The brand name Android might not be around in a few years time. Google's latest in a long line of cuts to the brand happened right before our eyes, this week at the company's Pixel event. While the company launched several products that ran with or on Android, the word Android wasn't used one single time. Not in the official on-stage presentation, anyway.
Earlier this week, Google introduced the world to the Pixel Slate, a new tablet that seems poised to take on Apple's iPad and Microsoft's Surface. The tablet seems like a pretty capable (albeit expensive) device depending on the configuration you choose, but one thing notably missing is LTE capability. Today, Samsung introduced the Chromebook Plus V2 (LTE), and it fills that particular gap with integrated LTE.
This morning I was about to get up-in-arms about the lack of a headphone jack on the new Google Pixel Slate. Then I saw what they'd done instead. Lots of devices that've abandoned the headphone jack were released over the past couple of years with no reasonable wired alternative. Google, instead of doing what everyone else did, came to the table with USB-C x2.
![Google Pixel Slate hands-on: 2-in-1 confusion [Updated]](https://c.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/google-pixel-slate-19-1-980x620.jpg){kind=tracking}
The Google Pixel Slate is confusing. On the one hand, it's an iPad Pro competitor, and priced to suit. From that perspective, the slender metal construction, sizable display, and detachable keyboard make a lot of sense for a Chrome OS alternative to Apple's pro-tablet.
The Google Pixel Slate is one giant tablet made to traverse the boundaries between desktop and mobile. This device is sold as a tablet, on it's own, but much like some of the most obvious competition (the iPad Pro, for example), it'll make the most sense with its sold-separately keyboard accessory. This device runs Chrome OS, and because the newest versions of Chrome run Android apps (and have for some time now), you'll find a whole lot of Android going on, too.
Google might soon be unveiling the top of the line Chromebook for this year but partner OEMs are steering clear by announcing their new devices first. HP has just unveiled the HP Chromebook x360 14 and now ASUS is doing likewise, this time aiming for more budget-constrained buyers. The ASUS Chromebook C423 probably won’t win awards in specs or design but, depending on the price, it delivers all the basic Chrome OS power you need without gimmicks and, hopefully, without a high price tag, too.
Pixel 3, Pixel 3 XL, Pixel Slate, the Google Home Hub, and maybe some surprises: Google is ramping up for its big October 9 launch event, and we've a good idea of what it'll have to show you. The festivities don't kick off until Tuesday morning, at 10am ET (7am PT) but leaks, rumors, speculation, and more have given us some solid predictions of what's on the schedule.
Chrome OS fans, not just Android fans, are just counting down hours before Google’s big event. And with good reason. The Pixel Slate, leaked to be the formal name of the Chrombook once known as the “Nocturne” could very well be the Chrome OS device you have been waiting for. Or should be waiting for. Because while Chromebooks and Chrome OS itself started out looking simply like yet another short-lived Google experiment, the Google Pixel Slate might very well demonstrate both Chrome OS’ potential as well as its realization.
HP has launched a new premium laptop running Google's Chrome OS, the new HP Chromebook x360 14. This model boasts convertible functionality, what HP calls a premium design, and durability thanks in part to a protective, decorative coating. Unlike many Chromebooks, the Chromebook x360 has a fairly large display at 14-inches, and it also packs 8th-generation Intel Core processors.
Google's big Pixel event is only two days away now, but unfortunately almost all the company's big product announcements have been leaked over the last week or so. Not only have we gotten early looks at the new Pixel 3 smartphone, but also the upcoming Pixel Slate tablet. Long-rumored to be Google's first Chrome OS-powered tablet, final images of the device have surfaced revealing the UI, detachable keyboard, and other details.
The Google Pixel Slate is one of several surprises set for official reveal on October 9th - and today we're running down the full details. This is the first time we've got what we consider the full picture. That is: Photos (or renders), Code-names, and multiple release-level builds. The latest in a line of leaks is a set of benchmarks that show the many different versions of the device likely headed toward the big event on October 9th as held by Google.
While majority of the interest for Google's event next week naturally revolves around the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL phones, the event will most likely go beyond that. There's the already leaked Google Home Hub and the recently leaked new Chromecast. And then there's the Google Pixel Slate, the Chromebook believed to be internally called "Nocturne". This tablet-like device is going to be a lot of firsts for Google, including the first time it concedes space with another and rivaling operating system.