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pixel c

Google'southward Pixel C tablet is the first Android tablet congenital in-house by Google and the only consumer product to appointment to characteristic Nvidia'southward latest Maxwell-based Tegra SoC, the Tegra X1. With functioning chops similar that, you'd await the device to ship with glowing recommendations, simply if early reviews are any indication, the Pixel C needed more than time to bake.

The Pixel C starts at $499 for the 32GB flavour and $599 for the 64GB variant. The Bluetooth keyboard is available separately for $149, bringing the cost of the superlative-end model to ~$750. That'south not quite Surface 4 Pro territory (Microsoft's tablet starts at $899), but it's not far off, either.

Google's first in-business firm tablet takes a number of design cues from Microsoft's Surface, including its premium structure and attachable keyboard. Everyone loves the hardware pattern — the all-aluminum torso and screen quality are praised by The Verge, Wired, Ars Technica, Engadget, and CNET, though Engadget thought the device was a "tad hefty," at 1.xiii lbs, compared with the iPad Air two at less than a pound. It might not audio similar much, just even ounces matter when y'all concord a device in 1 hand.

Display quality is high, without necessarily being a stand up-out characteristic. Ars Technica notes that the 2560×1800 resolution on a 10.2-inch panel has a 308 PPI, well higher up the roughly 265 PPI y'all observe on a Surface or iPad. Color and sharpness were reported every bit appropriate for a device in this cost range, but Ars had major problems with their device'south touch screen, noting that it oftentimes failed to register both single and multi-touch gestures. Scrolling was unreliable and the device sometimes forgot that its keyboard was attached.

pixel-c-hero

1 affair that stuck out when reading the various reviews is that each site ran into some unique problems in improver to full general issues. Engadget lavished praise on the Pixel-C's operation in both benchmarks and everyday tasks and had no issues with the touchscreen. The Verge, however, said the keyboard's Bluetooth connection was decumbent to dropping out, as did Ars. The Verge also saw odd operation overall, writing:

Something is amiss with performance on the Pixel C. In that location are inexcusable pauses and latency, peculiarly when launching and switching apps. My hunch is that the Android squad still hasn't figured out how to take real advantage of all that ability out of Nvidia's silicon (the Nexus 9 seemed to similarly underutilize its processor). Any the reason, information technology's a miss. A bad ane.

CNET, like Engadget, explicitly praises the Pixel C'due south functioning and appears to be the only publication that had no performance issues or other errata. The fact that 4 unlike publications constitute iii different bug suggests some significant quality command issues with the hardware. Battery life, however, is uniformly excellent.

Software

No one seems specially happy with the Pixel C's software. Google built a 10.2-inch panel that can only display one application at a fourth dimension. Pixel C runs Marshmallow, but as Ars points out, it makes no attempt to field applications that are actually designed for a large-screen tablet. As a result, almost apps waste huge amounts of screen space displaying stretched telephone apps rather than native Pixel C apps.

Image by Ars Technica. Original caption: 4.6 million pixels. The most beautiful 10-inch tablet display ever created. It can display one tweet

Image past Ars Technica. Original caption: 4.6 million pixels. The most beautiful 10-inch tablet brandish ever created. It tin display i tweet

Wired writes that Android "is terrific smartphone software, simply not at all well-suited to tablets." The Verge agrees, noting that the Pixel C's 1:√two attribute ratio is identical to a standard sheet of A4 paper and begs for a divide-screen view pick that'due south entirely missing from the device.

Ars doesn't remember Google's poor treatment of Android tablets is an accident. The company has shown it tin adapt applications to smartphones, cars, and televisions, nevertheless well-nigh Android apps on tablets are poorly optimized. The consummate lack of multi-tasking on a tablet with a top-end cost of $750 just underscores the indicate.

Worth your time and money?

Ars said Android'southward tablet app ecosystem is and then bad, "no Android tablet is worth your time," but notes the specific issues they encountered with the Pixel C brand information technology impossible to recommend no matter what. Wired thinks the Pixel C actually makes the case for Chrome OS as opposed to Android, and hopes Google makes every Android engineer use one, and so they'll end ignoring tablets.

Pixel C, sans keyboard

Pixel C, sans keyboard

The Verge doesn't recommend the device either, mostly due to Android's failure to have reward of the Pixel C'due south capabilities. Engadget was a bit kinder, simply calling the new tablet "tough to recommend." Merely CNET floated the phrase "iPad killer."

Based on the early on coverage, nosotros'd say requite this one a pass. At that place are better Android tablets at cheaper prices without the troubling quality command problems.