- NVIDIA Tegra K1 192 core Kepler GPU, 2.2GHz ARM Cortex A15 CPU
- 8" 1920 x 1200 Full HD Touchscreen
- 16GB Storage, 2GB Memory
- MicroSD up to 128GB
- 5MP Rear and 5MP front camera
- Android 4.4 KitKat
compared to other tablets in price range, is no contest
08/25/2014
This review is from: NVIDIA SHIELD tablet 2GB Memory 8.0" 1920 x 1200 Tablet Android 4.4 (KitKat) Black
Pros:
-very powerful tablet (can run nds4droid and ppsspp at full speed), aswell as any android game ofcourse.
-can stream games from your pc on your local network, and over the internet. aswell as have access to grid.
-controller works well with games even with little or no gamepad support.
-pretty much completely stock android (no bloatware!), this alone makes it the best tablet on the market if nothing else lol
-can work with almost any usb device, and works with usb hubs. (i had keyboard + mouse + usb xbox360 controller + headset connected all at same time and all 4 worked simultaneously)
also works with usb flash drives, and usb hard drives.
-Pretty decent battery life, with lots of optimizations for battery options (can change the battery usage for each individual app). So you can set your web browser to only use 2 cores at 50% clock speed, where as maybe something like trine2 you set to max performance.
Ofcourse the more demanding tasks you do, the faster the battery will drain. (so when using hdmi out to tv while playing one of the native android pc games like trine2 or something, dont expect too much on battery lol)
-decent built in speakers
-good value tablet (but the controller does make it a little more expensive, but no other tablets come with controllers so... do you complain that to use hdmi out you need a tv/monitor which costs $200+?)
yes to get the "full use" out of it you need a controller... BUT you can use an xbox360 controller (the wireless one is better since its, wireless, as having a bunch of cords coming out of tablet makes it alittle awkward to use)
Cons:
-side button dont have much feel/feedback when pressing, feels mushy.
-camera sucks (but phones make better cameras then tablets anyway since they are smaller)
-can get pretty warm/hot while playing games which really push the tegra (as to be expected).
-screen isnt the best compared to other tablets, but it has good brightness range.
But its still an IPS panel meaning it will still look leagues better then most peoples TN panel pc monitors >.>
-stylus can accidentally be put in backwards with no effort. (happened once when i went to put it back in without even realizing it until i was trying to take it back out)
and once its in backwards, its quite tough to get back out. it caused the outside casing to come apart, but doesnt look like any long term damage, as it snapped back together.
But still pretty bad design though.
-insanely difficult to put an sd card in, i had to use my pointed tweezers to get it in. (another bad design)
-gamestream still need work imo, but works relatively well, and im sure as time goes on will get better.
cons are annoying, but not that hard to work around and not really enough to take away from the tablet itself.
Overall Review:
This is my first tablet, as no tablet until now has been worth even looking at.
If you already have a tablet, this one probably isnt worth spending $300 on. But if you dont have one, this is probably the best one to get, especially if you are a gamer and have a gaming pc.
Wifi issue was fixed within first week.
Im using asus N66U router (which is a pretty decent more higher end router), and im able to stream flawlessly with practically zero lag from anywhere in my house and even outside. (and my desktop is connected though wifi aswell... so ya... chew on that a minute lol)
looking at other 1 star reviews, most issues are not real issues other then wifi issue which was fixed with firmware update.
changing brightness = you set it to auto brightness...
app crashing is not native to this tablet, it happens on any devices. the os has NEVER crashed once.
**MAKE SURE** you do this:
-Go to settings -> shield power control.
set "keep wifi on during sleep" -> only when plugged in (if its downloading updates all night, will have dead battery in the morning lol)
also set it to minimize battery usage on wifi (if using gamestream, may want to test turning off for better results. personally i have it on and still works fine)
click over to the "apps" tab under the power control, and set it to optimize all.
You can manually set it yourself for better results im sure (set more demanding games to use more cpu, and lesser things to use less cpu to get best performance and battery)
so to get the best out of this tablet, you unfortunately do have to do some tweaking of settings yourself.
But doing this will DRASTICALLY increase battery life.
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- Jeff B.
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Verified Owner
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Owned For:
1 week to 1 month
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