A Tablet and Controller Worth Using
The NVIDIA SHIELD Tablet and Controller make their official debut. Is this hardware worth investing in yet?
An interesting thing happened a couple of weeks back, while I was standing on stage at our annual PC Perspective Hardware Workshop during Quakecon in Dallas, TX. When NVIDIA offered up a SHIELD (now called the SHIELD Portable) for raffle, the audience cheered. And not just a little bit, but more than they did for nearly any other hardware offered up during the show. That included motherboards, graphics card, monitors, even complete systems. It kind of took me aback – NVIDIA SHIELD was a popular brand, a name that was recognized, and apparently, a product that people wanted to own. You might not have guessed that based on the sales numbers that SHIELD has put forward though. Even though it appeared to have a significant mind share, market share was something that was lacking.
Today though, NVIDIA prepares the second product in the SHIELD lineup, the SHIELD Tablet, a device the company hopes improves on the idea of SHIELD to encourage other users to sign on. It's a tablet (not a tablet with a controller attached), it has a more powerful SoC that can utilize different APIs for unique games, it can be more easily used in a 10-ft console mode and the SHIELD specific features like Game Stream are included and enhanced.
The question of course though is easy to put forward: should you buy one? Let's explore.
The NVIDIA SHIELD Tablet
At first glance, the NVIDIA SHIELD Tablet looks like a tablet. That actually isn't a negative selling point though, as the SHIELD Tablet can and does act like a high end tablet in nearly every way: performance, function, looks. We originally went over the entirety of the tablet's specifications in our first preview last week but much of it bears repeating for this review.
The SHIELD Tablet is built around the NVIDIA Tegra K1 SoC, the first mobile silicon to implement the Kepler graphics architecture. That feature alone makes this tablet impressive because it offers graphics performance not seen in a form factor like this before. CPU performance is also improved over the Tegra 4 processor, but the graphics portion of the die sees the largest performance jump easily.
A 1920×1200 resolution 7.9-in IPS screen faces the user and brings the option of full 1080p content lacking with the first SHIELD portable. The screen is bright and crisp, easily viewable in bring lighting for gaming or use in lots of environments. Though the Xiaomi Mi Pad 7.9 had a 2048×1536 resolution screen, the form factor of the SHIELD Tablet is much more in line with what NVIDIA built with the Tegra Note 7.
Also up front are a set of front facing stereo speakers, a feature that I desperately want to see other phone and tablet vendors adopt. For a media consumption device, be it gaming or video, the optimal way to get sound is through the same side that holds the display. Duh.
A pair of 5MP HDR capable cameras are installed on the SHIELD Tablet, one front facing and one rear facing. The back camera also includes auto focus.
NVIDIA's newest tablet is a bit thicker than the current generation of iPads or even the Nexus 7, but not to the degree that I really think it is going to cause a problem with portability. NVIDIA knows they have a rather hot SoC on its hands and was careful to build in enough heatsink dissipation area to limit any potential for thermal throttling or hot spots on the back.
On the left you'll find a USB port for charging and communication as well as a mini-HDMI connection for plugging into your TV. I will say the one physical flaw I found with the tablet is that these two ports are much too close together and if you use an HDMI to mini-HDMI adapter, getting power installed at the same time is…dangerous. It will work, but clearly NVIDIA is hoping you use a cable with the mini-HDMI connection already built in.
On the top of the tablet, or on the right side if it's held in portrait mode, there are the volume buttons, the sleep/power button as well as the microSD card slot for storage expansion. With the Wi-Fi model only shipping with 16GB of internal storage, you are going to need to utilize microSD storage if you intend on downloading a lot of games.
Also, the stylus makes a return! The NVIDIA DirectStylus 2 ships with the device and some new software called Dabbler enables some impressive water color effects. The stylus implementation is slightly improved over the Tegra Note 7, which had the best passive stylus implementation I have ever seen on a tablet. Check out our video review for a little bit more of a demonstration of that.
Even just looking at the back of the SHIELD Tablet, it looks more refined and professional than the Note 7 – sometimes less is more.
I look at this review and the
I look at this review and the price and wonder if it would be foolish to purchase this as just a media consumption device. While gaming would be nice, I rarely play video games on a tablet. And when I do play games it is of the plague inc or civilization type.
