Is this the future of accessories?

It stands to reason that a gadget that’s going to sit around for hours doing nothing but charging a phone should be put to additional use. Yet, despite the number of wireless chargers around, it’s just Google’s Pixel Stand that does something besides top up battery juice.

When you first set the Pixel 3 or 3XL on the Pixel Stand, you’re prompted to see whether you’d like to use the stand as a sort of baby Google Home — Google’s smart home speaker. Give a few permissions such as whether you want to turn on Do Not Disturb at night when the phone is on the stand, and you’re ready.

On the always-on screen, you now see a Google Assistant button but you can as well just say OK Google, which is what Google wants you to do — become hands-free with your commands. You’ll see a message next to the button. Maybe it’s about the weather, the traffic, your agenda, or just a good afternoon or even an offer to tell you a joke. You can just glance at the phone to see your notifications and other information you might want. You can even see news. It can also use your phone’s screen as a photo frame and show you photos from whichever of your albums you choose. If you have other Google Assistant-enabled devices around, including an actual Google Home speaker, there may be some occasional confusion there. One nice feature comes in when you enable the stand to act as an alarm clock. In the night, the screen will go dark when the room is dark and in the morning there’s a slow wake up with the screen gently going into a sunlight yellow.

The Pixel Stand is very neat looking. It’s a soft rubbery material that you can easily wipe clean when needed. It has a round base with a ridge that holds the phone against a slab that is slightly tilted back. You do have to be a little careful though, because one can knock the phone off that perch — there’s nothing magnetic or anything gripping it, after all. There’s a neat notch which takes in the cable that can then be dropped behind a bed or table to be mostly out of sight. The nice orange bottom of the device has a good grip so it doesn’t slip off a surface. It does still charge if the Pixel is wearing a case. Its design is very minimalistic and in keeping with the Material Design philosophy Google started, but it isn’t travel friendly. It won’t fold up to fit anywhere, though it’s sturdy enough to throw into a suitcase.

The stand delivers fast wireless charging for the new Pixels and even works with other phones that support the Qi wireless charging standard but for those, the charging rate may not be the same and they won’t go into Google Home mode, of course.

It would be interesting if other companies took the cue and also made accessories that do more than their basic function. That said, let’s hope they’re not as expensive as the Pixel Stand which costs ₹6,999.

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