Google Unveils Pixel Slate, Its First Laptop-Tablet Hybrid in Three Years (engadget.com) 73
In addition to announcing new flagship phones today, Google took the wraps off a new premium tablet called the Pixel Slate. It's a Chrome OS-powered slate with a 12.3-inch display that's supposed to be the sharpest in its class. Google claims this isn't just a laptop pretending to be a tablet or a phone pretending to be a computer. From a report: It has a resolution of 3,000 x 2,000 -- i.e., a pixel density of 293 ppi, which Google says is the highest for a premium 12-inch tablet. For reference, the Surface Pro 6 and iPad Pro (12.9 inch) come in at 267 ppi and 264 ppi, respectively. Google was able to make the screen so sharp because of an energy-efficient LCD technology called Low Temperature PolySilicon (LTPS), which let the company pack in more pixels without sacrificing size or battery. In fact, the Pixel Slate is supposed to last up to 12 hours on a charge, which is impressive for its skinny 7mm profile. [...] What stands out about the Pixel Slate is the version of Chrome OS it runs. When docked to a mouse or a keyboard accessory with a trackpad, it runs the regular desktop interface most people are familiar with by now. Disconnect peripherals, though, and it switches automatically to tablet mode, which is optimized for touch. In this profile, the home screen features icons for installed apps, much like the app drawer on Android phones. You can split the screen between up to two apps or drag and drop browser tabs to place them side by side. The Pixel Slate will be available with an Intel Celeron or Core M3, i5 or i7 processor, and 4GB to 16GB of RAM at a starting price of $599. The keyboard will cost an additional $200, should you wish to buy one, and the pen accessory will similarly cost $99.
Re: (Score:2)
So what grand new innovative technology had you came out with?
It is easy to insult a new product. Then just get grumpy as all the new stuff coming out isn't meeting your idea of what new technology should be.
The Desktop PC in the 1980's and 1990's had killed the grand scheme of people seeing a Mainframe future.
Now mobile is over taking out PC Future.
It seems we take a take a step back when a an emerging technology gets to a point of non-trivial useful ness.
While mainframes were getting more and more powerfu
Re: (Score:2)
Sounds like a real piece of shit!
Indeed! I assume it gives away all your personal information, and google lies about all their privacy terms.
It seems that their efforts to avoid regulatory interest don't fit well into an overall public relations strategy. After giving away my personal information, and then lying about it (by omission from their regulatory filings as a public company) they really have no position to even ask to be trusted with anything at any level.
The only way for Google to restore user and investor confidence is if the go
Those accessories are prohibitively expensive (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Those accessories are prohibitively expensive (Score:5, Insightful)
If you make accessories too expensive, you end up putting yourself in the price range of real laptops running Windows while holding no real competitive advantages. No thanks.
Well $99 for a pen is pretty normal... but $200 for a keyboard is crazy. I mean it starts at $600, if you go for the base model that's 1/3rd of the cost. For that you get the screen, CPU, GPU, memory, storage, wireless etc. and then $200 just to have keys... Surface takes $129 for a type cover, Apple $169 so ~$150 would be in line with the competition. I know they make money back on accessories but when you make Apple look cheap you have a problem.
Re: (Score:2)
You have never tried a high end individual key illuminated keyboard, still seems really high but the keys feel so good and it's really pretty in a darkened room and programmable G1 infinite super fast right button mouse click that doesn't count as a double click, so useful in so many 'er' applications.
Ahh the cute little privacy invasive pixies er pixels, two microphones and two cameras to here and see everything going on and just to make sure, a fingerprint scanner on the power button. It is just me or doe
Re: (Score:2)
You know that $129 Type Cover is backlit? And it is actually a pretty good keyboard that includes a good trackpad. The keyboard is much better than Apples latest ultra flatpack keyboards. And Apple's prices only for a keyboard.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Christ. Chrome is slow on my Surface Pro that has 16 GB of RAM with an i7!
With Google's Long term Support (Score:1)
Just like Google+ and all those other now forgotten Google things you bought into.
Except this one actually has a dollar price.
Re: (Score:1)
Does anyone have a curated list of Google products that have either failed or been removed from the market?
Looking far a curator other than Google, of course.
Re:With Google's Long term Support (Score:4, Informative)
Google graveyard. [lifewire.com]
Re: (Score:2)
Nobody actually bought into Google+ and nobody cares that it's going away.
The accounts that were created were the ones Google forced people to create to sign up for YouTube and other services that they actually did want and people dind't use them. Even Google admitted that 90% of all recent logins to Google+ last less than 5 seconds. At best, those are people who clicked the wrong icon in the Google menu, but it's more likely that it's just a bunch of bots.
Google hasn't forced anyone to buy Chromebooks to
Re: (Score:2)
Slashdot? I dunno, Antisocial?
$200 for keyboard (Score:4, Insightful)
Typical accessory scam.
