**A Detailed Review of the Shield Tablet: A Powerful Android Device with Some Flaws**

The Shield tablet is an impressive device powered by the Nvidia K1, which is also used in the Shield portable. The K1 almost doubles the performance of The Shield portable, making it a powerful Android device. However, there are some occasional and unusual stutters and lags in the UI, such as when exiting games or accessing certain apps.

The tablet's display is excellent, with a 8-inch screen factor that makes it perfect for mobile use as a tablet. It also features HDMI output capabilities, which allows users to connect it to their TV for a console-like experience. The device's speakers are also impressive, providing good sound quality for streaming content or playing games.

In terms of performance, the Shield tablet is capable of recording gameplay directly from the device using Shadow play, a feature that allows users to stream their gameplay to Twitch at 720p with a front-facing camera broadcasting them and enabling voice commentary. The Kepler architecture also enables flexible window management on screen, allowing users to move windows around without having to restart the game.

One of the standout features of the Shield tablet is its console mode, which utilizes the HDMI output to turn the device into an HTPC (Home Theater PC) capable of powering a 1080p screen with Android gaming or multimedia content like Netflix HD. This feature makes it ideal for users who want to use their TV as a display and still have access to their favorite games.

In terms of games, the Shield tablet offers a great experience, particularly when playing titles that are optimized for the Tegra K1, such as War Thunder and Half-Life 2. These games take advantage of the device's powerful hardware, providing smooth gameplay with occasional dips in frame rate and loading times. The tablet also comes pre-loaded with one of these games, War Thunder, which is a great way to get started with gaming on the Shield.

However, there are some limitations to using the Shield tablet as a portable gaming device. The need to pop the device onto a stand can be limiting, and carrying the controller can be cumbersome. Additionally, the tablet does not complement the Shield portable in any way, making them standalone devices without any mutual benefits.

On the other hand, the Shield tablet is perfectly suited for console mode or streaming games from a PC, which makes it an excellent companion for users who want to play games on their TV. The wireless controller is also quite nice, with excellent audio pass-through and low latency thanks to Wi-Fi connectivity.

In terms of pricing, the 299 model of the Shield tablet is extremely competitive, offering good value for what you get. However, the Shield cover needs work as it is an integral part of the equation for mobile gaming, and the UI experience on the tablet was not as smooth with occasional lag and stutter, which was unexpected.

Overall, the Shield tablet is a powerful Android device that offers excellent performance, a great display, and impressive features like Shadow play and console mode. While it has some limitations and flaws, particularly in terms of portability and gaming experience, it is still an innovative device that shows Nvidia's muscle squeeze from Project Logan (now known as K1). With some polishing, the Shield tablet could be a truly exceptional device, but for now, it earns our "Innovative Award" as one of the best Android tablets on the market.

**Pricing and Availability**

The 299 model of the Shield tablet is available for purchase, offering good value for what you get. However, the Shield cover needs work as it is an integral part of the equation for mobile gaming.

**Comparison to Other Devices**

The Shield tablet does not complement the Shield portable in any way, making them standalone devices without any mutual benefits. It also lags behind other Android tablets in terms of rotation speed and overall performance.

**Gaming Experience**

The Shield tablet offers a great gaming experience, particularly when playing titles that are optimized for the Tegra K1, such as War Thunder and Half-Life 2. These games take advantage of the device's powerful hardware, providing smooth gameplay with occasional dips in frame rate and loading times. The tablet also comes pre-loaded with one of these games, War Thunder.

**Console Mode**

The Shield tablet's console mode is a standout feature that utilizes the HDMI output to turn the device into an HTPC (Home Theater PC) capable of powering a 1080p screen with Android gaming or multimedia content like Netflix HD. This feature makes it ideal for users who want to use their TV as a display and still have access to their favorite games.

