Both the Apple iPad Mini 4 and Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 are already circulating within the consumer market since their respective releases a couple of months ago.
This month, Nvidia joined the pack and pitched in the Shield Tablet K1. So how does Nvidia's refresh stack up against Apple and Samsung's offers?
The Apple iPad Mini 4, with its 7.9-inch 2048 x 1536 IPS LCD display, has been noted as a good tablet for content consumption and light browsing and gaming. It comes packed with Apple's A8 dual-core SoC clocked at 1.5GHz, 2GB RAM and 16/64/128-GB options for internal storage. The 203.2 x 134.8. x 6.1mm aluminum-unibody tablet weighs 0.65 pounds for the LTE variant and holds a 6,471 mAh battery. An 8 MP main snapper and a 1.2 front-facing camera also comes in the iOS tablet. Prices vary for the Wi-Fi only and LTE models.
Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 has an 8-inch variant and a 9.7-inch variant. However, the dimensions and display sizes of the other two tablets in this comparison prompts that they'd be put side by side with the 8-inch model, which packs the same Samsung Exynos 5433 octa-core SoC as that of its bigger brother.
It also houses the same 3 GB RAM, 32/64 GB optional internal storage capacity, 8 MP main shooter and a 2.1MP front-facing camera. The 134.8 x 198.6 x 5.6mm tablet has a metal frame and a plastic back cover. It is fitted with a Super AMOLED display that is set to 2048 x 1536 native resolution, 4,000 mAh battery and only weighs 0.58 to 0.60 pounds for the LTE-capable model. Out of the box, it will have Android 5.0 Lollipop as its operating system. The Galaxy Tab S2 prices for Wi-Fi and LTE models also vary.
Nvidia's Shield Tablet K1 is a refresh of the Shield Tablet that was introduced in 2014. While the new one's plastic exterior has been curated with some design upgrades, both devices still look fairly similar. Moreover, the innards were virtually untouched.
The Shield Tablet K1 sports an Nvidia Tegra K1 SoC, which has four Cortex-A15 processor cores clocked at 2.2 GHz and a 192-core Kepler GPU, that powers its 8-inch 1920x1200 IPS display. The 2-GB RAM and 16-GB internal storage remains, as well as the 5 MP main and front-facing camera.
The 198.6 x 134.8 x 5.6 mm tablet, which is equipped with a microSD slot for storage expansions and a 5,200 mAh battery, weighs 0.85 pounds. It will be ship with Android 5.0 Lollipop. Nvidia is also hinted an Android 6.0 Marshmallow update for the Shield Tablet K1 before 2015 concludes.
It is worth noting that the midrange Shield Tablet K1 is currently offered at half the starting prices of both Samsung and Apple's premium tablet offerings.
Below are the mentioned specs along with each tablets' respective prices.
Apple iPad Mini 4 | Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 | Nvidia Shield Tablet K1 | |
SoC (Socket on Chip) | Apple A8 | Samsung Exynos 5433 | Nvidia Tegra K1 |
RAM | 2GB | 3GB | 2GB |
Internal Storage | 16/64/128GB | 32/64GB | 16GB |
Expandable Memory | No | Yes | Yes |
Dimensions | 203.2 x 134.8. x 6.1mm | 134.8 x 198.6 x 5.6mm | 198.6 x 134.8 x 5.6mm |
Weight | Wi-Fi Only - 298.8g | Wi-Fi Only - 265g | 390g |
Display | 7.9-inch 2048x1536 IPS LCD | 8-inch 2048 x1536 SAMOLED | 8-inch 1920x1200 IPS LCD |
Battery | 6,471 mAh | 4,000 mAh | 5,200 mAh |
Rear Camera | 8 MP | 8 MP | 5 MP |
Front-facing Camera | 1.2 MP | 2.1 MP | 5 MP |
Chassis | Aluminum Unibody | Metal Frame, Plastic Back Cover | Plastic |
Operating System | iOS 9 | Android 5.0 Lollipop | Android 5.0 Lollipop |
Price | Wi-Fi starts at $399 | Wi-Fi starts at $399 | $199 |
