Not going to happen. The Google ecosystem is focused on ignorant third-world consumers that think more cores are somehow better than faster individual cores. It's a problem of Google's making, where they have the mistaken belief that targeting the poorer class will somehow make their products superior against those that target the upper-class, like Apple.
Apple will reign supreme as long as everybody else has no clue how to market to the upper class.
Yeah, Asia's obsession with core count is quite curious.
It's particularly depressing that non-apple arm tablets don't take off because it really kneecaps any incentives for anyone to make high performance SoCs with tablet-tier thermal budgets. They have to adapt phone SoCs for that purpose because the tablet market isn't big enough to justify its own SoCs (unless you're Nvidia and you can't make anything smaller). So it means that stuff like the a9x can just sweep the floor and it's only challenged by x86 stuff because that's the only other source of legitimate high performance tablets.
Spain has almost 50% youth unemployment. As such its not hard to see why their tech preferences favor cheaper hardware originally destined for the 3rd world.
But then again if Spain does not start to turn around its employment situation, it will be the 3rd world before too long.
Exactly. You have to look at purchasing power of a nation. Apple markets to the young and wealthy upper class.
There's a reason Apple only has 5-6% of the market share. But 90% of profits, and 90% market share in the $1000+ computer category is because they refuse to pander to the lower segments of the market.
If you want the best and you can afford it, you buy Apple gear.
Oh, except in 3D graphics. Intel still sucks there on their lower power chips. So I guess if you're buying one to play high-graphics games that would be stupid. But for other tasks Cherry Trail is great, I set one up with a dock for someone that uses it as their tablet and "desktop" PC and general purpose performance, multitasking etc is pretty decent. Even has HEVC hardware decoding support. The NAND is even reasonably fast, has enough RAM and they have the 128GB model plus a USB SSD attached to their dock so storage isn't an issue (has SD slot for easy mobile storage expansion too).
You're paying for something that "just works". You'd be surprised at how attractive that is for a lot of people that are simply incapable of using modern tech.
So you can either stick your fingers in your ears and demand that everyone spend years of their life becoming experts in modern tech, or you can realize that there's some money to be made. Apple is in the business of making money.
@jbelkin. EU are not as shallow and easy to manipulate as their USA counterparts. Also, biggest % of iPhone purchases in USA are done from people over 60y old. If you look around the globe the second biggest country with huge engineering population (India) has no interest in the iPhone. Asians on the other side love magic, that is what APPL is good of selling.
That's mostly related to income. The vast majority of those people would much prefer an Apple device if they could afford it. Most Android devices are incredible cheap devices.
What are you talking about? Apple hasn't been ableto open stores in India due to their laws requiring 30% of their components to be sourced from small to medium enterprises: that's why they've barely made a dent in the Indian phone market. Despite this, Apple's sales in India have been increasing every year. If India relaxes its backwards laws, and Apple is allowed to open their own stores, Apple sales will explode.
Rest of the world? As in North, South America and a dozen European countries? Apple's BLOWN their OWN records out of the water with iOS device sales. iPads are down ...unfortunately for Apple, they're built too well! Seriously, as I've owned each iPad ...we use them with our business and both original and iPad 2s are still BOTH working & battery life on the first iPad continues beating a dozen hours watching movies. Eight browsing or a good 25-30 listening to music, screen off! My iPad '2' purchased on launch day and the kids use it all the time. No issues ...they're replied amid don't die. Apple is continuing support for older devices. Kicking their own selves in the sack! Or ...maybe not. While geeks like me justify with my job, personal business and personal 'wants' the purchase of each new iPad that drops, and because of each gen's phenomenal updates. iPad 3 aside, which I owned until 4 dropped - iPad 3 left on Craigslist the following day with its updated performance so obvious. The 'new' iPad 3, IMHO, is the only anomaly to the updates and performance increases, display/resolution updates, shaving weight, maintaining battery life and dramatically boosting its 'guts', sensors, display accuracy and smaller but significant user bonuses like the A/G display stack and their lamination & out of factory calibration ....make each iPad, in my line of work, play & education priceless! Original to iPad 2, the difference was/is obvious. 2-->3, 'Retina' on the iPad, a complete game changer. Oops, same engine as the iPad 2, 4 times the resolution, drop the 4 with its Apple designed SoC monster A8X --- exponentially bettering the iPad w/Retina experience! While somewhat less Ferrari, more Subaru ...Air 1 is today a fantastic tablet (I've both Air 1 & 2). It's slower than its younger sibling but its sporting the first 64bit processor in a tablet and mine continues to get a lot usage. My Air 2, there's nothing on the market comparable. Not w/the App Store and its million optimized, all inclusive app/software accompanying options to aggregate and integrate with the home Mac, studio Macs or your phone/tab with Handoff. The continuity Apple's built into iOS and OS X as well as supporting older devices with both desk OS's, it's no wonder folks aren't replacing them as quickly as a phone! They're still selling a quarter more than the rest of the field does in a year! When you take the <$149 tablet choices off the table, iPad in its slump is outselling the entire industry 2-1 quarter vs. year! It's a top 100 in the Forbes 500 business itself! That's crazy IMHO. But the addition of iPad Pro changes things. Doubling the RAM on the iPhone 6s & iPad Air 2 was obvious in use, day to day ...it was just a LOT quicker at everything than my Air 1. They've now doubled to 4GB in iPP and as an owner for 3 months, I've never been happier with an iPad. The iPad A2 still ROCKS! I use it daily and it's as robust and reliable as any predecessor, just a helluva lot faster and finally now, finally being targeted by developers to take advantage of the hardware...as older products are phased out
Which left me curious about Josh's final comment/words 'Overall, I’m not even sure this measures up to the iPad Air 2 which is well over a year old by this point. I cannot in good conscience recommend anyone buy this tablet until the touch screen issues and generally poor performance has been resolved, and even then that recommendation would be to a limited group of people solely interested in a touch-only Android tablet.A I read the review a second time all the way through. I went back and read the Air 2 review as well. While a couple of benchmarks seem to have parity or even exceed A2's --- the display performance, also beating A2, it's close in your measurements but EVERY other word strongly suggests not just an inferior experience in comparison (Pixel v A2), but performance destroyed by my iPad 4! Janky, unable to maintain connection, freezes and crashes and.... I can go on, it's not necessary though. Just seems to very much understate iPad A2's performance and without reading the rest, complete overstatement of the 'experience' of PixC as a couple of benches close, neck & neck, means absolutely nothing when it comes down to the user's overall experience. My iPad 2 seems to be a better comparison! Yikes
Because android only sells when it's subsidized or discounted heavily. That is why android tablets sell fine at $99 but not beyond that. The facts are that android is only fit for low end products - look at Nest now, stops working periodically - an annoyance for a phone or a tablet but deadly when in cold climates when you need the temperature maintained ... but what does Google care* - as long as the tracking info arrives back, the rest - who cares? What, you want your "free" money back?
* one reason why google is changing its name tio alphabet, non assiciation with google branding.
Android only fit for low end products? I use iOS and Android products on a daily basis and my Android phone is far more stable than my iPhone, many of my Android apps work better too. And don't get me start on iPhone reliability. The number of hours I have wasted in my life trying to get an iPhone repaired because the touchscreen or fingerprint reader has broken again. We use iPhone as our work phone and the reliability is awful compared to our laptops and PCs.
I've got right at 480 iOS devices registered in Air-Watch so my anecdote > your anecdote, and we don't have any of the problems you're describing. The only time an iPhone breaks is when someone drops it or the rash of iPhone 5 we had years ago with the battery issue (for which Apple had a replacement program).
jbelkin I read your stupidity and cant hold back . Tablets dont sell much because the "niche" they had is gone. Phablets replaced it. Apple six plus is a direct result of the popularity of Samsungs NOTE 4 and f,,,, Android. The Google pixel isnt sold to the poor Rube it cost more then some Iphones.Obviously you are some FANBOY. I'll put my LG V20 up against your Iphone any day. People like Android because of the creativity it allows. NFC and Waterproofing a direct result of Androids popularity. Claiming Android is only for the poor is so 5 years ago. Maybe instead of buying another Apple product you should buy a clue.!
While I agree the Asian desire for CORESSSSSSS is a bit off, I don't think it really has anything to do with it. Ultimately most people don't care what processor is in the tablet. They care is it slow/crappy? If not, its ok. The software ecosystem, on the other hand, is the big deal. Android is well known for not having many good tablet focused apps. That is a much bigger issue than the cpu and stuff. I mean obviously this thing has great build quality, that's not holding it back.
The lack of good Android tablet software is a problem, but the fact that the Android tablet and phone market is dominated by SoCs with too many cores and too little single-thread performance is a big problem.
I don't think its fair to place blame solely at the feet of asian customers. Plenty of spec-obsessed western customers have taken the bait too.
The poor single core performance means that javascript web apps are slow, because Javascript engines are single threaded.
it does matter. high spec high cost android tablets do not sell - just like $1,500 chromebooks or WIN PC's. The max price for an android tablet is $99 and $299 for a chromebook.