**Wireless Controller**

The wireless controller is quite nice, with excellent audio pass-through and low latency thanks to Wi-Fi connectivity.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enthe 3500 from fractal design brings that simplistic Scandinavian appeal with easy to work in internals great airflow and storage potential and comes in both the window or plain side panels for your preference the Nvidia Shield began as an experiment to test out the waters on Android gaming and it's what really brought portable Android gaming to reality with a console grade built-in controller also the ability to game stream your PC games to the shield was a major selling point plus the console mod allowed this device to basically become your home theater PC with its HDMI output and wireless streaming and based off the success of the shield portable Nvidia has gone ahead a step further with the introduction of The Shield tablet featuring many of the capabilities of the original Shield while in a more familiar and portable form factor all right so the unboxing experience was simple with the entire Shield family packed together with a few cool gaming perks like good luck have fun inside the controller box a nice hidden here's the entire Shield family uh if you will it definitely has grown and I feel Nvidia is really on to something with regards to Mobile gaming pricing for The Shield tablet is competitive retailing at $299 for the 16 GB and Wi-Fi only and $3.99 for LTE enabled 32 GB model The Shield controller retails for $59 and the tablet cover 429 the 8 in 1920x 1200 resolution screen is nice with wide viewing angles and decent contrast without any color shifting good to see that but the edges of the display are a little harsh and the Plastics that WRA the sides PE out just to be noticeable and I wish these were smoothed out for a better handling experience The Shield tablet is rocking Tegra K1 that is the star of the launch it's a quad core SSC at 2.2 GHz with 192 CA course based off the Kepler architecture so it can do many things a desktop equivalent GPU can do there's 2 gigs of RAM Wi-Fi abgn unfortunately no AC and Bluetooth 4.0 support both the front and rear cameras are 5 megapixels with really fast Burst Mode uh but with constant focus problems and images come out grainy even in well lit scenarios 1080p video recording is available here's a sample looks pretty decent actually and speaking of good the front-facing stereo speakers are done right with excellent forward projection and enough volume for proximity gaming plus the extra base ports on each side to deliver a more Rich sound so let's take a listen moving on the physical Tour all the connections are on the left side with a headphone jack mini HDMI out micro USB and two base ports on each side up top there's a power and the volume rocker micro SD slot for expandable storage up to 128 GB awesome a SIM card space for the LTE enabled versions and the stylus that sits securely inside the power and volume Rockers are really flush to the body and on our sample had very little tactile feedback instead they were squishy and difficult to press requiring either precise nail press press or full hand Readjustment to have enough Force for the buttons to register not cool the included Stylus is passive with a rubber tip that hasn't shown any signs of wear uh with daily use but there's no replacement tips included unfortunately uh it has pretty decent Palm rejection although not exactly logg free as there is visible catching up the Nvidia dabbler app utilizes the power of the K1 to simulate water and oil painting that's quite impressive actually and pretty accurate although it doesn't do real color mixing on the canvas it just overrides the bottom color at the bottom we find magnetic slots for the optional tablet cover that snaps into position with confidence and allows triple angle orientation although with this landscape mode the power and volume side is inaccessible at the bottom and also the magnets give out easily with just slight pressure on the tablet uh which I'm not happy about and so while the cover is low profile using the tablet with it on was uncomfortable as it sticks out on the other side making gripping the device more challenging the backing is slightly rubberized with a shield TCH speaking through that allows secure grip and The Shield tablet is as thin as my Nexus 4 although not as light as you'd expect for a tablet this size but uh you'll get used to it now moving on to the shield controller it has a very familiar feel to the original shield and side by side the controller has a slightly smaller form and no longer has a rubberized Underside it is using Wi-Fi instead of Bluetooth for apparently reduced latency and it also allows up four controllers to be connected to the Shield tablet for some multiplayer gaming button placement feels natural with comfortable reach although the direction pad has a soft click instead of defined presses that I would rather prefer they've added a volume rocker at the bottom along with a small trackpad that works quite well and capacitive touch buttons in the center for Android navigation along with the middle Shield button to access Detra Hub plus a built-in mic for voice commands in Android and these all have useful functionality add like double tapping the whole button to access running apps or holding it to get into Google Now holding the back button to enter Shadow play and Twitch streaming and holding the start button to enter the controller remapping they all illuminate indicating when the controller is on and the controller also automatically goes to sleep when idle after a few minutes there is a micro USB for charging and a