MP each. The Pixel Tablet is powered by the in-house Google Tensor G2 chip. It is therefore the first time that a SoC from the Californian giant has been found on a slate.

The device opts for a very classic style with large borders around the screen and a homogeneous back. Note that the “Porcelain white” version benefits from a nano-ceramic coating for a more pleasant touch.

The fingerprint reader is placed on the unlock button and we benefit here from 8 GB of RAM for 128 GB of storage.

A dock and it changes everything

Let’s move on to the most important detail: the dock. For this Pixel Tablet, Google made a bold choice: the tablet offers a slew of additional features when placed on its “Charging Speaker Dock“.

This is a stand that matches the color of your tablet, destined to stay plugged in the same place in your home. By placing the Pixel Tablet on it, the latter recharges and takes advantage of the audio quality of the dock for four times more intense bass according to the brand.

It obviously doesn’t stop there. Using the tablet on its dock allows you to take advantage of a “Fashion Hub“. This does four things in particular:

• display a series of souvenir photos by adjusting the brightness of the screen to that of the room;
• quickly access a control center (linked to the Google Home app) to control connected objects in the home;
• use the tablet hands-free with Google Assistant (but the most privacy-sensitive functions still require you to identify yourself);
• take advantage of Chromecast by sending content from the smartphone to the Pixel Tablet.

Regarding this last point, Google prides itself on offering the first tablet natively integrating Chromecast. Note, however, that this function is unavailable without the dock.

So you can see: the real interest of the Google Pixel Tablet is ultimately its dock. It is therefore an essentially sedentary tablet whose nomadic use is, in a way, relegated to the background. This device thus has the potential to be a more versatile successor to Smart Displays.

Google Pixel Tablet price and release date

The Google Pixel Tablet is sold with a dock at the official price of 679 euros. You can buy an additional dock for 149 euros. If you wish, you can also fall for a protective cover at 99 euros designed to be placed and used on the dock.

Pre-orders begin on May 10 while the actual marketing will take place at the end of June.

NB. Our journalist Omar participates in the Google I/O in Mountain View as part of a press trip organized by Google.

Want to join a community of enthusiasts? Our Discord welcomes you, it’s a place of mutual aid and passion around tech.