Top critical review
3.0 out of 5 starsIt's fine, nothing too special, some oddities
Reviewed in the United States on August 6, 2023
Pixel phone/devices user, Nest devices and Google Home user here.
PROS
- Works well enough as general use tablet for media consumption and smart home control.
- Works well as an e-reader. Graphic novels, comics, and manga look nice
- Strong magnet keeps the tablet secure when docked
- Speaker in dock is okay, more volume and bass when tablet is docked but not necessarily better audio (depending on your rooms audio environment or audio content played)
- Serves as another device to be able to cast to when in hub mode.
CONS
- Some minor software quirks. Apps not optimized for tablets will look awkward. Some occasional refresh rate hiccups. (Update: not seeing refresh rate hiccups much anymore, maybe an update fixed it)
- Not much incentive to use hub mode, for now personally. I usually end up unlocking it to do whatever i need it to do.
- Casting to it gets you limited functionality in hub mode than when you just unlock it then use video apps.
- Assistant continued conversation is not available so having to say "hey google" for each command for Google Home controls is annoying especially for a Nest hub alternative such as this. I find myself going next to my Nest speaker or using my phone for multiple assistant commands.
- Undocking is awkward. The dock is light and can be easily picked up by the strong magnet when lifting the tablet. Undocking requires you to tilt or hold the tablet on certain angles while pulling it or else you risk picking up or moving the dock then potentially dropping it when near the edge of the table. The ads they have showing people just picking it up easily from the dock are lies. You will need adhesive on the bottom of the dock if you decide to place it permanently.
- Camera could be better which is a shame as it has the same photo editing software capabilities as the Pixel phones.
- Options to change what's displayed on hub mode is limited, future software updates may fix this later.
- Fingerprint reader placement on the thin power button on the side so close to a corner is awkward for a tablet this size. Unlocking this by fingerprint in tablet mode while it's lying flat on a surface will usually require holding it for stability, granted your finger can be read by the thin fingerprint reader. If you can't then you'll just end up picking it up just to unlock it. This fingerprint reader placement on power button would have been fine on a phone that you can easily operate with one hand. (OR I guess you can just enter your pin on screen if you don't mind.)
- As a smart home display alternative, the Google Home display, even in hub mode, cannot show views from non-Google but "Works With Google" surveillance cameras (such as Reolink). This feature still only works with dedicated smart displays or chromecast TVs.
This works well enough as a general use tablet and I still like it. Battery life and charge time could be better but as long as you dock it when not in use, it should be fine. As a Pixel device that has similar (if not the same) Tensor chip as Pixel phones and being marketed as a tablet/smart home hub hybrid, it's nothing special. My phone can do everything this tablet can, sometimes better, except for having a bigger screen of course. The phrase "jack of all trades, master of none" comes to mind sometimes. Hopefully, future updates will make this more compelling (update: or a sale price, which I see nowadays).
