Nvidia K1 Shield Tablet

Holy shit, did anyone even bother proofreading or spell-checking that article?

Anyway, this seems pointless. For me, no OLED, definitely no buy. The controller might make a good alternative to the 360 controller on PC, though.
 
Megalith said:
Holy shit, did anyone even bother proofreading or spell-checking that article?

Anyway, this seems pointless. For me, no OLED, definitely no buy. The controller might make a good alternative to the 360 controller on PC, though.
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For me at $299 it's a no buy. But once it hits the $200 mark, I'll get one.
 
Looks good on paper but knowing Nvidia has a tendency to overhype along with having been burnt by Tegra3 I'd wait for thorough reviews and personal hands on.
 
Tegra K1 is already in a shipped product in the Xiaomi MiPad, and there are reviews of that (even in English, likely imported).

One interesting thing about the K1 is video playback capabilities. Supposedly it can do both h265 4k and 1080p hi10p h264 playback as there is hardware support (or partial support). From my experience the Snapdragon 800 (and by extension the 801) has issues with the latter (not sure about the former).

I'm not sure how the s805 (it has h265 decode I believe, not sure about hi10p capability), upcoming Exynos, and I guess the A8 fair in comparison however.
 
Is it known if it uses Gorilla Glass or any anti scratching glass ? Haven't seen it being mentioned in any of the previews.

Sounds tempting at 300 you get a top tier spec tablet.
 
I placed an order on Amazon. Should be here next week. I wanted a stylus tablet to write note and I got tired of waiting for the Samsung to release a revision of theirs.
 
Looks pretty good.

Vast improvement in the speaker department over most tablets. I hate the bottom firing speakers on my Samsung Tab Pro 8.4".
 
mi7chy said:
Looks good on paper but knowing Nvidia has a tendency to overhype along with having been burnt by Tegra3 I'd wait for thorough reviews and personal hands on.
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Hard to beat the mess Tegra2 made with cell phone companies, but yes Tegra3 was a dog also. Phone makers learned... noooo more nvidia....

At any rate, price is too high for what it is, passing on this.
 
Kind of redundant if you already own a recent phone or tablet and the game quality is nowhere near an equivalently priced Sony PS4.
 
Parja said:
Except you can play real games on this.
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Like what? Almost every current "Shield-exclusive" title works fine on any other high-end Android device. The "real games" for Tegra devices generally work fine on the Android tablets and phones people already own. If you're talking about the streaming features, Limelight also works on pretty much every recent Android device. The mobile gaming ecosystem on iOS is also significantly better than Android so the thing is coming out of the gate at a disadvantage simply as a result of its platform. I would rather have seen this as an x86 8" Windows tablet with a controller dock/attachment.
 
I went ahead and placed a pre order on Amazon, glad I did not pull the trigger on the Galaxy Tab S :).
 
CEpeep said:
Like what? Almost every current "Shield-exclusive" title works fine on any other high-end Android device. The "real games" for Tegra devices generally work fine on the Android tablets and phones people already own. If you're talking about the streaming features, Limelight also works on pretty much every recent Android device. The mobile gaming ecosystem on iOS is also significantly better than Android so the thing is coming out of the gate at a disadvantage simply as a result of its platform. I would rather have seen this as an x86 8" Windows tablet with a controller dock/attachment.
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Actually, the Razer Edge, was a good concept, if a bit underpowered and batter hungry. Broadwell could help those types of devices though.
 
Kai said:
Actually, the Razer Edge, was a good concept, if a bit underpowered and batter hungry. Broadwell could help those types of devices though.
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Yeah, it was too soon for its time. Cherry Trail and Broadwell should bring to the table what was needed for it to really shine. It's a shame Nvidia has ARM at the forefront of their mobile strategy because an NV GPU with passive cooling designed for tablets would blow Intel's Iris Pro out of the water and make possible a new segment of x86 devices built for gaming.
 
Nvidia doesn't have an x86 license nor is that realistically available to them at this point in time.

Intel CPUs themselves, especially Core line, is considerably more expensive than ARM CPUs. Think about how much more devices featuring these cost compared to ARM tablets. Even the Atom line is thought to be more costly but just currently subsidized by Intel.

