The Pixelbook has landed for a happy new year

What a debacle it took me to get this Pixelbook! (Which I am finally on, YAY! More on that in a second.)

For some reason, back in November of 2017, Google were not delivering Pixelbooks to Australia. So I had to get a US based friend of mine to do the old "send it on" for me. The great frustration was that when FedEx failed to deliver (to an apartment in downtown San Francisco occupied by four people!), they sent it back to Google.

Google then organised a new delivery as part of the insurance coverage which I ordered on the original device which was cancelled because of their screwy ordering system. When the insurance replacement device arrived, Google had to organise to pick it up (so the third device which was part of the second order) could be dispatched. Except, Google could only order a pick up from my Australian address!

Long and short of it was the device I ordered in November arrived in the second week of January. What a chore!

BUT, it is here and I am loving it.

I will keep this first post of the new year short.

CONS:

• It is heavy. Heavier than the Pixel C.
• Bending it into "tablet mode" still feels a little cumbersome and unnatural (ie: holding a tablet with keys on the back of the tablet.

PRO's: Where do I start?

• The "on in seconds" feeling is great. Two seconds and I am working.
• Android apps on Chrome OS is amazing, and I hate the hipster use of "amazing" and "perfect". The implementation of Android apps is close to flawless. Which means my significant investment in Android apps over the years is not lost in the transition to the Pixelbook.
• The hardware is such that my Mac lovin friends are like "wow". However it is not excellent because it makes people envious. Google have really thought through the design of this thing. It looks great, it feels great to use. The keyboard, the track pad, jacks and slots, nothing short of excellent quality.
• Split screen? Apparently split screen is coming to Chrome OS on the Pixelbook, however I just don't need it. I mainly use Android apps and most of them when resized appear as thin panels. I can have several open at a time. It is actually more productive than the Pixel C in split screen.
• OS is fast, zippy and super solid.

That is my short summary so far. I will write more about this in the next few weeks but needless to say, really impressed and really happy with this new kit.

Let us know about your Pixelbook experience and of course, if you have any questions, just ask!

Oh Google, what have you done? Or "reevaluating my life choices..."

I have to admit, my patience as a Google fanboy are growing thin.

Firstly on the Pixel C drama. Well, to be honest, Google were pretty good here. I did the old "hit the button in the support section on your Android phone" and I got a call back from Google within 3 minutes. They were great and I had my replacement Pixel C dispatched the same day and within a few days I was back on the horse. So full marks to Google there.

Then there was what I am calling the great Pixelbook ordering fiasco.

I bit the bullet and decided that I will replace my Pixel C with a Pixelbook

So I jumped onto the Google store and problem #1, for some reason Google will not deliver the new Pixelbook to Australia. I will explain why this is really crazy in a minute.

So I organise a friend of mine who lives in San Francisco to be my go to person. I set up her address as my US based delivery address. Order the Pixelbook, a cover, a pen and the extra insurance on the device.

Google use FedEx and I have to say that for my first experience of FedEx, I am underwhelmed to say the least. FedEx were unable to deliver the package to an apartment in downtown San Francisco, which is shared by three people, of which at least one person was in the apartment during the times FedEx claimed they attempted delivery. For whatever reason, FedEx indicated they were unable to deliver the device, so rather than leave it at a local FedEx or UPS depot to be picked up when it was convenient for my friend to do so (even though she or one of her friends were present the whole time), FedEx decided to send the package back to Google. Yep, you read that right. But wait, there’s more!

In my conversations with Google, they can’t just try to resend, they need to cancel the order and I need to start all over again. I do so. I wait for the credit hold on my credit card to release the funds back to me, replace the order, only to get another email from Google saying that the insurance department (remember, my first order included insurance) had been notified that my initial device was not delivered, and a replacement unit had been dispatched. This is after the initial order had been cancelled and my account had been credited with the initial amount.

When I placed the second order, the Google store informed me that the pens and covers were out of stock. (I ordered a cover and a pen from Amazon instead, who delivered those items directly to my Australian address.)

Spoke to Google again, they tried to arrange a pick up of the insurance replacement device (from the first purchase) that had been dispatched, yet their system would only allow a pickup of the device from my Australian address, not the US address. So Google’s system can only deliver a Pixelbook to a US based address, but it can only pick up a faulty device from my Australian address. No words.

Anyways, after a couple of weeks faffing about, we got it sorted and here I sit, in Australia with my Pixelbook cover and pen, eagerly awaiting the arrival of the actual Pixelbook itself that was dispatched by my kind and long suffering San Fransico sister!

I head off to my local cafe to give an update on these series of dramas where I usually blog from, only to discover that the Oreo 8.1 update on my Google Nexus 5X has broken the wifi hotspot function. (News flash: If you are not able to tether on any Google phone you own that has been updated to 8.1, it is an official bug!)

So I end where I started, oh Google, what have you done?

I trust that when the Pixelbook finally arrives (hopefully before Christmas, Merry Christmas me!) all of the dramas will be forgotten and I will be filled with new purchase endorphins and extolling the virtues of this wonderful piece of new kit!  

