- When the Pixel C launched in December of 2015,
it was a beautiful tablet, with a price tag
far higher than its undercooked experience warranted.
In February of 2017, it's still a beautiful device,
and Google's new software has really helped it
come into its own, but that high price tag,
it's still here too.
I'm Michael Fisher and, as you can probably hear,
I've got a head cold, join me anyway
for another look at the Google Pixel C
on the Mr. Mobile Review Re-Do.
I'm not gonna make you wait till the end of the video
for my comments on pricing, the amount
you have to pay for a Pixel C is absurd,
this is a 14 month old tablet with a spec sheet to match,
there's no reason I can see that it should be $599,
with an additional 149 if you want the keyboard,
which in my view is essential to the whole experience.
So why bother with another review?
Well, because sometimes the Pixel C goes on sale,
and in those cases it becomes a compelling product
for those who want to leave their big laptops at home
while working, or not working, on the go.
If that sounds like you, many of the features
that distinguished the Pixel C at launch
continue to rock socks, the LTPS display is super crisp,
and bright enough for the all but the sunniest window seats.
The microphone array is now fully utilized
to pick up the Google hot word, even from across the room.
Okay Google, what is the airspeed
velocity of an unladen swallow?
- [Google] According to Saratoga.com,
in the end, it's concluded that the airspeed velocity
of a unladen swallow is about 24 miles per hour
or 11 meters per second.
- That's pretty fast.
The hardware is still gorgeous, and well thought through.
My favorite feature is the LED strip
which converts from branding accent
to battery meter at the tap of a finger.
And I've yet to see anyone do a magnetic keyboard
as well as Google has here, it's equal parts
futuristic and finger friendly with widely spaced keys
that offer great travel, and it charges itself wirelessly
when docked, as a bonus, the magnets that make
the keyboard work also make the Pixel C
a great accent for your fridge.
Even over a year later, this still hasn't gotten old.
Being a Google built product, the Pixel C
gets software updates right from the Mountain View
mothership, while Android Nugget took a few months
to make its way here, it was absolutely worth the wait,
mostly for multi-screen, multi-tasking.
Being able to run two apps side by side
on that 10.2 inch display means you can keep
a chat session running while writing an email,
or watch a video and browse Twitter,
or in my case, keep a spec sheet handy
while writing a script, now, the competition has been able
to do this for considerably longer, and Android's
implementation still has some room for improvement
in foregrounding and focus, but the Pixel C
does beat the Ipad when it comes to hardware extensibility.
The USB C port means that things like mouse support,
file transfers from your phone,
and wired ethernet connections are just a dongle away.
You can also plug in a jump drive or even an SSD
which helps make up for the lack of a microSD slot.
And while the Pixel C still lasts me a full day of browsing
in Chrome and scripting in Google Docs,
with power to spare, when it does come time to charge,
I love that I can use the same power pack,
and the same wall charger, I use to top up my phones.
One less thing to carry is always a good thing.
To paraphrase the famous pitch, I'm not just
a Pixel C owner, I'm also a customer.
I bought it to review for Pocketnow right after release,
and it's performed well enough since
that I've never wanted to trade it in.
I even survived two months using it as my primary computer.
Of course, that also means that I've been exposed
to all of its shortcomings, the keyboard's tendency
to double up on keystrokes has never been fixed,
as you can see from one look at the script to this video.
Annoying too, the likelihood that the display will scratch
if any kind of foreign object finds its way between
the keys and the glass, an unavoidable consequence
of this twist the Oreo docking method.
Some popular apps still won't run in landscape
even after seven years of tablets being mainstream,
a problem also faced by the Ipad.
And my Reddit research has uncovered no small number
of hardware issues in later batched Pixel Cs.
Now, many of these are common complaints
when it comes to consumer electronics,
but they seem unusually prevalent for a device that,
when you factor in the keyboard,
costs more than some laptop PCs,
and that's really my biggest problem
with the Pixel C, not the existence of Chromebooks,
which are in another class entirely because they don't
convert to tablets on demand, not the popularity
of the Ipad, which Android purists wouldn't buy anyway,
but it's price tag, which was excessive at launch,
and 14 months later is now just ridiculous.
Especially with new tablets forecast
for the Mobile World Congress at the end of February.
So, if you're in the market for an Android tablet
that can occasionally serve as a productivity buddy,
don't buy the Pixel C at full price,
but if you can find it on sale, history teaches us
those price drops don't last long,
snap it up quick, and make the most of your exchange period
to see if it's really the right fit.
If you own a Pixel C, or know a sweet deal on one,
share your experience in the comments,
and if you're just showing up to bludgeon people
for wanting a tablet instead of a full laptop
or a Chromebook, why don't you stay quiet for a while?
The rest of you, subscribe, so you don't miss more
of Mr. Mobile dropping every week.
As always, thanks for watching, and stay mobile, my friends.