The Shield Tablet, later relaunched as the Shield Tablet K1, is a gaming tablet, developed by Nvidia and released on July 29, 2014. It was Nvidia's second portable gaming device that uses

Android Android may refer to: Science and technology * Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human * Android (operating system), Google's mobile operating system ** Bugdroid, a Google mascot sometimes referred to ...

. Compared to the Shield Portable, the controller is not permanently connected to the screen, rather it can be purchased separately. Up to four controllers can be wirelessly connected at the same time. While the Shield tablet features an 8-inch 1920×1200 pixel display, it can output

4K resolution 4K resolution refers to a horizontal display resolution of approximately 4,000 pixels. Digital television and digital cinematography commonly use several different 4K resolutions. In television and consumer media, 38402160 (4K Ultra-high-definitio ...

signal to a television via HDMI. In November 2015, the tablet was refreshed and renamed as the ''Shield Tablet K1'' and the price was reduced to $200. In August 2016, Nvidia announced it had cancelled plans to release a hardware upgrade to its Shield Tablet products - a speculated reason for the cancellation was product conflict with the

Nintendo Switch The is a hybrid video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. The console itself is a Tablet computer#Gaming tablet, tablet that can either be docking station, docked for use as a home video ...

, which uses similar technology. In mid-2017 the tablet was no longer for retail on Nvidia's website or any of the other websites in which the tablet was being sold. Nvidia officially announced in mid-2018 that the tablet has been discontinued on the Shield website.

Features

The Shield Tablet is powered by an Nvidia Tegra K1 SoC and has stereo front facing speakers. There's a 16 GB WiFi-only model and a 32 GB

LTE LTE may refer to: Science and technology * LTE (telecommunication) (Long-Term Evolution), a telephone and mobile broadband standard ** LTE Advanced, an enhancement *** LTE Advanced Pro * Compaq LTE, a line of laptop computers produced by Compaq * ...

model. It has front and back facing 5 megapixel HDR cameras. It weighs 390 grams and is 221 x 126 x 9.2 mm in size. The 2015 Shield K1 refresh weighs 356 grams while preserving the other dimensions of the tablet.

Software updates

Shield Tablet

Nvidia released Shield Tablet OTA 2.0 update with Android 5.0 Lollipop on November 18, 2014. The Shield Tablet OTA 2.1 update with Android 5.0.1 Lollipop &

OpenGL OpenGL (Open Graphics Library) is a cross-language, cross-platform application programming interface (API) for rendering 2D and 3D vector graphics. The API is typically used to interact with a graphics processing unit (GPU), to achieve hardwa ...

4.5 support was released on December 23, 2014. Shield Tablet OTA 3.1 update with Android 5.1.1 was released on July 30, 2015. Shield Tablet OTA update with Android 6.0 Marshmallow was released on February 1, 2016. Shield Tablet OTA 4.1 update with Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow was released on May 12, 2016., OTA 4.2 update on July 12, 2016, OTA 4.3 update on October 10, 2016 & OTA update on November 3, 2016. Nvidia released Shield Tablet OTA 5.0 update with Android 7.0 Nougat on February 9, 2017.

Shield Tablet K1

Nvidia released Shield Tablet K1 OTA 1.0 update with Android 6.0 Marshmallow on December 21, 2015 and the Shield Tablet K1 OTA 1.1 on February 1, 2016. Nvidia released Shield Tablet K1 OTA 1.2 update with Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow & Vulkan support on April 13, 2016., OTA 1.3 update on June 15, 2016, OTA 1.4 update on September 13, 2016 & OTA 1.5 update on November 3, 2016. Nvidia released Shield Tablet K1 OTA 5.0 update with Android 7.0 Nougat on February 9, 2017.

Connectivity

* Headphone Jack * Micro USB * Mini HDMI 1.4a * Slot for the stylus that makes use of Nvidia's GPU DirectStylus 2 (on original model) * Micro-SD card slot

Wireless

* 802.11n 2x2 MIMO 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz Wi-Fi * Bluetooth 4.0 LE * GPS / GLONASS * SIM card slot in the 32GB LTE model with

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, 3G, 2G, GSM and EDGE connection.

Issues

On July 31, 2015, Nvidia issued a recall to replace Shield Tablet devices, sold between July 2014 and July 2015, since the battery had overheating issues that posed a fire hazard. The Shield Tablet K1 supports DirectStylus 2 (sold separately). However, this requires the user to upgrade to system update 1.2. This update provides integration of its unique software features (e.g. palm-rejection, NVIDIA-lasso) into Android.

Reception

Android Central's Andrew Martonik likes the Shield Tablet, praising its speakers and the Twitch streaming ability. The downsides are that the tablet is heavier than its competitor (390g to the Nexus 7's 290g) and it may be too expensive for some (the tablet is $299 to $399, the controller is $59, and the cover is $39).NVIDIA Shield Tablet Review Roundup
. Tom's Hardware. Retrieved 11 August 2014. The Shield Tablet K1 released in late 2015 comes without a charger or stylus.

References

External links

*
Shield Tablet, The Ultimate Tablet For Gamers

NVIDIA SHIELD Tablet K1: The Ultimate Tablet for Gamers Returns, Now $199

Magch Tablet Review
{{Android tablets Nvidia products Tablet computers Tablet computers introduced in 2014 Android (operating system) devices ARM-based video game consoles Portable media players