Gaming on the Google Pixel Slate

Thanks to our good friends at Google Canada, we had the opportunity to take the Google Pixel Slate for a spin over the holidays, and since my family has enjoyed Android gaming on the Google Pixelbook, we figured we’d give it a try on the Slate as well. And the experience is, well, relatively similar, with one major important caveat: the keyboard disconnects.

I really enjoy playing games on the Google Pixelbook, and whether I’m deep into a game of Plants Vs Zombies, Cut The Rope, or my personal favourites The Simpsons Tapped Out and Disney’s Magic Kingdoms, holding the device in tablet mode was always a tad uncomfortable because you always felt the keyboard on the underside of the device. Was it a game breaker? Not really, but an annoyance for sure, and over long periods of time, it just wasn’t as comfortable as a standard tablet.

Enter the Google Pixel Slate. With the amazing detachable keyboard, the device can actually become a tablet whenever you need it too. That means playing games without have to have your hands all over the space bar and track pad on the rear side of the device. It’s a smoother experience overall, and one that I thuroughly enjoyed over my two-ish weeks with the product.

And for an Android enabled tablet, the games run better then they would on most other devices. Even playing the latest Asphalt was easy as pie, with no graphical or audio hiccups to concern me. Performance and speed across all the different games I tried on the device was fantastic, and it quickly became our go to device for board game favourites like Tsuro, Ticket to Ride, and more. The large, vibrant display made every experience a great experience, which isn’t always the case on phones and tablets. Since we took the heftier Core I5 product for a spin, I wasn’t too worried about performance.

The biggest let-down to using the Google products – both the Slate and the Pixelbook – is that not every Android application works well with Chrome OS, so being aware what games and applications will work well, and which won’t, could ultimately be a deciding factor for whether you decide to purchase this or not.

For tablet gaming, the Slate has the slight advantage over the Pixelbook, purely because of the detachable keyboard. This brings the weight of the Slate down to roughly 1.6 lbs, compared to the roughly 2.5 lb weight of the Pixelbook and keyboard (not detachable). While either is a good bet if you like to game often while watching TV or waiting for your oil change, the Pixel Slate is the way to go here!