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 fo...