Is Nvidia Building a Shield Tablet?
This may be the previous "Mocha" tablet.
Last week we reported that an unannounced Nvidia tablet tagged as "Mocha" was spotted on the GFXBench website. The device had a 7.9-inch screen with a 2048 x 1536 resolution and a 5-point touch input at the very least. The device was also powered by Nvidia's new quad-core Tegra K1 chip, which is an ARM Cortex-15 based SoC with 192 CUDA cores.
The tablet's specs also revealed 2 GB of RAM, 16 GB of internal storage (13 GB free), support for OpenGL ES 3.1, and Android 4.4.2 "KitKat," the same OS that's used on Nvidia's Shield console. A 7MP camera on the back, a 4.8MP camera on the front, and Wireless and Bluetooth connectivity filled the specs list… for now, unofficially.
Now there's speculation that the Mocha device will feature Nvidia's GameStream technology, which means not only will owners play Android games, but stream a growing number of PC games to the device as well if customers have a Kepler-based desktop. The tablet will also supposedly have the Shield branding as well as dual-band wireless connectivity so that gamers can stream those PC titles on the 5 GHz band.
So again, we're left with rumors and speculation. We pegged the "Mocha" tablet as the next installment to Nvidia's Tegra Note series, but this new information has us scratching our heads. A Nvidia Shield tablet? Nvidia has a 5-inch model already with the Shield console. Perhaps the company plans to release a separate controller, or will partner with Power A (Moga controller)?
For right now, we really don't know if Mocha will be a gaming-focused tablet. The device could possibly serve as a second screen to the Shield 2, the latter of which was spotted in April with the Tegra K1 chip powering a 1440 x 810 screen. Shield 2 also included 4 GB of RAM, 16 GB of storage, and a 0.3MP camera. Hopefully, Nvidia will unravel the mystery surrounding the two devices soon so we can quit speculating.
MORE: Xiaomi Mi Pad is First Nvidia Tegra K1 Tablet, Costs $240
Lenovo is coming out with new i7 tablets. In time gaming tablets will be everywhere.
but it would be nice if they did this... a gaming tablet would be much more useful than the shield...
And when you wish to watch a tv show on train or where ever, dock your 5 inch phone into he tablet and presto, and when you need to run undock it and presto.
Technology needs to improve towards this way (yeah im looking at you sony, just build a ps hand held phone already with full integration and stop separating your experia branded phones. or better be left in past.)
It's pretty crazy the amount of ram on it if that's true 4GB is as much ram as my desktop has atm android defiantly needs some better apps to make use of all the ram on these smartphone and tablets being released now.
but it would be nice if they did this... a gaming tablet would be much more useful than the shield...
The Shield that is available has a microSD slot. I imagine the new version would also include it.
It's the device made for nobody that nobody wants, so nobody buys. Why would I want to stream my games to a handheld device with a tiny screen that I can only use while I'm at home requiring the use of the PC that has the game on it in the first place?
If I'm going to focus on gaming and I'm at home, why not use my PC? Sure, I could TRY to stream games over the internet at what - the coffee shop? Yeah, because they always have ultrafast 40Mb/s connections that allow for streaming 1080p games, right?
Or maybe I could use it to play Android games - you know the ones made for TOUCH screens? Which I would only own if I ALREADY have an Android phone which also has a bigger screen (Galaxy phones have a larger, better AMOLED display than the Shield).
This is a product with absolutely no target consumer base because the consumer who needs this doesn't exist.
A tablet that does the same thing would be nearly as pointless.