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Google Pixel Pill
MSRP $499.00
“The Google Pixel Pill is a novel concept that misses the mark. With poor {hardware} selections, limiting specs, and a reasonably excessive value, it is a tough entry within the Pixel household.”
Professionals
- Comfy to carry
- Fingerprint sensor
- Speaker dock sounds nice
Cons
- Poorly designed charging dock
- Fundamental, 60Hz show
- Horrible speaker placement
- Poor battery life
- Extraordinarily buggy software program
- Restricted first-party equipment
The Google Pixel Pill marks loads of firsts for Google. It’s the primary pill Google has launched in almost 5 years. It’s the primary Android pill from the corporate in virtually eight years. And it’s the very first Google pill that tries to blur the strains between an Android pill and a wise house show.
That’s a tall order with loads of expectations, and I love Google’s willingness to attempt its hand at tablets as soon as extra — particularly after lukewarm reactions to the Pixel Slate and Pixel C that got here earlier than it. Nevertheless, after utilizing and residing with the Pixel Pill for a few weeks, I’m beginning to suppose Google ought to have listened to its prior self and stayed out of the pill enterprise for good.
Google Pixel Pill: design
I haven’t been a fan of the Pixel Pill’s drab look since Google first introduced it in 2022. Nevertheless, I’ve come round to truly liking most of the design choices that Google made.
The Pixel Pill has an aluminum body, however you wouldn’t know that once you choose it up, because the pill is roofed in a “nano-ceramic coating.” It provides the Pixel Pill a delicate, welcoming texture that feels nice to carry — all whereas nonetheless offering the rigidity and sturdiness of the aluminum enclosure hiding beneath it.
I’ve additionally been pleased with the fingerprint sensor, which is embedded into the facility button on the highest body of the Pixel Pill. It was straightforward to arrange, may be very quick, and has labored reliably for me throughout my complete evaluation interval.
I additionally suppose the colours for the Pixel Pill, whereas decidedly bland, are completely effective. My mannequin is the Hazel coloration, and it’s the one one with a black bezel across the show. The Porcelain and Rose colours each include a white bezel. I like that Google provides you a selection right here, and for a tool that’s going to spend a lot of its time propped up in your kitchen counter or finish desk, I feel the muted colours work fairly effectively.
Google Pixel Pill: charging speaker dock
We’ll dive into the Pixel Pill extra in a minute, but it surely’s solely half of the equation right here. Each Pixel Pill additionally comes with its personal charging dock within the field. The thought is that everytime you aren’t actively utilizing the Pixel Pill as, effectively, a pill, you place it on the charging dock. This does just a few issues: Your Pixel Pill fees every time it’s on the dock, it makes use of the dock’s significantly better speaker, and it will get a particular sensible home-focused interface.
My favourite factor in regards to the charging dock is the way it sounds. There’s solely a single 43.5mm full-range speaker inside, but it surely sounds nice to my ears. It will get very loud, audio has a very good quantity of depth to it, and it’s labored effectively for the whole lot from YouTube TV to Apple Music. Particularly contemplating that it’s one thing that’s bundled with the Pixel Pill at no additional value, there’s not a lot to complain about.
Nevertheless, that reward solely applies to the audio high quality. Elsewhere, the charging dock disappoints.
The Pixel Pill locks onto the charging dock utilizing magnets, and in my testing, these magnets are extraordinarily weak. A number of instances once I’ve pressed the amount rocker or energy button on the Pixel Pill whereas docked, the pill utterly falls off and onto my kitchen counter. I’ve misplaced monitor of what number of instances the Pixel Pill has plopped off its charging dock simply because I wished to regulate the amount.
The Pixel Pill’s charging dock disappoints.
The opposite situation is that the charging dock is rendered ineffective every time the Pixel Pill isn’t hooked up to it. The dock by itself doesn’t assist voice instructions, can’t be used as a Chromecast goal to ship audio to, and doesn’t even operate as a Bluetooth speaker. There’s a nice-sounding speaker system within the charging dock that I’d love to make use of extra usually, but when the Pixel Pill isn’t hooked up to it, there’s nothing I can do with it. As an alternative, it’s only a hunk of plastic and material taking on house in my kitchen.
Google Pixel Pill: display and audio
Shifting again to the Pixel Pill itself, the display and audio expertise are equally puzzling.
The Pixel Pill has an 11-inch LCD show with a 2560 x 1600 decision and 500 nits of brightness. For probably the most half, the show seems to be superb. Colours look very good, the whole lot is lots sharp, and I’ve had no points with how vivid the display will get. It’s possible not your best option for outside use, however when utilizing the Pixel Pill indoors and in brightly-lit rooms, I’ve by no means had bother seeing what’s on the display.
