NVIDIA launched on Tuesday a new gaming-focused tablet that is, for the most part, similar to its first Shield tablet introduced earlier this year. The main difference, however, is the inclusion of LTE and a storage boost that could make the new NVIDIA Shield tablet the best holiday gift for gamers.
For $399 apiece, gamers can get hold of the new Shield off contract. It is also available for $299 on a two-year-contract with AT&T. Instead of the 16GB memory that came with the older tablet, which is now available for $299 without a contract, the new Shield touts 32GB of storage, not much but is considered a big deal for gamers since many popular titles come with a whopping 1 to 2GB of size. The tablet comes with its own microSD slot that can accommodate up to 128GB of storage, but many game developers do not allow their games to be stored in microSD cards.
LTE also now allows gamers to play their favorite games online or through NVIDIA' Gamestream technology even without a Wi-Fi connection. The previous Shield tablet only had Wi-Fi, but this new one incorporates support for multiple LTE bands used in the United States and outside. LTE is a good deal for users without access to Wi-Fi, but as Gizmodo's Sean Hollister, who was able to get first dibs on the new Shield, playing games on LTE could rack gamers up a huge data bill every month.
"I used up half a gigabyte of my 5GB of AT&T data after just half an hour of play, and nearly cross the 1GB threshold by the time I left the café," Hollister writes in his review of the new Shield. "Unless you're made of money, you're simply not going to be able to enjoy LTE game streaming on a regular basis, especially if you're paying $10 a month to share your smartphone's data plan with your tablet."
Hollister notes that streaming "Borderlands 2" from his PC at home to his Shield running on AT&T's network at a Starbucks was "blocky." Although he said the "connection never dropped," he called the interface "ugly," compared to the "lovely HD stream" he has when he plays at home over Wi-Fi. Hollister, however, said that LTE on the Shield remained "responsive enough" to beat deadly foes on "Metal Gear Solid Rising."
The new NVIDIA Shield is powered by NVIDIA'S Tegra K1 processor with a quad-core 2.2GHz Cortex A15r3 CPU and a Kepler-based graphics card, the most powerful GPU currently available on the market. It features 2GB of RAM, 5-megapixel cameras on the front and back and support for Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n and Bluetooth 4.0.
Gamers can buy one from NVIDIA'S online store as well as from Amazon, Best Buy and other retailers in the United States and Europe.
