Pixel Tablet Needs to be Reimagined, Not Relaunched (Premium)

Last year, I twice tried to replace my iPad Air with Google’s Pixel Tablet. First, in June, when Google originally announced and then released the device. And then again in December, when I tried to go all-in on the Pixel ecosystem despite previous defeats with Pixel Tablet, Watch (and Watch 2), and Buds/Buds Pro (twice). That second attempt lasted longer—I used the Pixel Tablet exclusively until the end of February—but the result was familiar and a defeat. I am using the iPad Air again, and I am now thinking ahead to a coming iPad mini refresh instead.

I love the idea of the clean, helpful Pixel-flavored Android on a tablet. But the Pixel Tablet is problematic in several ways. The single biggest issue is the 16:10 display: It’s fine for watching videos but horrible for reading, my primary tablet use case. A 4:3 aspect ratio (or similar) like that used by the iPad isn’t just better, it’s necessary. And I write that having tried over three months to get used to it. 16:10 doesn’t work.

But there’s more, of course. The Pixel Tablet is expensive at $499, more expensive than the $449 10th-generation iPad everyone should buy instead, and much more expensive than the $329 but still superior 9th-generation iPad that most people would love unreservedly. The issue here was always obvious: Google forces you to get a dock with the Pixel Tablet, and that dock sells for $79 standalone if you’re crazy enough to need two of them. If Google would just remove that dependency, as Microsoft did years ago when it unbundled the equally superfluous Kinect from Xbox One, the Pixel Tablet would be a better buy at $370.

Well, good news. The rumor is that Google is doing just that. Tied to this, Google is apparently releasing a keyboard and stylus for the Pixel Tablet too, answering other concerns about the device (that I do not have, personally). At least one news report has confirmed both developments.

Or, not so good: The Pixel Tablet at $370 still isn’t a viable alternative to the iPad for all the familiar reasons. We can debate iPhone, Mac, and Apple Watch vs. whatever competition, but when it comes to tablets, your only decision is which iPad to get. There is iPad and then there is nothing else.

That said, the situation could change. And to get there, Google could employ the same strategy it used for Pixel phones, and the same strategy I begged Microsoft to use for its Windows phones: Do better and be cheaper. That is, when you’re an also-ran it’s not enough to just be as good as the market leader because platform stickiness is real. You have to be both better—offer superior functionality and user experience—and cheaper.

We can debate whether Google got there with Pixel, but in my view, the Pixel 8 series is nearly perfect and is a viable alternative to iPhone in ways that other Android handsets, including those from Samsung, just aren’t. But the Pixel 8 is held back by the rest of the ecosystem, and it is here that Google needs to focus.

Unfortunately for Google, this is one of those pee-or-get-off-the-pot moments. It can’t just dabble in the ecosystem, it has to do real work, invest real time and effort, and make real breakthroughs. Otherwise, why bother? Half-ass is a commodity, it’s everywhere. This needs to be Apple quality.

Unfortunately for Pixel fans like myself, Google doesn’t exactly have a history of getting it right. What it does have is a history of half-assing it and then giving up. And this kind of reeks of that familiar playbook, doesn’t it?

The word “relaunch” should raise your suspicion antenna. This isn’t admitting defeat and going back to the drawing board to get it right, as Microsoft did with Surface Pro 3. It’s throwing what you already have at the wall in a new configuration (like what Microsoft did with Surface 2). And it’s not going to work because it doesn’t address the real problems with this device. Which, again, are its display aspect ratio and its price. This thing just isn’t competitive. It’s not enough.

Instead of relaunching a product that doesn’t work, maybe Google could reimagine Pixel Tablet. Give in the 4:2 or 3:2 display it needs. Add a built-in kickstand, maybe even something that works in both landscape and portrait. And then undercut the previous-generation iPad and sell it for about $300. And, sure, if you want to build out a pseudo-productivity use case with a keyboard and stylus, go nuts.

But get the basics right first. This is Job One.