**The Shield Portable vs Tablet: A Comparative Analysis**

As I held the Shield Portable, I couldn't help but feel a sense of excitement and curiosity about this device that promises to bring gaming and productivity to the palm of my hand. However, as I started using it, I realized that its portability came with some compromises. My neck got uncomfortable and strained, and when it was time to shift, I couldn't flip over and hold the device above me like I could with the handheld version. This forced me to prop up the tablet on my lap, which actually worked surprisingly well as a makeshift gaming station in the car.

The Shield Portable's portability is undoubtedly its strongest suit, allowing users to take it wherever they go without having to worry about carrying around a separate controller or console. However, this convenience comes at a cost, particularly when it comes to gaming performance. The device's frame rate dips in the pre-loaded copy of Trine 2, and while it still delivers an impressive experience, it's not quite on par with what I'd expect from a PC-based gaming setup.

Despite these limitations, the Shield Portable is still an excellent choice for those who want a portable gaming device. Its stylus with handwriting recognition capabilities will be a godsend for students or anyone who wants to take a lot of notes. The included physics-enabled painting app is also a ton of fun for artists to play around with. Additionally, the software is nearly stock Android, with only a few tweaks like an auto power download feature that ensures it's always ready to go when you need it.

For gamers, I'd say the Shield Portable is more than just a decent gaming device – it's a game-changer. The fact that this product exists proves that we're heading in a really amazing direction. We've got OpenGL 4.4 and Direct X 12 feature support on a tablet, which is nothing short of remarkable. This demonstrates NVIDIA's continued belief in the Android gaming ecosystem, something I wholeheartedly agree with.

Of course, there are some caveats to using the Shield Portable as a gaming device. For one, it's still ahead of its time, and there aren't many local multiplayer or split-screen options available for Android games. However, this is an area that developers need to focus on in order to make Android gaming more appealing.

**Conclusion**

In conclusion, the Shield Portable is a remarkable piece of technology that I'd be comfortable recommending to a wide variety of potential tablet owners. The Tiger K1 chip at its core delivers impressive performance, and the stylus with handwriting recognition capabilities will be a game-changer for students or anyone who wants to take notes. The included physics-enabled painting app is also a delight for artists.

As for gamers, I'd say that this device is more than just a decent gaming console – it's a super cool gaming experience in its own right. While it may not offer the same level of performance as a PC-based setup, it still delivers an excellent experience with features like OpenGL 4.4 and Direct X 12 support.

Overall, I'm excited to see where this technology takes us, and I think NVIDIA has made a bold move by investing in the hardware we need to build a platform for developers to create games that take full advantage of the Shield Portable's capabilities.

**Recommendation**

If you're looking for a tablet that can also serve as a gaming device, the Shield Portable is an excellent choice. While it may not be perfect, its strengths make up for its weaknesses, and I think it's well worth considering. However, if you don't need a tablet or aren't interested in Android gaming, there are plenty of other options available that might better suit your needs.

