Revisiting The Google Pixel C - Better, But Not There Yet
by Brandon Chester on February 17, 2016 8:01 AM ESTSoftware Improvements
The main takeway from my review of the Pixel C was that the device's hardware is completely let down by the software. As far as Android's existing tablet issues go, the firmware update for the Pixel C obviously doesn't improve anything, and so there's nothing to change my verdict about the usability of these large Android tablets in general. However, the Pixel C also had a great number of issues that were specific to it, and many of them were bugs that Google was actively aware of at the time. Why the Pixel C shipped with known bugs that made it unusable is a question I cannot answer, but what I can do is compare our updated unit to the original one to see where Google has improved things.
The first area of improvement is to touch input. To be frank, the only statement that properly characterizes the Pixel C's current touch input is "completely dysfunctional". Josh and I, along with many other reviewers have encountered severe issues with touch input registration. The problems range from touches not being registered, swipes being registered as touches, and touch detection disconnecting in the middle of swipes which causes your action to be reset. As I said in the initial review, these bugs basically make the Pixel C impossible to use properly, and seeing them on a device shipping in 2016 was absolutely shocking.
Fortunately, the firmware on this new Pixel C appears to resolve the problems with touch input. I've included two videos below, which show me attempting to do several very basic things using the Pixel C. Looking back on my original review, I don't think explaining these problems in text was able to effectively communicate just how bad the problem is. Showcasing all the issues in a video alongside the updated version gets the point across much more easily, although in this case I actually encountered better registration on the original unit than I usually do, which really doesn't speak well of how it normally functions.
Original Pixel C
Updated Pixel C
As you can see, the difference between the two units is dramatic. The unit with the original firmware is just completely unusable. Taps almost never register at first, you can't complete swiping actions properly, and in general it's basically impossible to navigate anywhere in the UI without making multiple attempts. Something else worth noting is that many animations exhibit a "lag" of sorts due to the tablet moving the UI to track with the inaccurate touch input, which can be clearly seen when swiping between home screens without removing your finger. On the original unit, the icons move in a very jerky manner, while on the new model the animation remains very smooth. Unfortunately, Android itself still exhibits a great deal of input lag, which becomes more pronounced on these larger devices as your finger moves over a greater physical distance. That's not something specific to the Pixel C, so I wasn't expecting any improvements there, but it's important to note that even after these fixes we're definitely not talking about parity between the responsiveness on Android tablets and the responsiveness of iPads.
As for UI performance, that has been greatly improved as well. I've seen fewer frame drops in the UI, especially in the areas where it honestly never made any sense for there to be problems with performance such as pulling down the notification drawer. Scrolling performance appears to be much better as well.
One area where I have not seen much improvement is in Chrome. I assume that these issues have more to do with Chrome than with the Pixel C, as I see them on every Android device, but they really become more pronounced on these larger displays. Chrome just really don't handle multitouch well. Gestures like pinch to zoom don't track with your fingers at all, and they can be really janky. On tablets this becomes more noticeable because you're moving your fingers a greater distance than on a phone, and so you can easily see the latency and tracking issues.
The video above shows the behavior of Chrome's pinch to zoom on our Pixel C with the updated firmware. As you can see, multitouch really doesn't work well here. In an ideal pinch to zoom implementation your fingers would remain on whatever object you originally placed them on. Both iOS and Windows get very close to this, with only a big of movement due to latency and imperfect tracking. Android and Chrome is not even close, with my fingers ending up near completely different clusters of words after I zoom in. The tracking almost feels like it's completely independent of how much I'm pinching in or out, and it really breaks the metaphor of direct manipulation. This is something that the Android team and the Chrome team really need to address, because the competition has had this nearly perfected for over five years now.
Ultimately with the new firmware from Google the issues I noted that were specific to the Pixel C itself are essentially all resolved. The crippling issues with touch input are gone, and performance is definitely improved, although Android itself needs some work there, and arguably all of these mobile platforms could use a year or two focused on eliminating the regressions in performance that we've seen as their complexity has increased. Android itself stil has issues with responsiveness and latency that bother me, but none of these things are specific to the Pixel C and are just something you currently have to deal with on these tablets.
