No? Not really? I dunno?
I’m spending a bit more time right now putting the Pixel Fold through its paces, but at the same time, trying to play with this pretty new tablet! An early stream of conscious impression, there’s ONE critical question that itches my brain.
Is this the Smart Display I’ve been waiting for?
A little personal background, my Wife and I are not super fond of “always listening” products in our home.
We chose Playstation over XBox because Marie didn’t like the idea of the voice actions and cameras on the XBox. We’re probably a little reactionary in that regard, but we’ve never really jumped on the smart speaker train either.
Considering the assistant integration on modern phones and tablets, it’s something we’ve been considering a bit more, and Marie has found some situations where she thinks she would have appreciated a mini-screen displaying relevant info on request.
Of course, our household is also INCREDIBLY atypical, and we’ve managed to make do without a smart display thanks to the review gear I often get to play with.
It’s an incredible privilege to hold up something like a Surface Duo, and jokingly proclaim that our “kitchen computer”.
While I doubt many others are really looking at a folding tablet as a solution for ubiquitous home search and streaming, I still struggle with the notion of smart speakers and smart displays. My brain cramps a little on the idea of a simple standalone gadget that serves a single purpose and lives specifically in one location.
Many of the functions I might consider of a smart display can be replicated to a degree on an inexpensive tablet. I would give up a nicer screen and better speakers, but that tablet can move anywhere I need it to go. I wouldn’t need multiple speakers and displays to cover the house, I just move the tablet where I need it.
The joy of the Pixel Tablet arrives with the idea of having a smart display that also turns into a capable portable compute slate. I REALLY like this idea. This is the closest I’ve come yet to enjoying the idea of a smart display.
I just don’t think I’m gonna use that smart display feature much?
I really appreciate that Google is so confident in this idea that they’re including a speaker dock and AC plug in the box. It’s sad how refreshing it is to open a gadget box and just get the accessories we need to properly use that gadget.
It’s a necessity for this concept, as a set of magnets and pogo pins are required for this dual use. Google has to include this in generation one. It’s maybe more frustrating now that there is no USB-C charging accessory included.
Because I still have the same fundamental brain cramp with this new base station as I had with older smart devices.
Where does it live?
This smart screen idea could live well in our kitchen, dining room, on Marie’s desk, or in our bedroom. The idea of ubiquitous computing is fun, but outfitting a whole house is a bit daunting. The base station isn’t something that you would want to unplug and move around the house. It’s built to live where you place it.
Right now, that means the Pixel Tablet is a smart display in our dining room, and it’s a tablet everywhere else around the house. Which, I guess, is fine?
The continuity of use is well supported.
If I stream a movie to the Pixel Tablet, and remove the tablet from the base, it keeps streaming the movie. Though, if I skip or rewind while watching the movie, it’s significantly slower as a “chromecast” than if I was streaming the movie directly on the tablet.
It’s just faster to take the tablet with you than to use the streaming options on a phone to “move” the video from tablet to TV. So, the best way to watch that movie in our home is to play it directly from the Tablet in case you need to move it around the house.
There’s nothing “wrong” with leaving the Tablet in our dining room, but I also know this is a crazy powerful little slate. At least, it SEEMS like overkill just to use it as a screen. I’ve been playing a LOT of Bloons TD6 on the thing.
The vision of this product might be to encourage multiple accessory purchases? Buy one Pixel Tablet, and have two or three base stations around the house?
At $130 a pop, I worry about the “ecosystem” that would create. I like the better audio from the base station, but it seems like an even more singular purchase. Now I have a “thing” in my house that does nothing unless I mount the tablet to it.
I doubt there will be an upgrade path for this combo, or I HOPE the second gen Pixel Tablet will support a more universal Qi2 charging standard.
At present, I’m using this more as a standalone tablet with a little folding stand. That’s fine? It’s just not functionally much different than how I would use any other tablet, but it does have a nice tidy little place where it can charge.
I’m not sure yet how to feel about this one…
None of this is bad. I’m just not a smart display kinda guy.
The great thing is, we’re getting more options for premium, nicely built, higher performance tablets.
Where I used to only recommend Samsung in the past, Android 13 helps improve the software situation for larger screens, and we have more powerful hardware options to play with.
This game is a LOT more fun with OnePlus, Lenovo, and Google offering powerful slates in decently reasonable price tiers. We’ve been starved for options in the middle price brackets.
Low cost gear is functional but disposable. Premium options and laptop replacements are great, but maybe a bit too niche for daily driving computing. It’s like we’re all kinda figuring out “Android Tablets” again from scratch.
There’s a “let’s see what sticks” feeling I get using the Pixel Tablet. Like some Google engineers sat down and said “I dunno, maybe this is a good hook for users?”
I don’t think it works for me, but maybe this is the experimentation Android needs?
***Disclosure***
This article was published two weeks ago for folks on my Patreon!
This coverage was made possible in part thanks to the folks at #TeamPixel and this #GiftFromGoogle. I was sent this unit to take on a test drive and share my earnest thoughts. There has been no communication or influence over my review process from Google or any associated PR working with Google.
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