Wow, "The Google ecosystem is focused on ignorant third-world consumers that think more cores are somehow better than faster individual cores." Holding a iPad makes you feel so good isn't it?
That`s the problem man, the Apple Market is so heavily condensed... Not with rational people or a well rounded product line but with the smug bastardized self righteous fumes that all Apple owners exude from their well bleached orifices. Stigmas are there for a reason and yes I can be petty and still make a good argument.
If you can show me one magnifying/proper visual difference between iOS 7-9 then I will buy myself a iPhone 6s Plus even though I still think it`s overrated beyond the point of no return.
Actually, the third-world consumers that you say is not ignorant now. I come from China, in this market, opinion leader is indispensable, maybe consumers could not know how to choose SoC, but opinion leader is clearly know faster single core performance is key factor when we choose a smartphone or tablet, opinion leader usually care the single performance result from GeekBench or anything else. So if some company want to make a illusion that more cores are somehow better than faster individual cores, I believe it doesn't work in this information age.
I think it's just that ignorant third world customers are so stupid that they haven't yet grasped the joy of paying for apples huge profit margins, stock buybacks, shareholder dividends, etc so they can have the "look at me" product that makes them "feel" superior. Apple has done a truly magnificent job getting people to part with their money and feel good about getting gouged. Ever notice that nearly every protective case for Apple products has a cutaway to show the Apple logo. I think if you are honest with yourself, you know that's because if people can't see the logo, it might as well be a paperweight. So, you can pay through the nose for image, or you can pay a reasonable price for function. Maybe the 80% plus of the world running Android are more than ignorant peasants after all.
LMAO. Having an iPad makes you so SUPERIOR. What kind of a loser would think like that? Upper Class?? The marketing of Apple makes those idiots like you to think it's cool to have an iDevice and you're poor if you choose other platforms and it seems to have worked for some iTards. I used to have a a few iPhones and iPads, I still have a Macbook. I guess I'm the Bill Gates now.
I concluded long ago that anything over 7" on Android will be frustrating thanks to the lack of App support. It's a pretty good phone OS, but it has never properly taken on in the tablet space.
I don't honestly know if I agree. I mean i've heard this myth a lot sure. And yes some apps suck for a tablet in android. On the other hand I only really watch movies, mess around with photos and play games on a tablet.
On a rare occasion I also check on work emails and what not.
I'm sorry but I haven't had a problem doing any of those.
Even my Nexus 5X is having numerous problems. It gets slow when I push it by taking three pictures in a minute, or when all of sudden I go from email app to google map. It is in a sad state.
Ah, got to love how well Nvidia designs it's SoCs. You cannot use the small cluster, although I think their devboars might, and likely they cause the other problems in measurement.
Ask Intel if they can tear into the Pixel C and try to isolate power numbers like they did long ago?
This can't compete with the iPad pro or surface. There are no tablet apps for android, simple as that. Sorry, google. But android is not really meant for tablets. Its more meant for phones.
Yeah, I'll talk down on the iPad Pro in comparison to the Surface Pro by calling it a big phone, but that's a rhetorical thing to point out how many places the iOS ecosystem doesn't have options for the capability x86 Windows has. This is literally a big phone and doesn't even offer anything more. It doesn't have multitasking. It doesn't have apps that use its bigger screen. There's no reason to be carrying the size and weight of a 9" device because you don't receive the capability of a 9" device.
I have both iPad Pro and SP4. I like SP4 but there are far more glitches and annoyances with it that I don't get on iPad Pro. Driver crashes, horrible dynamic display power switching BS that you must install Intel drivers separately to disable which MS then decided to switch back to Intel drivers to re-enable without asking me first, W10 app often resets without of nowhere, and so on.
iPad Pro? None of that, I did not experience any issues with it and it has far more useful tablet apps for me.
However, MS is definitely much better at multi-tasking but iOS 9 has drastically improved the multi-tasking as well. I can't wait to see what Apple does with iOS 10 and so on and maybe Redstone updates as well.
If nothing drastically is improved with W10 on Surface, I'm sticking with iPad Pro from now on as my primary device.
Yeah, the SP4 has been flaky early, although I've been lucky and it's just a ten second annoyance when starting up for the morning and then it's amazing for the rest of the day. I'm not a huge tablet app user, I use the built in apps but don't need much more for pure tablet use, it's really halfway between tablet and laptop for me. I think the two are more likely to be differentiated by user need than anything else.
No tablet apps for Android? I have two Android tabs and there are apps that for everything I need it for? And while my iPad has plenty of Apps, I find the home screen design which is just a scaled up phone quite annoying, with giant icons and wide open spaces.
So, how often are you looking at your home screen? A few folks say this all the time but the amount of time I care about the home screen is less than 1%. I always find my apps via app switcher since I never need to shut any down and via Spotliight search as needed.
I actually use the home screen a good bit on my phone but that's because I have a windows phone and it's actually useful. On tablets I'm more likely to use a broader and more varied set of apps and use the task switcher and apps list.
I use the home screen on my phone for just about everything really. I don't own a tablet but I can only imagine I'd do the same thing on it. I've got everything laid out on my home screen with folder(s) for grouping when necessary. Only time I go into the app drawer is to go to the gallery and to settings, and that's because I'm lazy and don't use them a whole lot. Task Switcher/Manager is used if I know the app I'm looking for was only used a couple apps ago. I'm not going to go scrolling through all my apps when it's easier to just go to the home screen and click the icon.
Given that it's called the "Home Screen" I think you're not using your device to its potential if you are on your home screen so infrequently. To each his own though. :)
lol i forgot that this thing exists. Google might as well give up instead of letting second graders do product design and Apple users set prices. Nobody has a decent tablet and they go on misguided explorations.
Android's problems and the overall lack of app quality are much more acceptable on a device that doesn't compete in higher price brackets. A $50 - 100 USD tablet are where glitches and errors like that belong rather than on something in the Pixel's price range. At that price, keeping productivity in mind as a primary usage scenario, it's probably a better idea to simply purchase a laptop.
It's my personal opinion that Google's biggest mistake is fielding two distinctly different operating systems and then acting indecisively about which one to use on which product from the start. While Android is probably less elegant than Chrome, I think Google would help its own cause by abandoning Chrome and throwing that effort into making Android an OS that could operate effectively on phones, tablets, and small notebooks.
so basically converge like Microsoft did, only from an opposite place.
We still have to see if that strategy works. Google has the advantage that everything started in their walled garden and so there's not the compatibility issues that microsoft has, they have a clean slate. But on the other hand, they'd have to make all the mouse and keyboard apps from scratch.
I don't think convergence is a good answer to the problem. In my opinion, there's very little of value that Chrome OS offers that's worth the effort of making the big muscle movements necessary to bring them over to Android. Having used x86 builds of Android on laptops previously, I think the shortcomings of the platform on notebook form factors become obvious when the user is compelled to make unusual gestures with a touchpad including things like clicking and dragging to scroll or being forced to deal with apps that rotate the screen without regard for the underlying platform. The former is something that needs a little work from Google in the gesture support department while addressing the latter is up to individual app developers to resolve. Having used several bluetooth keyboards paired to Android phones (along with the aforementioned x86 Android builds) in an effort to minimize the size and intrusiveness of computing tasks while improving flexibility through mobility, I argue that keyboard and mouse support is already pretty close to good enough based on my experiences and that very little work is required to get Android whipped into shape for laptop usage.
In fact, all I'm really advocating is that Google dump Chrome OS because it seems like its mere existence is holding back development of Android. Simply tossing the entire thing into the trash and moving on is probably the best way to address the dysfunctions within the company over what OS to use on which device.
ChromeOS would help a lot on the multitasking and functionality front. Think of it as a high end chromebook that has the ability to be used as a tablet.
I just finished returning my Pixel C. I didn't have issues in connecting the device and keyboard nor did I have problems with Internet connectivity. But the major show stopper for me was the touch screen latency. It was insane how many times I had to touch the device to get it to respond. I even tried a stylus on the screen in a drawing program and the pixel was unable to track a straight line without breaks along the way where the screen did not register the input.
Beyond that there was a supreme amount of waiting time for an app to respond after tapping on it on the home screen. I did a side by side with my Nexus 6P and the nexus (not without its own flaws) performed noticeably faster which is shocking considering the benchmark scores on the pixel C processor.
There's something fatally flawed in the device which is unfortunate because I really wanted to like it, it's a nice piece of hardware.
Another interesting characteristic of the A-series, and by extension, Pixel C' screen is the fact that, once divided in half, the two remaining parts keep the same proportion: 1:√2. Probably a design choice for a multitasking feature that was scrapped from Chrome OS and now will see the light of the day in Android.
Thank you for the NAND performance charts - I have been bitten twice by cheap and nasty NAND killing my tablet's performance after a year or two. I now won't touch one unless I know it's NAND is decent - and pixel C really is pretty borderline considering how high end it's meant to be.
