• 

  Amazon Fire Max 11

  The Amazon Fire Max 11 offers a premium aluminium build, large display and a range of features. There is also the option of a keyboard and stylus bundle for productivity.

  See at Amazon $279.99 at Best Buy

• 

  Google Pixel Tablet

  The Google Pixel Tablet has some very promising specs on board, offering not only a large and premium Android tablet, but a smart home hub too when on the Dock and in Hub Mode.

  See at Amazon $499 at Best Buy

The tablet market has changed quite significantly over the last couple of months. In the past, if you wanted a premium tablet that wasn't an iPad, you would find yourself in Samsung's corner with a Galaxy Tab S model of some description and that was pretty much the limit of your options.

Then OnePlus launched the OnePlus Pad though, followed by Google with its Pixel Tablet and most recently, Amazon with its Fire Max 11, and now the options are plentiful. With Google and Amazon both opting for premium build qualities, and both having their own useful features, which is the best for you? We've compared the differences between the Amazon Fire Max 11 to the Google Pixel Tablet to help you decide which you should buy.

Price, specs and availability

The Amazon Fire Max 11 was announced on 23 May and it was made available to order immediately. Delivery won't happen until mid-June however, so that's worth keeping in mind. It starts at $229.99 in the US for the tablet on its own, and £249.99 in the UK for the equivalent. There is the option to buy various bundles though, such as a keyboard, case, stylus or keyboard and stylus.

The bundle price for the keyboard and stylus alongside the Fire Max 11 tablet itself is $330 in the US and £375 in the UK, both of which are cheaper than the Google Pixel Tablet's base price.

The Google Pixel Tablet was announced on 10 May and was made available straight away. It comes in three colour options of Porcelain, Hazel and Rose, all of which come with a colour-matched dock called Charging Speaker Dock. The starting price for the Pixel Tablet in the US is $499 and £599 in the UK so quite a bit more expensive than Amazon's option. There is also no option of a keyboard, though it does work with stylus pens.

You can see a quick rundown of the Amazon Fire Max 11's specs against the Google Pixel Tablet below, but if you want more detail on how these two tablets compare and what features they offer, keep reading.

• 	Amazon Fire Max 11	Google Pixel Tablet
  Brand	Amazon	Google
  Storage	64GB or 128GB	128GB or 256GB
  CPU	2.2Ghz octa-core	Google Tensor G2
  Memory	4GB RAM	8GB
  Operating System	Fire OS	Android 13
  Battery	14 hours	Up to 12 hours
  Camera (Rear, Front)	8MP autofocus, 8MP	8MP f/2.0 rear + 8MP f/2.0 front landscape
  Measurements	259 x 164 x 7.5mm	258 x 169 x 8.1mm, 493g
  Colors	Grey	Porcelain, Hazel, Rose

Design and build

The Amazon Fire Max 11 features a lightweight aluminium build with flat edges and a uniformed bezel around the display. It measures 259.1 x 163.7 x 7.5mm and weighs just 490g. On the back, there's a single camera sensor on the rear, while the front-facing camera is positioned at the top when in a landscape format, like the iPad (10th Gen).

A power button with a built-in fingerprint sensor is present on the right edge, alongside a USB-C port, volume rocker, two microphones and an SD-card tray. On the bottom edge, when held horizontally, there are Pogo pins for connection to the Keyboard Case and positioning holes. Colour options are grey only so no fancy colours like the iPad (10th Gen) or the Google Pixel Tablet.

Speaking of the Google Pixel Tablet, it offers a premium design like the Amazon Fire Max 11 but it takes a different approach by opting for a soft-to-touch nano-ceramic coating. Measuring 258 x 169 x 8.1mm, it is slightly wider than the Fire Max, and it's also marginally heavier at 493g, but honestly, you wouldn't notice those three grams, even if you held both tablets at the same time.

Uniformed bezels surround the Pixel Tablet's display and there is a single-lens camera positioned in the top left corner of the rear. There's a power button with a built-in fingerprint sensor, as well as a volume rocker and charging takes place via USB-C. Colour options are a little more exciting than the Amazon Fire Max 11 with Porcelain, Hazel and Rose on offer. As mentioned, the Pixel Tablet is compatible with stylus pens, though there isn't a dedicated one from Google on offer, and there's no keyboard option either.

What you do get with the Google Pixel Tablet however, is the Charging Speaker Dock. This comes included in the price of the Pixel Tablet, and it is colour matched to the tablet. It acts not only as a charging stand as the name suggests, but it turns the Pixel Tablet into a Nest Hub Max, with the base also doubling up as a speaker and a stand for when you want to use Hub Mode to control smart home devices for example, or watch Netflix, for example.

