Just yesterday, we had been hearing rumors of a new Android tablet dubbed the ‘Pixel C’ and while this seemed an unlikely direction for Google to go in, what with the Pixel range being known for high-end laptop hardware for Chromebooks. Still, that didn’t stop Google from announcing what appears to be one hell of an off-beat product that also happens to be one of the best pieces of hardware any Android tablet has been blessed with. The Pixel C won’t be available until later on this year, a little while after both the Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P hit shelves, but it’s an interesting product that might well be worth the wait for a lot of users.
The Pixel C appears to be a weird mix of what made the Nexus 9 so appealing last year, and what made the Chromebook Pixel a lustworthy product. The design of the Pixel is here, with a silver-y aluminum frame, blocky edges and the now-famous light bar on the tablet’s rear, it’s in the same position as it would be on a Chromebook Pixel and double-tapping it gets you a quick look at the battery percentage. Magnets play a big part in the overall design of the Pixel C, and the idea is to provide a keyboard to type with, but one that still allows the tablet to be well, a tablet. The magnets allow the Pixel C to be angled from 100 – 150 degrees, and you can stack the two items on top of each other or even hold the tablet and the keyboard will stay put. The hardware here is gorgeous and in the brief time we got with it, we can tell you it feels solid and is one of the best made pieces of hardware Google has ever created.
It’s also downright clever as well, the keyboard is Bluetooth, so there’s no physical connector, but it charges inductively via the tablet when the two are closed together, making this the keyboard that never needs to be recharged, at least not in the traditional sense. Google have said the keyboard has a pitch of 18.8mm, similar to the 19.0mm average found on 13.3-inch ultrabooks and laptops, which all goes toward an excellent typing experience thanks to the 1.4mm travel in the keys to boot. You can take a look at the Pixel C in the gallery below, and hopefully we get to see and hear more in the coming weeks.
