The upcoming Made by Google event on Wednesday morning (AEST) will see a raft of new hardware announced, and now we’re getting a good look at one of the Chrome OS devices expected to be announced, the Pixel Slate.
The Pixel Slate render comes courtesy of MySmartPrice, which shows the tablet in a deep blue colourway, from the front, back and at least one side with a matching (Pixelbook/Slate) stylus underneath.
In the render you can clearly see Chrome OS with the latest visual tweaks to the status bar, and we can also see a front-facing, centre-aligned camera.
At the top left of the tablet we see the small indentation which is likely to be the power button with embedded fingerprint scanner. Which fits with the previously seen guide in Chrome OS on how to scan a fingerprint.
A volume rocker can be seen on the left hand side of the tablet, with a small indentation towards the bottom which is expected to be a USB-C port – and if you look closely the same indentation is on the right hand side as well, which is shown off in the side render.
On the rear of the Pixel Slate, we can see the Google ‘G’ logo common on their Pixel line in the top left, while in the top right we see an external camera.
The Stylus shown in the renders appears to be the same as the Stylus introduced last year with the Pixelbook. As with the Pixelbook there doesn’t seem to be any place to store the Stylus within the tablet itself.
ChromeUnboxed found this exact Stylus on-sale on the Google Store in the UK before it was removed. Luckily they took some screen grabs to show off the new stylus in higher resolution. The two-toned Stylus has a slightly darker tone on the grip section, but is in the same dark blue colourway as the Pixel Slate and Stylus in the render.
Also provided by MySmartPrice is a picture of the folio keyboard case for the tablet. In a nod to the re-designed Chrome OS aesthetic for settings in Chrome OS, Google is going with circular keys which match and an Assistant key is present next to the space bar, while a hamburger menu is located at top right.
Finally, in the centre fold of the case you can see there’s four POGO pins for physically connecting the keyboard to the tablet.
As we saw in our previous look at the Pixel Slate provided by a third-party keyboard maker, there will be third party keyboards available for the Pixel Slate. Accessory maker Brydge seems ready to sell a rigid keyboard with a slot for the tablet at the back, seemingly ready to turn the slate into a more traditional clamshell style laptop.
The big question of course is whether Google will bring the Pixel Slate to Australia. Google has never sold one of their Chrome OS devices, including the CR48, Chromebook Pixel (2013 and 2015) or Pixelbook, so it’s unlikely they will be selling the Pixel Slate here – but it’s a very nice looking device and we have our fingers crossed.
