The NVIDIA Shield Tablet is an 8 inch Android tablet with a full HD display, an NVIDIA Tegra K1 processor with Kepler graphics, and a starting price of $299.
While that makes it a bit more expensive than an entry-level Kindle Fire HDX or Google Nexus tablet, the Shield Tablet is designed for video games, and it has a few features other tablets lack including the ability to stream games from your PC to your tablet over the internet.
As expected, the tablet features an 8 inch, 1920 x 1200 pixel IPS display, a 2.2 GHz Tegra K1 quad-core processor with 192-core graphics, 2GB of RAM, 5MP front and rear cameras, a 10 hour battery, and support for pressure-sensitive input with NVIDIA’s DirectStylus 2 device.
A WiFi-only model with 16GB of storage sells for $299 while there’s also a $399 model with 32GB of storage and 4G LTE wireless support.
Both versions feature HDMI output, front-facing stereo speakers, and microSD card readers for up to 128GB of removable storage.
Don’t like the idea of playing PC (or even Android) games using on-screen controls? NVIDIA’s Shield Wireless Controller is a $60 accessory that lets you play games without touching the tablet. Connect your Shield tablet to a TV via an HDMI cable and fire up the wireless controller and you can play PC games on the big screen without moving your desktop computer to the living room.
While most wireless controllers of this type use Bluetooth, the Shield controller uses WiFi Direct for lower-latency performance. You can connect up to 4 controllers to a single Shield tablet. The controller also has a headset jack and built-in mic for use with voice commands, searches, and more.
The controller is designed to work with NVIDIA’s Shield family of devices — and that includes the original Shield portable handheld device. Sure, the first-generation Shield has a built-in game controller. But NVIDIA will roll out a software update on July 29th adding support for the new wireless controller.
That will let you set your Shield next to a TV and game from the couch without running an HDMI cable across the room.
The Shield tablet and wireless controller are available for pre-order now and they should begin to ship in the US and Canada on July 29th.
Folks who’ve already spent some time with the tablet and controller seem reasonably impressed with the design and display, although the controller layout seems to get mixed reviews.
That’s gangster. I wonder with the rumors of the Nexus 9 having the dual core 64-bit Denver version of K1 and all around similar to upgraded specs over this tablet, if the controller will be compatible with that tablet the same way this one is here. Still a fricking awesome tablet though. Headphone jack built into controller is nice too.
I”m worried about build quality and thermals. Do we know who is going to manufacture these for Nvidia? The SOC and display looks acceptable… price is good too. I will wait 3 months after release before I buy.
This is going to be an interesting year for gaming hardware. I’m curious to see which developers hop on board.