The GPU in the Tegra K1 is only roughly the performance equivalent of the HD4000 (Ivybridge GPU). A passively cooled GPU (given a tablet form factor) that outperforms the Iris Pro is not a realistic expectation at this point in time.

The Razer tablet used a GT640m which is comparable the Iris Pro.

The Razerblade was a $2000 dollar device with lower specs than comparable gaming laptops of the time and a dreadful display.

Cherry Trail will supposedly bring a large update for the GPU and shift it to parity with the higher core line moving to Intel's own HD graphics rather than the PowerVR graphics in Bay Trail.

Broadwell is also expected to feature a large GPU performance jump and would make Core line devices more suitable for gaming. However this cannot really be leveraged if the chassis design trades off thermal dissipation performance for other factors such as thinness (eg. Surface Pro 3).
 
limitedaccess said:
Cherry Trail will supposedly bring a large update for the GPU and shift it to parity with the higher core line moving to Intel's own HD graphics rather than the PowerVR graphics in Bay Trail.
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Bay Trail already uses Intel's own GPU tech. Cherry Trail is supposed to bring it more in line with the current gen.
 
My mistake, Bay Trail (most SKUs) use Intel 7th Gen based off Ivybridge. I was reading up about Merrifield prior to posting which is likely what threw me off. Cherry will supposedly bring it inline with Broadwell.

Although I'm wondering what the transition from Cherry Trail to what come next will be (I believe Willow Trail?). Cherry Trail supposedly has been delayed alongside Broadwell. While Intel can (and current reports suggests at least a partial application of this) artificially next gen (Skylake) parts in the markets it is currently dominating in what happens to its momentum in the markets Atom is supposed to tackle (momentum that is speculated to have cost them hundreds of millions to achieve so far)? Or will be see a short Cherry Trail to Willow Trail transition?
 
limitedaccess said:
My mistake, Bay Trail (most SKUs) use Intel 7th Gen based off Ivybridge. I was reading up about Merrifield prior to posting which is likely what threw me off. Cherry will supposedly bring it inline with Broadwell.

Although I'm wondering what the transition from Cherry Trail to what come next will be (I believe Willow Trail?). Cherry Trail supposedly has been delayed alongside Broadwell. While Intel can (and current reports suggests at least a partial application of this) artificially next gen (Skylake) parts in the markets it is currently dominating in what happens to its momentum in the markets Atom is supposed to tackle (momentum that is speculated to have cost them hundreds of millions to achieve so far)? Or will be see a short Cherry Trail to Willow Trail transition?
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I share your concern. The rapid advance of the Atom line coupled with the more regular tick/tock evolution of the mainline Core series means that Atom SKUs could start to encroach on the market for ULV Core parts. Right now, GPU is the main differentiator between a low-end ULV Core i3 and a high-end Atom part. If Cherry Trail unifies the GPU, what criteria does an OEM use to decide between an Atom part and a ULV Core part?
 
I've been waiting a year for the Denver core k1... So as much as I'd like to hit the pre-order button I shall be waiting for Denver cores.

I already have a regular am cpu inside my Tegra 1 tablet that I'm posting this from. I don't mind the 299 price tag as long as it's a Denver core. I gave 199 for this Tegra 1 a few years back and it still out runs my brand new android phone.

God bless Nvidia, the bringer of true power to tablets
 
jfolds said:
I've been waiting a year for the Denver core k1... So as much as I'd like to hit the pre-order button I shall be waiting for Denver cores.

I already have a regular am cpu inside my Tegra 1 tablet that I'm posting this from. I don't mind the 299 price tag as long as it's a Denver core. I gave 199 for this Tegra 1 a few years back and it still out runs my brand new android phone.

God bless Nvidia, the bringer of true power to tablets
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You may be waiting a while. I'd say leap on it now if you want a fast tablet -- you're going to get one here! About the only hesitation I'd have is waiting for proper reviews, not just hands-on time.
 
I'm going to pick one of these up on Tuesday. I'm planning on streaming from my PC to the tablet as well as my 55" tv and also watching Twitch streams while I sit on the back porch.

My friend pointed out that I could get a PS4 for the price of the Shield tablet plus accessories but I have no interest in the current round of consoles and I already have a WiiU.

