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Shield Tablet: Look And Feel

Nvidia Shield Tablet And Shield Controller Review
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The Shield Tablet has an all-black, stealth fighter-like appearance. With sleek lines and minimal adornment, its inconspicuous exterior hides the game-rendering weaponry inside.

In spite of its plastic chassis, the tablet maintains a premium feel. It’s suitably rigid during normal use, but will flex a bit if you deliberately try to torque or bend it. Adding to the tactile enjoyment is a soft texture on the back cover that feels more like felt than rubber. While it does improve grip, the material isn't particularly sticky. However, I didn’t have any issues with the device slipping through my hands.

Compared to other 8-inch tablets, the Shield tends to be larger and heavier, which is surprising since it has a smaller battery. Even with its more diminutive screen, the Shield Tablet is taller than the Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4. It’s also 8% thicker and heavier than Xiaomi's Mi Pad, which is already thicker and heavier than the iPad Mini with Retina Display and Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4. While noticeable in a side-by-side comparison, the extra size and weight aren’t really a problem during regular use. I didn’t have any issues using the Shield Tablet with one hand, either.

The Shield Tablet employs an 8-inch IPS screen with a resolution of 1920x1200 (283PPI), which is less than its peers. This display is a compromise between screen quality, price, and battery life. Using a higher-resolution panel would certainly add to the base cost, forcing the Kepler-based GPU to work harder, consequently reducing battery life. Since text on the screen still looks crisp, and the tablet supports HD video, I feel it’s a reasonable concession.

If there’s an optimal screen size and aspect ratio for a “do everything” tablet, I don’t think we’ve found it yet. The Shield Tablet represents Nvidia’s nexus between usability, portability and price. A larger screen would make games more immersive, but reduce portability and increase cost. A larger screen would also be redundant in Console Mode hooked up to a big-screen TV, which is one of the primary use cases for this tablet. Based on these factors, I think Nvidia’s choice is reasonable, although I personally prefer larger tablets. At least the Shield Tablet eschews the 16:9 form factor. Its 16:10 aspect ratio works better for general tablet use, particularly in portrait mode.

Surrounding the screen is a comparatively thick bezel, especially along the top and bottom. While this adds to the tablet’s overall height, it does give your thumbs a place to rest as you hold on in landscape mode. The screen is flanked by pair of front-facing stereo speakers (a nice touch for a gaming-centric tablet). The only other feature on the front is a 5MP fixed-focus camera with HDR that’s centered in the upper speaker grille.

The back has a simple matte black appearance, rather than the Tegra Note 7's more aggressive-looking stippled back. The only highlights are a slightly recessed, gloss-black Shield branding and the 5MP rear camera with HDR and auto-focus surrounded by a small chrome ring.

The micro-USB 2.0, mini-HDMI 1.4a and headphone jack reside on the top edge, along with one of the bass reflex ports. There’s another port on the bottom edge.

On the left edge are two slots that engage the Shield Tablet Cover and help hold it in place. The power button is located on the top-right edge in portrait mode, which becomes the top edge in landscape. Below the power button is the one-piece volume rocker, and below that is a covered microSD slot. Further down is another door that appears to be for the micro-SIM card (our review unit is a Wi-Fi only model). The stylus is securely stored in a port in the bottom-right corner.

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  • 0 Hide
    blubbey , October 3, 2014 12:40 PM
    Those GPGPU benchmarks are ridiculous in comparison. It looks like a great bit of kit from what I've seen so far. A die shrunk Maxwell should be fantastic. Maybe even a lower clocked version just for power consumption? It'll still perform as well, if not better than the K1 at 750MHz (assuming 2 SMMs) I'd assume.
  • 1 Hide
    Memnarchon , October 3, 2014 12:41 PM
    "Based on these results, Tegra K1 must be “a neural net processor; a learning computer” sent back through time to destroy all of the other SoCs that could lead a rebellion in the post-apocalyptic future."

    Lol this is epic! xD
    Anyway, great and unique review. Especially for the so many GPGPU benchmarks.