Once my Asus tf700 dies I’ll have to give this a look.
$299 is definitely steep for
$299 is definitely steep for just a tablet, if you don't plan on taking advantage of any of the gaming features.
Is there a better tablet for
Is there a better tablet for $300 with specs like this? Nexus 2013 is $230 still and blown away by this tablet so $300 seems very reasonable with the stylus (great implementation), top SOC, dual 5MP cameras, 1080p netflix, etc even without all the gaming aspects. iPad mini is $400. What else is $300 that is comparable even just as a tablet? You don’t have to buy the controller either (though low lag etc cool) as xbox360/ps3 etc work and most of us own one of those already.
How do we know sales of shield portable? You comment “You might not have guessed that based on the sales numbers that SHIELD has put forward though.” Do you have any data on this? I haven’t seen them spit out how many have sold yet unless I missed it in the financials. Is it 100K units (what I expected it would take to break even, at ~100ea with 10mil dev costs they stated), 1mil or 10K etc? I only see revenue etc on the entire Tegra line, not broken down by devices etc, but maybe you have inside info? 🙂
Thanks.
Hi ryan,
Thanks for your
Hi ryan,
Thanks for your review.
I actually bought the Shield Tablet today primarily for tablet-y use, and not its gaming prowess or gamestream capabilities.
The 16:10 screen, front facing speakers, and (especially) expandable storage seemed ideal for my primary intended use of movies, ebooks and browsing. Also, being something of a PC enthusiast, the idea of the powerful SoC just made it seem more future proof to me than some of the more underpowered budget tablets out there.
In that vein, I pre-ordered the touch cover but passed on the Shield Controller. While I had all the necessary ingredients to Gamestream (ASUS RT-AC66R router, GTX 760 GPU in my desktop), I didn’t see the appeal in playing PC games on an 8″ screen instead of my 27″ computer monitor, especially since as you mention in the video, the Shield Tablet requires you to be sitting at a table or desk to game on effectively. It didn’t help that the Shield Controller currently has no support for native PC gaming without the Tablet – if I could have used it as a controller for my PC as well as the Shield Tablet, it would have been an instant buy for me.
Page 1: “It’s a tablet (not a
Page 1: “It’s a tablet (not a controller with a controller attached)”
I’m glad, cause that would look positively silly! 😉
Ha! Fixed.
Now…to find my
Ha! Fixed.
Now…to find my editor…
>.> I am a tree. (Holds up
>.> I am a tree. (Holds up two leaves)
Ryan, efficiency should
Ryan, efficiency should always be a measure of both power consumption and performance. The efficiency of Shield tablet is actually quite good all things considered. The Asus Memo Pad 7 has a smaller and much lower res (ie. less power hungry) screen in comparison to Shield tablet (in addition to somewhat lower CPU and browser performance too). The Nexus 7 also has a smaller screen but equal resolution in comparison to Shield tablet, but at least 2x slower CPU and browser performance too.
I am very close to buying one
I am very close to buying one of these, but a big question for me is support for more than one controller when using Game Stream, did the NV guys say anything about that?
I didn’t even think to ask them when I was at QuakeCon, and the lead software guy for Stream was there in the AT&T booth!
Edit: And I know that Shield Tablet wasn’t out yet, but most of the guys were willing to talk about the “idea of it, off the record, lol”
You can have 4 controllers.
You can have 4 controllers.
From what I’ve read, you can
From what I’ve read, you can have 4 controllers when playing native Android or Shield Hub games, but only 1 when Gamestreaming from a PC.
The Shield Portable and
The Shield Portable and Shield Tablet can both do console emulation. I use my Shield Portable every day to play NES, Super Nintendo, Game Boy, N64, and PSP (among other emulators available) games. The Nvidia Shield Portable was the first option that made that kind of portable emulation worthwhile with its fantastic controller and great battery life. There’s always such a focus on modern Android games/game streaming as the only possible gaming options on these devices.
So you use your tablet to
So you use your tablet to play pirated software for other consoles, and not Android native software.
This is what’s wrong with the Android ecosystem, is that developers shun it for being easy to pirate, leaving only free-to-play/pay-to-win games as options, or other developers port any available emulator, MAME, dosbox or SCUMM to it and just use it as yet-another-piracy option.