headphone SL micj for audio pass through at the back of the controller and the audio quality is actually impressive although could be tab louder and only only once I encountered strange interference with the audio now for some reason the controller is not capable of connecting to the Shield tablet over a 5 GHz band instead you have to connect over 2.4 GHz for the initial connection and only then switch over to the 5 GHz once they're paired up the controller also lacks a power button for The Shield tablet itself that would be very convenient for console mode to get rid of needing to turn the tablet on for yourself the controller has up to 40 hours of gameplay on the single charger very nice with the battery level shown on tablet when paired up now coming on to The Shield tablet the overall user experience in Android 4.4.2 is mostly satisfactory of course given the powerful Hardware packed inside and while the K1 almost doubles the performance of The Shield portable there is an occasional and unusual stutter and lag in the UI for example sometimes when exiting game you can see a laggy home screen the pre-loaded camera app crashed on me a few times and here's a side by-side rotation speed with my Nexus 4 where the Shield tablet just lags behind and the same deal when compared to the Nexus 7 it just shows that Android optimization isn't there yet for the K1 okay so now on to some of the cool features of the Shield tablet is the gaming experience The Shield Hub allows you to find controller compatible games and also navigate into your apps thanks to the built-in Shadow play feature you can record your gameplay directly from the tablet you can also stream to Twitch at 720p with a front-facing camera broadcasting you and you can enable voice for commentary and twitch chat overlay all thanks to the Kepler architecture and considering how popular twitch has become this is an excellent feature to have inside the shadow play settings you can adjust orientation either landscape a portrait quality of the recording and volume for commentary and you also get the flexibility to move windows on the screen now try 2 comes pre-loaded it's one of the games that's optimized for the teger K1 and it plays very well although with occasional dip and frame rate and pretty lengthy loading times but with an overall satisfactory experience uh revisiting halflife 2 certainly brings back some memories and it is quite impressive considering it's all running on the K1 plus there are many titles in the works that would take advantage of this s so like War Thunder now compared to the gaming experience you get with a shield portable that is more natural for this uh all inclusive device the tablet feels more Awkward uh for example the need to pop the tablet on the stand that I find limiting and the need to carry the controller could be a hassle and I think many of us were expecting some type of Popin controller like we saw on the Razor Edge but where the Shield tablet really shines is console mode that utilizes the HDMI output turning this device basically into an htpc where you can power a 1080p screen with Android gaming or multimedia uh like Netflix HD plus you can still game stream off your Kepler powered PC so all of the original capabilities that made the shield portable so popular are still intact Unfortunately The Shield tablet does not complement the shield portable in any way so if you already own the ladder uh they're just Standalone devices without any mutual benefits with regards to battery life I've got a full day and a half using the Shield tablet as a tablet plus some casual arlx and running halflife 2o served me well over 2 hours of gameplay it's not the best but I do think that the Shield tablet as a gaming device is definitely more suitable for console mode or maybe like your station your device other than portable gaming in which case it'll be constantly plugged in all right it's been a lengthy one so the shield ecosystem has become slightly more immersed with The Shield tablet and complimenting accessories and I'm glad Nvidia has covered most of the groundwork first of this being a proper tablet with excellent display and speakers appropriate 8in foam factor to be just the perfect size for Mobile use as a tablet with HDMI out capabilities and incredibly impressive Hardware packed inside that allows a screen capture and Twitch streaming without a significant hit on performance console mode and game stream capabilities that would turn this into a perfect companion for your TV in the living room the wireless controller is actually quite nice with excellent audio pass through and low latency thanks to Wi-Fi connectivity Plus pricing is extremely competitive for the 299 model for basically what you get the Shield cover on the other hand needs work as it is an integral part the equation for mobile gaming the UI experience on The Shield tablet wasn't as smooth with occasional lag and stutter which I wasn't expecting plus the volume and power buttons need to see a redesign and there's no way to turn on The Shield tablet using the controller and it is awkward needing to carry the controller in the first place if you want to play some games while you're on the go now it is a device that shows the muscle squeeze from Nvidia as project Logan now known as the K1 is finally able to shine in the Android spere and while the entire Shield system still needs a bit of Polish it's not perfect we're giving this uh the hocu damn Innovative award as there's no other tablet on market right now that can do as much as the shield but what do you guys think of this implementation or would you rather prefer the shield portable leave your comments down below as always thanks