USA TODAY International Edition
Google’s Pixel C: Great hardware, lesser software
Tablet isn’t for everyone, but it has pluses
As the very first Android tablet made and designed from scratch by Google, the Pixel C is an impressive piece of hardware. The software is another story.
This machine is crafted of solid anodized aluminum with no visible screws, in the mold of Google’s premium Chromebook Pixel laptop. The bright, 10.2- inch display on the new tablet is gorgeous, the internal components powerful.
And then there’s what I consider to be the standout feature: a near full- size QWERTY- style physical keyboard that transforms Pixel C into a slate off which you can get some meaningful work done. It’s the finest implementation I’ve seen yet of combining a physical keyboard on a convertible tablet.
All that said, however, there are questions about whether Pixel C is the right purchase for you. I’m still not sold on Android as the best operating system for a tablet, even with the latest version of Marshmallow. Productivity tablet apps for Android are lacking, and there’s no splitscreen multitasking option. I encountered Wi- Fi connectivity snags.
The cost is $ 499 for a model with 32 gigabytes of storage, or $ 599 for a 64GB version. But you’ll almost certainly want to budget an extra $ 149 for the aforementioned physical Pixel C keyboard. Granted, Microsoft Surface tablets, which also rely on accessory keyboards, aren’t exactly inexpensive either, and the same can be said for the larger display iPad Pro.
The physical Bluetooth keyboard on Pixel C, which I used in part to write this column, is as good as it gets on a tablet.
The magnetic attachment is remarkably sturdy. I was able to hold Pixel C by the tablet or by the display without worrying the other part would fall off, even when I held it upside down or shook it up a little. And Google managed to fit the QWERTY keyboard with minimal compromises. Typing didn’t feel cramped.
The keyboard has a small battery that is automatically inductively charged when the keyboard and tablet are closed and snapped together. As for the tablet itself, Google says you can get more than 10 hours off the battery — I didn’t do a formal test.
Not everything went smoothly. I had intermittent problems connecting to Wi- Fi, though other devices in the room seemed to connect to the same network just fine.
Google’s tablet has an 8- megapixel rear camera and 2- megapixel front camera.
Pixel C isn’t a tablet for everyone. But Google has come up with a hardware slate that certainly demands high praise. The software, not so much.