Agree google has software problems, although I would say it goes beyond missing features. It's clearly far to hard to keep something working as you upgrade. Almost every device I have owned has worked best on whatever version of android it came with. Every upgrade generally introduces problems. I get the feeling they developed the pixel c with android 5 and I bet it worked fine there, then they did an upgrade too 6 and now have all manor of niggles to sort out. Hence I am actually more drawn to devices that don't have major android version upgrades. I'll take an out of date but working version of android over the latest and greatest but slightly broken every time.
Judging by the overall unfinishedness of the Pixel C, I'd guess migrating from the small cores to the big ones and vice versa causes some kind of a performance issue Google couldn't solve, as the Tegra X1 doesn't have heterogenous multi-processing.. So there'd be even more lag and performance issues than there is now. But perhaps it doesn't really even matter, since the big cores go as low as 51 MHz. It probably wouldn't save much power (if at all) if the little cores were used when there's a low workload. Battery performance seems to be really good even without the little cores.
As for the cluster migration, just keep in mind that the SHIELD TV doesn't do it either. Granted, that is plugged into the wall so power isn't a big deal, but it's important to note that we haven't see a single implementation where the A53s are used so I wouldn't be quick to blame it on the Pixel C specifically.
For the SHIELD does it not do switching, or does it turn the A53s off completely? As something plugged into a wall and with overkill cooling for an ARM SoC, it may as well use all 8 all the time, no?
Oh man, I've been looking for a new (Android) tablet for a while now to replace my HP Touchpad from 2012 (running Marshmallow, btw). I haven't found a single device that has a decent, modern SOC, resolution of 1920x1080 or higher and a decent price tag.
Google really needs to step its game up if it wants to stay relevant in the tablet market. Android needs better tablet features and apps that take advantage of the screen real estate. Device manufacturers clearly aren't very interested in making decent Android tablets at the moment, and app developers aren't very interested in making their apps tablet-friendly.
I was in much the same boat as I really don't see the point in smaller tablets... I have a phone with a 5" screen, if I'm reaching for a different device it had better offer some screen real estate. I ended up stumbling across the LG G PAD II 10.1 (V940N) and was shocked that nobody seemed to be talking about it at all, including LG who makes it.
It's definitely not the fastest available, but it cost $300 (I got one as soon as I found a retailer with it) for a 1920x1200 display, Snapdragon 800 (MSM8974), 2GB RAM and 16GB storage. The build quality is rather sturdy for something that inexpensive, battery life is solid and I really haven't had any issues with it. LG's software isn't very intrusive, and they have a very good multitasking setup (though quite limited in what it works with) that has worked very well the few times I've used it.
This type of device is exactly what I wish was talked about more, because I feel like that's the sweet spot which can be available with google via android. Things like this definitely aren't on the radar for tech news, and obviously not even the companies who make them unfortunately.
I'm in the same boat, I'm still on a nexus 7 2013 and want a worthy replacement. It seems like a good SoC with a great screen in wide-screen is hard to come by 😑
The Shield tablet is already far superior to the Nexus 7 2013 in almost every respect, with 2-4x with performance in some cases, runs Android 6 and has neat Nvidia extras like gforce now, mini hdmi out, and a very usable sdcard. Check out how it performs in these charts. And its $199.
The rumored upcoming x1 version (March?) should be even more capable, but that is still just a rumor.
And how hard is it to start selling the Pixel C in Sweden and the other Nordic countries!? I don't want the keyboard, just a Google tablet. I can't order Nexus 9 anymore, it's been discontinued... so Google has no tablet on offer!
When you go to the play store, click on "view all tablets" and you should find the nexus 9 there.
I own one, and it is sublime: an excellent display, fast, sturdy, and very comfortable to hold. I much prefer the soft-touch back to my all-metal tablet (a tf701t). You can get one there or from many retailers for less than an iPad mini.
If you wish to play games though, the best tablet IMO is still the shield tablet.
I don't understand why android manufacturers don't focus more on storage. One of the biggest revolutions for me in the computer space was going from a HDD to an SSD, and yet android continues to use some of the lowest quality flash they can find. Responsiveness won't improve by going from 4 to 8 cores and using the same terrible flash...
This could actually be a really compelling option for use in robotics, at least as a development platform. The Nvidia X1 is a phenomenal cpu/gpu for handling tasks like computer vision, and there are ubuntu builds I believe running on the X1. At $499 that's honestly great value. The Jetson tx1 dev kit is currently $600 on newegg, and if you don't need the extra clock speed and A53 cores then this could be awesome.
The keys are the same size, with the same distance between them and can depress the same amount as those on the Pixel C, but the keys on the edge are trimmed down to keep it small enough to fit. So the letters would be exactly the same.
It's a little funny that the one area it seems to do ok in is battery life, when it doesn't seem to use the A53 cores, rather just power scaling the big cores...
Now where does that leave big.LITTLE in terms of tablets at least...
Probably the smartest move Google could make at this point is shipping a few devices to the Jide people to get RemixOS ported to it pronto and offer that rather than a naked Android.
The tablet has issues. You kind of get what you pay for. I mean, it's half the price of an IPad Pro. And less than half that of a Surface. The biggest drawback however is the lack of an advanced graphics API like Metal or DX12. Without that, they are dead in the water. I heard Google is pushing hard to get Vulkan released. Both drivers and specification should be out soon.
Hmm, there seems to be an awful lot of points about a Google tablet or android tablet not being much more than a big phone. I have to disagree. I use the N9 for business and pleasure. I often type out reports on the N9 at airports, watch movies, read mags, books and play occasional games. I've had both android and apple phones both have good and bad points, currently on apple phone, but at work there are 2 iPad tablets I could use if I wanted, but they are simply too restricted to my needs. For me, the N5 + Google's more open approach is far more efficient. Up to now, I've had no problem with lack of multi task... to fill in my diary and read an email is simply to switch...its no biggie. If I want more I wait until I'm in front of a PC at work or home. I also like the way everything Google works together well. Regarding this device, I'm on the cusp of upgrading my N9, but quite why I can't see yet. Until I actually pick it up and try it, I'm not ordering it, as the last upgrade was from the N7(2013), to N9, and whilst bigger, it's not really faster. On paper, the pixel C is not much faster than the N9!
The jury is still out...but stop saying that android tablets are just big phones, I have the choice and I don't agree at all.
Just looking at the benchmarks, your not judging this device fairly. The nexus 9 had a processor that was basically designed for benchmarking and nothing else. It just falls on its face when the code becomes branchy. Iow, benchmarks were an unusually poor indicator of typical performance. That aside, the pixel is performs pretty much exactly where you'd expect it to perform given its CPU: between the nexus 5x and the 6p FOR MOST TESTS. Iow, no surprises. I'd also like to point out that the weight is only an issue if you have some physical issues, or are just used to very light tablets. I received the pixel c for Xmas and have had no issues transitioning to it from the 2013 nexus 7. My gf even noted when she first picked it up that "this isn't very heavy" (she'd read the reviews which complained about its weight). I certainly have issues with it (it often doesn't respond to touches, sometimes the interface becomes so slow I have to force a restart) but it's still an awfully good TABLET for the price.
I gave up on waiting for a return to sanely priced android tablets and went with a Dell Venue 11 Pro 7140. Like most non-apple products they don't hold their value particularly well, so I was able to score a Core 5M71 256GB SSD version with the keyboard for under $600. While heavier than initially anticipated, I get excellent battery life (13+ hours real world display use with the keyboard battery), and an extremely snappy tablet that even handles light Adobe Lightroom usage. That and it works on a lap, unlike a Surface, and is serviceable (good luck replacing the battery/ssd in your surface). Remix OS works on it as well if I need to get my android fix, and will likely get better with more development. I guess I don't see the point of using a more limited OS on a $500+ device... If you're going for productivity and charging a premium, give me a full experience. If it's a limited experience, it better come with a "limited" price.
Always sad to see the Nexus 7 (2013) omitted from display lists, since even though it is now firmly outdated, it had a great screen that would still be at the top of some of these tests -- notably max brightness. It's the perfect beach tablet. Cheap, durable, and BRIGHT.
I have a 32GB Pixel C and take it from a regular user as opposed to a professional reviewer/critic - it's a very good tablet. I use it as a true tablet sans keyboard which mitigates much of the complaining. It features a beautiful and very responsive display (utilizing Android 6.0.1). It was my perfect choice because (1) the Nexus 10 is no longer available, (2) it's far less expensive than the 10-in Samsung tablets (which are stuck on KitKat), and (3) it's basically a Nexus with first-in-line upgrades. Having said that, there is a highly reported problem of Wifi performance degradation - I experience a 60% hit but still get 26Mbps to it, so... - but they'll issue a fix for that soon enough. I highly recommend it if you count yourself as a "regular" user.
Granted, Samsung is not great with updates. That out of the way, even last year's Tab S is been on Lollipop for months. And how is this less expensive than say, the Tab S2?
Google just doesn't care about making Android a good experience on larger tablets. Until,they do we will get half baked products like this and the iPad will continue to be the standard.
