Google’s highly anticipated event is taking place at New York, and a slew of interesting announcements have started coming in. The company has now announced a brand new tablet, called the Pixel Slate, which will take on Apple’s iPad, and other premium tablets currently available in the market.
Onward to the specifics. The device comes with a keyboard cover that also doubles as a stand. It also looks like Google had its ear to the ground, as the company has included a touch pad! Yup, a tablet with a touch pad. This will not only give the Pixel Slate something of an edge over other premium tablets, the touch pad along with a keyboard, will let people use the device as a tablet.
Of course, if you would rather use pen to navigate and do other interesting stuff, Google also announced a Pen, which has very originally been named Google Pen – Pun intended.
The device comes with a display density of 293ppi. Interestingly, Google is aiming its device at creators, which will of course bring it into direct competition with the iPad Pro and Surface products. Apart from a touch pad and pen, Google has also provided the Pixel Slate tablet with a pair of stereo speaker grilles on the side bezels. Camera-wise, you get 8 MP of shooting power on the front as well as the rear of the device. Both of these cameras are powered by machine learning, in tune with the Pixel smartphones.
Taking a leaf out of Apple’s book, the Pixel Slate packs a few innovative features. For one, the launcher suggests commonly used applications letting you pull them up with a swipe. Google Assistant of course, forms a critical part of the device and folks will be able to do stuff with their voice. To access the device, you can rely on the power button, which has an integrated fingerprint reader to security.
Folks buying the Pixel Slate will also receive a free three month subscription to YouTube TV, along side in-built virus protection and automatic updates.
Now the device is not going to come cheap. Pixel Slate starts shipping later this year with a price tag of $599, which is a tad pricier than some of Apple’s iPad options. Meanwhile, buying the keyboard will set you back by an additional $199, while the Pen will cost another $99. Of course, you can use a cheaper, third-party pen however, there would definitely be a trade-off in terms of functions.