Oero 8.0 = Pixel C Hell

Ever since I downloaded Oreo for the Pixel C, it has been hell on a jetski.

I have had no problems on my Pixel C. Ever.

I download Oreo and I get the dreaded dark screen (your Pixel C turns on but the screen is so dark you cannot read any of the screen prompts), reboots, split screen fritz and random reboots.

If I was cynical I would suggest that Google put code in Oreo to make Pixel C users so frustrated that they purchase the Pixelbook out of frustration.

Seriously very poor form from Google.

I have two options as far as I can see it.

1. Purchase the new Pixelbook which I was going to anyway.
2. Enrol the Pixel C in the Android Beta program (https://www.google.com/android/beta)

The problem with most of the reviews of the Pixelbook is that reviewers are largely comparing it to other Ultrabooks. Few reviewers are comparing it to other Android tablets.

I read one article that suggested that the reality is the Pixelbook is the new Google Android tablet and that is the future. I am a little bumbed that you can't detatch the keyboard but there would be no point to that as it is primarily a Chomebook.

Regardless, I am going to enrol my trust Pixel C in the beta program and see if that does not fix the fritzing problem because I would rather choose to upgrade my hardware according to my own timeline rather than Googles.

The future of Google devices

I have started researching the replacement for my Google Pixel C. Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with it at the moment. If anything, after the Oreo update it actually seems to be a little zippier. I am writing this blog post (and doing a ton of other stuff on it today from my local cafe) and all in all, I still think it is the best bit of harward that Google have ever produced.

However, it is only a matter of time before it will not be able to keep up with my needs. So, thinking that I will need to research a replacement in about a years time, I have started looking around.

I swore years ago that I would never get a Samsung device again. The decision was made on the basis of Samsung's way of loading their devices with bloatware and the way in which they bastardise Android. However in terms of the 9 to 10 inch tablet form factor, I do not see that there are many other options.

Two of the possible alternatives are the Remarkable and the recently (as of yesterday) leaked Google Pixelbook.

As a knowledge worker in the area of tertiary education and coaching and professional development, I have found the case for the Remarkable pretty compelling. I mainly read, write and the idea of a device that will not break the concentration (ie: no Twitter, Facebook, Whatsapp interuptions hardcoded into the device) is as I said quite compelling. Check out their Youthube video propaganda and see what you think.

Going the way of the Remarkable would still leave me at a loss insofar as the other tablet related things that I need to do, namely the aforementioned social media messaging, posting and communication. I am unsure as to how the Remarkable interacts with things like Google Drive (which I have a significant investment in) so there would need to do some serious research prior to committing to what from a distance appears to be a really compelling and cool piece of tech.

I have also alluded to the fact that there was a "leak" yesterday in relation to a slew of new Google devices about to be announced in a few weeks time. I was really really hoping that Google would suprise me with an announcement about a replacement for the 2015 Google Pixel C.

I was initially saddened but over the last 24 hours have become not a little bit curious about what the leakers are referring to as the Google Pixelbook.

It appears that the Pixelbook is a Google designed and manufactured Chromebook. (Check out this article on The Verge about yesterdays leak.) This one appears to come with a stylus too, which for me personally has become increasingly important as I have always been the kind of person to carry several paper notebooks and then scanning the contents to Google Drive.

I have never used a Chromebook and have been tempted several times. The ones that seem durable enough for my knockabout lifestyle however start to cost the same as an entry level laptop which has been my most significant point of resistance.

I am cautiously curious about this one however. It seems to be a foldback type laptop so that you can use the device as a tablet. The other points of caution for me are using ChromeOS over Android, the inability to separate the keyboard from the tablet (like the Pixel C) and of course the price.

I will continue to watch with curiosity and see what happens on October the 4th which I believe is the date that Google will be making their annoucements.

Watch this space.

Oh, and of course, if anyone does know of a successor to the Pixel C, drop me a line.

Pixel C Spilt Screen has arrived!

Guess what you are looking at? That's right! It is my SPLIT SCREEN Pixel C. I was on the train this morning and I was notified that my Pixel C's official Android 7.0 update was available. I accidentally hit ok and the download chewed through the last of my mobile data allowance for the month (roll on September 4!) and within 10 minutes, the Pixel had downloaded and installed the update, rebooted and then ran through the app udate process. I worked for the last 10 minutes of my morning train commute with Android 7.

I may be too much of a fanboy or 7.0 is smoother than 6.1. It seemed to transition between things more smoothly and the OS animations also seem smoother and snapier.

In the last 30 minutes, I have only played around with split screen, notifications (great improvement there) and editing the pull down settings bar (finally!). All in all, 7.0 had been a positive experience on my primary device. I'll keep you posted.

Time for an upgrade!

So it was time to upgrade. I traded in my old Nexus 10 and 9 and then scrounged another couple of hundred bucks and here I am writing this blog post from my new Pixel C, complete with keyboard.

This is what Google should have done years ago, taken control of the design and construction of their own hardware.

It is solid, beautiful to look at and of course having total control over the hardware and software means that this thing actually sings.

I can see me leaving the laptop at home more often now.