Google Pixel C Review

The Pixel C has the best hardware and software of any Android tablet we have tested, but it’s too expensive for most people. Its aluminum body is durable, its powerful Tegra X1 processor and sharp, 10.2-inch, 2560×1800 display are great for media and for productivity, and a recent update to Android 7.0 lets it run two apps side-by-side. Google’s wireless magnetic keyboard dock is a fun novelty, but not worth the extra 9000. Unless you are an Android die-hard who needs the best tablet you can get, you are better off with a cheaper Android tablet, or with an iPad.

Design:

The design is really nice. The Pixel C is basically a small Chromebook Pixel. It’s very light and thin, to the extent that I briefly carried it tucked inside the dust jacket of a large hardback book. The two halves are held together by magnets and you pull the tablet and keyboard apart, flip the tablet over and let the magnets click it into position to put it into laptop mode. The hinge can then be rotated to hold the screen upright.

The hinge is pretty firm and the magnet on the back is strong, so despite its small size, it feels quite solid. It rests comfortably on your knees for typing and because the footprint is small, it fits easily onto the tiny little tables on the backs of plane seats - spaces that a laptop or a Surface would be too large to fill.Probably the most important feature for a device like this is its keyboard and the Pixel C's is surprisingly good. Which is surprising because it looks so small, but the typing area is normal sized the keys are full-size and they have decent travel (a full 1.4mm, key travel fans). It feels like a smaller version of the superb keyboard on its big brother, the Chromebook Pixel. It’s a lot quicker and easier to type on than the Transformer tablets or the Surface Pro 4. Some sensible choices have been made on the design front too: classic shortcuts like Alt-Tab do just what you expect them to do, while an ellipsis key next to the space bar brings up symbols (as on a phone keyboard), which is really handy. To counteract the usefulness of this key, tapping the Alt key in Google Docs brings up a menu of stupidly grinning email. There are even some nice tweaks to Google Docs waiting in Android 6.0, including the ability to easily drag pictures and references into your document.

Your hands are very close to the screen, much closer than they are when using a Surface. This can be a good thing as it makes the transition between the keys and the touchscreen very simple and intuitive. The touchscreen on the Chromebook Pixel isn’t really necessary because there’s a mousepad, but you will use it a lot here. The connection to the keyboard is wireless (Bluetooth) but there’s no lag whatsoever and it never asks you to pair it. The keyboard also charges wirelessly via the tablet, so you just plug the whole thing into a USB charger and never really have to consider them as separate elements.

Display:

The Pixel C is a joy to use as a tablet or as a laptop, thanks to its gorgeous 10.2in, 2,560x1,800 resolution display. The aspect ratio gives you more room when using it in portrait mode, and it ensures there’s no mistaking the Pixel for an iPad. The pixel density of 308ppi ensures you can’t see individual pixels (without a microscope, anyway), leaving images and text looking impressively sharp.

The glossy screen finish and lack of an air gap between panel and glass helps give colours real punch and vibrancy. Colour accuracy is also exceptionally high; according to our calibrator, the Pixel C displays 97.3% of the sRGB colour gamut. That’s second only to Samsung’s AMOLED Galaxy Tab S2 and Apple’s iPads, and it shows when watching video or looking at photos. Red coverage is lacking according to the results, but it’s still among the best Android tablets for image quality. The exceptionally high 450.6cd/m2 maximum brightness and a 1,550:1 contrast ratio are more notable figures, as is a very low 0.289cd/m2 black point. It’s a shame, then, that the touchscreen felt rather buggy on our review unit, at times failing to respond to quick swipes and taps. It didn’t happen all the time, but it was frustrating when it wouldn’t let you swipe away a YouTube video or quickly navigate through Google Photos.

