A recent listing by third-party keyboard manufacturer Brydge, as discovered by About Chromebooks, may have given us our first look at the upcoming Pixelbook tablet known as “Nocturne.” The tablet appears to have a fingerprint sensor mounted on the top left edge while showing a home screen from a previous generation of Chrome OS.
Also interesting are the two front-facing speaker grilles on the right and left bezels and the midnight-blue (dare I say “nocturnal”) chassis. One concern is that no front-facing camera lens is visible in the top bezel. Nocturne is expected to include Sony sensors on front and back. A look from a different angle shows a clearer view of the top-mounted fingerprint sensor on the left (it’s a flat, recessed power button reminiscent of the “registering fingerprint” demo posted by Chrome Unboxed) in the below image.
If the leaked imagery wasn’t enough to stir excited anticipation of Google’s expected launch of the Nocturne Chrome OS tablet on October 9th, the rumored specs and features might do the trick:
The lack of a visible front-facing camera sensor in the first image above and the home screen from an outdated version of Chrome OS give a reason for concern as to whether the Brydge listing depicted an actual Nocturne or a generic Chrome tablet render as a placeholder. Of course, the home screen could be explained away by the classic “pre-release software” trope common to unreleased device leaks. On the other hand, the lack of a visible SD slot, the recessed power button/fingerprint sensor, the lack of a manufacturer logo on the bottom bezel, and the speaker grilles seem to indicate a high-end, unreleased Google Chrome OS tablet that could only be Nocturne. All will be revealed on October 9th, though we expect to see plenty more Nocturne leaks between now and then.
