The latest trend in tablets is actually an old one. To prove their worth as productivity tools — and to try to unseat the laptop, which reigns in that category — companies like Microsoft, Apple and Google have introduced new high-quality, powerful devices with keyboard accessories intended to help you work, not just play.
They never succeeded in the past for a few reasons. The tablet wasn't powerful enough. The keyboards were an afterthought. The software made them either too simple like a smartphone or too complex like a laptop.
With Google's Pixel C tablet, which went on sale this week, the world of tablets as a laptop replacement is closer than ever — but there are still a couple of nagging issues.
Google has flaunted the Pixel brand as synonymous with "premium," and the Pixel C doesn't disappoint. The 10.2-inch display is very sharp with a very high resolution, packing in 308 pixels per inch. Powering all that is 3 GB of RAM and one of the latest graphics chips from NVIDIA. The clarity makes you forget about the strange aspect ratio (1 : 1.41), though that does set it apart from other products on the market.
The tablet is made of anodized aluminum. That adds a welcome sturdiness, but also weight (517g). On the back, a thin strip of LEDs light up in Google colours when in use. A fun gimmick when it's not in use: tap or knock the tablet and watch it light up in different colours to tell you how much battery life is left.
The stereo speakers provide a decent sound, which is more than most tablet-makers care to think about, despite how widely they're used to consume video.
In short, the Pixel C looks, feels, and sounds good — and will last through a work day.
The biggest issue people will have with this keyboard/tablet combo is the assembly, Ram says. (Tony Avelar/Associated Press)
To make work easier, there's an optional (and expensive) keyboard attachment. Like the tablet, it's also made of aluminum and the sturdiness translates to a good typing experience. It's compact, so a few keys have been reduced and omitted, but while typing this review on the device, I rarely made mistakes.
A few extra keys to control brightness, volume, media playback and home screen navigation would have been a nice touch, but you won't find them here. The keyboard doubles as a screen cover when not in use, though it's about 400 g of added weight.
Awkward assembly
The biggest issue people will have with this keyboard/tablet combo is the assembly. Handing this to my wife, as I do with most of my review units, I watched as she slowly pried, twisted, turned and snapped the Pixel C and its keyboard together. It's not a simple movement, and even practice won't remove the awkwardness.
Thankfully, never once did I feel that either side would break. The magnets hold everything in place and require a good amount of force to dislodge. Again, durability adds to the premium feel.
So if it lasts you through a day and the keyboard is great, what's holding the Pixel C back from being a portable productivity beast? Android itself.
The Pixel C runs the latest version, 6.0 Marshmallow. As a Google product, it will get regular software updates.
However, Android still feels awkward in tablets. Many apps have huge white spaces, not utilizing the full 10.2 inches. They feel like a smartphone apps running in a larger window.
Unlike its competitors, the iPad Pro and Microsoft Surface, the Pixel C has no system-wide split-screen feature that lets you use two apps at once. App switching also feels sluggish, hindering productivity further.
So while the $649 Pixel C (with 32 GB storage; 64 GB is $799) and its $199 keyboard present a beautiful and compelling hardware argument for tablets in the workplace, Android needs to step up.
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