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Brandon Chester - Wednesday, February 17, 2016 - link
That's good to know. I received contradictory information from Google, but that source looks legitimate. Thank you for that.andreoidb - Thursday, February 18, 2016 - link
No problem. Though for me the wifi issue is terrible, I get no range and the speeds are consistently worse by a large number then my other devices. Makes using this to consume content almost impossible unless I'm near my router. That rep said the have yet to fix the wifi issue yet. I think they just updated some binary blobs in the February OTA because nothing much is in commit history besides the security fixes.R.M.P. - Wednesday, February 17, 2016 - link
I've felt from the start that Pixel C was something rushed out the door to have a "2-in-1" answer to the iPad Pro and the Surface Pro. It's an unfortunate inevitability. To avoid all the unhelpful confusion it's caused, I just wished they'd called it something like "Nexus Pro" instead of Pixel C. While Android has earned its place by attracting developers in droves, its best place is on smartphones. Like iOS and W10, it's too bloated tied to the world of native apps. In an ideal world, Chrome OS would have an equal complement of Web app developers. Then Google would have a PC product that no one else could even come close to competing with.andychow - Wednesday, February 17, 2016 - link
I would buy this device in two seconds if it came with Chrome OS. Give me chrome, native SSH client, a really good screen and a great battery, then shut up and take my money!jabber - Wednesday, February 17, 2016 - link
Give me a phone with ChromeOS on it too!mystilleef - Wednesday, February 17, 2016 - link
Brandon, can you do a YouTube video comparing the input latency and lag on the iPad vs the Pixel C. Cos, I just couldn't see much of any lag or latency in the videos you posted especially when you pinched and zoomed on the Pixel C. Or I'm I missing something?tuxRoller - Thursday, February 18, 2016 - link
You really can't see that the objects under his fingers before he starts moving them are different than the objects under his fingers when his fingers are actually moving? All OSs have some input latency, but Android has the most of any of the major OSs....and its not something that has really ever gotten better.Unfortunately I'm not sure it's something that they'll fix because the OS is "good enough" for their purposes.
BTW, and this really shouldn't matter, but I have only ever bought Android, specifically Nexus/pixel devices, and the input latency is just a travesty and has always been my biggest source of annoyance. IMHO, I think some of the problems are due to Android's absurd HAL, and, in general, their reluctance to use the much more mature GPL Linux userspace libraries. Audioflinger is just dreadful at latency, even today. A developer at collobora ported PulseAudio to Android a few years ago and demonstrated how much less latency it introduced to the stack relative to audioflinger (a bit less than 20ms total, which is high, but much, much less than audioflinger on the device, and could easily have been improved).
dan82 - Wednesday, February 17, 2016 - link
I've been using the new firmware for a 2 weeks as well and think the touch input has been only partially fixed. Things are still somewhat broken if the device is plugged in to charge. One finger is usually ok, but using two fingers (e.g. to pinch-to-zoom) and one of the fingers won't be tracked correctly. While not charging everything is ok and as the tablet luckily has really great battery life, this isn't too much of an issue.The keyboard also got much better. The new system version comes with an updated keyboard firmware which improves bluetooth connectivity a lot. The keyboard is no longer randomly disconnecting (and repeating keystrokes). I don't use the keyboard a lot to type, but it is pretty nice as a stand and cover. The magnetic mechanism is still fun to use.
I also think the Pixel C is currently the best Android tablet. It does get some things wrong that other Android tablets have no issue with, but those are minor:
- Wifi often disconnects while sleeping (this might of course explain the amazing battery life)
- No GPS or NFC
One more grip I have with it is long-term value. Ancient devices like the iPad 2 (2011, around of the time of the Motorola Xoom) and Surface Pro (2013) are still receiving system updates, so they remain current until today. Google promises updates for only 2 years. Of course, an Android system update is somewhat less important as a lot of apps get updated through the Play Store (e.g. Chrome), but you are missing out on some new features (like the new permissions of Android 6.0 that the Nexus 10 didn't get). In my view, that makes it difficult to recommend high priced Android devices, even when the hardware is totally worth it like in this case.
Brandon Chester - Wednesday, February 17, 2016 - link
This fix has not gone out to the public yet. The February security patch didn't include any fixes for touch input or performance. It was only 14MB.dan82 - Wednesday, February 17, 2016 - link
I installed the factory image MXB48T. The touch accuracy is night and day compared to before. A touch firmware can easily be fixed in 14 MB :-)A good way to try this is using the Markers app (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.... Try drawing with a bunch of fingers at the same time. With the old version, fingers would frequently get dropped (the line has gaps). The reason is that Android thinks a finger got temporarily lifted of the device. With MXB48T, things are fine, as long as you are not charging the tablet. I'm happy to record a video.