The specs on this tablet are exactly what I want.
 
Anandtech has a review up: http://www.anandtech.com/show/8296/the-nvidia-shield-tablet-review. It reads like a reasonable review.

The GPU performance is impressive, to say the least. The iPad Air's A7 is certainly no slouch, and the K1 really kind of hands its ass to it. The tablet itself seems reasonably competitive in various respects, but doesn't quite hit the highest marks in terms of display performance.
 
As expected the battery life when pushing the graphics is pretty poor so you might as well get a console if it needs to be plugged in all the time.
 
I'm liking it so far. Have only used it at work, so no game streaming yet. I've never had an Android device before so it's all really new to me. It feels good and the screen is nice. Touch isn't as solid as the iPad. Sometimes I have to press a couple times and sometimes it'll pick up the slightest touch. I really like the form factor. It works well for portrait and landscape.
 
mi7chy said:
As expected the battery life when pushing the graphics is pretty poor so you might as well get a console if it needs to be plugged in all the time.
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It needs to be "plugged in all the time" if you're driving very demanding games. Any game that isn't so demanding, and is vsync'ed, won't drain the battery as significantly. Their software lets you cap the frame rate if you want to trade off fluidity for battery life.

NVIDIA hasn't quite figured out a way to make their GPUs twice as efficient as their competitors. Is that really out of line with your expectations?
 
Even plugged in its performance with the exclusive although ancient Half Life 2 game is unsatisfactory per the reviews. With native games under performing you can resort to streaming but with the inclusion of only 802.11g and not 802.11ac it's limited to 720p.

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/nvidia-shield-tablet-and-controller-review/1100-6421358/
Half Life 2 and Trine 2, and found both games looked great, but didn't run without problems. Half Life 2 in particular had lots of noticeable frame rate issues during busier scenes, and while it didn't ever get to the point where the game was unplayable, it was slightly disheartening to see a Tegra K1 device struggle with a 10-year-old game.
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Having wasted money on Tegra only games in the past what I don't like is the return of device specific game fragmentation. Rather prefer buying one app that works across all my devices with customizable graphics settings depending on device capability like on the PC. Perhaps the real ulterior motive with the paid exclusivity is the artificial restriction so you can't run it on other devices to compare visuals (see link below) or performance which may not be that all different. Here's a link showing supposedly Tegra only graphics enabled via a configuration file for non-Tegra devices.

http://www.jayceooi.com/2012/07/05/how-to-enable-dead-trigger-tegra-3-extended-effects-on-non-tegra-3-device/

With the lacking performance and battery life it still stands that you're better off with an equivalently priced console or PC with the benefit of access to affordable Steam games such as Trine 2 Complete Story for only $3.99 vs $13.95 on Play Store that shows the premium you expect to pay for future Nvidia only Android games.

Steam Trine 2 $3.99

Play Store Trine 2 $13.95
 
mi7chy said:
With the lacking performance and battery life it still stands that you're better off with an equivalently priced console or PC
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That's apples and oranges. Console/PC aren't alternatives to a tablet. You might as well recommend a blender instead.
 
With about two hour gaming battery life you pretty much have to keep it plugged in so it's closer to a console/PC than a tablet that gets 5+ hours gaming. Much like a Prius is closer to a golf cart than a sports car.
 
mi7chy said:
With about two hour gaming battery life you pretty much have to keep it plugged in so it's closer to a console/PC than a tablet that gets 5+ hours gaming. Much like a Prius is closer to a golf cart than a sports car.
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This is an Android tablet not a dedicated gaming device. Comparing a table to a console/PC is completely useless.
 
My little brother ordered a xiaomi mipad, honestly if you ask me it seems like a better device unless you need video out and/or a widescreen tablet. Now if only the seller on aliexpress would ship the thing...
 
Maximus825 said:
This is an Android tablet not a dedicated gaming device. Comparing a table to a console/PC is completely useless.
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I mean, NV is clearly positioning this as an alternative to a console for people with gaming PCs. If you're gonna position it as a market alternative to a console, people are going to compare it to one.
 
Any doubt it's not marketed as a gaming device?

SHIELD-Trine2-WMFG-6.jpg
 
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