Re: (Score:2)
Emmy Noether would be proud of you
Re: (Score:2)
Is it just a bluetooth keyboard? I mean, I have no problem with Google charging $200 for a keyboard, as long as I can also use my $35 keyboard. If I feel so inclined, I'll buy Google's.
But if Google's keyboard is the only one that works with it? No thanks.
"isn't just" (Score:2)
Google claims this isn't just a laptop pretending to be a tablet
It's so much *more* than a laptop pretending to be a tablet!
Ha Ha wording. English always offers such great opportunity for inadvertent hilarity.
Ad video in the article has terrible implications (Score:3)
So I read through the article and at the end they link to a YouTube video ad for the Pixel Slate.
For an iPad a video like that would show HD video editors composing and refining video on the fly demonstrating the power of the device.
For the Slate though, the video basically amounts to "it plays videos real good". Google's vision really is tablets as pure consumption, not creation devices I guess (so then why even make a stylus I wonder??).
I can see maybe getting a super cheap Fire tablet for something mostly non-interactive but not as much as Google is charging for a much less functional device.
Re:Ad video in the article has terrible implicatio (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3)
Should you wish to be known as someone who lies to himself and others, go right ahead.
I setup the firewalls for a major photo/video studio's different locations around Paris this year. Macs, PC's and iPad Pros were heavily used in production. Not a single Andoid tablet to be found.
Re: (Score:2)
One could also make the argument that Google's video is realistic while Apple's is delusional.
Not so much.
Here is a non-Apple review showing silky-smooth EDITING of 4K video on the LOWEST of the current iPad line, the 2017 iPad 9.7:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
Re: (Score:2)
Yes they do (Score:2)
I edit video on an iPad, and it works really well.
What you are missing is the very real world of iPhone filmography and high-end capture apps that really wring quality from the sensor. On the iPad Apple has provided very powerful video editing tools... tons of people use them and Apple shows people using them in ads very realistically, as I have seen others do.
Re: (Score:2)
What you are missing is the very real world of iPhone filmography and high-end capture apps that really wring quality from the sensor.
Which has absolutely nothing to do with using a tablet for real work.
Re: (Score:2)
It does when they stay on iOS devices for editing which as I explained I have seen people do.
Your definition of "real work" is laughably small compared to what is being done in real life, today.
Re: (Score:2)
The point is that no one actually does it.
Translation: *I* don't do it; so nobody else does, either.
Thanks for playing, Hater.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Put down the koolaid.
Put aside the Hate.
Stupid resolution (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Because 3:2 is a less cumbersome aspect ratio for a mobile device than 16:9. Physically more compact and lower perimeter and higher screen area.
Luckily bicubic scaling can be done in hardware these days and is fairly cheap and at high resolutions quite effective. You'll have a little box on the device, but maybe the extra 320 lines can be used to let you scroll through YouTube comments or display ads while you watch your slightly downscaled 4K videos.
I do agree that it would be nice if we conformed to some
More pixels! (Score:2)
More crapware. More forced updates. Merry-go-round of deprecated services (Google+, XMPP, etc)
Android could be really good, technically speaking, if it were device first and cloud second. Google has the ecosystem backwards and essentially we're paying $$$ to host advertising space for Google.
I don't know which is worse, the forking of Android and lack of software updates from second tier Android vendors. Or the official Android branch and Google branded devices that have a problematic amount of garbage and
Re: (Score:3)
ChromeOS isn't Android. It can run a virtualized version of Android to let you run Android apps, but the underlying OS isn't compatible with Android (a fact that became apparent when Google tried to implement native support for Android apps and failed).
If you're going to rant about Google's products, at least make an attempt to rant about the actual product you're posting in response to. ChromeOS has plenty of rant-worthy flaws, but you didn't actually touch on any of them.
Re: (Score:2)
If you're going to rant about Google's products, at least make an attempt to rant about the actual product you're posting in response to. ChromeOS has plenty of rant-worthy flaws, but you didn't actually touch on any of them.
You realize my comment "Merry-go-round of deprecated services" applied to Chrome equally right?
Anyways, to expand on my original point. I've developed for both, professionally as a system software developer for a hardware vendor.
In many ways ChromeOS is worse at being an operating system than Android. ChromeOS is less rich in terms of cross-application functionality, but that does make it simpler and easier to secure. And Chrome is more squarely aimed at being a dumb terminal that accesses many cloud-based
Screen res - BFD (Score:2)
"It has a resolution of 3,000 x 2,000 -- i.e., a pixel density of 293 ppi, which Google says is the highest for a premium 12-inch tablet. For reference, the Surface Pro 6 and iPad Pro (12.9 inch) come in at 267 ppi and 264 ppi, respectively."
