← All guides

Tablets

Google Pixel Tablet: The Accessories That Turn It Into a Personal Hub

2023 · From the Tech with Asher channel · Watch below or read on

I already had more tech than I needed, and I still ordered the Pixel Tablet. With the right accessories it has become a personal hub sitting beside my main computer, a second screen with its own brain. But getting there involved a design flaw, two wrong purchases, and a Bluetooth ceiling, so let me save you the detours.

Buy the case first, not last

The tablet's one design flaw: pulling it off the magnetic speaker dock takes just enough force that sooner or later you will bump it into the table on the way off. I have done it many times. Google's own cover fixes this with a clever metal ring hinge that doubles as a stand, rotate it out, set the angle, done. I also rigged a small mount from a hardware store under mine; it works, but you cannot tilt or rotate the tablet on it, so the official cover remains the better answer.

The stylus rule that cost me two pens

I bought two styluses before discovering why neither worked: the Pixel Tablet requires USI 2.0, not just any active stylus, and plenty of pens advertise 2.0-something without being USI 2.0. My working pen is a Penoval, and the writing feel is genuinely good, with the ink appearing right at the tip like paper. Full honesty: I rarely use it. But if note-taking is your thing, buy the right standard the first time.

Keyboard and mouse: where it becomes a computer

Two devices made the hub real. A compact Hexgears keyboard that pairs with four devices at once, three over Bluetooth and one by USB-C dongle, small enough to travel. And the Logitech MX Master mouse, whose back button hops between my computer and the tablet instantly. That one-button handoff is the whole workflow: edit on the computer, flick to the tablet for email or reference, flick back.

Two ceilings to know about

• Bluetooth bandwidth is finite. Stack up a keyboard, mouse, and my Plantronics headset, and audio starts crackling and breaking up, like something buffering. Fewer simultaneous connections fixes it. Google could tune this; until then, know the ceiling exists.
• External USB cameras do not work. The same Anker camera that plugs happily into an iPad on iPadOS 17 did nothing here. If an external camera is part of your plan, research first.

With the case, the right pen, and the keyboard-mouse pair, this went from gadget to daily tool. That is the highest compliment I can pay an accessory list.