Gadgetory

Google's pixels see probably isn't the tablet you think it is when it was announced a few months back it was presented with its optional keyboard connected and it was positioned more as a convertible than anything else in fact that's what the C stands for while the hardware absolutely delivers the software is still more smartphone than tablet and the result is something of a paradox I'm Michael Fisher this is PocketNow and this is our video review of the Google pixel C if you're someone who puts hardware above all else stop this review now and go order a pixel see the design is classic and refined minimalist without being dull it's made almost entirely of aluminum with precision cut ports for the speakers power and volume keys and the USB type-c port the tablet is completely void of any traditional branding the only nod to Google's paternity being the single strip LED on the top edge of the back panel which displays the company's rainbow colors by default but also shows battery life with a double tap on the casing on the flip side the display is large at ten point two inches but the pixel sees seven millimeter profile makes it feel like a much smaller tablet the panel itself is LTPS and comes packin over 300 pixels every inch making for a very sharp picture if you want a nitpick there's certainly room to do it there's some color shifting on the screen when viewing it off-center and some might say the featureless backside is a little too minimal but these are very minor complaints and they're certainly not shared by everyone in terms of industrial design and fit and finish this is one of the best tablets you can find on Android maybe the best that exceptional Hardware work is mirrored in the pixel C's keyboard which you can snap up for an extra 150 dollars well that's no small amount of dough it's actually a few bucks cheaper than Apple and Microsoft charge for their competing tablet accessories and the pixel C's keyboard has them both beat for sheer coolness why magnets slap the pixel C onto the keyboard and you've got yourself a notebook replacement with a variable display angle and the strength to hold together no matter how you carry it like most convertibles it will work in a lap but it's much better on a table or a desk and the typing experience is really really good with an almost nineteen millimeter key pitch and 1.4 millimeter key travel there's not even much of a learning curve if you're used to a wider board we adapted from a MacBook Pro in less than a day and Android supports most of your favorite keyboard shortcuts - whether it's copy paste bold italic and underline or tab shuffling and Crump the keyboard talks to the tablet via bluetooth and transitioning between physical and virtual keys is as simple as separating the two or bringing them back together Google claim is battery life of up to two months from the keyboards embedded power cell but you'll probably never have to put that to the test if the keyboard automatically charges via induction when you lock it in place so what's the downside well the keyboard lacks some toggles we've gotten used to on other convertibles like volume and track skipping controls for media or a brightness selector for the display also as stiff and sturdy as the hinges it can't keep the tablet from wobbling a little when you have to touch the screen as you often do because there's no trackpad in sight and most damning of all there's no backlight on this keyboard if you want to type in the dark on this $150 accessory you need to do it in the reflected light from the display the pixel see ships with Android marshmallow an excellent smartphone operating system but on a 10 inch display optimized for landscape it sometimes feels like it's over stretching to cover the whole canvas with interface elements often banished to far-flung corners once you get used to that and you start getting comfy with the keyboard you might start to feel like you've got a real productivity beast on your hands after all that's how Google is positioning the pixel see is a new way to play and be productive on one device to a limited extent it succeeds you can work on a Google Doc for example while listening to Spotify in the background and taking the occasional YouTube or Netflix break the problem comes when you try and push the pixel see any further for one thing the perennial problem of some apps not being optimized for tablets is still very much alive and streaming music in the background is about as you can get to any kind of heavy multitasking because there's no native split-screen support you're forced to hop into and out of your active apps any time you want to leave the movie or watching to answer a hangout set or flit away from that long article you're reading to check your Twitter feed yeah you can use a third-party solution like tiny apps to run some overlays but that's a kludge solution and even running stock there are occasional stumbles once while juggling a couple Hangouts with Chrome we must have run out of RAM because Spotify closed itself abruptly ending the song we were listening to in the background that's the very definition of working and playing on the same device so we can understand why the pixel C has taken some heat but frankly we think it's gotten a bit of a raw deal even the vaunted iPad has some of the same problems with a lack of optimized tablet apps Microsoft's surface pro line can do much more than the pixels see sure but at a significantly higher cost and when you actually use the pixel C hold it in your hands type on its keyboard you understand why Google thinks it can get the price it's asking here the pixel see normally flies on its Tegra processor the lag that was present on the early review models has all but gone and the Maxwell GPU handles games from asphalt 8 to Galaxy on fire to SimCity just fine also the sound from the stereo speakers is loud if lacking in bass but some games like arc Redux just don't like to run on this hardware and other games like sky gamblers air supremacy have corrupted graphics these are the exact same problems we ran into during our time with the Nexus 9 so is this a CPU problem a GPU software issue it's tough to say there's not much to say about the cameras the front-facing one gets the job done for video calling and periscopes and so on and you shouldn't be using the rear-facing one to take many pictures anyway so let's round out the review with battery life in short you shouldn't have a problem we put the screws to the pixel see with a day of heavy word processing in Google Docs we're talking hours here - followed by an hour of streaming podcasts at full volume ending up with about two hours of holiday shopping on Amazon and all that was done with the keyboard attached even with such heavy use it took us 13 hours to hit the low battery warning at 15% you'll want to charge it every night if you're a power user but more moderate users should easily be able to squeeze two or even three days out of it so the pixel see isn't what it looks like it's not a surface competitor not really and it doesn't pack the power to replace the laptop for most people what it is and let's just call it this it's the most beautiful Android tablet you can get right now with one of the best portable keyboards yet and it's probably only going to get better when the next version of Android drops next year that makes it a pretty solid product in our eyes but one that doesn't quite earn its price tag if you're a heavy Google user looking to round out your Android experience with an excellent tablet well the pixel C is for you but if you're not yet entirely sold on the idea of an Android tablet to begin with this won't do it you'll want to wait until the price comes down or Android n lands whichever happens first find out what we think about the pixel C's competition folks check out our reviews of the iPad pro and Windows continuum both here on YouTube and at pocketnow.com and be sure to subscribe so you don't miss future videos until next time this has been michael fisher gaped in two phones on twitter thanks for watching we'll see you next time