Google Pixel Tablet: Everything you need to know

Google has finally unveiled the Google Pixel Tablet a full year after first teasing the tablet at Google I/O 2022. 

As expected, the Google Pixel Tablet is here to shake up the Android tablet market, using its might as the Android maker to not only optimise over 50 Google apps for use on the big screen, but key third-party apps like Disney+ and Spotify too.

It’s not your average tablet either, with the Google Pixel Tablet essentially able to shapeshift into a smart display when not in active use. Not bad for £599, right?

Here’s everything there is to know about the Google Pixel Tablet following its announcement, from pre-order and release date information to pricing and key features and specs.  

Release date

The Google Pixel Tablet is available to pre-order now ahead of release on 20 June 2023. 

Pricing

The Pixel Tablet is aiming for the sweet spot of the Android tablet market at £599, making it slightly more expensive than the £449/$479 OnePlus Pad while not quite in £999 Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra territory. 

The tablet is available to pre-order right now from the Google Store in the US, UK, Canada, Germany, France, Sweden Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Japan and Australia ahead of release in June. 

Design and display

The Pixel Tablet looks like a premium bit of kit, though the rounded corners and general design language hark back to an older look for Pixel devices, being closer to the Pixel 5 than the Pixel 7. That could be an indicator of just how long the tablet has been in development behind closed doors, but that’s just an educated guess. 

The aluminium body of the tablet is covered with Google’s unique nano-ceramic coating that should make it feel closer to porcelain or marble than a standard metal-backed tablet, and it’s available to buy in three colours: Porcelain, Hazel and Rose. 

At the heart of the tablet you’ll find a 10.95-inch LCD display with a 2560 x 1600 resolution providing a decent 276ppi. It’s not quite as boxy as the OnePlus Pad at 16:10, though that means it should be ideal for watching movies on Netflix and videos on YouTube. 

The real disappointment? Unlike most other Android tablets, the Pixel Tablet sticks at a rather basic 60Hz. 

Performance

The Google Pixel Tablet ships with the same Google Tensor G2 chipset as the flagship Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro, as well as the Pixel Fold and Pixel 7a – Google is really confident of its in-house chipset, it seems.

While we know from benchmarking the Pixel 7 that the Tensor G2 isn’t quite the snappiest around in sheer power, being beaten by the newer Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 and Apple’s A16 Bionic, it does provide key AI-powered functionality – though more on that in a bit. 

That flagship-level chipset is paired with a decent 8GB of LPDDR5 RAM and either 128 or 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage. There’s also Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2 and an Ultra-wideband chipset for connectivity, though there’s no cellular version for use without a local Wi-Fi connection. 

Software

The Google Pixel Tablet ships with Android 13 complete with Google’s Material You UI, which customises the colour scheme based on the wallpaper of your device, and it’s expected to be among the first tablets to get Android 14 at release later this year.

Google claims that there are over 50 Google-branded apps with optimisation for the Pixel Tablet, ranging from video calling apps like Google Meet – which automatically adjusts lighting and enables HD video for the first time – along with support for popular apps like Gmail and YouTube. This effort should help make sure that apps (from Google, anyway) work as well as they can on the large display of the Pixel Tablet.

The company also claims that apps like Disney+ and Spotify will play nice with the large display too.

Of course, software goes beyond app support, and Google is bringing plenty of key features of the flagship Pixel 7 Pro to the Tablet too. These include features like Magic Eraser and Photo Unblur, as well as translation and transcription capabilities powered by Google’s Pixel Speech tech.

There’s also split-screen support like most other Android tablets, allowing you to run multiple apps side-by-side to increase productivity when using the tablet. That allows you to, say, drop a photo from Google Photos directly into an email in the Gmail app. 

There’s also five years of Pixel updates to look forward to, though it’s unclear at this stage whether that’s five full OS upgrades or five years of security patches. 

Cameras

Cameras aren’t a focus when it comes to tablets in general, and it seems Google agrees, including a basic 8MP rear-facing camera with specs that’d allow it to compete with cheap smartphones in 2023 at a push.

It’s a similar story with the 8MP front-facing camera, which seems to be the exact same as the rear-facing camera in terms of hardware. Still, that should provide a level of consistency among shots taken across the rear and front lenses, and the 8MP snapper should more than suffice for video calling too.  

Charging Speaker Dock

What about when the Google Pixel Tablet isn’t in active use? That’s where the Charging Speaker Dock comes into play, essentially turning the 11-inch tablet into something similar to a smart display like the Google Nest Hub. 

The dock, as the name suggests, not only charges your tablet so it’s ready to go at a moment’s notice, but the 43.5mm full-range speaker should deliver much better audio quality not only for calls but video chats too. It snaps into place thanks to a magnetic docking interface, and charges at a fairly decent 15W.

It doesn’t simply just hold the tablet though; when docked, the entire interface will change, focusing instead on displaying key information and providing smart home controls. 

Full Google Pixel Tablet specs

• 258 x 169 x 8.1mm
• 493g
• 10.95-inch LCD display, 60Hz, 276ppi
• Google Tensor G2 chipset with Titan M2 security coprocessor
• 8GB LPDDR5 RAM
• 128 or 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage
• 27-watt-hour battery
• 15W charging
• 8MP front-facing camera
• 8MP rear-facing camera
• 1080p@30fps video recording
• Fingerprint unlock
• Power button
• Volume controls
• USB-C 3.2 Gen 1
• 4-pin accessory connector for charging, data transfer and audio output
• Quad-speaker audio system
• 3 microphones
• Wi-Fi 6
• Bluetooth 5.2
• Ultra-Wideband chipset
• Porcelain, Hazel & Rose finishes
• Compatible with Charging Speaker Dock