When Google released the Gemini app for Android, Pixel Tablet (Review) users were disappointed to know that it wasn’t compatible with their device. Well, that’s not 100% the case now. According to a new report, Gemini is now available on the Pixel Tablet, but you’ll have to sideload it.
Let’s just be honest; Google Assistant probably won’t see its 10th birthday. The powerful voice assistant came about in 2016 with the launch of the first Pixel phone. It was all set to last until the end of time, but Google made a huge shift last year with the launch of Gemini.
Now, the company is slowly disassembling Assistant and getting ready to replace it with Gemini. We’re not sure how long Google is going to keep Assistant around while it trains Gemini as the replacement. However, with how AI-crazy Google has been, we don’t think it will take another two years.
Gemini is available on the Pixel Tablet, but you have to sideload it
It’s been several months since Google launched the Gemini app, and several months since the company announced that it’d be coming to the Pixel Tablet. People are still waiting for it to happen. We’re not sure when Google is going to officially launch the app for its slab, but if you’re impatient, you can get your hands on it early.
If you sideload the official APK, you’ll be able to get it up and running, which wasn’t the case before. So, it seems that Google is getting ready to make it official.
Once you sideload the app, you’ll still use Google Assistant for most voice assistant tasks. Gemini still can’t do everything that Assistant can do, and that’s the main reason why it hasn’t fully replaced it.
If you sideload it, you’ll find that it hasn’t been fully optimized for the tablet interface just yet. The bottom panel will sit in the middle of the screen as a floating screen. In fullscreen mode, you’ll see it stretch to fill the screen. It will do the job, but it won’t exactly be pretty.
This shows that Google is probably holding off on launching Gemini on the Pixel Tablet because it’s working on optimizing the visuals for the larger screen real estate.