One thing that wasn't mentioned in the review is that the Pixel C supports faster charging (12V @ 2A, 24W) via USB PD using a charger such as the Pixel laptop charger. I have one and indeed the tablet charges very fast with it. I believe one of the Google engineers said it charges 0 to 100 in about 2.5 hours, compared to just over 4 hours in this review with the standard 15W charger. Would be interesting to see a charging time test with a USB PD charger.
Adding a keyboard to an ARM device is just adding insult to injury. ARM devices are never going to be useful beyond what they were intended to be in the first instance, which is content consuming devices. Their advantage, which is size and power consumption, is also their limitation. If any company tries to sell an ARM device with a keyboard, one can be pretty sure that that company is pretty much at the end of the road. Disabling four cores of the processor on the top device from the company, while pushing a keyboard on buyers, just says it all. It says that the buyer was not going to do anything useful with it anyway, that is with this device from this particular company anyway.
A couple of years ago I attached a keyboard case to a Nexus 10 and tried to use it like a laptop. It failed. Even though the Nexus 10 supported keyboard navigation and mouse input I found it difficult to anything really productive, and having a keyboard cover on it limited its functionality as a tablet. The Pixel C seems to be a modern-day rehash of my failed experiment with the Nexus 10 and I can very well imagine how using it would be (that is, very bad).
The thing is, I had thought Android tablets would gradually evolve and grow, incorporating desktop features like expanded storage and windows apps. The latter was something that I particularly desired ever since using Samsung tablets that had pop-up apps. I thought this was the future and hoped Google would adopt and expand it to incorporate all apps. Frankly, I never thought tablets should have tablet versions of apps. In my opinion, running one app at a time was largely due to the limited screen space available on a phone, which obviously didn't apply to tablets. I thought the natural thing to do with a tablet was to run those phone apps in separate windows, not have bigger versions of those apps. I dreamed of the day when I would be able to run multiple Android apps at once like I did on my laptop.
I waited in vain for Google to incorporate windows apps, and then last year I got fed up and bought a Surface Pro 4 instead. It was the best decision I had ever made. Not only can the Surface Pro 4 replace my laptop (haven't touched it since) it can also replace my tablet since I can run Bluestacks (Android emulator) on it. Best of all, I can finally run Android apps in a window like I've always wanted to do. Add in the ability to run desktop applications as well as desktop games through Steam and it easily ranks as the best mobile device I've ever bought. I have given up on Microsoft for a while but it now seems to be the future (Android had the potential to be the future but Google squandered the opportunity, and now they are relegated to creating lame products like the Pixel C).
I agree, although I prefer Ubuntu as my general purpose OS since it is more appropriate for my needs.
Have you seen Jive's Remix OS? It's pretty much what you describe, and it's run by ex googlers. I expect Google to buy them out because the evolution is so obvious and correct. It's my guess that internal political BS is what has happened here. If they simply added windowed ART apps to chrome OS - or windowed apps and a full chrome browser build to android, they'd achieve pretty much what you described.
IMO, they are missing a wonderful opportunity to unseat MS as the primary desktop OS by not resolving this obvious elephant in the room.
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Despite my love for big tablets I can't bring myself to like this device. Making a "productivity" tablet is just too early for android. I have a really old nexus 10 and it's nand perfomance as well as overall stability(touch,wi-fi and apps) is several times better than this halfassed powerhouse. The only thing I like about Pixel C is battery perfomance(both battery life and charge time) because nexus 10's charge time equals it's web browsing time(roughly 7 hours). I can't think of a targeted group this tablet is aimed for because for the same price you can buy a really sophisticated surface 3
BTW, if you want multiwindow mode you need to edit the buildprop and change it from user to userdebug (and enable window management through the Developer Settings in Settings). With that, you get more than just side by side windows, but a simple tiling wm).
My pixel c will only trickle charge. I do not understand why. I have tried everything. Charger is manufacturer charger. My pixel takes days to charge to 100%. Anyone with a fix please email me at [email protected]. Thanks =)
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ImSpartacus - Monday, January 25, 2016 - link
How disappointing. I hope the iPad can some day see some actual competition from something other than an x86 tablet.vFunct - Monday, January 25, 2016 - link
Not going to happen. The Google ecosystem is focused on ignorant third-world consumers that think more cores are somehow better than faster individual cores. It's a problem of Google's making, where they have the mistaken belief that targeting the poorer class will somehow make their products superior against those that target the upper-class, like Apple.Apple will reign supreme as long as everybody else has no clue how to market to the upper class.
ImSpartacus - Monday, January 25, 2016 - link
Yeah, Asia's obsession with core count is quite curious.It's particularly depressing that non-apple arm tablets don't take off because it really kneecaps any incentives for anyone to make high performance SoCs with tablet-tier thermal budgets. They have to adapt phone SoCs for that purpose because the tablet market isn't big enough to justify its own SoCs (unless you're Nvidia and you can't make anything smaller). So it means that stuff like the a9x can just sweep the floor and it's only challenged by x86 stuff because that's the only other source of legitimate high performance tablets.
Murloc - Monday, January 25, 2016 - link
In Spain apple has a 9% marketshare.Maybe they're ignorant third-worlders, or maybe it isn't as simple as you say.
Sttm - Monday, January 25, 2016 - link
Spain has almost 50% youth unemployment. As such its not hard to see why their tech preferences favor cheaper hardware originally destined for the 3rd world.But then again if Spain does not start to turn around its employment situation, it will be the 3rd world before too long.
WinterCharm - Tuesday, January 26, 2016 - link
Exactly. You have to look at purchasing power of a nation. Apple markets to the young and wealthy upper class.There's a reason Apple only has 5-6% of the market share. But 90% of profits, and 90% market share in the $1000+ computer category is because they refuse to pander to the lower segments of the market.
If you want the best and you can afford it, you buy Apple gear.
Alexvrb - Wednesday, January 27, 2016 - link
If you want the best, can afford it, and are tech savvy, you get a Surface Pro or similar top-tier device.In the case of the Pixel C, even a "lowly" non-Pro Surface 3 is a better value. Mostly due to the superior Cherry Trail SoC.
Alexvrb - Wednesday, January 27, 2016 - link
Oh, except in 3D graphics. Intel still sucks there on their lower power chips. So I guess if you're buying one to play high-graphics games that would be stupid. But for other tasks Cherry Trail is great, I set one up with a dock for someone that uses it as their tablet and "desktop" PC and general purpose performance, multitasking etc is pretty decent. Even has HEVC hardware decoding support. The NAND is even reasonably fast, has enough RAM and they have the 128GB model plus a USB SSD attached to their dock so storage isn't an issue (has SD slot for easy mobile storage expansion too).ImSpartacus - Wednesday, January 27, 2016 - link
I think he's speaking more broadly about laptops and the whole nine yards.Lolimaster - Tuesday, January 26, 2016 - link
Problem is youre not paying for the best, just bragging rights while getting scammed and locked in their ecosystem, the perfect fool.ImSpartacus - Wednesday, January 27, 2016 - link
You're paying for something that "just works". You'd be surprised at how attractive that is for a lot of people that are simply incapable of using modern tech.So you can either stick your fingers in your ears and demand that everyone spend years of their life becoming experts in modern tech, or you can realize that there's some money to be made. Apple is in the business of making money.
Alexey291 - Saturday, January 30, 2016 - link
No offence to your and your expertness. But do you honestly think that it takes "a few years" to become an expert of playing with touchscreen devices?Oh boy...
jbelkin - Monday, January 25, 2016 - link
Well, not ignorant, just an economy that only supports 9% of buyers being able to afford the stnadard bearer.Vlad_Da_Great - Tuesday, January 26, 2016 - link
@jbelkin. EU are not as shallow and easy to manipulate as their USA counterparts. Also, biggest % of iPhone purchases in USA are done from people over 60y old. If you look around the globe the second biggest country with huge engineering population (India) has no interest in the iPhone.Asians on the other side love magic, that is what APPL is good of selling.
vanilla_gorilla - Tuesday, January 26, 2016 - link
That's mostly related to income. The vast majority of those people would much prefer an Apple device if they could afford it. Most Android devices are incredible cheap devices.the_comment_guy - Tuesday, January 26, 2016 - link
What are you talking about? Apple hasn't been ableto open stores in India due to their laws requiring 30% of their components to be sourced from small to medium enterprises: that's why they've barely made a dent in the Indian phone market. Despite this, Apple's sales in India have been increasing every year. If India relaxes its backwards laws, and Apple is allowed to open their own stores, Apple sales will explode.Alexey291 - Saturday, January 30, 2016 - link
Sure the sales have grown in india. Shame about the sales in the rest of the world.Essentially last quarter's sales have been propped up by the Chinese and Indian sales growth. The rest of the world however...
akdj - Thursday, February 4, 2016 - link
Rest of the world? As in North, South America and a dozen European countries? Apple's BLOWN their OWN records out of the water with iOS device sales. iPads are down ...unfortunately for Apple, they're built too well! Seriously, as I've owned each iPad ...we use them with our business and both original and iPad 2s are still BOTH working & battery life on the first iPad continues beating a dozen hours watching movies. Eight browsing or a good 25-30 listening to music, screen off!My iPad '2' purchased on launch day and the kids use it all the time. No issues ...they're replied amid don't die. Apple is continuing support for older devices. Kicking their own selves in the sack! Or ...maybe not.
