Advertisement

Pixel Tablet vs. the competition: Google's latest stab at making Android tablets a thing

The 11-inch tablet doubles as a smart display.

Photo by: Sam Rutherford / Engadget

Google is ready to give Android tablets another go. Nearly five years after launching the ill-fated Pixel Slate, the company has fully taken the wraps off its latest large-screen device, the Pixel Tablet. Google had teased the device a couple of times over the past year, but now it's official: This is a 10.95-inch tablet that doubles as a Nest Hub-style smart display with an included speaker dock. That dock also charges the tablet, and the slate itself runs on the same Tensor G2 SoC you'd find in a Pixel 7 phone.

The Pixel Tablet starts at $499 and is available to pre-order starting today, with shipping starting in June. We'll have a full review in the future, but for now, we've laid out how the device compares on the spec sheet to a couple popular alternatives in Apple's 10th-gen iPad and Samsung's Galaxy Tab A8. The $599 iPad Air and $630 Galaxy Tab S8 are notable options here, too, but since the Pixel Tablet is really two devices in one, we've stuck to sub-$500 options below. You can read our initial hands-on for more impressions.

Google Pixel Tablet

Apple iPad (10th gen)

Samsung Galaxy Tab A8

Pricing (MSRP)

$499 (128 GB), $599 (256 GB)

$449 (64 GB), $599 (256 GB)

$230 (32 GB), $280 (64 GB), $330 (128 GB)

Dimensions

258 x 169 x 8.1mm (10.2 x 6.7 x 0.3 inches)

248.6 x 179.5 x 7mm (9.79 x 7.07 x 0.28 inches)

246.8 x 161.9 x 6.9mm (9.72 x 6.37 x 0.27 inches)

Weight

493g (17.4 oz)

477g (16.8 oz)

508g (17.9 oz)

Screen size

10.95 inches (278mm)

10.9 inches (277mm)

10.5 inches (267mm)

Screen resolution

2,560 x 1,600 (276 ppi)

2,360 x 1,640 (264 ppi)

1,920 x 1,200 (216 ppi)

Screen type

LCD, 16:10 aspect ratio, 500 nits brightness (typical)

IPS LCD, 23:16 aspect ratio, 500 nits brightness (typical)

TFT LCD, 16:10 aspect ratio

SoC

Google Tensor G2

Apple A14 Bionic

Unisoc Tiger T618

RAM

8 GB LPDDR5

4 GB LPDDR4X

3 GB / 4 GB

Battery

27 Wh

28.6 Wh (7,606 mAh)

7,040 mAh

Internal storage

128 GB / 256 GB

64 GB / 256 GB

32 GB / 64 GB / 128 GB

External storage

None

None

microSDXC up to 1 TB

Rear camera(s)

8MP, f/2.0

12MP, f/1.8, 5x Digital zoom

8MP

Front camera(s)

8MP, f/2.0

12MP, f/2.4

5MP

Video capture

Front camera: 1080p at 30 fps

Rear camera: 1080p at 30 fps

Front camera: 1080p at 25 fps, 30 fps, 60 fps

Rear camera: 4K at 24 fps, 25 fps, 30 fps, 60 fps; 1080p at 25 fps, 30 fps, 60 fps, 120 fps, 240 fps

Front camera: 1080p at 30 fps

Rear camera: 1080p at 30 fps

WiFi

WiFi 6

WiFi 6

802.11ac

Bluetooth

v5.2

v5.2

v5.0

OS

Android 13

5 years of security updates

iPadOS 16.1, upgradeable to iPadOS 16.4.1

Android 11, upgradeable to Android 13, One UI 5.1

Colors

Porcelain, Hazel, Rose

Silver, Blue, Pink, Yellow

Gray, Silver, Pink Gold

Other features

Comes with Charging Speaker Dock for 15W wireless charging, external speakers and smart home control; Google Cast support (in Hub Mode), stylus support, USB-C 3.2 Gen 1, Titan M2 security chip, 1-year warranty

Apple Pencil (1st gen) support, Cellular models available, FaceTime, Center Stage, iMessage, landscape-oriented front camera, USB-C 2.0, 1-year warranty

3.5mm headphone jack, Dolby Atmos tuning, 15W charging, USB-C 2.0

Follow all of the news from Google I/O 2023 right here.

If you buy something through a link in this article, we may earn commission.