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    Google Pixel Slate: So close, yet so far, from being a perfect Chrome-Android tablet hybrid

    Jan 08, 2019 10 minutes
    BY MICHAEL SIMON

    Reviewing the Pixel Slate was like reviewing two devices. Out of the box, it’s something of a high-end Android tablet running full-screen Play Store apps and a touch-friendly interface. But when you attach it to the Pixel Slate Keyboard, it transforms into a premium Chromebook, with a large multitouch trackpad and PC-like multitasking.

    The Pixel Slate appears to be a dream 2-in-1, the rare hybrid device that truly conforms to your immediate needs. Where the iPad Pro and various convertible PCs fail to consider the jarring interface changes when switching from a touch-based UI to a keyboard-based UI, Google has designed Chrome OS’s new hybrid interface specifically with the Pixel Slate in mind. Google understands that you’ll use your Chromebook differently as a tablet than you would as a laptop.

    So the Pixel Slate deserves to be taken seriously as the next generation of both Chromebooks and Android tablets. It’s the culmination of a three-year evolution from the Chromebook Pixel to the Pixel C and Pixelbook. At once a tablet that wants to be a laptop and a laptop that wants to be a tablet, it’s better at doing both than anything else out there.

    But it’s also a work-in-progress saddled with frustrating limitations, flaws, glitches, and a bit of tug-of-war between the Android and Chrome sides of its personality. All these issues conspire to prevent the Pixel Slate from being all it could be.

    PIXEL SLATE PRICING AND FEATURES

    The Pixel Slate comes in several configurations, ranging from an Intel Celeron and topping off at an 8th-gen Core i7 processor. That’s a wide

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