While geeks like me justify with my job, personal business and personal 'wants' the purchase of each new iPad that drops, and because of each gen's phenomenal updates. iPad 3 aside, which I owned until 4 dropped - iPad 3 left on Craigslist the following day with its updated performance so obvious. The 'new' iPad 3, IMHO, is the only anomaly to the updates and performance increases, display/resolution updates, shaving weight, maintaining battery life and dramatically boosting its 'guts', sensors, display accuracy and smaller but significant user bonuses like the A/G display stack and their lamination & out of factory calibration ....make each iPad, in my line of work, play & education priceless! Original to iPad 2, the difference was/is obvious. 2-->3, 'Retina' on the iPad, a complete game changer. Oops, same engine as the iPad 2, 4 times the resolution, drop the 4 with its Apple designed SoC monster A8X --- exponentially bettering the iPad w/Retina experience!
While somewhat less Ferrari, more Subaru ...Air 1 is today a fantastic tablet (I've both Air 1 & 2). It's slower than its younger sibling but its sporting the first 64bit processor in a tablet and mine continues to get a lot usage. My Air 2, there's nothing on the market comparable. Not w/the App Store and its million optimized, all inclusive app/software accompanying options to aggregate and integrate with the home Mac, studio Macs or your phone/tab with Handoff. The continuity Apple's built into iOS and OS X as well as supporting older devices with both desk OS's, it's no wonder folks aren't replacing them as quickly as a phone! They're still selling a quarter more than the rest of the field does in a year! When you take the <$149 tablet choices off the table, iPad in its slump is outselling the entire industry 2-1 quarter vs. year! It's a top 100 in the Forbes 500 business itself! That's crazy IMHO. But the addition of iPad Pro changes things. Doubling the RAM on the iPhone 6s & iPad Air 2 was obvious in use, day to day ...it was just a LOT quicker at everything than my Air 1. They've now doubled to 4GB in iPP and as an owner for 3 months, I've never been happier with an iPad. The iPad A2 still ROCKS! I use it daily and it's as robust and reliable as any predecessor, just a helluva lot faster and finally now, finally being targeted by developers to take advantage of the hardware...as older products are phased out
Which left me curious about Josh's final comment/words
'Overall, I’m not even sure this measures up to the iPad Air 2 which is well over a year old by this point. I cannot in good conscience recommend anyone buy this tablet until the touch screen issues and generally poor performance has been resolved, and even then that recommendation would be to a limited group of people solely interested in a touch-only Android tablet.A
I read the review a second time all the way through. I went back and read the Air 2 review as well. While a couple of benchmarks seem to have parity or even exceed A2's --- the display performance, also beating A2, it's close in your measurements but EVERY other word strongly suggests not just an inferior experience in comparison (Pixel v A2), but performance destroyed by my iPad 4! Janky, unable to maintain connection, freezes and crashes and.... I can go on, it's not necessary though. Just seems to very much understate iPad A2's performance and without reading the rest, complete overstatement of the 'experience' of PixC as a couple of benches close, neck & neck, means absolutely nothing when it comes down to the user's overall experience. My iPad 2 seems to be a better comparison!
Yikes
lilmoe - Monday, January 25, 2016 - link
Nice ignorant comment bro. Way to go.id4andrei - Monday, January 25, 2016 - link
Hardware has nothing to do with Android's problem. Dev support for tablet operation in Android is lacking. Simple.kurkosdr - Monday, January 25, 2016 - link
Split-screen is a problem devs aren't at fault, but Google.jbelkin - Monday, January 25, 2016 - link
Because android only sells when it's subsidized or discounted heavily. That is why android tablets sell fine at $99 but not beyond that. The facts are that android is only fit for low end products - look at Nest now, stops working periodically - an annoyance for a phone or a tablet but deadly when in cold climates when you need the temperature maintained ... but what does Google care* - as long as the tracking info arrives back, the rest - who cares? What, you want your "free" money back?* one reason why google is changing its name tio alphabet, non assiciation with google branding.
Speedfriend - Tuesday, January 26, 2016 - link
Android only fit for low end products? I use iOS and Android products on a daily basis and my Android phone is far more stable than my iPhone, many of my Android apps work better too. And don't get me start on iPhone reliability. The number of hours I have wasted in my life trying to get an iPhone repaired because the touchscreen or fingerprint reader has broken again. We use iPhone as our work phone and the reliability is awful compared to our laptops and PCs.vanilla_gorilla - Tuesday, January 26, 2016 - link
I've got right at 480 iOS devices registered in Air-Watch so my anecdote > your anecdote, and we don't have any of the problems you're describing. The only time an iPhone breaks is when someone drops it or the rash of iPhone 5 we had years ago with the battery issue (for which Apple had a replacement program).fastfreddy68 - Wednesday, March 29, 2017 - link
jbelkin I read your stupidity and cant hold back . Tablets dont sell much because the "niche" they had is gone. Phablets replaced it. Apple six plus is a direct result of the popularity of Samsungs NOTE 4 and f,,,, Android. The Google pixel isnt sold to the poor Rube it cost more then some Iphones.Obviously you are some FANBOY. I'll put my LG V20 up against your Iphone any day.People like Android because of the creativity it allows.
NFC and Waterproofing a direct result of Androids popularity. Claiming Android is only for the poor is so 5 years ago. Maybe instead of buying another Apple product you should buy a clue.!
extide - Monday, January 25, 2016 - link
While I agree the Asian desire for CORESSSSSSS is a bit off, I don't think it really has anything to do with it. Ultimately most people don't care what processor is in the tablet. They care is it slow/crappy? If not, its ok.The software ecosystem, on the other hand, is the big deal. Android is well known for not having many good tablet focused apps. That is a much bigger issue than the cpu and stuff. I mean obviously this thing has great build quality, that's not holding it back.
easp - Monday, January 25, 2016 - link
The lack of good Android tablet software is a problem, but the fact that the Android tablet and phone market is dominated by SoCs with too many cores and too little single-thread performance is a big problem.I don't think its fair to place blame solely at the feet of asian customers. Plenty of spec-obsessed western customers have taken the bait too.
The poor single core performance means that javascript web apps are slow, because Javascript engines are single threaded.
jbelkin - Monday, January 25, 2016 - link
it does matter. high spec high cost android tablets do not sell - just like $1,500 chromebooks or WIN PC's. The max price for an android tablet is $99 and $299 for a chromebook.johnnyzleong - Monday, January 25, 2016 - link
Wow,"The Google ecosystem is focused on ignorant third-world consumers that think more cores are somehow better than faster individual cores."
Holding a iPad makes you feel so good isn't it?
McDuncun - Tuesday, January 26, 2016 - link
That`s the problem man, the Apple Market is so heavily condensed... Not with rational people or a well rounded product line but with the smug bastardized self righteous fumes that all Apple owners exude from their well bleached orifices. Stigmas are there for a reason and yes I can be petty and still make a good argument.jbelkin - Monday, January 25, 2016 - link
Nailed it.McDuncun - Tuesday, January 26, 2016 - link
If you can show me one magnifying/proper visual difference between iOS 7-9 then I will buy myself a iPhone 6s Plus even though I still think it`s overrated beyond the point of no return.lightman0731 - Tuesday, January 26, 2016 - link
Actually, the third-world consumers that you say is not ignorant now. I come from China, in this market, opinion leader is indispensable, maybe consumers could not know how to choose SoC, but opinion leader is clearly know faster single core performance is key factor when we choose a smartphone or tablet, opinion leader usually care the single performance result from GeekBench or anything else. So if some company want to make a illusion that more cores are somehow better than faster individual cores, I believe it doesn't work in this information age.lilmoe - Wednesday, January 27, 2016 - link
just ignore that douchebag bro...GotThumbs - Wednesday, January 27, 2016 - link
"ignorant third-world consumers""mistaken belief that targeting the poorer class"
"market to the upper class."
WOW!
Talk about a person oozing ignorance.
We have a winner!
vFunct is THE king sphincter.
No facts, but lots of personal prejudice, bias and ignorance.
