NVidia Shield Tablet - A beast of a performer

[Jim Brown]

The more videos I watch about this tablet the more I like it.

As a previous Nexus 7 owner I am looking at getting a replacement tablet. The Shield tablet is something I completely overlooked but it seemed to be a stellar unit:

1) K1 chipset - Giving very good benchmarking results
2) Front-facing stereo speakers. An obvious wise choice by NVidia
3) Stylus - This is the bonus part which swings it for me. Having a stylus to hand gives the tablet extra kudos.
4) Gaming - Half Life 2 and Portal with PC level graphics.
5) Form factor - 8" display is a sweet spot in my view.
6) HDMI port and SD card expansion.
7) Around £240

In terms of gaming it handles Portal, Half Life 2, and can stream directly from your PC.
Battery is said to be around 10 hours of video and around 5 hours of gaming.

For me this is a much better Nexus 7 replacement. Also NVidia are quick off the mark in terms of updates so its already got Lollipop.

Here is a an indepth review:

 

[Peter Simpson]

I will admit it, as a tech boffin I looked at this tablet and I'm pleasantly impressed by it. I've sold a number of phones and tablets on eBay lately and the money is still in Paypal waiting to be used. I'm not sure whether to get the N10 to go with my N7, or a Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 10.1, Acer Iconia or the ASUS Memo Pad 10. Whatever I purchase is only for testing my next Android project on. My N7 is my main daily driver.

If I didn't already own the 2013 N7 I would purchase the shield at a drop of a hat.

 

[warwound]

I bought myself a Tesco Hudl2 in the week and so far am extremely impressed.
Bang for buck it just can't be beaten at £129.

• Kitkat 4.4.2.
  (Not sure when or whether a Lollipop update is due).
• 8.3 inch 1920 x 1200 (Full HD) screen.
• Intel quad core 1.8GHz CPU.
  (Might be a problem for android apps that only support ARM CPU - i'm not bothered about this).
• 2GB memory.
• 16GB internal storage with micro SD card slot.
• Dual band wifi.
• GPS.
• Bluetooth 4.
• HDMI output and support for wireless display.
• Compass and acceleromoter sensors.

The not so good points:

• Battery life is acceptable but not phenominal.
• Tesco branding is minimal.
  Replace the stock Tesco launcher with your favorite laucher and disable as many of the built in Tesco apps as possible using the application manager.

Martin.

 

[thedesolatesoul]

I just want to comment on the K1 chipset, the rest I believe is very good (nothing wrong with K1 either).
Remember that benchmarks mean nothing in real-world performance, there is always a bottleneck and most often than not its the storage.
The Nexus9 has a Denver K1 and even in benchmarks here it is beaten by Krait sometimes. (http://www.anandtech.com/show/8670/google-nexus-9-preliminary-findings/2)
Personally, I would go an find one in a retail store and play with it a bit to see how truly fast it is (Google Maps and Chrome is a good test).

EDIT: Also is hypocrticial of me to say benchmarks dont matter and then posting a comparison of benchmarks! Ignore it!

 

[Jim Brown]

I bought myself a Tesco Hudl2 in the week and so far am extremely impressed.

That tablet does look good. At that price point it would be perfect for the kids here. Thanks for the heads up and overview.

 

[warwound]

That tablet does look good. At that price point it would be perfect for the kids here. Thanks for the heads up and overview.

And if you have Tesco clubcard you'll get your Tesco points and that means money off petrol/diesel next month.
I'll get 4p off a litre when i next fill up at Tesco in January.

 

[thedesolatesoul]

And if you have Tesco clubcard you'll get your Tesco points and that means money off petrol/diesel next month.
I'll get 4p off a litre when i fill up at Tesco in January.

Also if you get clubcard vouchers you can double their value using clubcard boost. So £5 become £10.

 

[MarcTG]

The Stylus does not compare to what you get with the Galaxy note series... It is almost like any stylus that you get for a typical android device. The nicest 7-8 inch tablet I've seen is the Galaxy Tab S 8.4. It is slim and has an LED screen that looks amazing. I used it on my last long flight and watched 4-5 hours of movies from my SD card and the battery only dropped down to 70%. I am not a heavy tablet gamer so i really haven't tested any games on it... It also doesn't have all the NVidia addons... I guess the way you use a tablet determines your choice.

Here are some unbiased hands-on videos for that shield tablet that you are looking at:

Tablet review:

Wireless controller and Big screen gaming demo

Hope you enjoy whatever you decide to buy