Beyond the Alphabet
Beyond the Alphabet is a weekly column that focuses on the tech world both inside and out of the confines of Mountain View.
When the rumors began mounting about Google’s return to the tablet market, I was beyond excited. I immediately thought back to the glory days of the Nexus 7 and hoped that it would spark some innovation. One could argue that Google delivered, as the Pixel Tablet doubles as a smart home hub. However, Google just proved that it doesn’t really care, and neither should you.
Instead of waiting until I/O 2024, Google decided to announce the new Pixel 8a and a price reduction (of sorts) for the Pixel Tablet. It’s not actually lowering the price, but you can finally just buy the tablet, saving $100 and opting against having the Charging Speaker Dock at your disposal. Groundbreaking.
This kind of solves one of the biggest gripes that I had with the Pixel Tablet with its value proposition for the $499 price tag. For the most part, it’s just a Pixel 5 that’s been stretched to accommodate an 11-inch screen. Sure, it’s great to have a 2560 x 1600 resolution, but Google skimped out by going with an LCD panel.
The 16:10 aspect ratio is great for using apps in split view and multitasking, but Google still doesn’t sell a first-party keyboard case or even a stylus. Not to mention that the Pixel Tablet isn’t great for gaming, as the LCD panel is locked to a 60Hz refresh rate.
Admittedly, I don’t often use the Pixel Tablet as a tablet. It remains docked 99% of the time, only to be removed when I need to update the software or the installed apps. I have to imagine that I’m not the only one who opts for this use case and wouldn’t be surprised if this is the case for a lot of people.
Google could have made a smart decision, but instead, it decided to remain greedy.
However, I’m only being further convinced that Google doesn’t have much of a sense of direction with this product. Re-releasing the Pixel Tablet sans the Dock or any relevant first-party accessories roughly a year after the initial release has me wondering what in the world is happening. On top of that, the $399 price tag is still too damn high for what you’re getting.
Yes, it’s a Pixel Tablet running Google’s version of Android. But thanks to Google’s own gate-keeping of features, it’s running into the same problem as the Pixel Fold. All of those cool AI features? Yeah, they have only recently started to become available on the Pixel Tablet. Hell, Circle to Search was announced at the start of 2024 and still won’t be arriving for Pixel Tablet owners until “later this month.”
I’m not going to re-hash all of my feelings on that here, as I’ve already done so a couple of times. But that doesn’t negate the point that Google is lost, as it’s pretty obvious that it’s stretching itself in too many directions.
It’s all about AI and where Google can throw Gemini while blaming the hardware for those features not being available on a Google-released device. “Oh, it’ll get there….eventually.” Well, at least when Samsung or Apple says a new feature is coming, most of the time, those companies follow through.
This revelation about re-releasing the Pixel Tablet without the dock should’ve happened already. By no means am I an analyst, but I have to assume that the dockless Pixel Tablet would’ve been a hot-ticket item over the 2023 holidays. But instead, Google opted to throw it in as an afterthought when announcing a brand-new product.
I probably wouldn’t feel the way I do if Google either held off on this tomfoolery until the G3 (or G4) Pixel Tablet was ready or lowered the price to around $299. To put this into perspective, take a look at what Amazon did with the Fire Max 11 tablet. For about $285, you can get the Fire Max 11, bundled with the Amazon Stylus Pen and the Keyboard Case. Oh, and that’s with paying extra for the “Without Lockscreen Ads” version.
With the Pixel Tablet, you’ll pay $399 and get a charging cable, along with some regulatory paperwork. Not to mention that despite being rumored since last year, there aren’t any new first-party accessories. It’s beyond frustrating to see these decisions being made, especially when it’s so obvious that they’re wearing blinders and can’t see the forest for the trees.
I’ve just about lost hope in Google’s product strategy, and maybe I should just give it up. It’s apparent that Google has, and I won’t be surprised if the Pixel Tablet 2 never sees the light of day.