NVIDIA's Shield was an interesting little handheld for on the go gaming. It could play Android games as well as stream PC games giving you the best of both worlds. Today, NVIDIA is announcing a new product to the Shield family.
The NVIDIA Shield Tablet is an 8" Android tablet powered by NVIDIA's K1 mobile processor. This little powerhouse packs 16GB or 32GB of memory that's expandable with a microSD card. The screen sports a 1920x1200 resolution with the ability to output up to 4K via microHDMI.
On the front it, features two front facing speakers to output great sound for those games and movies you'll be experiencing. Two 5 megapixel cameras, one on the front and one on the back allow you to take pictures and do some video conferencing.
The tablet also has a passive stylus that should be nice for note taking. I'm hoping Microsoft updates the Android One Note application to take advantage of it, but for now you can use the popular Evernote to write down your thoughts.
If you have a NVIDIA GPU on your PC, you'll be able to stream games to the Shield Tablet at home or away if you get a 4G version.
NVIDIA's also introducing a controller that's built for the Shield Tablet. It's connected through WiFi Direct rather than Bluetooth because it allows for increased bandwidth and less latency. Like the PlayStation 4 controller, there's an audio connector that will let you stream chat and game sounds to your headset. While NVIDIA didn't come out and say it, it looks like there are plans for this controller to be used in other setups such as PCs.
If you're into Twitch streaming, the Shield Tablet will handle that as well. Plug in a mic and turn on the front facing camera and the app will include your commentary and yourself in picture-in-picture mode.
$299 nets you the 16GB version with $399 being the price for the 32GB LTE version that's compatible with AT&T and T-Mobile. The cost of the controller will be $59 and the cover for the Shield Tablet that has various angles to prop the tablet up on will be $39. Pre-orders start today.
More information can be found at NVIDIA's website.
