Google Pixel Slate price: Pre-orders open for Google’s hybrid tablet computer

Tom Bedford October 9, 2018

Google’s Pixel Slate was a somewhat unexpected announcement from Google at its October event. Revealed alongside the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL and Google Home Hub, only last-minute leaks had suggested we may see it revealed.

Described as a hybrid of the best parts of a laptop, tablet and phone, the Pixel Slate sits between Google’s pre-existing Pixelbook laptop and Pixel C tablet. Although Google was careful not to categorise Slate as either, it’s own website redirects the “Tablets” page to the Pixel Slate.

But Google’s hybrid device is far from a gimmick, boasting impressive visual fidelity and audio prowess, alongside a sleek and fluid new Chome OS.

Read on to find out everything we know about the Google Pixel Slate.

Google Pixel Slate: Everything we know.

Google Pixel Slate: Price and release date

Prices start for the Google Pixel Slate at a very respectable £549. However, this is its starting price, with different processor configurations seeing it creep up to £1,549. That’s a not so respectable £1,000 increase.

Pre-orders for the Pixel Slate are open now from Google’s online store, however the actual release date is a cryptic “delivers in 2-3 weeks”.

Just like with the Surface Go, Surface Pro and iPad Pro, Pixel Slate’s price tag doesn’t get you everything. The Pixel Pen will cost you £75 and the Pixel Keyboard and case is twice that at £150. Neither of these devices are strictly necessary for using the Pixel Slate but if you want it to be anything more than a powerful tablet, they’re going to be necessary.

Google Pixel Slate: Design

The Google Pixel Slate’s specs are impressive. It has a 12.3in display with a 2,000 x 3,000-pixel resolution. Because it uses polycrystalline silicon instead of an LCD display, Google claims the screen creates fantastic images without using too much battery life – something we’ll have to test in an eventual review.

google_pixel_slate_keyboard

Dual speakers on the front of the device project sound towards the user, creating a clean and crisp sound while reducing overall noise pollution to those around you. There’s also no headphone jack on the device, so you’re either likely to use these speakers a lot, or you’ll need some Bluetooth or USB Type-C headphones.

The Pixel Slate was designed to be a handheld device that provided a laptop experience, and as such it’s fairly lightweight. However its operating system is clearly that of a laptop, as it uses the newest iteration of chromeOS.

Google Pixel Slate: Features

Naturally, the Pixel Slate comes with Google assistant to speed up navigation. In addition, split-screen functionality was an important part of Google’s sales pitch — the ability to play games on one half of the screen and “work” (in as many quotation marks as necessary) is certainly a draw for the device.

A variety of apps come packaged with the Pixel Slate including Google Suite and desktop browser-style Chrome, with access to extensions and multiple tabs. The Play Store brings the potential for many more — health apps were specifically mentioned, but Netflix and a variety of games were shown too. In addition, a new version of Adobe Acrobat lets you view and edit PDFs to a greater degree, although this wasn’t elaborated upon much by Google.

The Pixel Slate has 8-megapixel front and back cameras, which have a wide-angle lens and are designed to perform well in low light. According to Google, the front camera is optimised to be great for video calling and both snappers utilise the same imaging tech as found on the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL.

Security-wise, Google’s Titan Chip protects the device by storing login information and other aspects to the device’s security in an encrypted chip within the device, leaving it free from the risk of another Google data leak. You’re also protected by Google’s Play Protect built-in antivirus.