We all want a new Nvidia Shield tablet and now is the right time

Nvidia’s Shield TV devices have long been regarded as the best Android TV streaming gadgets around, and it’s not hard to see why. They pack a good level of power and lots of convenient software features, while Nvidia promises a year-long update that easily beats any Android phone on the market.

Although it was not Nvidia’s first shield product. Longtime Android enthusiasts will remember that the Nvidia Shield tablet was the company’s first Shield device. With a Tegra K1 processor, 1,920 x 1,200 display, stylus and a quad-speaker setup, Nvidia’s first and only tablet was as good as it was back in 2014.

It’s been eight long years since that first attempt, but 2022 may be the right time for the Shield tablet.

Most of the gaming pieces are here

In terms of gaming, today’s tablet landscape differs from 2014 in two main ways. For one, game streaming has seen a big increase as an alternative to local gaming. In 2014, Sony’s Remote Play and third-party PC apps were the only way to stream games to your phone via a wireless connection.

Nvidia also offers its own long-running cloud gaming service called Geforce Now. The platform lets you remotely stream your own gaming library through Nvidia’s own powerful server. After all, Geforce Now supports multiple gaming storefronts such as Steam, Epic Game Store and Ubisoft Connect. No matter which service you choose, today’s tablets make for great portable gaming.

Controller support is another area that has seen great progress since the early days of Android. Google’s platform has supported controllers from Honeycomb and Ice Cream Sandwich, but support for games was another story.

Fortunately, there’s no shortage of controller-compatible games on the Play Store today, with big hitters like Alien: Isolation, Apex Legends Mobile, Call of Duty: Mobile, Dead Sales, Grid Autosport, and Stardust Valley. It doesn’t hurt that new controllers like Nintendo Switch Remote and PS5 Dualsense are also compatible with the platform.

Today’s gaming phones also offer quite powerful remapping software, which allows you to use the device’s shoulder buttons in games that didn’t have GamePad support at first. So we have definitely got a more friendly environment for regulators.

The world (and Google) is taking care of tablets again

Another reason Nvidia jumped on the slate bandwagon is that Android tablets have seen a resurgence over the past few years, thanks in no small part to the epidemic. The device segment dried up with the world market in the late 2010s Dropping 144 million units a year, up 1.5% in 2019, the year before the epidemic. That fall doesn’t sound too bad, but IDC Report In 2014, 229.6 million units of tablets were shipped.

By comparison, run tablets worldwide 163.5 million units hit 168.5 million units in 2020 and 2021. That momentum may be slowing down after the Q4 2021 annual fall, but the iron is still hot enough to hit with Nvidia’s own Shield tablet. After all, the use of media, one of the strengths of the Nvidia Shield line, is one of the few key factors driving this resurgence in the first place.

The renewed interest in tablets also coincides with Google’s own revived effort to focus on the form factor. The platform-holder released Android 12L in October 2021, targeting other Android devices, including tablets, foldable and large screens, all of which are being rolled out to Android 13. It has confirmed at its I / O 2022 Developer Conference that it will be updated. 20 first-party apps with a tablet-centric interface. I guess it’s better to be late than never, but we hope Google will keep up the momentum.

Read more: Google is on the right track for watches and tablets, but there is much more to do

So with tablet landscape booming and Google software legwork, there’s a strong foundation here for publishing future tablets in general.

Nvidia’s secret sauce for tablets

Nvidia also has a number of internal strengths that will go well with future tablets. For one, Shield TV devices support AI upscaling for videos, increasing the resolution of videos up to 4K so you can get more detailed pictures. Similar video super-resolution technology is available on smartphones like the OnePlus and Xiaomi (although usually aimed at lower output resolutions), so we’d like to see this technology on a new Nvidia tablet.

Another Nvidia technology that realizes for implementation in the future slate DLSS (Super sampling of deep learning). The technology is available on PCs with Nvidia RTX graphics cards, using dedicated machine learning silicon to upscale video game resolutions.

DLSS has the advantage of delivering a sharper image without the need for a ton of energy compared to running natively in target resolution. Technology Has been raised For future Nintendo Switch models, and this certainly seems like a great way to deliver enhanced visuals on a tablet without a huge performance and battery life penalty.

