Google announces Pixel C Android tablet

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

It wasn't the software that was lacking; it was the hardware, especially the CPUs and GPUs.

I don't know about that. My better half had a phone with the old Windows Mobile OS and it was pretty terrible. I remember how blown away she was by my Samsung Galaxy S II running Gingerbread.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

I don't know about that. My better half had a phone with the old Windows Mobile OS and it was pretty terrible. I remember how blown away she was by my Samsung Galaxy S II running Gingerbread.

Windows Mobile was CE-based. Think: PDA plus phone.
Good OS but limited apps on top.

TabletPC has always been full Windows x86 for 12 years or so, since the XP era.
Amusingly, most of the early models were criticized for having 10in XGA screens.
(And then iPad was lauded for the same thing 7 years later.)

http://www.cnet.com/products/nec-ver...-pc-vlpad933/#!

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Windows Mobile was CE-based. Think: PDA plus phone.
Good OS but limited apps on top.

TabletPC has always been full Windows x86 for 13 years or so, since the XP era.

True, but Windows tablets never set the world on fire. It wasn't until Apple's iOS showed what a touch interface should be that smartphones and tablets took off. I'm not an Apple fan, but credit where credit is due.

I do think Windows 10 could be a game changer for them. Windows 8 wasn't bad, but tried too hard to fix what wasn't broke. Windows 10 seems to have struck a middle ground. Of course, I've only used Windows 10 on a non-touch netbook. But I see the potential.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

True, but Windows tablets never set the world on fire.

High prices + absolutely zero marketing.
Contrast with the marketing and product placement of Surface.

And the UI stuff is oversold.
If the "simple" UI is so much better why have both iOS and Android been scrambling to add (watered-down) multi-window and pen features that Tablet PC had 13 years ago?

And one of the highlights of Win10 is you can use the desktop UI fulltime, even with touch and on keyboard-less systems, with and without pen. Just like my old HP TabletPC.

What my new Tablet PC gives me is less weight (yay! 2lbs with keyboard vs 3.5 lbs), longer battery life (10+ hrs vs 7), and a lot less CPU heat. Plus a much lower price ($279 vs $900). All in the hardware.

The Software hasn't needed any refinement since the Vista era. It was already way ahead of the other tablet OSes in plumbing, APIs, and capability. Main mistake MS made with Win8 was not trusting their own tech. With Win10 they are recommiting to it.

And marketing.

The only OS that comes close to Windows is Linux and even that lags in the pen and natural language areas. So now that tablet users are getting over the novelty of mobile media consumption a lot of them are looking for more capability in the higher end models.

Which brings us back to the Pixel C, an attempt to boost the productivity capabilities of Android. But looking at those prices...

You have to really want Android to pay more than a Surface for a pixel.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Which brings us back to the Pixel C, an attempt to boost the productivity capabilities of Android. But looking at those prices...

You have to really want Android to pay more than a Surface for a pixel.

I'm not so sure about that. I think it's following in the same pattern as the first Pixel, which is to say, they clearly didn't expect it to actually sell.

Whatever point Google is trying to make, that isn't it. But I have no idea what that actual point may be.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

I'm not so sure about that. I think it's following in the same pattern as the first Pixel, which is to say, they clearly didn't expect it to actually sell.

Whatever point Google is trying to make, that isn't it. But I have no idea what that actual point may be.

I'm not sure either.

The logic behind Surface made sense from day one: MS proving how good Windows can be with good hardware while allowing pricing room for the OEMS to raise their game and still make money.

LENOVO, ASUS, and DELL got the message and we now have much better Tablet PCs at reasonable prices.

The Chromebook Pixels I never figured out.
Unless they wanted to see if Google brand loyalty allowed them to charge that much...

The Pixel C might be a second, more reasonable, attempt to see what the market will bear. Who knows, it might sell.
Or maybe they'll pop up on Woot by January.