Alexey291 - Saturday, January 30, 2016 - link
Its really funny that he also thinks that google and apple actually operate in the same business too xDthegamper - Saturday, February 20, 2016 - link
I think it's just that ignorant third world customers are so stupid that they haven't yet grasped the joy of paying for apples huge profit margins, stock buybacks, shareholder dividends, etc so they can have the "look at me" product that makes them "feel" superior. Apple has done a truly magnificent job getting people to part with their money and feel good about getting gouged. Ever notice that nearly every protective case for Apple products has a cutaway to show the Apple logo. I think if you are honest with yourself, you know that's because if people can't see the logo, it might as well be a paperweight. So, you can pay through the nose for image, or you can pay a reasonable price for function. Maybe the 80% plus of the world running Android are more than ignorant peasants after all.randix - Friday, March 25, 2016 - link
LMAO. Having an iPad makes you so SUPERIOR. What kind of a loser would think like that? Upper Class?? The marketing of Apple makes those idiots like you to think it's cool to have an iDevice and you're poor if you choose other platforms and it seems to have worked for some iTards. I used to have a a few iPhones and iPads, I still have a Macbook. I guess I'm the Bill Gates now.Drout - Saturday, January 12, 2019 - link
?????? wow, this is a hell of a quirky comment, full of nonsense. I bet it was made by some spoiled kid between 13 and 15yo :)MonkeyPaw - Monday, January 25, 2016 - link
I concluded long ago that anything over 7" on Android will be frustrating thanks to the lack of App support. It's a pretty good phone OS, but it has never properly taken on in the tablet space.Alexey291 - Saturday, January 30, 2016 - link
I don't honestly know if I agree. I mean i've heard this myth a lot sure. And yes some apps suck for a tablet in android. On the other hand I only really watch movies, mess around with photos and play games on a tablet.On a rare occasion I also check on work emails and what not.
I'm sorry but I haven't had a problem doing any of those.
mmrezaie - Monday, January 25, 2016 - link
Even my Nexus 5X is having numerous problems. It gets slow when I push it by taking three pictures in a minute, or when all of sudden I go from email app to google map. It is in a sad state.Maxpower2727 - Monday, January 25, 2016 - link
Interesting. My Nexus 5x has no such issues.grayson_carr - Thursday, January 28, 2016 - link
Mine doesn't either. He probably doesn't even have a Nexus 5X.hans_ober - Monday, January 25, 2016 - link
Throttling graphs? Power measurements?JoshHo - Monday, January 25, 2016 - link
These weren't possible because the units crashed or otherwise exhibited behavior that made it impossible to do proper testing.testbug00 - Tuesday, January 26, 2016 - link
Ah, got to love how well Nvidia designs it's SoCs. You cannot use the small cluster, although I think their devboars might, and likely they cause the other problems in measurement.Ask Intel if they can tear into the Pixel C and try to isolate power numbers like they did long ago?
osxandwindows - Monday, January 25, 2016 - link
This can't compete with the iPad pro or surface.There are no tablet apps for android, simple as that.
Sorry, google.
But android is not really meant for tablets.
Its more meant for phones.
osxandwindows - Monday, January 25, 2016 - link
Look at samsung, for example.They gave up on android and went with windows.
Maxpower2727 - Monday, January 25, 2016 - link
Is that why they're still making so many Android tablets?osxandwindows - Monday, January 25, 2016 - link
No I meant the pro tablets from samsung.Ratman6161 - Monday, January 25, 2016 - link
Where to start on a comment like that...but then why bother. Its so blatantly untrue its not worth it.McDuncun - Tuesday, January 26, 2016 - link
Hahahaha what?xthetenth - Monday, January 25, 2016 - link
Yeah, I'll talk down on the iPad Pro in comparison to the Surface Pro by calling it a big phone, but that's a rhetorical thing to point out how many places the iOS ecosystem doesn't have options for the capability x86 Windows has. This is literally a big phone and doesn't even offer anything more. It doesn't have multitasking. It doesn't have apps that use its bigger screen. There's no reason to be carrying the size and weight of a 9" device because you don't receive the capability of a 9" device.MikhailT - Monday, January 25, 2016 - link
I have both iPad Pro and SP4. I like SP4 but there are far more glitches and annoyances with it that I don't get on iPad Pro. Driver crashes, horrible dynamic display power switching BS that you must install Intel drivers separately to disable which MS then decided to switch back to Intel drivers to re-enable without asking me first, W10 app often resets without of nowhere, and so on.iPad Pro? None of that, I did not experience any issues with it and it has far more useful tablet apps for me.
However, MS is definitely much better at multi-tasking but iOS 9 has drastically improved the multi-tasking as well. I can't wait to see what Apple does with iOS 10 and so on and maybe Redstone updates as well.
If nothing drastically is improved with W10 on Surface, I'm sticking with iPad Pro from now on as my primary device.
MikhailT - Monday, January 25, 2016 - link
Blah, can't edit, I meant to say switched back to MS provided drivers instead of Intel.xthetenth - Monday, January 25, 2016 - link
Yeah, the SP4 has been flaky early, although I've been lucky and it's just a ten second annoyance when starting up for the morning and then it's amazing for the rest of the day. I'm not a huge tablet app user, I use the built in apps but don't need much more for pure tablet use, it's really halfway between tablet and laptop for me. I think the two are more likely to be differentiated by user need than anything else.R. Hunt - Monday, January 25, 2016 - link
Lol... as if Windows Store wasn't a wasteland.Speedfriend - Monday, January 25, 2016 - link
No tablet apps for Android? I have two Android tabs and there are apps that for everything I need it for? And while my iPad has plenty of Apps, I find the home screen design which is just a scaled up phone quite annoying, with giant icons and wide open spaces.MikhailT - Monday, January 25, 2016 - link
So, your only issue with iPad is the home screen?So, how often are you looking at your home screen? A few folks say this all the time but the amount of time I care about the home screen is less than 1%. I always find my apps via app switcher since I never need to shut any down and via Spotliight search as needed.
xthetenth - Monday, January 25, 2016 - link
I actually use the home screen a good bit on my phone but that's because I have a windows phone and it's actually useful. On tablets I'm more likely to use a broader and more varied set of apps and use the task switcher and apps list.Alexstarfire - Tuesday, January 26, 2016 - link
I use the home screen on my phone for just about everything really. I don't own a tablet but I can only imagine I'd do the same thing on it. I've got everything laid out on my home screen with folder(s) for grouping when necessary. Only time I go into the app drawer is to go to the gallery and to settings, and that's because I'm lazy and don't use them a whole lot. Task Switcher/Manager is used if I know the app I'm looking for was only used a couple apps ago. I'm not going to go scrolling through all my apps when it's easier to just go to the home screen and click the icon.Given that it's called the "Home Screen" I think you're not using your device to its potential if you are on your home screen so infrequently. To each his own though. :)
lilmoe - Monday, January 25, 2016 - link
This is a good iPad Pro competitor. But both aren't Surface competitors. Stop spreading stupidity.SaolDan - Monday, January 25, 2016 - link
Amen!osxandwindows - Monday, January 25, 2016 - link
I hope your joking.With all the problems and lack of apps, this can hardly be any sirius competition to the iPad pro.
Alexey291 - Saturday, January 30, 2016 - link
ipad pro? Wait wait someone actually compared ipad pro to a tablet? Oh boy.jjj - Monday, January 25, 2016 - link
lol i forgot that this thing exists.Google might as well give up instead of letting second graders do product design and Apple users set prices. Nobody has a decent tablet and they go on misguided explorations.
BrokenCrayons - Monday, January 25, 2016 - link
Android's problems and the overall lack of app quality are much more acceptable on a device that doesn't compete in higher price brackets. A $50 - 100 USD tablet are where glitches and errors like that belong rather than on something in the Pixel's price range. At that price, keeping productivity in mind as a primary usage scenario, it's probably a better idea to simply purchase a laptop.It's my personal opinion that Google's biggest mistake is fielding two distinctly different operating systems and then acting indecisively about which one to use on which product from the start. While Android is probably less elegant than Chrome, I think Google would help its own cause by abandoning Chrome and throwing that effort into making Android an OS that could operate effectively on phones, tablets, and small notebooks.
Murloc - Monday, January 25, 2016 - link
so basically converge like Microsoft did, only from an opposite place.We still have to see if that strategy works. Google has the advantage that everything started in their walled garden and so there's not the compatibility issues that microsoft has, they have a clean slate. But on the other hand, they'd have to make all the mouse and keyboard apps from scratch.
BrokenCrayons - Tuesday, January 26, 2016 - link
I don't think convergence is a good answer to the problem. In my opinion, there's very little of value that Chrome OS offers that's worth the effort of making the big muscle movements necessary to bring them over to Android. Having used x86 builds of Android on laptops previously, I think the shortcomings of the platform on notebook form factors become obvious when the user is compelled to make unusual gestures with a touchpad including things like clicking and dragging to scroll or being forced to deal with apps that rotate the screen without regard for the underlying platform. The former is something that needs a little work from Google in the gesture support department while addressing the latter is up to individual app developers to resolve. Having used several bluetooth keyboards paired to Android phones (along with the aforementioned x86 Android builds) in an effort to minimize the size and intrusiveness of computing tasks while improving flexibility through mobility, I argue that keyboard and mouse support is already pretty close to good enough based on my experiences and that very little work is required to get Android whipped into shape for laptop usage.In fact, all I'm really advocating is that Google dump Chrome OS because it seems like its mere existence is holding back development of Android. Simply tossing the entire thing into the trash and moving on is probably the best way to address the dysfunctions within the company over what OS to use on which device.
tipoo - Monday, January 25, 2016 - link
Ars theorized that this was never meant to run Android...Reading this review, it seems to add some plausibility to that.http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/12/the-pixel-c...
tipoo - Monday, January 25, 2016 - link
Not that ChromeOS would really help on the app front, so Google is in a bit of a pickle.testbug00 - Tuesday, January 26, 2016 - link
ChromeOS would help a lot on the multitasking and functionality front. Think of it as a high end chromebook that has the ability to be used as a tablet.marcryan - Monday, January 25, 2016 - link
I just finished returning my Pixel C. I didn't have issues in connecting the device and keyboard nor did I have problems with Internet connectivity. But the major show stopper for me was the touch screen latency. It was insane how many times I had to touch the device to get it to respond. I even tried a stylus on the screen in a drawing program and the pixel was unable to track a straight line without breaks along the way where the screen did not register the input.Beyond that there was a supreme amount of waiting time for an app to respond after tapping on it on the home screen. I did a side by side with my Nexus 6P and the nexus (not without its own flaws) performed noticeably faster which is shocking considering the benchmark scores on the pixel C processor.