    Nvidia tablet at $299 seems to be a great buy.
  • 1 Hide
    aberkae , October 3, 2014 12:52 PM
    If maxwell brings double the performance per watt on the same node the next tegra chip on 20 nm node should be a home run for the company
  • 1 Hide
    HardyHarHar , October 3, 2014 1:23 PM
    I am blown away by this tablet.
  • 1 Hide
    deftonian , October 3, 2014 2:43 PM
    Impressive, but I feel it's still missing that "umph" to get me to buy this and carry it around as an added device, next to my phone (Note 3). Maybe I just don't game enough on the android market or steam. Either way, I think it is impressive for a mobile gaming device and all the things it offers. I think they've started a great line and hope it grows into a successful tablet/gaming brand.
  • 1 Hide
    TheMentalist , October 3, 2014 2:48 PM
    Holy....that tablet is a beast!
  • 0 Hide
    aberkae , October 3, 2014 5:23 PM
    If maxwell brings double the performance per watt on the same node the next tegra chip on 20 nm node should be a home run for the company
  • 0 Hide
    gio2vanni86 , October 4, 2014 12:41 AM
    The streaming a game while i'm at my friends house using my PC at home is what has me very interested. Plug into his TV and play amazing games he can only dream of. I'm in.
  • 1 Hide
    iknowhowtofixit , October 4, 2014 9:09 AM
    Wow, nVidia will literally sell HUNDREDS of these tablets until the battery life can catch up to the performance. Why bother with a tablet when you are forced to be constantly tethered to a power source.

    I know people are excited about the raw performance of this tablet. But, other than raw GPU power, EVERYTHING else is compromised.
  • 0 Hide
    eklipz330 , October 4, 2014 11:11 AM
    this is great, there aren't many good 8" android tablets.
  • 0 Hide
    CRITICALThinker , October 4, 2014 5:50 PM
    When was a HDMI to mini HDMI cable included? mine never came with one.
  • 0 Hide
    vithrell , October 6, 2014 4:24 AM
    Just wait for Intel's Core M. It wont match the price (CPU alone will cost $300), but in fanless tablet form factor it wont have worthy competitor. Early GPU benchmarks give Core M 55k graphics score in Ice Storm, so more than 1.5x more power than Tegra K1. AND you can run full Windows on it. I wish Nvidia took x86 path with its cpu cores.
  • 0 Hide
    Niva , October 6, 2014 8:02 AM
    Only thing I'm worried about with this tab is Android L and what their software/OS refresh capabilities will be. Has nVidia made any statements about that? Getting this and being stuck with kitkat would bite.
  • 0 Hide
    matt64 , October 6, 2014 10:27 AM
    I asked Nvidia about updating the Shield devices to Android L. Nvidia will update to the new Android version soon after it's officially released by Google, though Nvidia couldn't provide an exact date at this time.

    -matt64
  • 1 Hide
    matt64 , October 6, 2014 10:30 AM
    "When was a HDMI to mini HDMI cable included? mine never came with one."

    After clarifying this with Nvidia, only the press kits included the cable. The retail boxes do NOT include the HDMI cable. I'm sorry for the confusion and we'll update the article to correct this.

    -matt64
  • -1 Hide
    Roger Rogers , October 7, 2014 6:15 PM
    I have a Great product concept for the K1 gaming tablet. Vastly increase sales. But who to take it to...
  • 0 Hide
    Iriman , October 9, 2014 5:28 AM
    Typing from my shield now. I love this decide. As a gaming tablet, its unmatched. As a media device, its extremely hard to beat. Its responsive and I find myself using it more then my moto x and my computer combined. It has plenty of oomph to handle anything I throw at it. WiFi isnt the best out of all the devices I've played with, but in no way is it nearly as bad as the transformer prime was back when it was released. Fantastic device. Gaming is unmatched!
  • 0 Hide
    Roger Rogers , October 14, 2014 6:10 PM
    It has a serious design flaw as far as gaming is concerned from my PoV (which would only be easier for you to understand if you knew the specifics of my PoV [design issue that affects every user and potential user]).

    P.S.
    How is the heat on the thing after a few hours in warm weather?
  • 0 Hide
    CRITICALThinker , October 14, 2014 7:15 PM
    it does have some heat to it, though throttling should be minimal, I am only having a few issues with the lock screen freezing and requiring a manual reboot.
  • 0 Hide
    lookanlearn , October 15, 2014 8:54 AM
    Quote:
    it does have some heat to it, though throttling should be minimal, I am only having a few issues with the lock screen freezing and requiring a manual reboot.


    Heat can cause lock ups (as you will know); but maybe its a software thing that will be ironed out.

    I was hoping it would be smoothe and excellent; but I knew it would get hot. Too slim you see. Look at the PS Vita as comparrison. Chunky and cool.
    The heat was not an issue I was thinking about when I mentioned a design flaw for gaming (I have a neat solution for).
    Although the heat issue did give me the idea for a slot on the back of the unit (maybe magnetic) to put 6mm thick (30mm diameter) frozen metal wafers in located on the back near the CPU/GPU housing, so that it can drop the heat off a bit during an hours play. You get a kit of two or three or somthing; keep one in the freezer and swop them.
    Nobody plays them all day do they?
    For general browsing, should not be required; but when you start pushing the graphics, they be pretty handy on a hot day.

    My Terga 4 smartphone has automatically shut itself down due to overheating itself a hundred times in summers in the Far East..

    10,000 ideas.
    nice.



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