What doesn’t look good, although, is the Pixel Pill’s 60Hz refresh charge. Scrolling by menus, apps, and so on., seems to be sluggish and uneven on the Pixel Pill — as do any system animations. I can get used to a 60Hz show on a telephone just like the Pixel 6a, however when you might have a big 11-inch canvas like this, a slower refresh charge actually stands out. Particularly when Lenovo can put a 120Hz show on the $335 Lenovo Tab P11 Professional Gen 2, getting caught with a 60Hz panel on the $499 Pixel Pill doesn’t really feel nice.
I’m additionally left scratching my head with the Pixel Pill’s audio system. The are 4 audio system on the pill — two on the left body and two on the best — they usually sound good! However solely once you aren’t holding the Pixel Pill.
Two of the 4 audio system align completely the place my palms relaxation once I maintain the Pixel Pill, and in doing so, any audio popping out of these audio system sounds terribly muffled. It’s unimaginable for me to comfortably maintain the Pixel Pill with out someway distorting the audio system, and that’s made taking part in video games or watching YouTube movies a irritating expertise.
Google Pixel Pill: cameras
I gained’t spend an excessive amount of time on the cameras, as there’s nothing right here that actually calls for an excessive amount of of your consideration. The Pixel Pill makes use of an 8MP sensor with f/2.0 aperture for each the entrance and rear-facing cameras. Each cameras are additionally fixed-focus ones, that means there’s no autofocus functionality for both one.
You’ll possible use the front-facing digicam probably the most, and it’s completely satisfactory. It’s definitely not the perfect I’ve ever seen, but it surely’s additionally not the worst. If it’s worthwhile to take a fast selfie or hop on a Google Meet name, it’s greater than succesful.
The rear digicam is equally effective. If it’s worthwhile to scan a doc or take a photograph and don’t have anything at your disposal, it’ll get the job achieved. However with no autofocus, poor lowlight efficiency, and noisy element, it’s not a digicam you’ll need to depend on for something critical.
Google Pixel Pill: efficiency and battery
Powering the Google Pixel Pill is Google’s personal Tensor G2 chipset — the identical one contained in the Pixel 7, Pixel 7 Professional, and Pixel 7a. And identical to in these different devices, the Tensor G2 within the Pixel Pill is a blended bag.
The very best factor about Tensor G2 is how perfomant it’s. Whereas not as succesful as flagship chips from Qualcomm, Tensor G2 is lots quick for the whole lot I need to do. Watch dwell tv on YouTube TV or stream a 4K film on Max (the artist previously referred to as HBO Max), and the Pixel Pill handles it with ease. It will probably additionally run two apps aspect by aspect with out a drawback (due to the 8GB of RAM), and apps open immediately with out extended loading instances. I’ve additionally been very happy with the gaming expertise. Taking part in Name of Responsibility: Cellular with Very Excessive graphics and Max body charge settings, the Pixel Pill constantly hits a easy 60 frames per second (fps) and runs the sport with out a drawback.
However identical to on different Tensor G2-powered units, the Pixel Pill leaves a lot to be desired in the case of battery life.
Streaming a 4K video at max show brightness makes use of over 15% of the battery in only one hour. And gaming is even worse. The Pixel Pill misplaced 11% of its obtainable battery life after simply half-hour of taking part in Name of Responsibility: Cellular, placing it on monitor to make use of over 20% after a single hour of gaming.
Google claims the Pixel Pill’s battery can final for “as much as 12 hours of video streaming,” however primarily based on my testing, it will take lower than seven hours to take the Pixel Pill from 100% to zero whereas doing nothing however streaming a 4K video. And when you’re taking part in a graphically intense recreation, you would theoretically kill the Pixel Pill in beneath 5 hours.
The counter-argument is that you simply in all probability aren’t streaming video for seven hours straight or gaming for 5 hours at a time. In case you’re utilizing the Pixel Pill in shorter spurts and might simply throw it on the charging dock everytime you’re achieved, the concept is that it ought to all the time have a full (or largely full) battery once you need to use it as a handheld.
You possibly can theoretically kill the Pixel Pill in lower than 5 hours.
That’s a good level, however I don’t suppose it utterly excuses what’s objectively poor battery life on the Pixel Pill. In case you’re taking the Pixel Pill on a visit or someplace out of the home, its battery might simply develop into an issue — be it on a highway journey, an extended flight, and so on.
The charging setup for the Pixel Pill can also be an odd one. When positioned on the dock, the Pixel Pill doesn’t cost past 90%. You may power it to cost as much as 100%, however it’s worthwhile to manually power it to take action each single time you place it on the dock. And there’s no useful pop-up telling you that is potential. After placing it on the dock, it’s important to open the Settings app, faucet on Battery, after which faucet Cost to full.
