The NVIDIA SHIELD Tablet Review
by Joshua Ho on July 29, 2014 9:00 AM ESTWiFi Performance
For the most part these days it seems that the situation for WiFi is much better in mobile than it is anywhere else, but it's still important to test throughput, especially on a device like the Shield tablet that requires low latency, high bandwidth connections in order to support GameStream and GRID. To this end, while NVIDIA hasn't shipped 802.11ac the Shield tablet ships with a 2x2 antenna configuration for a maximum PHY rate of 300 Mbps. Like the Shield portable, this is a BCM43241 chip, likely shared to improve economies of scale. To look at how it performs, we turn to iperf. Before we get into the results of the test, I'd like to thank ASUS for providing the RT-AC68U router to test WiFi perfomance.
Surprisingly, the Shield tablet performs about as well as some single stream 802.11ac solutions like the one found in the Galaxy Note 3. Performance is generally in line with what we'd expect for such a solution, although it would be nice to see 802.11ac for future products.
Camera
While I currently don't have the means to properly test camera, there are still some things to talk about for camera. Both the front and rear camera modules use OmniVision's OVT5963 sensor, which appears to be a 1/4", 5MP sensor. The rear camera has an F/2.0 aperture with 2.95mm focal length, and the front camera has an F/2.8 aperture, with a claimed 4.76mm focal length, although the field of view appears to be somewhat wider. This is the same sensor as the camera in the Nexus 7 (2013). As a rear facing camera, the quality is nothing special but as a front facing camera it's surprisingly high quality. The photo above is with the rear facing camera, the photo below is from the front facing camera. The stock camera application also doesn't show the correct aspect ratio for the camera, so the preview is cropped.
Audio
While I don't have the equipment available to test audio quality and peak volume quite yet, subjectively the two bass reflex ports and dual front facing speakers make for a great experience. It's definitely a major advantage over other devices when it comes to watching movies and playing games as I don't have to cup my hand around the speaker. The larger size of the tablet formfactor means that the stereo separation is much more obvious. On the headphone jack, the device appears to be using a Realtek RT5639 codec. It seems that NVIDIA has continued to use their own speaker protection system that runs on the SoC, as there isn't any clear evidence of a speaker protection IC connected via I2C.
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fivefeet8 - Tuesday, July 29, 2014 - link
Those arguments are the same ones made with the advent of gaming laptops and desktops. I can agree that the market for both is in the minority, but something needs to push the technology forward. At this point, the mobile space is ruled mostly by companies with technologies both hardware and software that have stagnated. Mostly because of the market conditions leaving pretty much only Qualcomm technology, but that has also caused them to become complacent to a large degree when it comes to software.schizoide - Tuesday, July 29, 2014 - link
Not really. Back in the day, games drove PC gaming hardware. You would go out and buy that new 3dfx card to play Quake 2. These days most PC games are console ports and low to mid-end hardware can play them just fine.Difference is that today there's an incredibly huge market full of mobile games with very modest hardware requirements, and very few are willing to release titles requiring top line hardware because the perception is those "core" gamers have consoles or gaming PCs.
You're right that if nobody builds mobile devices with higher-end capabilities those games will _certainly_ never come. That's dead on. But at the same time, I'm not going to buy a gaming device without an exclusive game that I really want. And 10 year old PC ports like portal don't cut it.
fivefeet8 - Tuesday, July 29, 2014 - link
That's the same argument you are making against the Shield Tablet. That it's hardware is not needed because most games run fine on lesser powered machines. Software has been playing catchup to PC hardware for years now, but we still have high end hardware to push the envelope.In any case, with the new Shield is a tablet that can do more than most on the market right now while still being able to push the technology forward. And you are correct, I wouldn't buy a gaming device either without a few games I really want, but then I'm not buying it simply for a gaming device only.
savagemike - Tuesday, July 29, 2014 - link
You might not buy a gaming device in that scenario. But this isn't just a gaming device it's also a tablet and as such can fill multiple uses.I'm not positive I'm going to buy one but I might. It's definitely on the list for consideration because it is so flexible. I wanted an 8"+ tablet and would very much like a stylus. Wasn't digging the extra price of the Samsung stylus models though.
For $300 this thing seems like it does lots of stuff pretty well. I would be surprised if there are not bundles for $325 or so that include the tablet and controller come the holidays.
We'll see. Want to see what the 64x version looks like too and also how pricing and quality play out for Android TV.
ArthurG - Tuesday, July 29, 2014 - link
comparing refurb price of a 6 months old item to a brand new model coming out today, very very fair...schizoide - Tuesday, July 29, 2014 - link
Sure. Why not? Money is money. You want to buy a small android tablet, Nexus 7 is at the top of your list, right?Friendly0Fire - Tuesday, July 29, 2014 - link
A lot of people don't consider refurbs. I know I don't.schizoide - Tuesday, July 29, 2014 - link
Fair enough, then it's only a 25% price premium. Certainly much more attractive, then.abrowne1993 - Tuesday, July 29, 2014 - link
The biggest problems I have with my 2013 Nexus 7 are CPU and GPU performance. If I didn't already have that tablet, I'd buy this one in a heartbeat.TheJian - Wednesday, July 30, 2014 - link
You must be kidding, comparing a refurb of an AGING product to a new product? $230 is the comparison, and for $70 extra you kick the crap out of nexus 7 2013. I didn't realize $300 was 2x $230. I guess I failed math.All the new games that come along with 20nm will likely have problems on that old thing, where K1 will keep on chugging (K1 will be the lowest common denominator next year at 20nm everywhere, and M1 or whatever they call maxwell version will be the new king). Not really interested in running all the games that are built for the lowest common denominator that will run on your aunt's galaxy s2. I'm interested in modern combat 5, asphalt 8, Ravensword, Dungeon Hunter 4 etc. All the stuff coming out this year and forward will get more potent. Though the old stuff is pretty nice too. The library keeps getting larger on android monthly.
Will they sell a lot of them? Tell that to google, they'll be using K1 in HTC Nexus 9. I'm guessing 10mil+ sell in that unit alone and it will probably be $400-500 ;) $300 for a tablet that blows everything else in it's class away is cheap. Get off welfare, get a better job etc and $300 won't sound like much more than $230...ROFL.
One of the other reviews did fine from North Dakota 1600 miles from California ;) Troll somewhere else please. Most of the ports have never sold more than 11mil (halflife2, Portal, Trine2 etc) so most people have never played the ports you're hating on. There are 1.2B android devices sold yearly now and growing. Next year with 20nm chips being at K1 level there will be 1.2B+ units top to bottom that can handle what K1 is doing and that will be what will create major game improvements. Everyone will be holding an Xbox360/ps3 in their hands that can act as a console output to tv. We're not talking angry birds any more even today. BTW, Trine2 came out 2011, Serious Sam3 BFE 2011, Portal 2008. We will start to see even more now especially after HTC Nexus9 hits. Not to mention companies like Gameloft, WB etc creating some top level stuff.