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"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: eni'm going to open this review by saying that when nvidia first unveiled this thing my only reaction was oh i guess i'll have to keep waiting for a proper tegra k1 handheld then my feedback about the concept was actually so negative at the press event that my contact there asked me if i even wanted a review sample and i said yeah and don't worry i'll be fair to it so while nvidia is not positioning the shield tablet as a replacement to the shield portable i stowed my handheld for a week and have only used this one since then so that i can tell you guys about the experience the flash voyager gtx usb 3 drive from corsair provides ssd like performance and fits comfortably in your pocket click now to learn more so here's the package nvidia sent it includes the tablet itself and some optional accessories the magnetic hinged tablet cover that supports auto sleep wake and three different viewing positions with the magnets in the back of the shield and the wireless controller which i'll actually cover in more depth later spec wise this kai is very well equipped for the price it's got a tegra k1 processor with 192 kepler gpu cores 2 gigs of ram a 19.75 watt hour battery that was good for over two and a half hours of continuous trying to gaming and 16 gigs of storage in the wi-fi model with 32 gigs in the lte enabled model at the front we find an 8-inch 1920 by 1200 ips screen that i would describe as pretty darn good motion blur wasn't a problem when gaming its maximum brightness made it suitable for use in almost any environment and this really stood out to me this is the first device i've ever used whose minimum brightness is very comfortable to use even in complete dark also on the front is a five megapixel selfie camera that captures 1080p video and can actually be used to stream to twitch.tv natively on the device as well as two loud stereo speakers my only complaint about the front is that the edges of the screen are a little bit harsh and scrape my fingers a little bit when i swipe in from the side not a huge deal on the back we find the other five megapixel camera on the bottom we find the latches for the magnetic cover on the top we find the gpu accelerated stylus pen whose chiseled soft tip and low latency stood out to me even though i'm not really a stylist guy and it stayed stashed there throughout the review process we find slots for a sim and microsd expansion card a volume rocker and a lock button then on each side we've got base ports for the front speakers with the left side also featuring a micro usb port a mini hdmi output that can handle 1080p 60fps and a three and a half millimeter headset audio jack that pretty much wraps up the tablet but i promised to say more about their wi-fi direct console grade controller which is actually a significant product launch in its own right the direct benefits of this controller over a bluetooth one are potentially less interference on five gigahertz much higher bandwidth for more simultaneous controllers support for audio with the integrated mic which can also be used for google now when your tablet's mic is 10 feet away or with the built-in headset jack and lower latency although most of these things aren't really my problem with existing bluetooth controllers my issue has always been the lamo build quality even from products that claim to be console grade nvidia's solution isn't perfect the triggers and d-pad feel a bit mushy for me and the b and y button placement has b basically on the edge of the controller and why actually too high for me to reach comfortably if i hold the controller along the grooves the way it's designed but i got to give them credit it's still the best option i've seen so far the pairing process takes just a few seconds with the included app and other than the triggers the tactile feedback has been pretty well received by everyone i've shown it to the touchpad for mouse movement in a pinch is great the joysticks are solid and if you game a few hours a day you'll only need to charge the battery once every week or two i'd still use an xbox controller where possible but i actually prefer this one to sony's dualshock alright so now that we've covered the tablet and controller separately let's discuss how they go together and how you might use them now my biggest objection to this device at the briefing was the need to carry around two pieces instead of one when i'm using game stream to be in pc games to it around the house or playing android games on it when i'm out and about so let's go through a few of the different ways that i already use a shield device and how this stacks up so we'll start with the toilet in this case shield portable is the big winner unless you sit backwards on the toilet there's really nowhere to put a screen that's not attached to the controller next up is the bath where i actually spend a good 25 percent of my shield gaming time once again i prefer portable but only because i don't have a better tablet stand the bigger screen is definitely better here but the integrated covers angles make it a little bit hard to view the screen straight on from there next up is in bed here the tablet shines for a while laying on my stomach was the best gaming experience in bed with the tablet propped up on a pillow in front of me but i found that my neck got uncomfortable and strained and when it was time to shift i couldn't flip over and hold the device above me the way that i can with the handheld so i'm gonna call this another win for the portable especially if you want a game for extended periods of time in the car propping up the tablet on your lap actually works surprisingly well and was reasonably balanced as long as the driver doesn't break suddenly another win for the portable but as much as i'm kind of piling on here there are some types of scenarios where the tablet is worlds better than the portable if there's a flat surface in front of you let's say an airplane food tray dining room table desk in the cafeteria at school for example it is a much more comfortable experience to game with a bigger screen a lighter controller and your hands in a more relaxed position on your legs so at the end of the day it's going to come down to where you plan to use it and if you're willing to trade the convenience of an attached controller that you don't have to carry separately with the convenience of a larger screen and a much better typing experience i mean typing on shield portable or using any apps that have to run in landscape or portrait mode is terrible mobile use aside i guess you could buy this strictly as a tablet and as a game console