Nvidia Branded Tablet Surfaces in Pictures, Benchmark
Now the tablet has made an appearance in pictures and a new benchmark.
Even though Nvidia point-blank said that it has no plans to build devices that are already on the market, the supposed 7 inch Nvidia Tegra Tab has resurfaced in the form of actual photos and a new benchmark. This backs up reports that Nvidia filed for a "Tegra Tab" trademark back in April which sparked the whole branded tablet rumor.
While nearly any creative artist could slap together a "prototype" and upload images to the Internet just to get a few clicks, these show a 7 inch tablet-like device with a back panel similar to the new Nexus 7 sporting a texture and matte finish, and the Tegra Tab logo stamped in landscape mode. The images also show what's supposedly a 5MP camera mounted on the back.
The batch of pictures also reveals a micro HDMI port, a micro USB port, a possible SIM/SD card slot and a headphone jack. If the device does have a SIM card slot, then this particular model caught on camera will likely feature Nvidia's Tegra 4i chip with built-in 4G LTE connectivity. The version showing up on benchmarks with a Tegra 4 most likely would be a second Wi-Fi only model generating better scores.
Of course, that's if Nvidia plans to enable 4G LTE connectivity on a branded tablet. Shenzhen Granville technology is supposedly manufacturing the device(s) who in the past admitted to working on a Tegra 4 tablet with a stylus.
The new benchmark was posted on Sunday showing the Tegra Tab 7 Premium sporting Android 4.2.2 and a chip clocked at 1.81 GHz, scoring 27,643 points, which is lower than the new Nexus 7. It follows another recent benchmark of the Nvidia Tegra Note Premium which featured a Tegra 4 chip clocked at 1.8 GHz, a 1280 x 800 resolution, and Android 4.2.2, which scored less than the just-launched Nvidia Shield Android console.
Despite Nvidia stating that it has no plans to create a device already on the market, there's plenty of evidence to suggest that the company has its own Tegra tablet in the works. The company even showcased a tablet-like device during Computex back in June to introduce a new technology called DirectStylus. Coincidence? Probably not.
The new DirectStylus tech allows a Tegra 4 tablet owner to draw lines of different widths by using a fine-tip passive conductive stylus and different amounts of pressure. Thus the combination filters out the user's palm and fingertips, and replicates the natural ease of writing and erasing on paper. It's believed that the device seen during the presentation is the same one that showed up on GFXBench.
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There's also been talk of a 10 inch "premium" model that will sport Nvidia's Tegra 5 "Logan" chip packed with Kepler GPU cores, bringing a PC gaming-like experience to a tablet form factor. But given Nvidia's road map doesn't even have Logan going into the full production until 2014, the company may opt to power it with Tegra 4 if it wants the larger tablet to arrive this year.
As reported last week, we were partially hoping that Nvidia would offer a version using Windows RT 8.1 given the company's positive stance on the platform, but all the latest data points to solely using Android 4.2.2 "Jelly Bean" instead. A 7 inch Windows RT tablet powered by a Tegra 4 chip would make for an interesting device, but it would lack the portfolio of GeForce-optimized games offered on Google Play and x86-based Windows PCs.
As always, Nvidia doesn't comment on rumors and speculation.
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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teh_chem Wasn't it not too long ago that nvidia was allegedly claiming that they had no interest in entering the already-saturated tablet market themselves?Reply
Besides, unless it's a load of junk, the Snapdragon 800 beats the T4 in lots of benchmarks. Nvidia spent so much time on getting T4 out, I can't believe they have anything left up their sleeves. But at least it's not turning out to be as disappointing as Tegra 1 through 3! -
nolarrow What games are everyone playing on these tablets? Serious question. Not a troll. I have a super duper quad core galaxy s4 and the top android games are still temple run and angry birds. I understand Nvidia wants to make money but is a mobile geforce necessary for words with friends?Reply -
Bloob ReplyWhat games are everyone playing on these tablets? Serious question. Not a troll. I have a super duper quad core galaxy s4 and the top android games are still temple run and angry birds. I understand Nvidia wants to make money but is a mobile geforce necessary for words with friends?
Halo. Although it runs on a snapdragon s4 / tegra 3, the next one might not. -
stevejnb Reply11355966 said:What games are everyone playing on these tablets? Serious question. Not a troll. I have a super duper quad core galaxy s4 and the top android games are still temple run and angry birds. I understand Nvidia wants to make money but is a mobile geforce necessary for words with friends?
Heh, get a Windows Pro tablet. I play Neverwinter Online and Civilization V on mine.
For the Android tablets though.. Plants VS Zombies and Kingdom Rush and Mage Defense are the only two games I really enjoyed. Android - or iOS, for that matter - is light years behind proper gaming handhelds. It does have some awesome games (the first two of the three I listed above, for instance) but not the types of lineups of dedicated platforms. That is changing though... -
joaompp This might very well be a proof of concept prototype to get manufacturers interested in creating a Tegra based tabletReply -
michael908 Reply11355966 said:What games are everyone playing on these tablets? Serious question. Not a troll. I have a super duper quad core galaxy s4 and the top android games are still temple run and angry birds. I understand Nvidia wants to make money but is a mobile geforce necessary for words with friends?
