Google Pixel Slate Announced With Custom Chrome OS, New Detachable Keyboard

In addition to announcing the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL, Google announced a new Chrome OS tablet called the Pixel Slate. Unlike the Pixelbook, the new Pixel Slate is a tablet that has an optional keyboard cover case and customized version of Chrome OS.

“Google Pixel Slate is designed to entertain and help you do more in a fresh, mobile form,” Google said on its blog. “We combined a touch-first user interface, optimized Android apps and powerful desktop-style features in Chrome OS to deliver a no-compromise device.”

Google designed the Pixel Slate as a more versatile device that can easily be used for both work and play. The Chrome OS tablet comes with rounded edges and curved 2.5D glass. It’s only 7mm thin and weighs 1.6 pounds. The tablet comes with a 12.3-inch LTPS LCD Molecular Display with a screen resolution of 3,000 x 2,000 and a pixel density of 293ppi.

Like Google’s pair of new Pixel 3 phones, the Pixel Slate comes with dual front-facing speakers, which should provide users with better audio performance for watching content. Google said that the speakers are algorithmically tuned to deliver crisp highs and clear lows.

The Pixel Slate is packing a 48WHr that Google said is capable of up to 10 hours of battery life on a single charge. The tablet also has an 8-megapixel camera up front and on the back. The power button on the device doubles as a fingerprint scanner that can be used to unlock the tablet instead of entering a password.

Since the tablet is designed for both work and play, the Pixel Slate comes in a number of configurations. The cheapest variant costs $599 and that’s powered by an Intel Celeron processor with 4GB of RAM and 32GB of SSD storage. The most expensive configuration costs $1,599 and it’s powered by an Intel Core i7 processor with 16GB of RAM and 256GB of SSD storage, according to 9To5Google.

Other configurations:

• Intel Celeron processor, 8GB RAM, 64GB SSD – $699
• Intel Core m3 processor, 8GB RAM, 64GB SSD – $799
• Intel Core i5 processor, 8GB RAM, 128GB SSD – $999

The Google Pixel Slate also has an optional keyboard cover that’s sold separately for $199. The Pixel Slate attaches to the keyboard cover with a magnetic connecter on one of its sides. When the tablet is connected to Google’s official keyboard cover, the user interface will change into a traditional Chrome OS desktop. When the tablet is detached from the keyboard, the user interface is more touchscreen-friendly.

The new keyboard features full-size, backlit keys that Google is calling Hush Keys, and they are said to be very quiet to type on. The keyboard also has a large trackpad, a dedicated Assistant button and it is fully adjustable so users can work or play comfortably in any angle.

Unlike other detachable keyboards, Google’s keyboard cover for the Pixel Slate comes with round keys. It’s very likely that Google chose this type of design so that it would blend well with the circular app icons on Chrome OS. It’s still unknown how this will affect typing accuracy. The new Pixel Slate also supports Google’s Pixelbook Pen stylus, which originally launched last year for $99.

Unfortunately, Google didn’t provide an exact release date for the Pixel Slate. However, the company did say that it will arrive sometime later this year and that it will be available on the Google Store and other retailers in the U.S., Canada and the U.K.