PERFORMANCE:

The Pixel C is, on paper, a powerhouse Android tablet. A key selling point is its use of a quad core Nvidia X1 processor, which is paired with a Maxwell GPU and 3GB of DDR4 memory. The Pixel C benchmarks amazingly well. I couldn’t get AnTuTu to run on it – which is likely due to its use of the atypical Nvidia CPU. But on the more general Geekbench benchmark test the Pixel C ran in with a 4,188 multi-core score. On the GPU-focused 3DMark Icestorm Unlimited and Slingshot tests the Pixel C finished with 41,400 and 2,856 scores respectively. These scores are some of the highest I have seen on an Android tablet.

By comparison, the Nexus 9 scored 3,562 points on Geekbench. Samsung's flagship Galaxy Tab S2 also fails to match the Pixel C’s performance, scoring 3,562 on Geekbench and 19,306 on Icestorm Unlimited. With realworld use the Pixel C’s impressive benchmarks have generally rung true. The Pixel C opens applications in milliseconds and I’m yet to find a 3D game or task it can’t run without stutter or chug. All in all you’re not going to find better performance on any other Android tablet at the moment.

Clever keyboard:

For an additional 8000 (US$149, around AU$200) you can supplement your Pixel C with a full-size keyboard, which has also been designed and built by Google, alongside the tablet.

The best feature of the keyboard is automatic pairing. There's no need to mess around with Bluetooth settings, or switching off the keyboard when it's not in use - the Pixel C just knows when the keyboard is attached. Just make sure Bluetooth is on, and the slate will do the rest. Then there's the docking system. There are no annoying latches or pins to line up here; instead the keyboard sports a heavy-duty magnet which clings to the bottom third of the Pixel C. The connection is surprisingly strong, and you can pick up the assemblage by either the keyboard or tablet without any fear that the two will become disconnected. The magnet also doubles as a multi-angle hinge, enabling you to tilt the Pixel C to your preferred degree for optimum viewing, whether you're tapping out text or sitting back to enjoy a Netflix binge.

When you are not using the Pixel C the keyboard acts as a protective cover for the screen, sticking to the front of the tablet. If you want to use the Pixel C as a slate, rather than a laptop, you can stick the keyboard to the rear for safe keeping. This does, however, increase the bulk of the tablet, and makes it more uncomfortable to hold, with an additional 399g added to the total weight. I'd advise slipping the keyboard into a bag, or sitting in on a table when you're in tablet mode. It's this disconnect which reminds you that you are using a tablet and not a laptop, and it slows down the typing experience. It would also be handy to have a home button on the keyboard, to enable you to quickly exit applications. I wrote around half of this review using the Pixel C's keyboard, and over extended periods of typing I did notice my speed was lacking compared to working on a traditional computer keyboard. I was able to type relatively comfortably with the Pixel C on my lap, though something you can't always easily do with tablet keyboard docks. Another potential annoyance is that the keyboard dock doesn't enable you to seat the Pixel C in portrait mode. For many this won't be an issue, but it's something theSony Xperia Z4 Tablet does allow with its (included in the box) keyboard dock.

Verdict:

Nougat's split screen feature is a great addition not just for multitasking, but specifically because it fixes the problem of no one caring about Android tablet apps. Splitting the Pixel C down the middle gives you two phone-like app areas, which is great because you're going to be running apps designed for a phone most of the time. The wait for split screen support in the OS is over for the Pixel C, and now the wait for developers to fully support split screen has begun. Apps need to be updated to support a live, continually updating UI even if they aren't currently being tapped on. It's more waiting, even a year after release, and I fear the Pixel C hardware will be obsolete by the time all this waiting is over.

There's no telling if this developer support will actually happen, though. Not many developers or companies seem motivated to make Android tablets great, and it all starts at the top with Google. I still haven't seen anything in the core Android UI or in app development that says Google is ready to take tablets seriously. Expecting a company that sells tablets to also provide tablet-oriented interfaces for the OS and major apps isn't unreasonable. But Google hasn't shown it is willing to provide those interfaces. My Android tablet advice still stands,I will take Android tablets seriously once Google does. All the interface regressions since Honeycomb still make Android tablets feel like an afterthought. While the Pixel C is a great demonstration of these problems, it's still not a great productivity device compared to the competition.

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