So its pixel density is 11% higher than the competition. Big friggin' deal. Each device runs a drastically different OS, and that is what will cause people to buy or ignore each product. It's not like that 11% difference will enable any magical abilities on the Google p
Expensive (Score:1)
Ok, so let's do a quick price comparison.
Picked the same configuration for both - i5, 8GB RAM, 128GB storage
All prices are in US$, taken directly from Google's and Microsof't web stores, no discounts applied.
Pixel Slate - $1299
Slate Keyboard: $259
Pixel Pen: $129
Total: $1687
Surface Pro 6 - $899
Surface Type Cover - $129
Surface Pen - $99
Total: $1127
Will even throw a year of O365 Home to Surface configuration ($79), final total: $1206
Now, is the Pixel Slate *REALLY* worth nearly $500 extra?
Re: (Score:2)
If they charge a reasonable price for it, people will want to buy it.
If people buy it, they will become fans of it.
If people become fans of it, they will get mad when it is discontinued.
This is the natural evolution of Google's product history. They're just trying to stem the tide of disgruntled former fans who hate them now.
So yes, the extra $500 is totally worth it to Google, as long as nobody actually gives it to them.
Re: (Score:3)
Where are you getting your numbers?
i5 with 8/128 is 999
keyboard is 199
pen is 99
for a grand total of 1297
I'm geting my $US from here:
https://store.google.com/produ... [google.com]
Re: (Score:2)
My bad - I got flipped to Canadian store.
So the real difference is $170.
In other news, Canucks are being fleeced for their electronics......
Re: (Score:2)
My bad - I got flipped to Canadian store. So the real difference is $170. In other news, Canucks are being fleeced for their electronics......
Since you didn't notice I assume this is CAD:
Total: $1687
vs
for a grand total of 1297
Google says 1687 CAD = 1305 USD. So like $8 difference, I think you goofed again...
Re: (Score:2)
Where are you getting your numbers?
i5 with 8/128 is 999
keyboard is 199
pen is 99
for a grand total of 1297
I'm geting my $US from here:
https://store.google.com/produ... [google.com]
So what? Still significantly more than an iPad Pro system with DOUBLE the Flash Storage.
Re: (Score:2)
We live in a world where an $85 leather wrapped rock [cnn.com] sold out. Why would you think people wouldn't buy an overpriced computer?
Re: (Score:2)
Ok, so let's do a quick price comparison.
Picked the same configuration for both - i5, 8GB RAM, 128GB storage
All prices are in US$, taken directly from Google's and Microsof't web stores, no discounts applied.
Pixel Slate - $1299
Slate Keyboard: $259
Pixel Pen: $129
Total: $1687
Surface Pro 6 - $899
Surface Type Cover - $129
Surface Pen - $99
Total: $1127
Will even throw a year of O365 Home to Surface configuration ($79), final total: $1206
Now, is the Pixel Slate *REALLY* worth nearly $500 extra?
I notice you didn't put Apple into the mix. Wonder why?
iPad Pro 12.9" with 256 GB Flash (WiFi only) $949
Smart Keyboard $169 (or use the Logitech iPad Pro Keyboard case for $129) https://www.amazon.com/Logitec... [amazon.com]
(or use any BT Keyboard, like this $35 one) https://www.amazon.com/iClever... [amazon.com]
Apple Pencil $99
Total: $1083 to $1177, depending on which accessories you choose.
Looks like, for the smart shopper, at $1083, the iPad Pro 12.9" handily beats BOTH the Surface Pro AND the Pixel Slate, and even though the a
Discontinued in a year (Score:1)
Still not unseating Nintendo (Score:1)
The redesigns they have been putting out lately look like they belong in a child's toy.
Headphone (Score:2)
And it has no headphone jack. Fail.
So I still have nothing to replace my ancient Nexus 10 with that is reasonable. I don't want a narrow screen (want large 16:9 video). I don't want to spend as much as a laptop. I don't care about a keyboard (that is why I want a TABLET). I don't care about pens. But I do want a headphone jack, very long battery life, and lots of storage (32GB *free* minimum). Closest thing in years now seems to be the Samsung Tab S4- but that means very expensive and questionable An
Missing keys (Score:2)
Notably missing keys: home, end, page up, page down, delete. Not even an obvious function shift. Going to be a super pain for word processing. Otherwise it's almost a PC, with tight storage and zero expandability. Unfortunately I rate the keyboard a fail for its intended PC replacement purpose.
Re: (Score:2)
You eventually grit your teeth and tolerate the missing keys. You never get back to the same speed, you now need two hands to do these functions which in many cases are even more common than regular text. You can apologize for it, but that doesn't magically transform it into a decent keyboard for PC replacement. So, fail. This thing is really just another media consumption and texting device.
Meh, the screen (Score:2)
The screen resolution is a downer. Nobody wil make software that fits that oddball aspect ratio
No SD card slot? (Score:1)
No SD card slot = no purchase.