Once more, this shouldn’t be a problem when you hold your Pixel Pill at house. However in case you are planning to take it wherever else or use it off the dock for a chronic time frame, you’re in all probability solely utilizing 9/10ths of the obtainable battery. And for a pill that’s already not very energy environment friendly, that solely compounds an already irritating battery expertise.
Google Pixel Pill: software program
OK — let’s discuss software program. The Google Pixel Pill ships with Android 13 and is promised three years of OS upgrades and at the very least 5 years of safety updates. This is identical Pixel software program you’ve come to anticipate from Pixel smartphones, although it’s been optimized for the Pixel Pill’s bigger show.
That is seen all through the working system. The notification panel exhibits your Fast Settings on the left and notifications on the best. Many Google apps are additionally optimized for the larger show, rearranging buttons and utilizing multicolumn layouts. These optimizations are nice! Apps like Google Calendar, Google Pictures, Google Maps, and Google House do an incredible job of utilizing the complete show and feeling like they had been really made for a pill. Even some third-party apps, like 1Password and Microsoft Groups, look nice on the Pixel Pill.
I additionally love Google’s strategy to multitasking. Everytime you’re in an app, a small swipe up from the underside of the display shows a taskbar displaying the apps from your house display dock and an app drawer shortcut. This makes it lifeless easy to run apps in split-screen mode.
Utilizing Google Chrome and need to scroll by Twitter on the similar time? Deliver up the taskbar, press and maintain the Twitter app, and transfer it to the left or proper of your display. Similar to that, you’re operating Chrome and Twitter concurrently. Apps robotically share the display 50/50, or you need to use the bar within the center to make it a 75/25 cut up. I want there was extra freedom in how a lot you possibly can resize apps in split-screen mode, however the present implementation is easy and straightforward to make use of. Plus, when you go house after operating apps in split-screen, that split-screen setup will likely be saved in your current apps menu like some other software. Google actually nailed it right here.
There’s nonetheless a looming drawback, although, and that’s third-party apps.
“However Joe, didn’t you say that third-party apps look good?” I did! However that’s solely true for some third-party apps. If an software hasn’t been optimized for tablets, it shows in a tiny window surrounded by a black background. You may transfer the app to the left, proper, or middle, however there’s no strategy to make an unoptimized app use your complete display. In case you open an app like Twitter, Fb, Fb Messenger, Duolingo, Chewy, Goal, or Day One, it’s important to take a look at it as this small window.
These aren’t random, unknown apps! We’re speaking about a few of the better-known cell apps, they usually all look horrible on the Pixel Pill. It’s an unpleasant reminder that — even with all the work Google’s achieved by itself apps — there’s nonetheless a lot of labor to be achieved earlier than Android actually feels nice on a giant display like this.
Google Pixel Pill: bugs and different points
In fact, the Android pill UI is simply one of many software program experiences provided on the Pixel Pill. When it’s positioned on the charger dock, it basically turns right into a Google Nest Hub — and runs mainly the identical software program. Ask the Pixel Pill for the climate, a random query, or to play a present on Netflix when docked, and the interface you see is equivalent to a Google sensible show.
This all is sensible on paper. Put the Pixel Pill on the charging dock, and it capabilities like a wise show. Take it off the dock, and it turns into an Android pill. Which means you’re successfully operating two utterly completely different software program experiences at any given time, and as you would possibly anticipate, it could create issues.
Let’s say you need to watch YouTube TV or Disney Plus — a reasonably widespread ask for a wise show! In case you say, “Hey Google, open YouTube TV,” or “Hey Google, open Disney Plus,” it says, “Opening” … however refuses to truly open the app till you enter your PIN code or use the fingerprint sensor to unlock the pill. That’s as a result of it’s attempting to open the Android app for these providers, and like several Android telephone or pill, you possibly can’t open apps with out first unlocking the lock display.
Nevertheless! In case you say, “Hey Google, play [a specific channel] on YouTube TV,” or “Hey Google, play [a specific movie or TV show] on Disney Plus,” it opens the sensible show model of that service — and performs it with out requiring you to unlock the Pixel Pill.
This isn’t defined wherever by Google once you’re utilizing the Pixel Pill. I finally figured it out myself (after loads of trial and error and a few assist from Ben Schoon at 9to5Google), however I can solely think about how complicated this will likely be for anybody utilizing the Pixel Pill.
After which there are all the random bugs/glitches I’ve needed to take care of.
The Pixel Pill is likely one of the most infuriating Pixels I’ve ever used.
