Android Pixel C tablet goes on sale for $499

The Pixel products are known for being high-end Chrome OS devices, with premium build quality and pure Google experience. These are the devices that Google designs and builds itself, unlike the Nexus devices which are build by partners. The Pixel C tabletis the first Android device that Google has created itself.

If you wonder why Google came up with a Pixel tablet, then my wild guess is that Google wanted to show that Android tablets can be beautiful, powerful and productive. The fact is, despite Android’s dominance in the smartphone market, their tablets have failed to leave any mark.

Apple’s iPad dominates the tablet market and Microsoft has started to steal some thunder with its Surface tablets. But Android tablets made by players like Samsung remain the same old boring Android tablets in which no one is interested.

I have been a tablet user since the Samsung Galaxy 10.1 days, but I eventually moved to iPad because Android tablets were never more than…bigger phones.

Pixel C may change that. At the very least, Google has created some much needed excitement around Android tablets.

The Pixel C’s killer feature is the full sized keyboard that works ‘magically’ with the device. The Pixel C docks with the keyboard using very strong magnets and you can change the angle as you please, and even use it in both landscape and portrait modes. Apple’s ‘smart connector,’ by contrast, constrains the keyboard and leaves you stuck at one angle.

The Pixel C’s keyboard also doubles as a tablet case or you can stick it to the back of the tablet magnetically. You don’t have to worry about charging the keyboard as it charges charges itself inductively from the tablet. That’s what I would call a real ‘smart’ keyboard.

Pixel C is housed in an anodized Aluminum body and features an immersive 10.2 inches, 2560 x 1800 (308 PPI) 500 nits display. It’s powered by NVIDIA Tegra X1 with Maxwell GPU and 3GB or RAM. It comes in two sizes: 32GB for $499 and 64GB for $599. The keyboard is sold separately for $149. It comes with a 8PM main camera and 2MP front facing camera. The tablet runs the latest Android 6.0 Marshmallow.

With this display and processing power it will be a very powerful tablet for gaming, multimedia playback and some serious work. Since it has a full-size keyboard, creating documents and writing stories would be a pleasant task.

I will be receiving my review unit soon, so keep an eye on this page for detailed review of Pixel C. But don’t wait for the review, go ahead and order yours before it runs out of stock.