for watching don't forget to subscribe for more similar content and we'll see you in the next onethe 3500 from fractal design brings that simplistic Scandinavian appeal with easy to work in internals great airflow and storage potential and comes in both the window or plain side panels for your preference the Nvidia Shield began as an experiment to test out the waters on Android gaming and it's what really brought portable Android gaming to reality with a console grade built-in controller also the ability to game stream your PC games to the shield was a major selling point plus the console mod allowed this device to basically become your home theater PC with its HDMI output and wireless streaming and based off the success of the shield portable Nvidia has gone ahead a step further with the introduction of The Shield tablet featuring many of the capabilities of the original Shield while in a more familiar and portable form factor all right so the unboxing experience was simple with the entire Shield family packed together with a few cool gaming perks like good luck have fun inside the controller box a nice hidden here's the entire Shield family uh if you will it definitely has grown and I feel Nvidia is really on to something with regards to Mobile gaming pricing for The Shield tablet is competitive retailing at $299 for the 16 GB and Wi-Fi only and $3.99 for LTE enabled 32 GB model The Shield controller retails for $59 and the tablet cover 429 the 8 in 1920x 1200 resolution screen is nice with wide viewing angles and decent contrast without any color shifting good to see that but the edges of the display are a little harsh and the Plastics that WRA the sides PE out just to be noticeable and I wish these were smoothed out for a better handling experience The Shield tablet is rocking Tegra K1 that is the star of the launch it's a quad core SSC at 2.2 GHz with 192 CA course based off the Kepler architecture so it can do many things a desktop equivalent GPU can do there's 2 gigs of RAM Wi-Fi abgn unfortunately no AC and Bluetooth 4.0 support both the front and rear cameras are 5 megapixels with really fast Burst Mode uh but with constant focus problems and images come out grainy even in well lit scenarios 1080p video recording is available here's a sample looks pretty decent actually and speaking of good the front-facing stereo speakers are done right with excellent forward projection and enough volume for proximity gaming plus the extra base ports on each side to deliver a more Rich sound so let's take a listen moving on the physical Tour all the connections are on the left side with a headphone jack mini HDMI out micro USB and two base ports on each side up top there's a power and the volume rocker micro SD slot for expandable storage up to 128 GB awesome a SIM card space for the LTE enabled versions and the stylus that sits securely inside the power and volume Rockers are really flush to the body and on our sample had very little tactile feedback instead they were squishy and difficult to press requiring either precise nail press press or full hand Readjustment to have enough Force for the buttons to register not cool the included Stylus is passive with a rubber tip that hasn't shown any signs of wear uh with daily use but there's no replacement tips included unfortunately uh it has pretty decent Palm rejection although not exactly logg free as there is visible catching up the Nvidia dabbler app utilizes the power of the K1 to simulate water and oil painting that's quite impressive actually and pretty accurate although it doesn't do real color mixing on the canvas it just overrides the bottom color at the bottom we find magnetic slots for the optional tablet cover that snaps into position with confidence and allows triple angle orientation although with this landscape mode the power and volume side is inaccessible at the bottom and also the magnets give out easily with just slight pressure on the tablet uh which I'm not happy about and so while the cover is low profile using the tablet with it on was uncomfortable as it sticks out on the other side making gripping the device more challenging the backing is slightly rubberized with a shield TCH speaking through that allows secure grip and The Shield tablet is as thin as my Nexus 4 although not as light as you'd expect for a tablet this size but uh you'll get used to it now moving on to the shield controller it has a very familiar feel to the original shield and side by side the controller has a slightly smaller form and no longer has a rubberized Underside it is using Wi-Fi instead of Bluetooth for apparently reduced latency and it also allows up four controllers to be connected to the Shield tablet for some multiplayer gaming button placement feels natural with comfortable reach although the direction pad has a soft click instead of defined presses that I would rather prefer they've added a volume rocker at the bottom along with a small trackpad that works quite well and capacitive touch buttons in the center for Android navigation along with the middle Shield button to access Detra Hub plus a built-in mic for voice commands in Android and these all have useful functionality add like double tapping the whole button to access running apps or holding it to get into Google Now holding the back button to enter Shadow play and Twitch streaming and holding the start button to enter the controller remapping they all illuminate indicating when the controller is on and the controller also automatically goes to sleep when idle after a few minutes there is a micro USB for charging and a headphone SL micj for audio pass through at the back of the controller and the audio quality is actually