If it likes to bring a new tablet to market, Nvidia Cap has one more feather. Shield tablets and Shield TV devices have access to a small library of Shield-exclusive games ported from consoles and PCs. These games include Borderlands 2, Half-Life 2, Metal Gear Rising: Revenge, Resident Evil 5, and Tomb Rider.

The challenge of rebooting a Shield tablet

Perhaps the biggest hurdle for the Shield tablet in 2022 is the chipset. Nvidia has used the Tegra X1 as its favorite Android TV processor since 2015, while Nintendo uses the chipset for its switch line console.

Needless to say, the Tegra X1 is now obsolete and has been out of the gun by Qualcomm’s favorite rival chips for years. Unfortunately, the company has not released any real follow-up chipsets from the Tegra X1, with the Tegra X2 and successor chips focusing more on automotive space.

Still, Nvidia seems to be working on a proper mobile-centric Tegra chipset, as Nintendo will probably want a new Tegra processor for what comes after the switch (although retro compatibility is still maintained). So we must see that the company is occupying this processor for its own products, especially if it wants to implement DLSS, which requires certain Nvidia hardware.

Another obstacle to a different experience is the gaming library. Of course, Nvidia has the Geforce Now experience, but it’s also available for other Android devices. The company previously offered ports of PC and console games through its Lightspeed Studios development house, so these existing games would be a smart addition. What about the future port of the title, though?

Unfortunately, the company said Android authority Last year it was “prioritizing streaming where we can bring Shield users full-featured, high-resolution PC games to the top of porting, right now.” So, it looks like if the company launches a new Shield tablet we can’t rely on more ports. This will not be a requirement for the device, but it will definitely be another selling point.

What will a future Shield tablet need?

Nvidia needs to get a rebooted Shield tablet if it hopes to achieve critical and / or commercial success. The original Shield tablet certainly gives us a few pointers in this regard. Probably the most prominent shield tablet hardware feature that we will see in a new device is the speaker setup, featuring quad speakers. The push for thinner bezels means we probably won’t see a pair of dual front-facing speakers the way we did on the original device above, but having a pair of speakers above and below would still be very welcome and would increase the cost of the material. Certificate in a big way.

The original pad was shipped with a stylus pen and a dedicated stylus slot, but I’m not sure if we should see these two options on a new device. However, we’ve seen a variety of tablet launches, including stylus support and an official first-party stylus (either as a bundle or as a separate purchase), so it’s understandable for Nvidia to offer this support to meet the creative and productivity crowd. .

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We’re also thinking about the screen size of the future Shield tablet, with the original Sporting having a 7-inch display. The current era of thin bezels means Nvidia can pack a larger screen for the same size. The company must offer high refresh rate support for both the gaming and more fluid experience in general. This support will also be reflected in GeForce Now, which tops at 120fps.

Speaking of GeForce Now, we think it would be wise for Nvidia to give owners of rebooted Shield tablets more premium experience in this regard. For example, the company may offer one-year access to the RTX 3080 level, which offers premium ray tracing, 4K HDR and 120fps gaming options.

Another requirement for future Shield tablets is adequate cooling to ensure sustainable performance levels. After all, we’ve seen chipsets like the Snapdragon 8 Gen1 and the Exynos 2200 look at performance over time. The tablet form factor may help itself, but Nvidia should ideally follow in the footsteps of gaming phones like the Red Magic 7 series and offer a cooling fan for the best possible performance over long gaming sessions.

Ultimately, Nvidia will have to decide whether it offers a separate controller, a switch-style form factor with disconnected control, or a steam deck form factor with integrated control. We anticipate that the company will offer a separate controller to keep costs low for those who only want the tablet alone. So with a folio case capable of lifting the tablet – as we saw with the original device – seems like a smart idea. Then again, we want to see a razor key-style telescopic controller for the device or a switch-style method for control.

A good time for any as a reboot

The pieces have largely been bundled together for a new Nvidia Shield tablet, re-embracing slates on the market, creating better Android software for the Google big screen, and bigger-name games in the Play Store (besides more controller-supported titles)).

Nvidia’s own strengths are also bolstered by a new tablet, as the firm’s Shield TV devices enjoy significant long-term support, top-notch multimedia capabilities and access to a select library of game streaming and exclusive titles. Toss in the company’s DLSS graphics technology and we can look forward to a very unique tablet offer.

There are still a number of hurdles for a graphics company like the processor choice. But the arguments for a new Nvidia Shield tablet are certainly more than just arguments against it.