There's something fatally flawed in the device which is unfortunate because I really wanted to like it, it's a nice piece of hardware.
evefavretto - Monday, January 25, 2016 - link
Another interesting characteristic of the A-series, and by extension, Pixel C' screen is the fact that, once divided in half, the two remaining parts keep the same proportion: 1:√2.Probably a design choice for a multitasking feature that was scrapped from Chrome OS and now will see the light of the day in Android.
Dribble - Monday, January 25, 2016 - link
Thank you for the NAND performance charts - I have been bitten twice by cheap and nasty NAND killing my tablet's performance after a year or two. I now won't touch one unless I know it's NAND is decent - and pixel C really is pretty borderline considering how high end it's meant to be.Agree google has software problems, although I would say it goes beyond missing features. It's clearly far to hard to keep something working as you upgrade. Almost every device I have owned has worked best on whatever version of android it came with. Every upgrade generally introduces problems. I get the feeling they developed the pixel c with android 5 and I bet it worked fine there, then they did an upgrade too 6 and now have all manor of niggles to sort out. Hence I am actually more drawn to devices that don't have major android version upgrades. I'll take an out of date but working version of android over the latest and greatest but slightly broken every time.
Dobson123 - Monday, January 25, 2016 - link
There is a mistake in the chart on the first page: The Tegra K1 has 192 shader units, not 128.And do you know why they have disabled the A53 cores?
Kepe - Monday, January 25, 2016 - link
Judging by the overall unfinishedness of the Pixel C, I'd guess migrating from the small cores to the big ones and vice versa causes some kind of a performance issue Google couldn't solve, as the Tegra X1 doesn't have heterogenous multi-processing.. So there'd be even more lag and performance issues than there is now.But perhaps it doesn't really even matter, since the big cores go as low as 51 MHz. It probably wouldn't save much power (if at all) if the little cores were used when there's a low workload. Battery performance seems to be really good even without the little cores.
Brandon Chester - Monday, January 25, 2016 - link
Indeed you are right. I've corrected the error.As for the cluster migration, just keep in mind that the SHIELD TV doesn't do it either. Granted, that is plugged into the wall so power isn't a big deal, but it's important to note that we haven't see a single implementation where the A53s are used so I wouldn't be quick to blame it on the Pixel C specifically.
tipoo - Monday, January 25, 2016 - link
For the SHIELD does it not do switching, or does it turn the A53s off completely? As something plugged into a wall and with overkill cooling for an ARM SoC, it may as well use all 8 all the time, no?testbug00 - Tuesday, January 26, 2016 - link
Turns them off right at boot.Kepe - Monday, January 25, 2016 - link
Oh man, I've been looking for a new (Android) tablet for a while now to replace my HP Touchpad from 2012 (running Marshmallow, btw). I haven't found a single device that has a decent, modern SOC, resolution of 1920x1080 or higher and a decent price tag.Google really needs to step its game up if it wants to stay relevant in the tablet market. Android needs better tablet features and apps that take advantage of the screen real estate. Device manufacturers clearly aren't very interested in making decent Android tablets at the moment, and app developers aren't very interested in making their apps tablet-friendly.
thestryker - Monday, January 25, 2016 - link
I was in much the same boat as I really don't see the point in smaller tablets... I have a phone with a 5" screen, if I'm reaching for a different device it had better offer some screen real estate. I ended up stumbling across the LG G PAD II 10.1 (V940N) and was shocked that nobody seemed to be talking about it at all, including LG who makes it.It's definitely not the fastest available, but it cost $300 (I got one as soon as I found a retailer with it) for a 1920x1200 display, Snapdragon 800 (MSM8974), 2GB RAM and 16GB storage. The build quality is rather sturdy for something that inexpensive, battery life is solid and I really haven't had any issues with it. LG's software isn't very intrusive, and they have a very good multitasking setup (though quite limited in what it works with) that has worked very well the few times I've used it.
This type of device is exactly what I wish was talked about more, because I feel like that's the sweet spot which can be available with google via android. Things like this definitely aren't on the radar for tech news, and obviously not even the companies who make them unfortunately.
5th element - Monday, January 25, 2016 - link
I'm in the same boat, I'm still on a nexus 7 2013 and want a worthy replacement. It seems like a good SoC with a great screen in wide-screen is hard to come by 😑deppman - Friday, January 29, 2016 - link
The Shield tablet is already far superior to the Nexus 7 2013 in almost every respect, with 2-4x with performance in some cases, runs Android 6 and has neat Nvidia extras like gforce now, mini hdmi out, and a very usable sdcard. Check out how it performs in these charts. And its $199.The rumored upcoming x1 version (March?) should be even more capable, but that is still just a rumor.
Teknobug - Monday, January 25, 2016 - link
ugh no thankszeeBomb - Monday, January 25, 2016 - link
Don't to need to even read... This is disappointing!Pjotr - Monday, January 25, 2016 - link
And how hard is it to start selling the Pixel C in Sweden and the other Nordic countries!? I don't want the keyboard, just a Google tablet. I can't order Nexus 9 anymore, it's been discontinued... so Google has no tablet on offer!deppman - Friday, January 29, 2016 - link
When you go to the play store, click on "view all tablets" and you should find the nexus 9 there.I own one, and it is sublime: an excellent display, fast, sturdy, and very comfortable to hold. I much prefer the soft-touch back to my all-metal tablet (a tf701t). You can get one there or from many retailers for less than an iPad mini.
If you wish to play games though, the best tablet IMO is still the shield tablet.
thelongdivider - Monday, January 25, 2016 - link
I don't understand why android manufacturers don't focus more on storage. One of the biggest revolutions for me in the computer space was going from a HDD to an SSD, and yet android continues to use some of the lowest quality flash they can find. Responsiveness won't improve by going from 4 to 8 cores and using the same terrible flash...jakeo2themax - Monday, January 25, 2016 - link
This could actually be a really compelling option for use in robotics, at least as a development platform. The Nvidia X1 is a phenomenal cpu/gpu for handling tasks like computer vision, and there are ubuntu builds I believe running on the X1. At $499 that's honestly great value. The Jetson tx1 dev kit is currently $600 on newegg, and if you don't need the extra clock speed and A53 cores then this could be awesome.deppman - Friday, January 29, 2016 - link
I'd look at the Shield TV pro for $299. Ubuntu has been running on that since July (see phoronix)Dobson123 - Monday, January 25, 2016 - link
"The core part of the keyboard uses the exact same key size, pitch, and travel distance as the Google Pixel C." What do you mean?xthetenth - Monday, January 25, 2016 - link
The keys are the same size, with the same distance between them and can depress the same amount as those on the Pixel C, but the keys on the edge are trimmed down to keep it small enough to fit. So the letters would be exactly the same.Ryan Smith - Monday, January 25, 2016 - link
Apologies, that was meant to be Chromebook Pixel and not the Pixel C.tipoo - Monday, January 25, 2016 - link
It's a little funny that the one area it seems to do ok in is battery life, when it doesn't seem to use the A53 cores, rather just power scaling the big cores...Now where does that leave big.LITTLE in terms of tablets at least...
kurkosdr - Monday, January 25, 2016 - link
So... they chose an Nvidia SoC... no wonder they have driver bugs.kron123456789 - Monday, January 25, 2016 - link
They use their own drivers, not Nvidia's. So, yeah, no wonder.ArthurG - Monday, January 25, 2016 - link
can we ban this trolll ? my Shield TV running same X1 Soc is ROCK SOLID under marshmallow and nvidia gaming support on Android is unmatched.Daniel Egger - Monday, January 25, 2016 - link
Probably the smartest move Google could make at this point is shipping a few devices to the Jide people to get RemixOS ported to it pronto and offer that rather than a naked Android.valentin-835 - Monday, January 25, 2016 - link
The tablet has issues. You kind of get what you pay for. I mean, it's half the price of an IPad Pro. And less than half that of a Surface.The biggest drawback however is the lack of an advanced graphics API like Metal or DX12. Without that, they are dead in the water. I heard Google is pushing hard to get Vulkan released. Both drivers and specification should be out soon.
styleruk - Monday, January 25, 2016 - link
Hmm, there seems to be an awful lot of points about a Google tablet or android tablet not being much more than a big phone. I have to disagree. I use the N9 for business and pleasure. I often type out reports on the N9 at airports, watch movies, read mags, books and play occasional games. I've had both android and apple phones both have good and bad points, currently on apple phone, but at work there are 2 iPad tablets I could use if I wanted, but they are simply too restricted to my needs. For me, the N5 + Google's more open approach is far more efficient. Up to now, I've had no problem with lack of multi task... to fill in my diary and read an email is simply to switch...its no biggie. If I want more I wait until I'm in front of a PC at work or home.I also like the way everything Google works together well.
