The Google Pixel Tablet is Google's first new tablet hardware since 2018. First teased at Google I/O 2022 and released nearly a year later in June 2023, the tablet is bundled with a charging dock that helps it act as a smart display while keeping its battery topped up. There's a lot to wrap your head around with this hybrid device, and we're here to help. Here's what you need to know about the Pixel Tablet.

Google Pixel Tablet: Design and display

The Google Pixel Tablet is a relatively plain tablet device with an 11-inch display. It comes in three colors: Porcelain (white), Rose (pink), and Hazel (greenish gray). The Porcelain and Rose variants have white bezels around their display; the Hazel's bezels are black.

The tablet's display is a 10.95-inch, 2,560 x 1,600 LCD panel. While LCD screens can't manage the perfect black levels and high contrast of OLED displays, the tablet's intended use case — never turning the display off — isn't compatible with OLED tech, which is vulnerable to image burn-in when displaying static elements for long periods.

The tablet's backside is made from aluminum and topped with what Google calls nano-ceramic coating, giving it a textured feel and a better grip. Aesthetically, the restrained design looks more like the Pixel 5 than the newer, bolder Google Pixel 8 series.

Every Pixel Tablet also comes with a color-coordinated Charging Speaker Dock, which looks a lot like the base of existing Nest Hub devices. The tablet can be magnetically fixed to the dock to charge and augment its audio output, which also allows some smart display-like functionality like Google Photos slideshow screensavers and Google Home device controls accessible from the lock screen.

Google Pixel Tablet: Specs

The Pixel Tablet is more than powerful enough for normal tablet uses like web browsing and casual gaming. Powered by the Tensor G2 chipset (the same one used in Google's Pixel 7 phones) paired with 8GB of RAM, the tablet can handle almost anything you might want to do with it. It's not as aggressively quick as the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra, but the Pixel Tablet certainly doesn't feel slow or underpowered.

Other notable specs include either 128GB or 256GB of storage space (no SD card slot here), an 8MP camera on both the front and backside of the tablet, and a 27-watt-hour battery Google says should see the tablet through 12 hours of sustained use.

Google Pixel Tablet: Software

The Pixel Tablet is the first tablet to be updated to Android 14, though the update doesn't bring many major changes from Android 13, the version the Pixel Tablet shipped with. Google said it partnered with major app developers to ensure a good tablet experience, citing examples like Spotify, Disney+, and Minecraft as having been optimized for the Pixel Tablet. But while the tablet apps situation is improving on Android, Google's work with app developers hasn't solved it yet. You still don't get access to as many high-quality tablet apps on Android as you do on iPadOS.

When attached to its bundled dock, the tablet enters what Google calls Hub Mode, which allows some Nest Hub-like functionality. While docked, the Pixel Tablet can show photo slideshows, take "Hey Google" voice commands, control smart home devices, and play music and video through Google Cast. The Pixel Tablet in Hub Mode doesn't work exactly like Nest Hub displays. Some features, like the Continued Conversation option that lets you ask follow-up questions without saying "Hey Google" over and over, aren't supported.

Google Pixel Tablet: Release date and price

The Google Pixel Tablet was made available for preorder in May, with general availability starting June 20, 2023. You can get one in the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, Denmark, France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden. We've yet to find out if it will be available in other markets.

In the US, the Pixel Tablet is available from Google and from the retailers you'd expect, including Amazon and Best Buy. It's only sold with the Charging Speaker Dock. The bundle typically costs $499 but has been available on sale for as low as $419.