Display

The Amazon Fire Max 11 has an 11-inch display, which sports a resolution of 2000 x 1200, delivering a pixel density of 213ppi. Amazon hasn't detailed many of the specifications and features of the display, though it is said to be certified for low blue light.

The Google Pixel Tablet has a 10.95-inch LCD display on board, so it's slightly smaller than the Amazon Fire Max 11, though only slightly. There's a pixel resolution of 2560 x 1600 pixels, which delivers a pixel density of 276ppi so it offers more detail than Amazon's alternative.

Elsewhere, the Pixel Tablet has a 16:10 aspect ratio, anti-smudge coating, 500nits peak brightness and it supports USI 2.0 stylus pens.

Hardware

The Amazon Fire Max 11 has an octa-core processor (MT8188J), which is supported by 4GB of RAM. There are two storage variants, which consist of 64GB and 128GB, though there is also support for microSD, allowing for storage up to 1TB. Amazon also promises up to 14 hours of battery life, which if accurate, is pretty impressive. Keep in mind that all iPad models offer up to 10 hours.

There's support for Wi-Fi 6 on aboard, and both the front and rear cameras are 8-megapixels. The rear camera has autofocus, but both are capable of 1080p video recording.

The Google Pixel Tablet meanwhile, runs on the company's Tensor G2 chip, which is the same chip as you'd find in the Google Pixel 7 devices so it's a flagship mobile platform. It's supported by the Titan M2 security coprocessor, alongside a minimum of five years of security updates. Storage options include 128GB and 256GB, though there is no microSD support for storage expansion. Battery life is claimed to be up to 12 hours, so a little less than the Amazon Fire Max 11, though this will come down to real-world use too.

Like the Amazon Fire Max 11, the Google Pixel Tablet has an 8-megapixel camera for both the front and rear. The cameras on the Pixel Tablet offer 1.12µm pixels and an aperture of f/2.0, and both come with a number of Pixel camera features, including Magic Eraser, Photo Unblur and Night Sight. There's also a feature like Apple's Centre Stage that sees the camera automatically adjusting the lighting to keep you brightly lit when on a video call and follow you around to keep you in the frame. Both the front and rear cameras on the Pixel Tablet are capable of 1080p video recording at 30fps.

Software and features

The Amazon Fire Max 11 runs on the FireOS operating system, which is the same as you'll find on the other Amazon Fire HD tablets, like the Amazon Fire HD 10 and Amazon Fire HD 8. There's access to plenty of popular apps, from Netflix to Instagram, as well as Amazon's own apps, like Prime Video, Kindle and Audible.

Alexa is of course on board, as you would expect, meaning you can ask various questions, and if you go to the Device Dashboard, you can control your smart home devices too. You'll also find the Microsoft Office 365 apps, as well as games like PUBG Mobile and Fortnite.

The Google Pixel Tablet meanwhile, is an Android tablet, meaning you'll get a similar experience to what you'll find on the Pixel 7 devices, but tailored for the larger screen. There's a feature called Hub Mode that essentially turns the Pixel Tablet into a Nest Hub Max, offering quick and easy control of smart home devices, but there's also the Play Store to allow you to download a huge variety of apps.

Like the Amazon Fire Max 11, you can stream content through the various streaming apps like Netflix and Disney+, as well as play games, read or browse the web. A stylus can be used with both tablets, though the Google Pixel Tablet doesn't have a dedicated keyboard so is pitched less as a working device and more as a smart home hub that doubles up as a tablet, while the Amazon is the opposite. Google Assistant is on board the Pixel Tablet, along with the Google TV app and Google Chromecast.

Conclusion

The Amazon Fire Max 11 is the cheaper of the two devices being compared here, the decision between them will likely come down to more than just the price. The Amazon Fire tablets are great, and the Fire Max 11 is offering a more premium build quality, a large screen and productivity options, as well as access to features including Alexa and an app store with plenty of choice.

The Google Pixel Tablet offers everything you would expect from an Android tablet, with access to the Play Store and its plethora of apps, as well as a solid operating system, though it also doubles up as a smart home hub, and something you would have on permanent display, rather than a device that slides down the side of the sofa.

Both are premium offerings, and both offer similar features, such as good personal assistants. If you want a productivity device, then the Fire Max 11 is likely to be the one for you, while if you want a tablet that is also a great smart home hub, the Pixel Tablet is probably the better choice. We will update this feature when we have reviewed both devices though.