Regarding this device, I'm on the cusp of upgrading my N9, but quite why I can't see yet. Until I actually pick it up and try it, I'm not ordering it, as the last upgrade was from the N7(2013), to N9, and whilst bigger, it's not really faster. On paper, the pixel C is not much faster than the N9!
The jury is still out...but stop saying that android tablets are just big phones, I have the choice and I don't agree at all.
tuxRoller - Monday, January 25, 2016 - link
Just looking at the benchmarks, your not judging this device fairly.The nexus 9 had a processor that was basically designed for benchmarking and nothing else. It just falls on its face when the code becomes branchy. Iow, benchmarks were an unusually poor indicator of typical performance.
That aside, the pixel is performs pretty much exactly where you'd expect it to perform given its CPU: between the nexus 5x and the 6p FOR MOST TESTS.
Iow, no surprises.
I'd also like to point out that the weight is only an issue if you have some physical issues, or are just used to very light tablets. I received the pixel c for Xmas and have had no issues transitioning to it from the 2013 nexus 7. My gf even noted when she first picked it up that "this isn't very heavy" (she'd read the reviews which complained about its weight).
I certainly have issues with it (it often doesn't respond to touches, sometimes the interface becomes so slow I have to force a restart) but it's still an awfully good TABLET for the price.
c4v3man - Monday, January 25, 2016 - link
I gave up on waiting for a return to sanely priced android tablets and went with a Dell Venue 11 Pro 7140. Like most non-apple products they don't hold their value particularly well, so I was able to score a Core 5M71 256GB SSD version with the keyboard for under $600. While heavier than initially anticipated, I get excellent battery life (13+ hours real world display use with the keyboard battery), and an extremely snappy tablet that even handles light Adobe Lightroom usage. That and it works on a lap, unlike a Surface, and is serviceable (good luck replacing the battery/ssd in your surface). Remix OS works on it as well if I need to get my android fix, and will likely get better with more development. I guess I don't see the point of using a more limited OS on a $500+ device... If you're going for productivity and charging a premium, give me a full experience. If it's a limited experience, it better come with a "limited" price.Jerch - Monday, January 25, 2016 - link
Always sad to see the Nexus 7 (2013) omitted from display lists, since even though it is now firmly outdated, it had a great screen that would still be at the top of some of these tests -- notably max brightness. It's the perfect beach tablet. Cheap, durable, and BRIGHT.EludiumQ36 - Monday, January 25, 2016 - link
I have a 32GB Pixel C and take it from a regular user as opposed to a professional reviewer/critic - it's a very good tablet. I use it as a true tablet sans keyboard which mitigates much of the complaining. It features a beautiful and very responsive display (utilizing Android 6.0.1). It was my perfect choice because (1) the Nexus 10 is no longer available, (2) it's far less expensive than the 10-in Samsung tablets (which are stuck on KitKat), and (3) it's basically a Nexus with first-in-line upgrades. Having said that, there is a highly reported problem of Wifi performance degradation - I experience a 60% hit but still get 26Mbps to it, so... - but they'll issue a fix for that soon enough. I highly recommend it if you count yourself as a "regular" user.R. Hunt - Tuesday, January 26, 2016 - link
Granted, Samsung is not great with updates. That out of the way, even last year's Tab S is been on Lollipop for months. And how is this less expensive than say, the Tab S2?Jumangi - Monday, January 25, 2016 - link
Google just doesn't care about making Android a good experience on larger tablets. Until,they do we will get half baked products like this and the iPad will continue to be the standard.McChen - Tuesday, January 26, 2016 - link
One thing that wasn't mentioned in the review is that the Pixel C supports faster charging (12V @ 2A, 24W) via USB PD using a charger such as the Pixel laptop charger. I have one and indeed the tablet charges very fast with it. I believe one of the Google engineers said it charges 0 to 100 in about 2.5 hours, compared to just over 4 hours in this review with the standard 15W charger. Would be interesting to see a charging time test with a USB PD charger.Jumangi - Tuesday, January 26, 2016 - link
They used the charger the device comes with as they should.Laxaa - Tuesday, January 26, 2016 - link
It seems to me like the Pixel C was released a year or two too early.versesuvius - Tuesday, January 26, 2016 - link
Adding a keyboard to an ARM device is just adding insult to injury. ARM devices are never going to be useful beyond what they were intended to be in the first instance, which is content consuming devices. Their advantage, which is size and power consumption, is also their limitation. If any company tries to sell an ARM device with a keyboard, one can be pretty sure that that company is pretty much at the end of the road. Disabling four cores of the processor on the top device from the company, while pushing a keyboard on buyers, just says it all. It says that the buyer was not going to do anything useful with it anyway, that is with this device from this particular company anyway.hMunster - Tuesday, January 26, 2016 - link
How can you appload the battery run time and lament the size and weight at the same time?10basetom - Tuesday, January 26, 2016 - link
So the final grade for the Pixel C is a C. Final grade for Android tablet ecosystem? D-Lolimaster - Tuesday, January 26, 2016 - link
How can you release a tablet without SD reader, come on.This tablet would be perfect for reading my collection comics&manga, I don't want to rely on the internetz just for reading purposes.
Demigod79 - Tuesday, January 26, 2016 - link
A couple of years ago I attached a keyboard case to a Nexus 10 and tried to use it like a laptop. It failed. Even though the Nexus 10 supported keyboard navigation and mouse input I found it difficult to anything really productive, and having a keyboard cover on it limited its functionality as a tablet. The Pixel C seems to be a modern-day rehash of my failed experiment with the Nexus 10 and I can very well imagine how using it would be (that is, very bad).The thing is, I had thought Android tablets would gradually evolve and grow, incorporating desktop features like expanded storage and windows apps. The latter was something that I particularly desired ever since using Samsung tablets that had pop-up apps. I thought this was the future and hoped Google would adopt and expand it to incorporate all apps. Frankly, I never thought tablets should have tablet versions of apps. In my opinion, running one app at a time was largely due to the limited screen space available on a phone, which obviously didn't apply to tablets. I thought the natural thing to do with a tablet was to run those phone apps in separate windows, not have bigger versions of those apps. I dreamed of the day when I would be able to run multiple Android apps at once like I did on my laptop.
I waited in vain for Google to incorporate windows apps, and then last year I got fed up and bought a Surface Pro 4 instead. It was the best decision I had ever made. Not only can the Surface Pro 4 replace my laptop (haven't touched it since) it can also replace my tablet since I can run Bluestacks (Android emulator) on it. Best of all, I can finally run Android apps in a window like I've always wanted to do. Add in the ability to run desktop applications as well as desktop games through Steam and it easily ranks as the best mobile device I've ever bought. I have given up on Microsoft for a while but it now seems to be the future (Android had the potential to be the future but Google squandered the opportunity, and now they are relegated to creating lame products like the Pixel C).
deppman - Friday, January 29, 2016 - link
I agree, although I prefer Ubuntu as my general purpose OS since it is more appropriate for my needs.Have you seen Jive's Remix OS? It's pretty much what you describe, and it's run by ex googlers. I expect Google to buy them out because the evolution is so obvious and correct. It's my guess that internal political BS is what has happened here. If they simply added windowed ART apps to chrome OS - or windowed apps and a full chrome browser build to android, they'd achieve pretty much what you described.
IMO, they are missing a wonderful opportunity to unseat MS as the primary desktop OS by not resolving this obvious elephant in the room.
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alexlaoe - Wednesday, January 27, 2016 - link
Runs very well. Just bought one and I love the beauty behind the design.https://open.spotify.com/user/artistm/playlist/1RC...
Rc1138 - Sunday, January 31, 2016 - link
Despite my love for big tablets I can't bring myself to like this device. Making a "productivity" tablet is just too early for android. I have a really old nexus 10 and it's nand perfomance as well as overall stability(touch,wi-fi and apps) is several times better than this halfassed powerhouse. The only thing I like about Pixel C is battery perfomance(both battery life and charge time) because nexus 10's charge time equals it's web browsing time(roughly 7 hours). I can't think of a targeted group this tablet is aimed for because for the same price you can buy a really sophisticated surface 3tuxRoller - Sunday, February 7, 2016 - link
BTW, if you want multiwindow mode you need to edit the buildprop and change it from user to userdebug (and enable window management through the Developer Settings in Settings). With that, you get more than just side by side windows, but a simple tiling wm).lauralye33 - Tuesday, August 30, 2016 - link
My pixel c will only trickle charge. I do not understand why. I have tried everything. Charger is manufacturer charger. My pixel takes days to charge to 100%. Anyone with a fix please email me at [email protected]. Thanks =)