NVIDIA Launches Android-Powered Shield Tablet
posted Saturday Jul 26, 2014 by Scott Ertz
NVIDIA really wants to make something of its SHIELD line of Android-powered gaming devices. First, the original handheld has received almost no consumer buy-in. Last week we learned about their plans for a television streaming device which will require a tremendous amount of costly hardware.
This week NVIDIA is launching its second product in the family, the SHIELD Tablet. This device appears to be designed to sit above the SHIELD Portable and this, as of now unannounced, streaming device. It is even possible that the Tablet is the unnamed streaming device.
As with the Portable you can play Android games and stream games from your PC. You also have the ability to connect the tablet to your television and play in console mode. Using the additional controller you can truly play any compatible game on your television. NVIDIA was even prepared for latency, using Wi-Fi Direct instead of Bluetooth for the controller. This decreases lag from 20 milliseconds to just 10.
As for the tablet itself the specs are pretty nice. 8-inch 1920x1200 full HD screen. Front facing stereo speakers. 16 or 32 GB of included memory with a micro SD slot that supports up to 128 GB. And last but not least NVIDIA's Tegra K1 mobile processor.
If you're in the market for a high end Android tablet, or you're looking for a way to stream some of your games from your PC to your television, this might be one to consider. If you're specifically in the market for Android gaming, this device might be overkill for you.