You can now pick up a Pixel Tablet without a dock for $400 if that’s your bag

Google has made the 128GB Pixel Tablet available , without the charging dock. It costs $400, compared to about $500 at most dock stores. It’s a great deal on paper, but there’s one elephant-sized caveat. We and most of all were in love with this dock.

You can’t stream content to the device without the dock, which is one major downside. We also found the camera placement to be slightly awkward, especially when participating in video calls. The 2560 x 1600 LCD panel isn’t as vibrant as an OLED panel, but it gets the job done. All of the specs on this device are “pretty good,” but at $400, that’s probably to be expected.

The dock brings some nifty things to the table, like a durable stand, fantastic speakers, and of course, charging. However, there are some things the Pixel Tablet excels at, even without that charging dock. Battery life is superb, lasting over 21 hours on a single charge at 50 percent brightness. This will handle even the longest international flight. We’ve also found the tablet to be useful as a smart display, especially if you’ve fully opted in to Google’s smart home ecosystem.

This price drop is which includes a brand new smartphone. The Pixel 8a is a budget way to tap into Google’s trusted suite of AI tools, like Gemini, Best Take, and Audio Magic Eraser.