A look at the Pixel tablet’s interface: Android, smart display, Google Home and camera [Gallery]

Aside from the Pixel tablet being powered by Tensor G2 and featuring a charging speaker dock, Google showed off more of the Android UI and multiple smart display-inspired screens.

Android for tablets

Google specifically said that the “foundation for Pixel Tablet is Android, including Material You”.

And just as our Pixel phones have always been the best and purest expression of Android, Pixel Tablet is the best way to experience Android on a tablet.

To that end, let’s see what the Pixel home screen looks like on tablets. At a Glance, which already gets a few upgrades with the Pixel 7, appears in the top corner and is left-aligned again, despite all the horizontal space available. In addition to apps, the dock includes a search bar with voice/assistant and Google Lens access. The home screen appears to be in a 6×4 configuration.

It’s interesting which apps Google has placed and highlighted on the Pixel tablet’s home screen. We see Recorder in a hint that Google will update the UI for tablets, which could look very similar to the existing landscape design. Along with Gmail, Drive, Docs, Sheets, Keep, the presence of Recorder reflects how Google has told us the Pixel Tablet should offer a good productivity experience, especially with the Workspace app suite.

Meanwhile, the tablet’s content consumption side is reflected in Google TV and YouTube, as well as photos, although this is also intended to reflect how photo editing becomes more beautiful on a larger screen. A stranger inclusion is the Personal Safety app. How exactly this is supposed to work is not clear.

We take another look at the two-column Settings app, set back to Wallpaper & Style. We see that the lock screen without notifications only centers the two-line clock. Otherwise, warnings appear on the right with a maximum of five lines and icons for everything else in a taskbar. Under At a Glance we see an even bigger media player.

Finally, on the lock screen, we have a home shortcut that takes you to control smart devices. The main UI is unchanged and just a grid, but a tap will reveal how the controls appear as a right-aligned pop-up for the Nest Thermostat. This UI preserves context, and it would be good if this element appeared more on Android.

Smart Display UI on the Pixel tablet

When the Pixel tablet is connected to the charging speaker dock and is showing slideshows, the time and At a Glance appear in the corner, while a cast icon that says “This Tablet” appears in the top right.

Accessing the Google Assistant when it’s docked loads a bottom sheet UI that spans the full width of the screen. (Going a bit narrower wouldn’t hurt.) This is the opposite of Nest Hub, which shows command transcripts above, while Google takes heavy inspiration from docked music controls. The Now Playing screen is very similar to the Smart Display version, with large cover art, scrubber, play/pause, shuffle, rewind, and even cast controls.

Android tablet apps

Google has also peeked at a handful of new tablet-optimized apps, noting that it “has been working closely with developers to ensure apps take advantage of big-screen features like split screen and stylus support.”

• Google home: The design shown at I/O was based on the previous iteration. This new one still uses a navigation bar but looks a lot better with five tabs instead of just two. We see the favorites screen making use of the extra real estate for a great tablet experience. We also take a look at the camera stream UI.
• Google camera: Following version 8.7 on Pixel 7 and 7 Pro, we’ve placed app controls on the left side. These include a settings drop-down menu in the top-left corner and a pill-shaped controller.
• Google One: Another look at the app, which looks like the website and isn’t live yet.

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