Here’s the unreleased ‘Pixel Tablet Pen,’ and you can just go buy one [Gallery]

The Pixel Tablet, unlike the bulk of other tablets on the market today, was never given an ecosystem of accessories to improve the experience, but that doesn’t mean Google never tried. It was clear through a series of leaks that Google was working on a “Pixel Tablet Pen,” but it never saw a proper release. Despite that, though, you can just go buy one on Amazon today.

Late last year a “Pen for Pixel Tablet” surfaced as an official stylus option for the Google Pixel Tablet. The stylus carried the model number GM0KF and had a subdued design featuring off-white and grey colors, as well as a physical button that could interact with the software. The stylus was expected to work over USI 2.0, which the Pixel Tablet has supported from the beginning.

Google never ended up releasing the stylus, but it’s now clear that there was some level of production, because units are just about everywhere.

The “Pixel Tablet Pen” has been quietly finding its way to the market, just not via Google. We were alerted to the “Pixel Tablet Pen” appearing on the Chinese marketplace “Goofish.” There, a listing for the stylus not only shows it in the flesh, but even shows a Google-branded box that confirms it was to be called the “Pixel Tablet Pen,” not the “Pen for Pixel Tablet” as had previously been hinted at.

Beyond that marketplace, the Pixel Tablet Pen is just on sale all over the web, most readily on Amazon.

There are several different sellers offering the Pixel Tablet Pen not by its actual name, but as a generic USI 2.0 stylus carrying Google’s GM0KF model number. Yet, these styluses (or styli) are actually ones that appear to have come from Google’s own production run. Not only do they carry the model number, but also a “Designed for Google” badge and Google’s own logo on the button.

We purchased this Pixel Tablet Pen in particular for about $25, but there are around a dozen listings in the same price bracket. It’s a pretty good deal for a USI 2.0 stylus already, but even more so when you consider this was probably destined to be a much more expensive first-party Google accessory.

So, how does it work?

The short version is that it works exactly as you’d expect it to.

The stylus has a USB-C charging port with a status light, and charges up pretty quickly. As soon as it’s got some juice, you can bring it up to your Pixel Tablet’s display it immediately functions. Input is responsive and fluid, the software responds to when you hover over buttons, and there are no headaches anywhere.

“It just works.”

The button, sadly, doesn’t seem to do anything, but it’s a nice fidget toy at bare minimum with a satisfying little click.

What’s the deal with this stylus, though? It’s one thing for Google to have a few units of an unreleased product floating around – if anything it’s a time-honored tradition at this point – but you can just go over to Amazon and buy a Pixel Tablet Pen from random sellers. JR Raphael over at ComputerWorld also got his hands on one of these recently (presumably in the same manner, though he didn’t mention) and asked Google about the product, but the company didn’t offer any comment on the product’s existence.

I doubt we’ll ever get clear answers on the story of this stylus, especially as the Pixel Tablet’s future is in limbo, but I’m pretty glad to have my hands on this weird little piece of Google history. You can head over to Amazon to find one for yourself, but I’m not sure how many are out there, so act sooner than later.

More on Google Pixel:

• Some Pixel Tablet accessories we can’t live without [Video]
• I want the next Pixel Tablet to revisit the past – what do you want in a sequel?
• The Pixel Tablet’s future is murky, but I hope sequels don’t lose the charm

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