Yeah, i've been wondering the same thing. The only demanding game i've played was riptide and it looked nice but it wasn't fun and just drained my battery. It seems the most simple games are the most fun.
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aicom Reply11355647 said:Wasn't it not too long ago that nvidia was allegedly claiming that they had no interest in entering the already-saturated tablet market themselves?
Besides, unless it's a load of junk, the Snapdragon 800 beats the T4 in lots of benchmarks. Nvidia spent so much time on getting T4 out, I can't believe they have anything left up their sleeves. But at least it's not turning out to be as disappointing as Tegra 1 through 3!
Not sure where you're getting your info but T4 seems to edge out Snapdragon 800 even with the clockspeed disadvantage (but maybe a TDP advantage). The 800 wins some of the GPU benchmarks by a small margin, but it's hardly a beating for either party.
http://community.futuremark.com/hardware/mobile
http://anandtech.com/show/7190/nvidia-shield-review-tegra-4-crossroads-pc-mobile-gaming/4 -
somebodyspecial RT would make for an interesting device that wouldn't sell just like surfaceRT. I'm GLAD they are choosing ANDROID! With all the games and apps and tegrazone optimized games that come with it coming along for the ride. It would be a total waste to design for RT currently. Let microsoft foot that dumb bill. If RT had come out 4 years ago maybe it would be different. For now though they'll need to foot a bill for losers until enough apps/games are out that take advantage of it. No need for NV to lose millions on that crap.Reply
PLEASE, keep pushing android and gamepad games for it Nvidia :)
S800 loses in pretty much every cpu test I've seen vs. T4. GPU we'll have to wait and see and more important to me in those is do your games look better than the other guys? So far T4 looks like it has quite a huge lead there.
For those wanting to know some good android games here's a paste of another post and note these links work IN THE FORUM, I just edited to add this, couldn't see them in the comments section...whatever toms...LOL:
Demon Score (square enix)
http://bit.ly/19K2HfX
Wild Blood
http://bit.ly/19K2HfZ
http://bit.ly/19K2FVa
Bloodsword (very nice!)
Riptide GP2
http://bit.ly/19K2FVd
Gun Bros 2 (google editors choice)
http://bit.ly/19K2Hwf
ChoplifterHD fron inexile (more than 10mins of fun...LOL)
http://bit.ly/19K2FVf
Note the unreal engine 3 is just kicking off on mobile, a lot more in the pipe. Also Real Boxing (unreal based) and Hawken (hawken is coming, NV showed it running on T4 already).
Modern Combat 1-4:
http://bit.ly/19K2Hwi
Make sure you up the video to 1080p... It rocks. This is PRE-T4. These are made for current crap T3 etc...OLD, some even T2 games below.
TaintedKeep (for those adventure rpg types)
http://bit.ly/19K2Hwl
http://bit.ly/19K2Hwn..
Eternity Warriors 2 (1-5mil installs in the last 30 days...wow):
http://bit.ly/19K2Hwo.
WOW, no, there will be no good games on tablets/phones etc. :)
Iron Man 3 (impressive to say the least)
http://bit.ly/19K2FVl
Frontline Commando
http://bit.ly/19K2FVn
Nova 3 (nova 1 & 2 aren't bad either)
http://bit.ly/19K2FVp
Dark Knight Rises:
http://bit.ly/19K2GbC
Gangstar Rio
http://bit.ly/19K2Hwq
Shadowgun (still think tablets are crap?)
http://bit.ly/19K2Hwr
Bard's Tale (hey, isn't this a CONSOLE game...LOL)
http://bit.ly/19K2GbF
ArmA2: Firing Range (not impressive, but this was 2011...LOL)
http://bit.ly/19K2Hwv..
Again for Tegra2...
http://bit.ly/19K2HMJ.
Renaissance Blood
http://bit.ly/19K2GbJ
Zombie Driver THD (updated Aug1 for Shield specifically)
http://bit.ly/19K2HML.
Chaos Rings 1 & 2:
http://bit.ly/19K2HMN..
Please realize it's in english when you buy it...LOL
Blazing Souls Accelate:
http://bit.ly/19K2GbL
Final Fantasy 3 in 3d (2006 game but on current handhelds)
http://bit.ly/19K2HMR
Amazing Spiderman:
http://bit.ly/19K2HMS..
Need for Speed Most Wanted:
http://bit.ly/19K2HMU
Asphalt 7 (asphalt 8 looks even better out soon)
http://bit.ly/19K2HMV..
COD Black Ops Zombie game...Who knew?
http://bit.ly/19K2HMX
I could go on, I'm ignoring all sports, adventure types etc here and just keyed on strategy, shooters and rpgs. There are a ton more and this list was compiled a few months back for a tomshardware post. You can google the games on googleplay and watch the vids in the store if you can't get the links to work.