The unveiling of the Pixel Tablet came right out of left field during Google I/O this year, and we’re all excited to see how this tablet completes the fledgling Pixel ecosystem. The design is, admittedly, underwhelming, but it’s going to be all about the software and how it’s used.
And, the Pixel Tablet could actually be used as a Nest Home device
We expect to use the Pixel Tablet for regular “tablet things”. This includes watching videos, reading books, writing, and maybe some gaming. However, according to some code on Google Git (via 9To5Google), you might be able to use it for other purposes. You might be able to use the Pixel Tablet as a Nest Home device. For starters, on the back of the tablet, there’s a four-pin connector. It’s the kind of connector that other tablets use to connect to keyboards. In the case of the Pixel Tablet, it looks those pins will be used to connect the tablet to a dock. In the code, we see a hint toward a “Google Dock” that the tablet will attach to. This dock will also charge the tablet while it’s connected. The report also says that this dock could double as a home speaker. This dock could actually prop up the tablet as though it were a smart display. You’ll, undoubtedly, use it to display content much like a Nest Home product. If this is true, it could be something unique that the Pixel Tablet will have over the competition.
This is still up in the air
Right now, this is a large “if”, as we’re still months away from this tablet’s launch. For all we know, it could launch more than a year from now. We’re not sure if Google will rope Nest into this or if the company will make this its own thing. If Google were to make its own “Pixel Home” home service, it probably wouldn’t be the biggest surprise. Google is making its own smartwatch brand, but it still owns Fitbit. Now that the company is making its own hardware, it might have its own Pixel service while still owning Nest. Right now, we’re still a while out, we’ll need to wait and keep an eye on what Google is doing. For the time being, we’re still waiting on the next batch of Pixel phones to launch along with the Pixel Watch, so that will keep up occupied in the meanwhile.
