Google Pixel Stand (2nd gen) evaluation: good however not a must have

The newest Google Pixel Stand is much less of a “must-have” accent when you’re a Pixel cellphone proprietor and extra of a “nice to have.” For $79, its main job is quick wi-fi charging, and it does that properly. But until you’re a Pixel 6 or 6 Pro proprietor and also you’re actually offered on one of many stand’s handful of additional options supported by your cellphone, then you definitely’d be higher off saving your cash and getting an affordable third-party charger.

The aptly named Pixel Stand (2nd gen) is Google’s second tackle a quick wi-fi charger constructed to enrich its Pixel telephones. You don’t must personal a Pixel cellphone to make use of it since it really works with Qi-compatible devices, however you will have a 6 or a 6 Pro to get the quickest charging speeds. You’ll additionally want the January 2022 safety replace or later, which, when you’re a Pixel 6 proprietor, you’ll wish to obtain for an entire bunch of causes anyway.

Like the unique Pixel Stand, it does some multi-tasking whereas charging your cellphone. While your Pixel cellphone is docked on the stand, it could possibly show photographs out of your Google Photos albums to behave as a sort of digital image body. During setup the primary time you set your cellphone on the charger, you may specify which albums you’d prefer it to tug photographs from, and photographs are displayed in batches of 5 to 10 at a time, slideshow type.

Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge

Other options are geared towards bedside use. There’s an choice to routinely activate “do not disturb” when the cellphone is positioned on the charger, and you’ll have the show routinely flip off in a darkish room. There’s additionally a “sunrise” alarm that steadily brightens your show within the quarter-hour earlier than your alarm goes off. You can specify a window of time for this characteristic, so it isn’t utilized to different alarms all through the day — simply your wake-up name.

As for its important job — charging your cellphone — it does this successfully. I observed some false begins right here and there once I’d set the cellphone on the stand, and it might begin charging, solely to cease momentarily earlier than choosing it up once more. This didn’t trigger any issues; it simply gave me a couple of moments of concern as I attempted to determine if it was mounted on the stand accurately.

The Pixel Stand 2 gives 23W charging with the Pixel 6 Pro and 21W for the Pixel 6 — fairly speedy for wi-fi charging on a cellphone that isn’t made by OnePlus. It took a completely depleted Pixel 6 Pro battery from zero to one hundred pc in virtually precisely two hours, which is spectacular. My extra typical day-to-day use case was topping off the battery on a Pixel 6, taking it from 70–80 p.c again to one hundred pc, which took round half-hour utilizing the quickest charging mode. The Stand gives a barely slower 15W charging for different Qi-compatible telephones and units.

Photo by Allison Johnson / The Verge

As for the extras, I just like the picture body characteristic greater than I believed I might. I’m unsure I wish to decide to proudly owning and curating photographs for a devoted digital image body, however I do occur to have dozens (okay, tons of) of photographs of my four-month-old on Google Photos that I like trying by way of. Having them displayed at my desk on my cellphone is sort of a pleasant center floor — I get to really see and admire the numerous, many photographs I take with out hassling with one other system. I’m certain that my colleagues who evaluation good house tech may direct me to numerous good shows that do this sort of factor already, however I digress.

If I’ve one criticism about this characteristic, it’s that it tends to select favorites and present these time and again. This could be as a result of it favors portrait orientation photographs, and I are inclined to shoot extra panorama. In any case, you may faucet the display screen to finish the present slideshow and swipe the lock display screen to shuffle the choice and begin a brand new one.

The Stand’s nightstand-oriented options work properly, too. The dawn alarm is a nice solution to get up, and the power to detect a darkish room and switch off the display screen accordingly makes it an excellent bedside companion. But these options really feel somewhat at odds with the Stand’s important draw: quick wi-fi charging. If I’m charging my cellphone in a single day, then I don’t want absolutely the quickest speeds. I wouldn’t see the picture body characteristic a lot both since my cellphone doesn’t spend a lot time on the bedside dock through the day.

I additionally encountered a few issues with Google Assistant whereas utilizing the stand. After I faucet the Assistant icon on the lock display screen whereas docked, the cellphone will register my voice instructions however will unhelpfully ignore the whole lot it simply heard me say and show “How can I help?” textual content on the display screen. Accessing the assistant by saying, “Hey Google,” on the lock display screen works simply tremendous, although, and that’s not a Stand characteristic — simply one thing you may allow on any Pixel cellphone.

Then there’s the built-in fan; it’s pretty quiet, but when the fan is working at full velocity, the assistant struggles to listen to me in any respect. You can select a quiet charging mode to keep away from this, however then you definitely’re lacking out on these super-fast charging speeds.

The Pixel Stand 2 isn’t cheap: at $79, it’s properly greater than the $30-ish normal Qi charging stands you’ll find on Amazon. If you personal a Pixel 6 or 6 Pro, actually need quick wi-fi charging, and suppose you’d notably like several of the extras that the Stand (2nd gen) gives, then you definitely’ll most likely discover its 80 bucks properly spent. But when you’re solely mildly within the bedside or picture body options and quick wi-fi charging isn’t important, save your self some cash and go for the standard Qi charger. You may even add a digital image body to your cart for a similar value, too.

Photography by Allison Johnson / The Verge