I used to love my Nest Hub. It showed a constant slideshow of all my recent and favorite Google Photos so I could reminisce every time I stepped foot into the kitchen, but its other main function slowly became impossible to use: Google Assistant. I don't know what Google has done to break Assistant so much, but it's terrible these days. Gemini is the answer, but the Nest Hub doesn't support it!
That's where the Google Pixel Tablet comes in. Not only does it look exactly like a Nest Hub when docked on its glorious speaker base, but it supports the superior Gemini out of the box and no longer makes me want to pull my hair out daily. While the original $249 sale at Amazon is over, Best Buy has it for just $279, making it $120 off during Best Buy's Black Friday in July sale.
That means you can pair it with the handy Pixel Tablet Dock and end up spending just as much money as the tablet by itself normally is! I'll take that win, for sure. The Google Store also has it for $279, PLUS some Google One members get an extra 10% back in store credit. That's $27 to use on something else from Google! Just click this link to see if you're eligible for the 10% credit offer.
While I'm annoyed that Google doesn't include the Pixel Tablet Dock in the box, there's no denying the value that a $279 Pixel Tablet represents. Like I said before, at least the price savings on the Pixel Tablet makes up for having to buy the dock separately, so you'll effectively get a bundle of the tablet and the dock for the price of the tablet by itself.
When it's not docked, you'll notice that this is a tablet made for human hands. It's got reasonably sized bezels that give your thumbs a place to hold it and a soft touch back that's grippy, even with wet hands. Too many tablets try to make the bezels tiny and give it a shiny plastic or glass back, which is just plain stupid in my opinion.
Not only that, but the Pixel Tablet's display is superb in every way. It's nice and bright, has excellent colors and contrast, and doesn't use nasty PWM dimming like Google's Pixel phones do. In other words, it's everything I'd love to see from a Pixel! Plus, all the little Pixel touches and regular updates always make it fun to pick up on a random whim.
My three favorite features are some the same things I loved from my Nest Hub — that's the Google Photos screensaver and easy smart home controls — plus the ability to use Gemini instead of Google Assistant. I've unplugged all but one of my Nest speakers at this point because Assistant has become so darn unreliable, but Gemini has been a champ and the perfect replacement for Google Assistant in my home.
Aside from Gemini just plain working better for smart home controls and other queries, it's also smarter and can understand complex commands. That's particularly nice when I want to turn off specific lights and adjust the thermostat at the same time instead of having to issue separate commands one at a time.
And did I mention how good the audio is from the dock? It would make my Nest Hub blush if the thing still worked (which it doesn't). This dock's speaker doesn't feel like some convenience compromise; it feels like a proper audio system that works to fill the room with quality audio and actual booming bass. Overall. I couldn't ask for a better Nest Hub replacement, especially since you can remove it from the dock and turn it into a normal Android tablet.
- For more on Prime Day 2025, check out our ultimate shopping guide
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