Pixel C team does an IAmA on Reddit; talks about Android N, Multi Window, and more

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Published 10 Dec 2015

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Pixel C

The Pixel team over at Google took to Reddit last night to answer questions from Redditors about the tablet, its future, Android N, and more.

Andrew Bowers, Hiroshi Lockheimer, Glen Murphy, Kevin Tim, Puneet Kumar and Benson Leung from the Pixel, Chrome and Google were the ones who replied to all the questions in the IAmA.

Unlike the previous IAmA done at the launch of the Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P though, this IAmA was not that interesting. Due to reasons, the Pixel team could not really divulge much information about Android N and answer other similar questions. Nonetheless, below are some highlights from the IAmA:

On Pixel C getting updated every six weeks:

PK: We expect to update Pixel C on regular cadence lining up with the monthly security updates for Android

On why the Pixel C was released before its software was finished as pointed out in its reviews:

GM: Android continues to get better and better on tablets – we think the Pixel-C is the best yet; that said – we know there are lots of things left to do, and are looking forward to releasing them when they’re awesome and ready.

Again, on the software not taking advantage of the Pixel C:

GM: We’re working hard on a range of enhancements for Android in this form-factor – there are many things, like multiwindow, that we’ve been spending a lot of time on – hopefully we can share more about this soon.

On why the Pixel C lacks double tap to wake and always-on “Ok Google” hotword detection:

KT: For double tap, we wanted to optimize for sleep battery life. The double tap drained the battery faster by leaving part of the touch screen enabled. If you use with the keyboard, it will wake when opened.

We are working on always-on “Ok Google” support for a future update.

On the lack of tablet optimised apps for Android tablets:

GM: We’re spending a lot of time working with developers to get better and more awesome tablet apps, but it is definitely a chicken-egg problem, and we think a key driver is awesome hardware (like the Pixel-C 🙂

On what the ‘C’ in Pixel C stands for:

AB: Convertible 🙂

On why the Pixel C was not named as a Nexus product:

GM: the consonants, vowels, and Xs are in the right places! Also, Pixel is Google designed hardware; Nexus is hardware we work closely with partners to design

And that’s about it. The rest of the IAmA is filled with the team promoting the various hardware features of the Pixel.


Will you be buying the Pixel C despite Android not being capable enough of taking the full advantage of the powerful hardware at its disposal?

[Via Reddit]