A number of instances when asking the Pixel Pill to play a channel on YouTube TV, it’s gotten caught on the YouTube TV brand — and after just a few seconds, tells me the app has stopped working. Equally, I’ve misplaced monitor of what number of instances the Pixel Pill has refused to listen to my “Hey Google” instructions if it’s streaming any sort of video — even with low quantity and me standing instantly in entrance of it, repeating the command numerous instances. Regardless of having the pill’s darkish theme set on a dawn/sundown schedule, it recurrently will get caught in darkish mode and requires a handbook change again to gentle mode each single morning.
My Pixel Pill has additionally gotten confused about how one can open apps once I ask it to. One night once I requested it to open an software, it tried to take action on my smartphone. The Pixel Pill was the gadget that heard and registered the command, however its response was, “Okay, opening in your Motorola telephone.” Not as soon as did I alter any settings to make it do that, and simply as shortly because it began appearing up, it stopped the subsequent morning – with no rhyme or motive for any of it.
Buggy software program isn’t something new for Pixel units, and the Pixel Pill definitely doesn’t break that rule. If something, it’s develop into probably the most infuriating Pixels I’ve ever used.
Google Pixel Pill: equipment
Equipment are an vital issue for any pill, and that is an space the place the Pixel Pill feels oddly incomplete.
The one first-party accent Google has for the Pixel Pill is a $79 case. To Google’s credit score, it’s a very good case! The silicone on the surface feels inflexible and sturdy, and the raised edges across the show ought to provide good safety within the occasion of a drop.
The very best facet is the metallic ring on the again, which you’ll place at any angle to prop up the Pixel Pill on a flat floor. The stand additionally strikes all the best way to the highest of the pill, that means you would cling it on a nail/hook when you have one round your own home. The stand is tremendous sturdy, feels glorious to maneuver, and has an ideal cutout so you possibly can nonetheless put the Pixel Pill on its charging dock even with the case. Whereas the $79 price ticket is rather a lot to swallow, this is likely one of the greatest instances I’ve seen from Google in years.
Nevertheless, that’s the place the accent dialog for the Pixel Pill begins and ends. Issues like split-screen multitasking and the taskbar are nice productiveness options, however with out an official keyboard dock to make use of the Pixel Pill with, they virtually really feel wasted. Official keyboards for the OnePlus Pad and the 2022 iPad have confirmed to be vital equipment, and never having one for the Pixel Pill is a missed alternative.
The identical might be mentioned about Google not providing an official stylus accent. The Pixel Pill helps USI 2.0 styluses, however Google isn’t promoting a Google Pen or Pixel Pen to go together with the Pixel Pill. If the assist is there, why not really do one thing with it? Third-party styluses will work effective, however with tablets from Apple, Samsung, OnePlus, and Lenovo all having official stylus choices, it’s only one other thing Google doesn’t have a solution to.
Google Pixel Pill: value and availability
The Google Pixel Pill is accessible now and begins at $499 for the mannequin with 128GB of storage. If you wish to improve to the 256GB mannequin, you’ll pay $599.
Whereas the Pixel Pill comes with a charging dock included within the field, you should purchase further ones for $129 every when you’d like.
Google Pixel Pill: verdict
In order that’s the Google Pixel Pill. I firmly consider that the thought behind the Pixel Pill is an effective one. As somebody who has a number of sensible shows scattered all through my residence, the idea of a wise show that additionally doubles as a pill is one which will get me excited.
Google gave that idea a good shot, however its execution with the Google Pixel Pill utterly misses the mark. There’s not one single deal breaker that instantly stands out, but it surely’s an ideal case of a loss of life by a thousand cuts. The oddly positioned audio system that damage the pill’s audio high quality. The 60Hz show that appears sluggish and outdated. The poorly designed charging dock that would have been a lot extra. The wonky software program expertise that makes the Pixel Pill infuriating to make use of at instances.
I’m not assured about the place the Pixel Pill goes from right here.
In order for you an Android pill for about the identical value, you’re far higher off with the OnePlus Pad or Lenovo Tab P11 Professional Gen 2. Each have significantly better shows, longer battery life, extra attention-grabbing designs, and higher first-party equipment — to not point out, they’re each cheaper than the Pixel Pill. Hell, you would purchase the Tab P11 Professional Gen 2 plus a Google Nest Hub and nonetheless spend lower than what you’d pay for a Pixel Pill. And in doing so, you’d get a greater Android pill and a greater sensible show than what the Pixel Pill is able to.
There’s a very good product hiding someplace within the Google Pixel Pill. Possibly after one other technology or two, Google might make it top-of-the-line Android tablets round. However for the corporate’s first pill displaying in spite of everything this time, I’m not assured about the place the Pixel Pill goes from right here.
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