The Apple HomeView already lost to one of the most unloved Google product in my house

The Apple HomeView should be my ideal smart home hub, but it hasn’t quite hit the spot. Why? It probably can’t match one of the least-loved Google mobile products of the last few years.

I’m talking about the Google Pixel Tablet, which has been my home hub of choice in the kitchen for years now. It has been a rollercoaster ride, and not much is actually good about the Pixel Tablet, but its versatility blows the HomeView out of the water. Here’s why it’s still so useful three years after its release.

I should be excited about the HomeView

I interact with my smart home devices almost exclusively by voice. However, the apps that I use to manage the hardware mostly live on an iPhone. I change my Android phone so often, it’s annoying to continually set up apps for infrequently used smart home devices. I also frequently use FaceTime to make video calls to friends and family with iPhones.

It means Apple’s HomeView smart home hub could prove useful. I like the square display, which is so reminiscent of the Apple Watch and even the central screen in the Ferrari Luce electric car, the FaceTime integration, and the simplicity of having one massive watch face on show all the time.

I don’t like the $300 price, though, but an expensive Apple product is nothing new, and it’s not the reason I won’t be rushing out to buy one. The problem is, the HomeView lacks the delightful versatility of the Pixel Tablet. I’m not even doing anything particularly special or different with the Pixel Tablet, but I wouldn’t consider any other kitchen hub unless it matched the functionality.

What makes the Google Pixel Tablet work for me?

Google, perhaps unknowingly, nailed the smart home hub design with the Pixel Tablet and Dock accessory. I say “unknowingly” because Google marketed it primarily as a premium tablet first, rather than as a lowly kitchen appliance. Yet, by allowing the tablet section to detach from the hub and not require external power, it stumbled on a wonderful piece of simple, versatile design.

The magnets in the back of the tablet, which make this possible, are strong enough to hold the Pixel Tablet upright on a metal surface. It attaches to my refrigerator, and there’s no chance of it suddenly falling off (though I can’t promise Google would endorse this). Unlike the HomeView, the Pixel Tablet has native video app support, so I can watch videos while I cook or clean without reaching for my phone. The internal battery, another feature the HomeView lacks, means it doesn’t have to stay plugged in either.

The Apple HomeView’s screen is fixed in place, and the device itself is tethered to a plug. You can buy a wall-mounted version, but you can’t buy the dock separately, and the desktop version’s screen isn’t detachable. It is closer to my Amazon Echo Show 11 in this respect. The downsides of the HomeView are the exact same reasons the Echo Show 11 hasn’t taken the Pixel Tablet’s place in my kitchen either.

Pixel Tablet redemption?

The magnets are the Pixel Tablet’s killer feature, but my love for the rest of it only goes so far. Take it out of its comfort zone in my kitchen, and it’s far less successful. The screen isn’t very high-quality, the processor is a bit wheezy, and the fingerprint sensor is irritatingly hard to locate and slow to respond.

It was recently put aside while I tested the Google Home Speaker, which really highlighted the Pixel Tablet’s slowness when talking to Gemini. It took less time to answer and didn’t require as much thought about the questions compared to the Pixel Tablet.

The microphones in the Pixel Tablet aren’t as powerful as the Home Speaker, either. It had an incredible ability to hear me call out to stop a timer from quite a distance away, including when I was outside in the garden, and it always did so instantly. I have to raise my voice to make the Pixel Tablet hear me, or move closer, and even then it has to think about the command before doing what I asked.

For a three-year-old, previously quite expensive device to be shown up by a $100 smart speaker this way highlights how far smart home products have come in a relatively short time. Or how the Pixel Tablet was nearly outdated when it went on sale.

Unmatched, but rightly unloved

When I looked at the Apple HomeView, I was disappointed to find it wouldn’t really replace the Pixel Tablet in my kitchen. Without the ability to remove the display, place it elsewhere, and play videos with the minimum of fuss and no need for power, I’d quickly miss Google’s remarkably versatile tablet and dock.

It’s surprising that Amazon hasn’t seen the value in a similar device for the home, frustrating that Google hasn’t followed up with an updated version, and annoying that Apple’s first smart home hub has slipped into the established hardware design space rather than pushing it forward in any meaningful way.

I’ll continue using the Pixel Tablet and Dock in my kitchen. Not because it’s a good tablet, or even a good smart home dock, but because Google found — either by design or luck — a practically perfect combination of versatility and simple functionality using magnets and an internal battery.