Just because a device can be used to run emulators, and pirated software should not be the deciding factor in buying a device. It should be if you support development on the platform. It doesn’t help if 90% of the people who buy the hardware never buy any software.
He didn’t say he pirated. He
He didn’t say he pirated. He could own all the games he runs on the emulator and could have made a backup of the games and the console ROM. You can have a backup copy.
Perhaps you could point people to the NES/N64 section of the google play store.
Runs hot, below average
Runs hot, below average battery life, and it is unreasonably priced for 8” category. Definitely bad buy.
As a gaming platform in the same price category it is heavily outclassed by PS, Xbox and Wii U.
Across the board problem is price, and again price. This is similar story as Titan Z, that would be reasonable product if it was priced at $1500 to $2000, but nvida got too greedy for it’s own good. Same here. If pad + cover + controller were something like $300, or less, it would be reasonable, but at the price point nevida demands it it’s a ripoff, either as pad, or as gaming platform.
Right, at graphics
Right, at graphics performance levels that other thin fanless tablets can only dream of, Shield tablet can get quite warm to the touch. Anyway, most high end tablets can get quite warm to the touch. For instance, the iPad Air can reach a temp of above 42 celcius. That said, this is only with the most CPU/GPU intensive apps that are run for an extended period of time.
The web browsing battery life of Shield tablet is very competitive with iPad Air and iPad Mini Retina, even though it has smaller battery capacity in comparison: http://images.anandtech.com/graphs/graph8296/65932.png
The battery life with the most processor intensive apps (such as GFXBench) is not great, but the GPU performance is usually > 2x better than anything else in it’s class in the same apps. With the battery saver mode, the battery life should be much better because the CPU core clock frequency and number of active CPU cores is kept in check, and a framerate target of 30fps is set.
OK, I just received delivery
OK, I just received delivery of my Shield Tablet today, and have been very impressed with it on several points.
Re: battery life, I have been very pleasantly surprised. I played Cytus (Android game) with wi-fi on and brightness at a rather bright ~70% illumination, and after 3.5 hrs of gameplay, the battery gauge read still 47% (started from full charge).
Now I’m not going to pretend that a 2D game like Cytus will draw anywhere near as much power as playing, say, Half Life 2, but for regular/casual Android gaming on the go, the Shield Tablet really looks like a credible solution.
Now if you /do/ want to play an intensive (for a tablet) game like HL2 or Portal, then you’d be doing so with a controller in hand and the tablet propped up on a flat surface, and presumably, there should be no reason why you’re not plugged in while doing so, at which point the battery life becomes academic.
Also, Anandtech got 11.2h of battery life when playing 720p videos over wifi. That may not be as good as iPad Air (13.6h), but it’s still /respectable/.
While it may cost as much as
While it may cost as much as a PS4 or XBOXOne with what you say, you don’t have to repurchase your games, such as Battlefield 4, Portal, etc. for the PS4/XBOX because you have your library of PC games now available as a console setting.
Steam needs to better support these tablet features!
But I have to agree, it needs more features, such as multiplayer linkage for two or more controllers and a lower price.
Great review! And it looks
Great review! And it looks like a great device.
As a game dev who is porting games to OpenGL ES for Android, I can confirm that full OpenGL support would make a huuuge difference. Actually, it would mean that porting games would not be very hard at all. I build for Android using NDK, which means the same C code I use for other platforms. If I get OpenGL, too, it just means I need to do testing and packaging.
The real question, I think, is less about OpenGL but about ARM. What I would really like to see is something like Tegra K1, but with an x86 CPU. This would mean that instead of Android, we could run SteamOS or Ubuntu. There are already a great number of terrific games for x86 Linux that would run immediately on such a device. And Ubuntu Touch is moving quickly to becoming a decent tablet OS, at least good enough to do what most people do with tablets.
An NVIDIA/Ubuntu tablet like this running Steam? Drool, drool!
Thanks for the note! Glad to
Thanks for the note! Glad to get feedback from a dev that indeed OpenGL can improve portability significantly.
As for x86 + Tegra K1…it's always interesting to think what might have happened had Intel bought NVIDIA so many years ago. 🙂
“The real question, I think,
“The real question, I think, is less about OpenGL but about ARM. What I would really like to see is something like Tegra K1, but with an x86 CPU. This would mean that instead of Android, we could run SteamOS or Ubuntu.”