impressive although could be tab louder and only only once I encountered strange interference with the audio now for some reason the controller is not capable of connecting to the Shield tablet over a 5 GHz band instead you have to connect over 2.4 GHz for the initial connection and only then switch over to the 5 GHz once they're paired up the controller also lacks a power button for The Shield tablet itself that would be very convenient for console mode to get rid of needing to turn the tablet on for yourself the controller has up to 40 hours of gameplay on the single charger very nice with the battery level shown on tablet when paired up now coming on to The Shield tablet the overall user experience in Android 4.4.2 is mostly satisfactory of course given the powerful Hardware packed inside and while the K1 almost doubles the performance of The Shield portable there is an occasional and unusual stutter and lag in the UI for example sometimes when exiting game you can see a laggy home screen the pre-loaded camera app crashed on me a few times and here's a side by-side rotation speed with my Nexus 4 where the Shield tablet just lags behind and the same deal when compared to the Nexus 7 it just shows that Android optimization isn't there yet for the K1 okay so now on to some of the cool features of the Shield tablet is the gaming experience The Shield Hub allows you to find controller compatible games and also navigate into your apps thanks to the built-in Shadow play feature you can record your gameplay directly from the tablet you can also stream to Twitch at 720p with a front-facing camera broadcasting you and you can enable voice for commentary and twitch chat overlay all thanks to the Kepler architecture and considering how popular twitch has become this is an excellent feature to have inside the shadow play settings you can adjust orientation either landscape a portrait quality of the recording and volume for commentary and you also get the flexibility to move windows on the screen now try 2 comes pre-loaded it's one of the games that's optimized for the teger K1 and it plays very well although with occasional dip and frame rate and pretty lengthy loading times but with an overall satisfactory experience uh revisiting halflife 2 certainly brings back some memories and it is quite impressive considering it's all running on the K1 plus there are many titles in the works that would take advantage of this s so like War Thunder now compared to the gaming experience you get with a shield portable that is more natural for this uh all inclusive device the tablet feels more Awkward uh for example the need to pop the tablet on the stand that I find limiting and the need to carry the controller could be a hassle and I think many of us were expecting some type of Popin controller like we saw on the Razor Edge but where the Shield tablet really shines is console mode that utilizes the HDMI output turning this device basically into an htpc where you can power a 1080p screen with Android gaming or multimedia uh like Netflix HD plus you can still game stream off your Kepler powered PC so all of the original capabilities that made the shield portable so popular are still intact Unfortunately The Shield tablet does not complement the shield portable in any way so if you already own the ladder uh they're just Standalone devices without any mutual benefits with regards to battery life I've got a full day and a half using the Shield tablet as a tablet plus some casual arlx and running halflife 2o served me well over 2 hours of gameplay it's not the best but I do think that the Shield tablet as a gaming device is definitely more suitable for console mode or maybe like your station your device other than portable gaming in which case it'll be constantly plugged in all right it's been a lengthy one so the shield ecosystem has become slightly more immersed with The Shield tablet and complimenting accessories and I'm glad Nvidia has covered most of the groundwork first of this being a proper tablet with excellent display and speakers appropriate 8in foam factor to be just the perfect size for Mobile use as a tablet with HDMI out capabilities and incredibly impressive Hardware packed inside that allows a screen capture and Twitch streaming without a significant hit on performance console mode and game stream capabilities that would turn this into a perfect companion for your TV in the living room the wireless controller is actually quite nice with excellent audio pass through and low latency thanks to Wi-Fi connectivity Plus pricing is extremely competitive for the 299 model for basically what you get the Shield cover on the other hand needs work as it is an integral part the equation for mobile gaming the UI experience on The Shield tablet wasn't as smooth with occasional lag and stutter which I wasn't expecting plus the volume and power buttons need to see a redesign and there's no way to turn on The Shield tablet using the controller and it is awkward needing to carry the controller in the first place if you want to play some games while you're on the go now it is a device that shows the muscle squeeze from Nvidia as project Logan now known as the K1 is finally able to shine in the Android spere and while the entire Shield system still needs a bit of Polish it's not perfect we're giving this uh the hocu damn Innovative award as there's no other tablet on market right now that can do as much as the shield but what do you guys think of this implementation or would you rather prefer the shield portable leave your comments down below as always thanks for watching don't forget to subscribe for more similar content and we'll see you in the next one\n"