for your tv i've actually only done it a couple times because i have a media pc but according to nvidia lots of people plug into their tvs using hdmi in console mode and there's a compelling argument to be made for this android games pc games at up to 1080 60p with an otg ethernet dongle and an enabled pc elsewhere in the house and netflix at 1080p makes for a pretty complete entertainment experience that you can have the added benefit of being able to pick up and take with you wherever you go so it's conclusion time and it's a bit of a long one today sorry guys outside of gaming it's a wonderful piece of technology that i'd be very comfortable recommending to a wide variety of want to be tablet owners with the tiger k1 chip at its core the performance is awesome the stylus with the included handwriting recognition will be a godsend for students or anyone who wants to take a lot of notes and their included physics enabled painting app is going to be a ton of fun for artists to play around with the software is nearly stock android with only a few tweaks like an auto power download so it's more likely to have some juice when you pick it up if you only use it once in a while and it gets a big thumbs up from me there for gamers i actually feel like it's more than that in spite of some frame rate dips in the pre-loaded copy of trine 2 let's not pretend it runs as well as it does on a pc the fact that this product exists proves that we're heading in a really amazing direction we've got opengl 4.4 and directx 12 feature support on a tablet we've seen the new features that shield owners have enjoyed over the last year like grid powered remote gaming keypad mapping for android games and over the internet game stream from your own pc and what all of this demonstrates is nvidia's continued belief in this whole android gaming thing something that i actually agree with very strongly i mean sure this is a little ahead of its time i mean other than older emulated console games there's not much for local multiplayer or split screen android games if you want to play up the console experience with up to four attached controllers but i'm just glad that someone's got the balls and resources to invest in the hardware we need to build a platform for developers to even want to work on these games and that they've done it without falling into the same trap of creating a device that only really does one thing unlike previous attempts to create an android gaming device the shield tablet manages to be a very compelling value as a tablet for normal people while also delivering the right features to be a super cool gaming device not an easy thing to do i still don't need a tablet and this still doesn't change that but i've gotta give nvidia credit anyway they nailed this one guys thanks for watching like this video if you liked it dislike it if you disliked it leave a comment let me know shield portable shield tablet or none of the above very curious to hear what you think uh also don't forget to check out the video description where we're gonna have a support us link you can buy a cool t-shirt like this one you can give us a monthly contribution you can change your amazon bookmark to one with our affiliate code so that whenever you buy stuff we get a small kickback and i think we're pretty much done here thanks for watching again and as always don't forget to subscribe if you haven't already youi'm going to open this review by saying that when nvidia first unveiled this thing my only reaction was oh i guess i'll have to keep waiting for a proper tegra k1 handheld then my feedback about the concept was actually so negative at the press event that my contact there asked me if i even wanted a review sample and i said yeah and don't worry i'll be fair to it so while nvidia is not positioning the shield tablet as a replacement to the shield portable i stowed my handheld for a week and have only used this one since then so that i can tell you guys about the experience the flash voyager gtx usb 3 drive from corsair provides ssd like performance and fits comfortably in your pocket click now to learn more so here's the package nvidia sent it includes the tablet itself and some optional accessories the magnetic hinged tablet cover that supports auto sleep wake and three different viewing positions with the magnets in the back of the shield and the wireless controller which i'll actually cover in more depth later spec wise this kai is very well equipped for the price it's got a tegra k1 processor with 192 kepler gpu cores 2 gigs of ram a 19.75 watt hour battery that was good for over two and a half hours of continuous trying to gaming and 16 gigs of storage in the wi-fi model with 32 gigs in the lte enabled model at the front we find an 8-inch 1920 by 1200 ips screen that i would describe as pretty darn good motion blur wasn't a problem when gaming its maximum brightness made it suitable for use in almost any environment and this really stood out to me this is the first device i've ever used whose minimum brightness is very comfortable to use even in complete dark also on the front is a five megapixel selfie camera that captures 1080p video and can actually be used to stream to twitch.tv natively on the device as well as two loud stereo speakers my only complaint about the front is that the edges of the screen are a little bit harsh and scrape my fingers a little bit when i swipe in from the side not a huge deal on the back we find the other five megapixel camera on the bottom we find the latches for the magnetic cover on the top we find the gpu accelerated stylus pen whose chiseled soft tip and low latency stood out to me even though i'm not really a stylist guy and it stayed stashed there throughout the review process we find slots for a sim and microsd expansion card a volume rocker and a lock button then on each side we've got base ports for the front speakers with the left side also featuring a micro usb port a mini hdmi output that can handle 1080p 60fps and a three and a half millimeter headset audio jack that pretty much wraps up the tablet but i promised to say more about their wi-fi direct console grade controller which is actually a significant product launch in its own right the direct benefits of this controller over a bluetooth one are potentially less interference on five gigahertz much higher bandwidth for more simultaneous controllers support for audio with the integrated mic which can also be used for google now when your tablet's mic is 10 feet away or with the built-in headset jack and lower latency although most of these things aren't really my problem with existing bluetooth controllers my issue has always been the lamo build quality even from