News You shouldn't buy the Pixel Tablet

[AC News]

Alongside the Pixel 8a, Google announced that it would finally be selling the Pixel Tablet without the Charging Speaker Dock for a lower price. Even still, you shouldn't buy the Pixel Tablet and don't have to look far for something better.

You shouldn't buy the Pixel Tablet : Read more

 

[notforhire]

I think you hit most of the high points. If you'd gone on much longer, it would've been nothing more than "piling on.".........well said

 

[Zeeba]

I want you to know that you are exactly right about Google being lost.

I have a Pixel Tablet and I love it! However, I don't use it for much, so I'm not sure if I love it for what it does, or that I love it because it costs a lot and I should take care of it. But I do like the Pixel Tablet. Never would I buy it without the dock. Nor do I think I'd want multiple docks. I might seem lost in this thought myself.
My Pixel Tablet is my Drive hub and, just a beautiful centerpiece in my cluttered kitchen. I use it daily, but I only really watch YouTube and play games that run well on my Pixel 8 Pro. I had thought that Google had a plan in mind when swapping the Nexus for Pixel, but clearly the business is too large to handle the minutiae that goes into Quality Assurance and Control.

As bad as this is, I hope that Google figures it out and somehow returns to the company they were in the 2010s.

 

[CajunMoses]

Sounds like this tablet isn't a good fit for the author, so he's trashing it for everyone. It's probably a great option for most folks who want an Android tablet.

 

[Daelos]

I bought one mostly because I use it mooching around the house. It fits it's use case perfectly, however I was hoping it would kickstart more home automation stuff and rev up Google Home into something actually useful but it's done nothing. If anything Home/Assistant/Nest is worse than last year. Where's all the cool stuff the tensor chip could do on a homebody machine? It's no longer doing photos so surely it could be used for something else?

 

[lucidlyseen]

Well for $0 in exchange for my dust collecting iPad gen 6, I'll happily get one.

 

[acecool99]

So you don't like it because it doesn't have a keyboard, doesn't have AI features, and you just get the tablet? Who cares about that stuff? What about the performance or ergonomics?

 

[LordNikonX]

Do you have ~$570 and would like to buy a Pixel Tablet for ~$170? 1. Go to https://swappa.com/listings/apple-ipad-7th- gen?carrier=wifi and buy a used 7th Gen iPad. (~$170) 2. Go to https://store.google. com/config/pixel_tablet?hl=en-US and purchase Pixel Tablet ($399) and choose to trade in the iPad. 3. Wait for iPad and Pixel Tablet to arrive. 4. Make sure the iPad is completely factory reset and send it to Google for the $399 credit back to your card.

 

[333tmh]

Andrew, I would say that your use case is in search of another tablet that is not a Pixel. I absolutely disagree with the statement "you should not buy a Pixel tablet."

This tablet sits on the countertop in my kitchen and it is very useful as a central hub for tasks and reminders, home automation, viewing all my security camera feeds, cooking recipes and catching up on the news. All hands-free. It does remain docked most of the time, but if I choose to, I find it so very useful to simply pull the tablet off and head to the couch to finish watching the news. But the single greatest feature I like is that I just put it back on the dock and I don't have to fumble with cables for charging.

I particularly enjoy the feature of casting media from my phone directly to the Pixel tablet as it is a larger screen and easier to view content. I also own a Pixel fold and I find that the tablet mimics more of the same experience that I have on the fold. I would agree with you however that both the OS for the Pixel tablet and the pixel fold certainly have a lot of growing up to do, but overall my experience using the Pixel tablet has been nothing but comfortable and organic for my use cases.

The tablet easily incorporated itself into my Google home and playing music on my home's speaker group integrates nicely. The speaker dock is not going to win any awards for sound quality, but integrated with my home's sound system it works just fine.

I have created a second, work profile, on the pixel tablet. I use a third party stylus (Penovol) to edit documents, take notes, and research the web. Video calls through Google meet work great. I am told that the audio and video quality on the other end is on par with what anyone would experience from my laptop or other mobile device. On weekend trips I simply throw the tablet in my bag leaving the large laptop behind. The tablet connects seamlessly to airline Wi-Fi allowing me to get quick work done. I would not however recommend this device for power users needing to do some serious computing work. But simple tasks can be completed with these.

I am rambling here but I just simply want to say that a blanket statement of nobody should buy this device kind of misses the mark in my opinion. I simply think that the pixel tablet is not good for your use cases.

 

[Joshua Luther1]

I have a Lenovo M10+ that I paid $100 for that works fine for watching content on. I don’t need anything more expensive or powerful for watching videos.

 

[sic0048]

A more accurate title would be, "You shouldn't buy the Pixel Tablet for $399." That is a statement that I fully support.

However people don't need to spend full price for a Pixel Tablet right now with the trade in values being offered by Google. I was lucky enough to place my order while Google was still offering $399 back for a iPad 6th gen, so I purchased one off EBay for less than $120.

Purchasing the Google Tablet for $120 is totally worth it. After all, it's a tablet that is unlocked and can be rooted very easily which is also going to have years of monthly OS updates and security patches. No other tablet (at any price) offers that level of flexibility and manufacturer support.