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Google Pixel Tablet or Nest Hub Max: Which Belongs in Your Home?

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

The Pixel Tablet looks like an evolved version of the Nest Hub Max, so the obvious question is whether it simply replaces it. The answer is not that simple, and my household proved it: halfway through this comparison my wife came looking for the Nest Hub Max, because I had taken her clock, and she wanted it back. Devices earn places in a home for reasons spec sheets do not capture.

Screens: tablet wins, with a reason to care

The Hub Max has a 10 inch screen; the Pixel Tablet is 10.95 inches, and its resolution is meaningfully higher. On a shelf across the room that hardly matters, but the tablet is designed to be picked up, and up close the sharper panel is the one you want. Brightness is strong too, at 500 nits.

Cameras: the spec sheet lies a little

On paper the tablet wins again: two 8 megapixel cameras, front and back, against the Hub Max's single 6.5 megapixel camera. But the Hub Max's camera has a 126.5 degree field of view against roughly 84 degrees on the tablet. On a video call from the kitchen, the wide view keeps you in frame while you move around. Cameras are not just megapixels; they are what stays in the shot.

Sound: the tablet's honest weakness

I looked up the tablet dock's speaker expecting something special and found 43 millimeters, the same driver class as a Nest Hub Mini, and the second generation Nest Hub. The Hub Max, with its larger 2.1 style system, simply sounds fuller. Listen to the sound test in the video and judge with your own ears, but do not expect the newer device to be the better speaker, because it is not.

The tablet's superpower: it leaves the dock

Undock it mid-song and the music follows onto the tablet's own speakers. Then it becomes a real computer stand-in: I have run it with a Bluetooth keyboard and a Logitech MX Master mouse, and it takes a stylus, as long as the stylus is USI 2.0 specifically. Add Wi-Fi 6, a generation ahead of the Hub Max's Wi-Fi 5, and the tablet is the more future-facing purchase.

Privacy controls, both accounted for

The Hub Max has a switch on the back that disables the camera and mic. The tablet does the same through a software toggle in quick settings. Different mechanisms, same peace of mind, though a physical switch is easier to trust at a glance.

The verdict

If you want a stationary display, a kitchen clock, a video call window, a doorbell screen, the Nest Hub Max still owns that job, and my wife will back me up. If you want one device that is a smart display when docked and a genuine tablet everywhere else, the Pixel Tablet is the more versatile machine and the better long-term buy.