If I’m not mistaken the Android VM runs on the Linux kernel, so what is the problem with the K1 being able to run Linux, Android being a Linux distro of sorts, Android apps running on the VM(That Runs On the Linux kernel). Why does x86 figure?? Steam OS is just another Debian based disto, Debian Linux. Linux is the major kernel of the ARM ISA based world, why does Nvidia have to have x86 for Steam OS to work on the ARM ISA? Nvidia will be releasing the Denver core based K1, and Linux will run just fine on the current K1, as well as the custom ARMv8 ISA based Denver variant. I question your game development claim, based on this error, and it probably will not be too long before someone has the Shield tablet running a full Linux distro, not too long at all!
“An NVIDIA/Ubuntu tablet like this running Steam? Drool, drool!” Why the Ubuntu distro, when Steam OS is already a Linux Distro, and both OSs are based on Debian Linux.
Again, what is your reasoning for x86, do tablets even need x86, probably not, this Nvidia tablet appears to be doing just fine running the Linux Kernel, with an Android runtime(VM) running on the Linux kernel(as every android VM out there mostly does), to run the android apps! And full OpenGL is great, because any desktop applications that run fine under Linux, and the full OpenGL, should be able to run with little, or no modifications on the Nvidia tablet, provided the K1 based tablet has a full Linux distro to target the recompile of the application, very little actual porting needed.
Well, sure, it may be
Well, sure, it may be possible to port much of SteamOS to ARM. Not trivial, but possible. Large parts of the existing software repositories will be available to you.
Unfortunately, that applies only to the free software and open source components. For Steam games to be ported to ARM, you need the game vendors to embrace it. It’s a stretch already to get them interested in x86 Linux and Mac, but asking them to port to another CPU architecture is a lot.
Some games have been ported from desktop/console to ARM, but that has also meant porting to OpenGL ES and touch, creating a “thin” version of the game. That’s where the K1 is so exciting, in allowing for games to be ported without compromise. But, the chicken and egg problem we see in all reviews: devs won’t target K1 until there is a good market for it, and gamers won’t embrce K1 until there are enough games.
And of course, there is no Steam ARM client. Steam has also never shown any interest in Android: the idea was always to sidestep Android and go right to a more full-realized Linux-based platform: SteamOS.
Keep these excellent reviews
Keep these excellent reviews coming
Great review and a great piece of Android hardware. But… I want this machine, but there is a showstopper, that could ruin it for me. Can the Shield do 24Hz and 50Hz screenmodes? I use videoservices in europe, so it is very important that a 50Hz mediaplayback is supported. Will it do 24/50Hz? Will XBMC be able to change screenmode Hz accordingly?
I’ve allready got an 60Hz-centric Android device, which becomes very choppy when playing 50Hz videoclips. I really hope Nvidia has remembered the 100’s of millions people using 50 Hz videostandard.
Btw, my current 60Hz Android device is able to run any screenmode 720p/1080p 24/25/50/60Hz, so screenmodes hasn’t got anything todo with the hardware, but should be defined at firmware/driver level.
Interesting question…I’ll
Interesting question…I'll ask!
Ups… any screenmode
Ups… any screenmode 720p/1080p 24/25/50/60Hz in LINUX.
This isn’t as powerful as
This isn’t as powerful as they make it out to be.
lot of content is being unscaled from 720 and frame capped this thing isn’t so great
Like everything else Nvidia
Like everything else Nvidia does, not so great, and too expensive!
nothing wrong with their
nothing wrong with their video cards
So Nvidia doesn’t care about
So Nvidia doesn’t care about consoles but is selling a tablet with far less performance then a X-Box One or PS4 at the same price.
Next thing you know Nvidia will introduce a GPU at a ridiculous price of say $3000.
Try carrying your Xbox One or
Try carrying your Xbox One or PS4 with you while you walk and try playing on your Xbox One or PS4 while you travel on a flight/train. Maybe you are an exception but portability is important to most people [it’s the reason why phones and tablets are becoming more and more popular]
I’m going to order this one,
I’m going to order this one, in Denmark this and the LTE version of the Nexus 7 is almost the same price, only this will be able to double as a media center for my bedroom, also you write the Shield portable did not sell too well, but you seem to forget it was not a worldwide launch only a NA one.
https://www.komplett.dk/nvidia-shield-tablet-8-32gb/819860
https://www.komplett.dk/google-nexus-7-by-asus-7-full-hd/799376
Its payday tomorrow so I’ll prolly pull the trigger there, even tho I have to wait a month or so for it to arrive in stock.
