Nvidia Shield 2 Shows Up in Benchmarks
Late last year there was talk that Nvidia was already working on its second-generation Shield handheld system. That's not surprising; the company has a new chip to dazzle the mobile world with – the Tegra K1 – and the Shield seems to be the company's official launch vessel. Word on the street is that we just might see the new handheld at E3 2014 in June.
Rumors of the Shield 2 is now backed by an appearance on the AnTuTu benchmarks. According to the chart, the device packs the quad-core Nvidia Tegra K1 chip with 192 CUDA cores (Kepler). The original has the still-speedy Tegra 4 chip with 72 GPU cores.
AnTuTu also reveals that the new Shield has a screen resolution of 1440 x 810, 4 GB of RAM, 16 GB of internal storage, and a 0.3MP camera. The original SHIELD has a 1280 x 720 resolution, 2 GB of RAM and 16 GB of internal storage. The first-generation console also does not have a camera.
The Nvidia Shield 2 appears to be running Android 4.4.2 "KitKat," the same version that's running on the current Shield model. Unfortunately, that's it for specs, yet that little bit says a whole lot about the power this unannounced console will provide. There's a good chance the screen size and controller design may remain untouched in the second model.
Nvidia launched its Shield handheld gaming console back in July 2013. The device is essentially a console game controller with a 5-inch touch-enabled tablet for a lid. Just open the lid and you're ready to go with some serious Android gaming and PC game streaming. The best titles are those that are enhanced for Tegra chips and those that cater to the Shield's controller.
The Nvidia Shield received a huge update at the beginning of April, including out-of-home GameStream, enhancements to Gamepad Mapper tool, Bluetooth keyboard and mouse support in Console Mode, plus Android "KitKat" version 4.4.2. There were also "dozens of additional tweaks and changes."
"If you're concerned about leaving your PC on all day, or leaving it unsecured without a password, new GameStream enhancements enable you to use Wake On LAN to remotely turn on your system, and to enter your Windows password with the on-screen keyboard. If you have a strong LTE connection, you can even connect to your phone's personal hotspot and stream PC games while on the go," states the GeForce site earlier this month.
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To see what else is new with Nvidia's SHIELD, head here.
Kevin Parrish has over a decade of experience as a writer, editor, and product tester. His work focused on computer hardware, networking equipment, smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, and other internet-connected devices. His work has appeared in Tom's Hardware, Tom's Guide, Maximum PC, Digital Trends, Android Authority, How-To Geek, Lifewire, and others.
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osiris11235 Come on nVidia, at least bump the resolution up to 1080p. This is supposed to be a device for gaming enthusiasts.Reply -
Te3k What's the point of a Shield? Just buy a Moga, and strap the universal controller to any Android device. If you've already got a phone with a decent screen and enough power, then you wouldn't need two devices. A Moga would work with any Android phone, and when you upgrade your hardware, you take your Moga with you. If your phone's not good enough, then why not upgrade it instead of buying a Shield? It makes so much more sense. We've already got an Android device. We don't need another; we just need a solution for gaming on the one we have. That's where external universal controllers come in.Reply -
Datcu Alexandru Reply13154341 said:What's the point of a Shield? Just buy a Moga, and strap the universal controller to any Android device. If you've already got a phone with a decent screen and enough power, then you wouldn't need two devices. A Moga would work with any Android phone, and when you upgrade your hardware, you take your Moga with you. If your phone's not good enough, then why not upgrade it instead of buying a Shield? It makes so much more sense. We've already got an Android device. We don't need another; we just need a solution for gaming on the one we have. That's where external universal controllers come in.
You get a shield for the PC remote gaming. If you buy a Shield to play Android games you are wasting money.
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Murissokah ReplyCome on nVidia, at least bump the resolution up to 1080p. This is supposed to be a device for gaming enthusiasts.
Big turn down there. I suppose that's because they can't guarantee decent 1080p streaming yet, but that's really no excuse. -
outlw6669 Reply13153804 said:Come on nVidia, at least bump the resolution up to 1080p. This is supposed to be a device for gaming enthusiasts.
Why would it need to be?
A 5" screen at 1440 x 810 is already pushing 330.44 PPI.
The resolution is more than good enough; I could even argue that the old 5" 720p screen was more than enough as the controller keeps it from being held so close to your eyes.
Pushing unnecessary resolutions does nothing but lower your performance and drop your battery life.
Keep it reasonable guys! -
john675 More pixels means a higher resolution but that also means they need to stream more pixels. Having decent bandwidth is fairly rare.Reply -
sgrams04 In before people bitch about the resolution being small FOR A 5" SCREEN. Oh, no wait. I'm too late. Looks like it's already starting.Reply -
knowom Reply
While that might be true at the same time the same could be said about buying a PC to game on a Android device.13154341 said:What's the point of a Shield? Just buy a Moga, and strap the universal controller to any Android device. If you've already got a phone with a decent screen and enough power, then you wouldn't need two devices. A Moga would work with any Android phone, and when you upgrade your hardware, you take your Moga with you. If your phone's not good enough, then why not upgrade it instead of buying a Shield? It makes so much more sense. We've already got an Android device. We don't need another; we just need a solution for gaming on the one we have. That's where external universal controllers come in.
You get a shield for the PC remote gaming. If you buy a Shield to play Android games you are wasting money.