products that claim to be console grade nvidia's solution isn't perfect the triggers and d-pad feel a bit mushy for me and the b and y button placement has b basically on the edge of the controller and why actually too high for me to reach comfortably if i hold the controller along the grooves the way it's designed but i got to give them credit it's still the best option i've seen so far the pairing process takes just a few seconds with the included app and other than the triggers the tactile feedback has been pretty well received by everyone i've shown it to the touchpad for mouse movement in a pinch is great the joysticks are solid and if you game a few hours a day you'll only need to charge the battery once every week or two i'd still use an xbox controller where possible but i actually prefer this one to sony's dualshock alright so now that we've covered the tablet and controller separately let's discuss how they go together and how you might use them now my biggest objection to this device at the briefing was the need to carry around two pieces instead of one when i'm using game stream to be in pc games to it around the house or playing android games on it when i'm out and about so let's go through a few of the different ways that i already use a shield device and how this stacks up so we'll start with the toilet in this case shield portable is the big winner unless you sit backwards on the toilet there's really nowhere to put a screen that's not attached to the controller next up is the bath where i actually spend a good 25 percent of my shield gaming time once again i prefer portable but only because i don't have a better tablet stand the bigger screen is definitely better here but the integrated covers angles make it a little bit hard to view the screen straight on from there next up is in bed here the tablet shines for a while laying on my stomach was the best gaming experience in bed with the tablet propped up on a pillow in front of me but i found that my neck got uncomfortable and strained and when it was time to shift i couldn't flip over and hold the device above me the way that i can with the handheld so i'm gonna call this another win for the portable especially if you want a game for extended periods of time in the car propping up the tablet on your lap actually works surprisingly well and was reasonably balanced as long as the driver doesn't break suddenly another win for the portable but as much as i'm kind of piling on here there are some types of scenarios where the tablet is worlds better than the portable if there's a flat surface in front of you let's say an airplane food tray dining room table desk in the cafeteria at school for example it is a much more comfortable experience to game with a bigger screen a lighter controller and your hands in a more relaxed position on your legs so at the end of the day it's going to come down to where you plan to use it and if you're willing to trade the convenience of an attached controller that you don't have to carry separately with the convenience of a larger screen and a much better typing experience i mean typing on shield portable or using any apps that have to run in landscape or portrait mode is terrible mobile use aside i guess you could buy this strictly as a tablet and as a game console for your tv i've actually only done it a couple times because i have a media pc but according to nvidia lots of people plug into their tvs using hdmi in console mode and there's a compelling argument to be made for this android games pc games at up to 1080 60p with an otg ethernet dongle and an enabled pc elsewhere in the house and netflix at 1080p makes for a pretty complete entertainment experience that you can have the added benefit of being able to pick up and take with you wherever you go so it's conclusion time and it's a bit of a long one today sorry guys outside of gaming it's a wonderful piece of technology that i'd be very comfortable recommending to a wide variety of want to be tablet owners with the tiger k1 chip at its core the performance is awesome the stylus with the included handwriting recognition will be a godsend for students or anyone who wants to take a lot of notes and their included physics enabled painting app is going to be a ton of fun for artists to play around with the software is nearly stock android with only a few tweaks like an auto power download so it's more likely to have some juice when you pick it up if you only use it once in a while and it gets a big thumbs up from me there for gamers i actually feel like it's more than that in spite of some frame rate dips in the pre-loaded copy of trine 2 let's not pretend it runs as well as it does on a pc the fact that this product exists proves that we're heading in a really amazing direction we've got opengl 4.4 and directx 12 feature support on a tablet we've seen the new features that shield owners have enjoyed over the last year like grid powered remote gaming keypad mapping for android games and over the internet game stream from your own pc and what all of this demonstrates is nvidia's continued belief in this whole android gaming thing something that i actually agree with very strongly i mean sure this is a little ahead of its time i mean other than older emulated console games there's not much for local multiplayer or split screen android games if you want to play up the console experience with up to four attached controllers but i'm just glad that someone's got the balls and resources to invest in the hardware we need to build a platform for developers to even want to work on these games and that they've done it without falling into the same trap of creating a device that only really does one thing unlike previous attempts to create an android gaming device the shield tablet manages to be a very compelling value as a tablet for normal people while also delivering the right features to be a super cool gaming device not an easy thing to do i still don't need a tablet and this still doesn't change that but i've gotta give nvidia credit anyway they nailed this one guys thanks for watching like this video if you liked it dislike it if you disliked it leave a comment let me know shield portable shield tablet or none of the above very curious to hear what you think uh also don't forget to check out the video description where we're gonna have a support us link you can buy a cool t-shirt like this one you can give us a monthly contribution you can change your amazon bookmark to one with our affiliate code so that whenever you buy stuff we get a small kickback and i think we're pretty much done here thanks for watching again and as always don't forget to subscribe if you haven't already you\n"