ZDNET’s key takeaways
- The Google Pixel Pill retails for $499.
- The 11-inch pill runs Android 13 on Google’s Tensor G2 chip
- It has strong efficiency, small bezels surrounding the display screen that may deal with multitasking, and a charging dock.
- Android may be buggy on the Pixel Pill, although much less so than on competing units; the refresh price tops out at 60Hz, and choosing up the pill takes some getting used to.
extra shopping for selections
The Google Pixel Pill is $120 off Amazon, accessible for $279.
Google’s Pixel Pill marked the corporate’s return to the pill market after some years (earlier efforts included the Pixel C and Pixel Slate). Whereas it was extremely praised as a near-perfect Android pill, its reception was underwhelming.
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The Google Pixel Pill is an 11-inch Android slab with a charging dock that doubles as a speaker. While you set the pill on the dock to cost, it switches right into a customizable sensible show, like an iPhone throughout Standby Mode or a Fireplace pill in Present Mode. Charging your Pixel Pill is just like the Nest Hub Max expertise, however not fairly there.
As a wise dwelling consumer, I made a decision to present this pill’s sensible show characteristic a attempt. I like sensible panels greater than I like tablets. I do not attain for my pill for leisure usually — I depend on my cellphone for that — so I take advantage of a wise show or the sensible dwelling apps on my cellphone extra and for longer than a pill.
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The issue many reviewers have with the Pixel Pill is that it is a simpleton amongst its friends — and never in a nasty means. Google did not design this pill to be the following iPad Professional, able to dealing with intense video enhancing periods and being an occasional alternative on your laptop computer.
The Pixel Pill is an leisure system that lets you test the most recent sport scores or scroll TikTok whereas taking a break from writing in a Phrase doc.
That stated, it is a pill that delivers a clear Android expertise, and you’ll overlook whether or not you are staff iOS or Android. As a loyal iOS consumer for six years, I generally really feel disoriented when utilizing an Android system; the bizarre navigation bugs and lags remind me of why I ditched Android years in the past.
These bugs are few and much between on the Google Pixel Pill. Whereas the Pixel Pill did have some bugs throughout navigation and every day use, they have been far fewer than those I skilled with the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9, although much more frequent than what I skilled on my iPad.
The Pixel Pill labored surprisingly properly as a wise dwelling show however nonetheless left a lot to be desired.
This is what the Pixel Pill does properly
After I started utilizing this Pixel Pill as a wise dwelling panel for Google Residence-compatible merchandise round my home, I observed that Google Assistant appeared a lot smarter than Siri and Alexa. It is a shut race the place all three are continually bettering, much more so now that generative AI is being thrown into the combination. Google Residence does, nonetheless, run easily on the Pixel Pill.
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Additionally, not like sensible shows just like the Google Nest Hub and Echo Hub, the Pixel Pill is a conveyable system. You’ll be able to seize it to learn the information or play a sport virtually anyplace. I’ve taken mine to my children’ after-school actions to play or watch one thing whereas I wait. Having a multipurpose show on the heart of a wise house is like having two tablets in a single.
This is what Pixel Pill might do higher
The Pixel Pill is buggy. All sensible shows have their bugs, however after testing a number of Echo Present units and utilizing the Apple HomeKit, Amazon Alexa, and Google Residence app on iPhones, iPads, and Android units, I anticipated extra from the Pixel Pill’s sensible dwelling management capabilities.
Google is reportedly engaged on a brand new Nest speaker and a Nest Hub Max to launch later this yr, so we do not imagine the corporate will discontinue these sensible units in favor of the Pixel Pill.
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Whereas Google Residence runs properly on the Pixel Pill, Nanoleaf merchandise have been probably the most tough to run easily on Google Residence. I’ve some connectivity points with sure Cree sensible units that do not at all times reply via Google Residence, though they carry out properly with Alexa.
The far-field mic expertise additionally left me wanting, particularly since I am surrounded by far too many Echo units and a HomePod mini. The Pixel Pill might hear me properly sufficient from throughout the room, the farthest I’d use it more often than not. However — not like my Echo units — the Pixel Pill could not perceive me in our open flooring plan once I was within the kitchen, which means that it might work greatest in a bed room or smaller front room. (My HomePod mini can hear me from a narrative away.)
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The dock additionally feels barely awkward while you decide up the system. It isn’t laborious to dock the Pixel Pill to cost, particularly when you get used to the sensation, however you must decide it up good to undock it. Google suggests lifting it by the decrease edge to undock it and decide it up, however choosing it up virtually some other means can lead to pulling the dock up with the pill.
ZDNET’s shopping for recommendation
Must you select a Pixel Pill to make use of as a wise dwelling panel over an Echo Hub or Google Nest Hub Max? In comparison with each, the Pixel Pill is a conveyable system, whereas the Google Nest Hub and Echo Hub are stationary sensible shows.
Though many customers choose the $229 Nest Hub Max’s perform as a devoted sensible show, I like having a multipurpose show on the heart of the sensible dwelling with the 2-in-1 Pixel Pill. Grabbing the absolutely charged pill on my means out the door or upstairs makes it simpler to make use of than different tablets. Setting it right down to change into a wise show provides it a second life when idle, whereas different tablets are off or stowed away.
The Echo Hub is particularly designed as a wise dwelling show for Amazon Alexa. In case you choose the Alexa voice assistant and already produce other Echo units, a $180 Echo Hub would possible be a greater addition to your sensible dwelling than a Pixel Pill.
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