This looks like a gorgeous
This looks like a gorgeous product!
I don’t know why consumers are comparing the 400$ tag to the consoles. I don’t think there is any other tablet in the market that will give you a solid performance + value for money.
That being said, this is a bit on the higher side… could have been priced at around 200-250$. Hopefully this will see a price drop like the Shield Portable.
And this is only for those that want a tablet and is also a hardcore gamer. If one needs only a tablet for light gaming, media playback and web browsing, then the Nexus 7 2013 would be a great option.
Very few tablets have a microSD slot and a console/mirror mode for streaming on a HDTV for maybe media playback. I would love to see than on the iPads, but then again, Apple won’t do that because it would cannibalize their Apple TV sales. Would love to see these features on more future Android tablets at a reasonable price.
I’ve been wanting to get into the Android world since quite some time now… the Shield Tablet and the OnePlus One/ Xiaomi Mi3/Mi4 are doing a great job of drawing me closer to Android. I think after Steve Jobs, Apple is going downhill in the innovation category. Android however does need to work more on making their OS bug/malware/virus free and improve the Google store as well… so many duplicate apps!
From AnandTech Review
While
From AnandTech Review
While it’s fully possible for the Shield tablet to last 10 hours of continuous use on a single charge, running the GPU at full blast gives battery life similar to a gaming laptop. Realistically, if a game is made for Tegra K1 and truly stretches the GPU to the limit, battery life is only around two and a half hours, assuming display brightness is kept down to 200 nits.
So your lucky to get even 3hrs of game play before it needs a re-charge.
SUCKERS BORN EVERY MINUTE
Shucks, I’ll just have to
Shucks, I’ll just have to plug it into my backpack’s battery pack I suppose.
The funny thing is that a
The funny thing is that a whopping 10w platform power consumption it would shut itself down even when plugged to the wall.
They should include the
They should include the controller and cover still not woth 299.
@ 299/399 ill get a console
Too bad android blows most of
Too bad android blows most of the games are subpar garbage and the OS is a cluster fuck and still limiting hardware to such low ram and storage is getting ridicules
Uh oh, Apple sheep alert…
Uh oh, Apple sheep alert…
I see a lot of comparison of
I see a lot of comparison of this to a straight console (ps4 or xbone). What is the relative price of games on these platforms vs the small intial run available for the Shield?
For myself I’m not a gamer but the option to do a bit of gaming as well is intriguing. Something which might be nice to have as long as I don’t have to go too far out of my way or spend too much on it.
I don’t think $299 is too pricey for this tablet given it has very decent stylus onboard and also will gave great sound for a tablet by all accounts I’ve seen.
What really holds me back from this is curiosity over the Denver variant of the K1 and what might be coming out witht hat. I don’t want to buy something which will be obsolete in three months.
I also wish there was an easy to use dock for the tablet connection to a TV. Would make it extremely handy. A simple remote to use instead of the gaming controller would also be great for just watching movies and the like on the TV.
Finally I’m curious what Android TV will bring. Nobody mentions it but at I/O they said Android TV would come in two variants – media streamer and game console. The way they said it indicated to me two different versions of hardware at two different price points.
If Denver is not a massive upgrade. And if when the software updates to “L” an ‘Android TV’ mode is added to the ‘mirror’ and ‘console’ mode choices when attached to a TV then I might be in for one of these. I fully expect to find a holiday bundle for $325 max to include tablet and controller.
End of the day a tablet is a swiss army knife device. The only thing this one doesn’t have that I’d like is an I/R blaster. It’s on the short list.
Ummm… I dont get the point
Ummm… I dont get the point of this product from a user’s POV. It might be an excellent technical achievement but that’s it. It just seems like a showcase of different technologies Nvidia has worked on, in one single product.They should capitalise on Gamestream and work with Valve on this. I imagine a usb-pendrive sized product that could plug into your TV/Monitor and off you go wirelessly streaming video!
I want !
I want !