Android Tv On Shield Tablet

Hadlee Simons / Android Authority

Nvidia's Shield Television set devices have long been held up as the best Android Television set streaming gadgets around, and information technology's not difficult to see why. They pack a proficient level of power and loads of handy software features, while Nvidia has delivered a years-long update commitment that handily beats any Android phone on the market place.

This wasn't Nvidia'due south kickoff Shield product, though. Long-time Android enthusiasts volition retrieve that the Nvidia Shield Portable was the company'southward start Shield device, just information technology was the follow-upward Shield Tablet that captured many eyes. Sporting a Tegra K1 processor,  1,920 x 1,200 display, stylus, and a quad-speaker setup, Nvidia's first and but tablet was almost every bit good as it got back in 2014.

Today's tablet landscape differs from 2014 in two key means when information technology comes to gaming. For one, game streaming has seen a major rise as an culling to local gaming. Dorsum in 2014, Sony's Remote Play and 3rd-party PC apps were amidst the only ways to stream games on your telephone over a wireless connection.

Nvidia likewise has its own long-running cloud gaming service on offer, dubbed Geforce Now. The platform allows you to remotely stream your own gaming library via Nvidia's own powerful servers. All-time of all, Geforce Now supports multiple gaming storefronts such as Steam, the Epic Game Store, and Ubisoft Connect. No matter what service you pick, today's tablets brand for great portable gaming.

Android has the games, streaming services, and controller back up.

Controller support is another area that's seen major strides since the early days of Android. Google's platform has supported controllers since Honeycomb and Ice Cream Sandwich, but support in games was another story.

Fortunately, there'due south no shortage of controller-compatible games on the Play Shop today, with big hitters similar Alien: Isolation, Noon Legends Mobile, Phone call of Duty: Mobile, Dead Cells, Grid Autosport, and Stardew Valley leading the charge. It doesn't injure that newer controllers like the Nintendo Switch remotes and PS5 DualSense are also uniform with the platform.

Today'south gaming phones too offer pretty robust remapping software, allowing you lot to use a device's shoulder buttons in games that don't really have gamepad support in the get-go place. So we've certainly got a more friendly environment for controllers.

The globe (and Google) cares virtually tablets again

Joe Hindy / Android Potency

Another reason for Nvidia to hop on the slate bandwagon is that Android tablets accept seen a revival in the final couple of years, thanks in no small part to the pandemic. The device category withered abroad in the late 2010s, with the global market dropping ane.5% year-on-year in 2019 to 144 million units, the twelvemonth before the pandemic. That pass up doesn't sound as well bad, but the IDC reported tablet shipments of 229.half dozen 1000000 units in 2014.

By comparison, global tablet shipments hitting 163.5 million units in 2020 and 168.v million units in 2021. That momentum might exist slowing subsequently Q4 2021 saw a yearly reject, only the fe is withal hot enough for Nvidia to strike with a Shield tablet of its own. After all, media consumption, 1 of the Nvidia Shield line'due south strengths, was 1 of several cardinal factors driving this resurgence in the first place.

The tablet market place has seen record growth, while Google is (finally) polishing the software side of things.

The renewed interest in tablets also coincides with Google's own rejuvenated efforts to focus on the class cistron. The platform-holder revealed Android 12L in October 2021, targeting tablets, foldables, and other Android devices with large screens, all of which are being rolled into Android 13. It besides confirmed at its I/O 2022 developer conference that information technology would be updating twenty first-party apps with tablet-focused interfaces. Better ultra-tardily than never, I approximate, simply we hope Google maintains this momentum.

Read more: Google is on the right path for watches and tablets, simply in that location'southward more to do

So with the tablet landscape booming and Google putting in the software legwork, there's a strong foundation hither for future tablet releases in general.

Nvidia's secret sauce for tablets

Nvidia also has several in-house strengths that would pair well with a future tablet. For one, Shield Television set devices also support AI upscaling for videos, boosting the resolution of videos up to 4K so you can get a more detailed picture show. Like video super-resolution technology is as well available on smartphones from the likes of OnePlus and Xiaomi (admitting generally targeting lower output resolutions), so we'd look to see this tech on a new Nvidia tablet.

Another Nvidia technology that makes sense to implement on a future slate is DLSS (deep learning super sampling). The tech is available on PCs with Nvidia RTX graphics cards, using dedicated machine learning silicon to upscale video game resolutions.

DLSS has the do good of delivering a sharper moving picture without requiring a ton of ability compared to natively running at the target resolution. The tech has been mooted for a time to come Nintendo Switch model, and information technology certainly seems similar a adept style to deliver improved visuals on a tablet without a massive performance and bombardment life penalization.

Nvidia also has some other feather in its cap if it chooses to bring a new tablet to market place. The Shield tablet and Shield Telly devices all accept access to a small library of Shield-sectional games ported from panel and PC. These games include Borderlands two, Half-Life 2, Metal Gear Ascent: Revengeance, Resident Evil v, and Tomb Raider.

