Google Pixel C
The undisputed king of Android tablets, with glorious engineering on show in all areas
SCORE ✪✪✪✪✪ PRICE keyboard,
32GB, £333 (£399 inc VAT); £99 (£119 inc VAT)
Google’s Pixel devices are designed in-house as showcase products. “If you put your mind to it, this is what you can achieve,” Google is saying, and the Pixel C certainly takes Android tablet design to a supreme level.
It comes in the form of a 10in tablet and a separate, metal-backed keyboard. When not in use, the keyboard clamps to the front of the screen, forming a rigid protective cover. When you’re ready for work, simply separate the two, line up the bottom half of the tablet with the top half of the keyboard – which houses the Pixel C’s blade-like hinge – and the pair snap together with incredibly strong magnets. It’s then possible to adjust the screen to any angle between 100 and 135 degrees, much like a laptop. Quite a feat.
Amazingly, given its tiny size, the Scrabble-tile keys of the Pixel C’s keyboard are comfortable to type on. There’s plenty of travel and feedback, the keys themselves are large enough to make speedy touch-typing possible without an endless stream of mistakes, and the stiff backing means you can pop the Pixel on your lap and work with no problem at all. The magnets attaching the two halves together are so strong you’ll never worry about them coming apart.
Unlike a lot of the tablets in this Labs, the Pixel C’s keyboard uses Bluetooth to connect, which means it needs its own internal battery to provide power. You don’t have to remember to charge it, though, since it uses inductive wireless charging to top itself up from the tablet while stowed or mounted. In fact, the keyboard has only two flaws: there’s no backlight, so when the lights are dim it’s tricky to see what you’re typing, and no touchpad.
However, if you’re willing to overlook those things – and the latter isn’t a big problem since Android isn’t designed for touchpad use – the Pixel C is well suited to a life of work. Its chassis is as solid as an Anderson shelter, it’s highly portable, and
“The Pixel C is as solid as an Anderson shelter, it’s highly portable, and its speed means it’s the perfect on-the-road companion”
its performance means it’s the perfect on-the-road companion.
For beneath that sturdy exterior, an Nvidia Tegra X1 SoC and 3GB of RAM ensures Android never stutters. Its Geekbench scores aren’t anywhere near as good as the iPads or the Surface Pro 4, but don’t let that fool you. It’s more than quick enough to churn through work without worrying about slowdown or chug.
Screen quality is excellent. It’s bright enough to be readable outdoors on a sunny day, reaching 451cd/m2. Contrast is superb at 1,550:1 and colours are well-balanced.
What’s more, battery life is fantastic: in the video-rundown test it lasted 14hrs 33mins, which is more than five hours longer than the iPad Pro 9.7 and even beats the Surface 3’s superb 11hrs 36mins. As with the iPad Pros, our major concern with the Pixel C as a device for work boils down to the operating system. As we discuss on p86, it has many shortcomings when compared to Windows – and Android apps still aren’t as strong, overall, as those of Apple.
Where it pulls ahead is split-screen multitasking. You can’t do this with the current version of Android, but there’s good news ahead: the forthcoming Android N update adds simple, split-screen compatibility at a stroke. And you can benefit immediately if you enrol in the Android beta programme.
In fact, it’s only the price of the Pixel C that might give you pause for thought. At £518 inc VAT once you take the keyboard into account, it’s £60 more expensive than the Surface 3 – and that comes with a pressuresensitive stylus.
Otherwise, the Pixel C is a fantastic tablet, and it’s the only Android tablet worth considering as a working companion.