Challenges facing a Shield Tablet reboot

Hadlee Simons / Android Authority

Peradventure the biggest obstacle to overcome for a Shield Tablet in 2022 is the chipset. Nvidia has used the Tegra X1 every bit its Android Television set processor of pick since 2015, while Nintendo uses the chipset for its Switch line of consoles likewise.

Needless to say, the Tegra X1 is old right now and has been out-gunned by rival chips from the likes of Qualcomm for a couple of years already. Unfortunately, the visitor hasn't released any real follow-up chipset since the Tegra X1, with the Tegra X2 and successor chips more focused on the automotive space.

I meaning hurdle in the manner of a new Shield Tablet is the choice of processor.

Still, information technology seems possible Nvidia is working on a proper mobile-focused Tegra chipset, as Nintendo will likely desire a new Tegra processor for whatever comes after the Switch (while still maintaining backward compatibility). So we could definitely see the company grabbing this processor for its own products, particularly if it wants to implement DLSS, which requires specific Nvidia hardware.

Some other obstacle in the mode of a differentiated feel is the gaming library. Sure, Nvidia has its Geforce At present feel, only this is available for other Android devices as well. The visitor previously offered ports of PC and console games via its Lightspeed Studios development house, so these existing games would be a wise addition. What about future ports of titles, though?

Unfortunately, the company told Android Say-so final year that it's prioritizing "streaming where nosotros can bring Shield users full-featured, high-resolution PC games over porting, right now." Information technology, therefore, sounds like nosotros tin can't count on more ports if the company launches a new Shield tablet. This wouldn't exist a necessity for the device, but it would certainly be some other selling point.

What would a future Shield Tablet need?

Hadlee Simons / Android Dominance

Nvidia volition demand to get a rebooted Shield Tablet right if it hopes to accomplish critical and/or commercial success. The original Shield Tablet certainly gives us a few pointers in this regard. Perhaps the most prominent Shield Tablet hardware feature we hope to run into on a new device is the speaker setup, featuring quad speakers. The push button for thinner bezels ways we probably won't run into a pair of dual front-facing speakers as we see on the original device above, but having a pair of speakers at the peak and bottom would however exist very welcome and push the content consumption credentials in a big way.

The original pad shipped with a stylus pen and dedicated stylus slot, only I'thou not certain whether we demand to run into both of these options on a new device. However, nosotros accept seen a variety of tablets launching with stylus support and an official first-political party stylus (either bundled or as a separate buy), and so it makes sense for Nvidia to offering this support in gild to cater to the creative and productivity oversupply.

Related: The best affordable tablets yous can buy

We're also wondering about the screen size of a future Shield tablet, with the original sporting a seven-inch display. The current era of thin bezels means Nvidia can afford to pack a larger screen for the same size. The company will absolutely need to offer high refresh rate support though, both for gaming and for a more than fluid feel in general. This support would also effigy into Geforce Now, which tops out at 120fps.

Speaking of Geforce Now, we think it would perhaps be a wise motion for Nvidia to offering owners of the rebooted Shield Tablet a more premium experience in this regard. For example, the company could offering a year of access to the RTX 3080 tier, which offers premium ray tracing, 4K HDR, and 120fps gaming options.

Powerful media-focused hardware with a dash of costless Geforce Now would be potent combination.

Another necessity for a future Shield Tablet is acceptable cooling to ensure sustained performance levels. Later on all, we've seen chipsets like the Snapdragon viii Gen 1 and Exynos 2200 falter in a large way when looking at operation over time. The tablet class factor on its own can assistance, simply Nvidia should ideally follow in the footsteps of gaming phones like the Red Magic 7 series and offering a cooling fan for the best possible performance over long gaming sessions.

Finally, Nvidia will need to accost whether it offers a separate controller, a Switch-fashion form factor with detachable controls, or a Steam Deck form factor with integrated controls. We're guessing the visitor would offer a dissever controller to keep costs down for those who just desire the tablet solitary. So including a folio example capable of propping the tablet up — every bit we saw with the original device — seems like a sensible thought. Then again, we'd dear to encounter a Razer Kishi-style telescopic controller for the device every bit well, or a Switch-fashion approach to controls.

A good a time equally whatsoever for a reboot

The pieces have mostly come together for a new Nvidia Shield Tablet, with the market place embracing slates again, Google focusing on making better Android software for bigger screens, and more than large-name games on the Play Shop (in add-on to more than controller-supported titles).

Do you desire to see a new Shield Tablet?

4602 votes

Nvidia's own strengths eternalize the case for a new tablet as well, every bit the firm's Shield TV devices enjoy crucial long-term support, top-notch multimedia capabilities, and admission to game streaming and a select library of exclusive titles. Toss in the company's DLSS graphics technology and nosotros could exist looking at a very unique tablet proposition.

At that place are nevertheless a couple of hurdles for the graphics company to overcome, such as the choice of processor. But the arguments in favor of a new Nvidia Shield Tablet certainly outweigh the arguments against information technology.

Source: https://www.androidauthority.com/new-nvidia-shield-tablet-2022-3175120/

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