Nvidia re-release Shield Tablet K1

Been using it non stop since yesterday... Don't see power button an issue.. But I don't have fat fingers :)

Never used a tablet that's as responsive as this... Just played some Moba game that was on iPhone 6+ launch trailer.. Nice graphics and and ran very well speakers are decent too but even better when using my e50s
 
In the market for a small tablet, might get one of these to replace my now almost unusable 1st gen Nexus 7, or at least wait to see what the Xiaomi Mi Pad 2 is like, it's announced in a few days.

EDIT: Though there's the Samsung S2 8.0 to consider, though it's £100 more expensive, it does have a much nicer screen... hmm! Thoughts?
 
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dbmzk1 said:
EDIT: Though there's the Samsung S2 8.0 to consider, though it's £100 more expensive, it does have a much nicer screen... hmm! Thoughts?
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I wouldn't touch another Samsung device with a barge pole; the hardware is beautiful (especially the screen on my Tab S 8.4), but the software bloat and garish design is just unbearable. The battery life on the Tab S was also pretty dire for me (though it was an LTE variant).

Sure the Shield is a tad chunky, and the buttons suck, but under the hood it's powerful, and the overall experience is markedly better. Updates will be much quicker from NV (MM this year, they claim) and if you ever want to custom ROM, the Shield unlocks just like a Nexus device, afaik.

The only other tab of this size I would seriously consider would be the Sony Z3 Tablet Compact...
 
Sumanji said:
I wouldn't touch another Samsung device with a barge pole; the hardware is beautiful (especially the screen on my Tab S 8.4), but the software bloat and garish design is just unbearable. The battery life on the Tab S was also pretty dire for me (though it was an LTE variant).

Sure the Shield is a tad chunky, and the buttons suck, but under the hood it's powerful, and the overall experience is markedly better. Updates will be much quicker from NV (MM this year, they claim) and if you ever want to custom ROM, the Shield unlocks just like a Nexus device, afaik.

The only other tab of this size I would seriously consider would be the Sony Z3 Tablet Compact...
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You know you can disable most of the bloat and with something like Nova Launcher you can make it look almost stock quite easily.

The S2 8.0 has a much nicer screen, better camera, is lighter, has more memory, has better build quality/materials, but it's significantly more expensive and has a smaller battery (though I've not looked how that translates into usage yet).

The Sony seems to be out of stock most places and is £300+ in those that do have it. Plus the screen is not that great compared to the Samsung.
 
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I've had mine for a few months. First tablet I have used and love it. Its rooted and some of the stuff is either deleted or frozen.
 
Ordered this today for my daughter as one of her Xmas presents. It's replacing a very old Hudl (1st gen) so should be a massive improvement. I'm looking forward to testing it out.
 
dbmzk1 said:
You know you can disable most of the bloat and with something like Nova Launcher you can make it look almost stock quite easily.
Click to expand...

I use Nova on all my devices, but that's not the issue. It's all the Samsung crapware running in the background that you can neither uninstall nor disable. The speed of Android updates is also really important, imo.
 
Very tempted with one on these to replace my ageing Galaxy Tab 7.7 - can anyone confirm for me how simple the mini-HDMI output works? Is it as simple as plugging it straight into a HDMI port on any TV and the screen is simply mirrored? (back in the day I had to have a "converter" cable for my 7.7, which hardly ever worked!)
 
This is using Cortex A15 cores though?

Nexus 9 uses Denver Cores which are the same generation as the current Cortex A57, Apple A9 etc.

There is a big performance difference.
 
muon said:
This is using Cortex A15 cores though?

Nexus 9 uses Denver Cores which are the same generation as the current Cortex A57, Apple A9 etc.

There is a big performance difference.
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True but just about every review I've seen of the Nexus 9 mentions seemingly random slowdown in real-world application switching! (granted the K1 hasn't been out for too long so there may be other issues with the Nvidia slab!)
 
StevieP said:
Very tempted with one on these to replace my ageing Galaxy Tab 7.7 - can anyone confirm for me how simple the mini-HDMI output works? Is it as simple as plugging it straight into a HDMI port on any TV and the screen is simply mirrored? (back in the day I had to have a "converter" cable for my 7.7, which hardly ever worked!)
Click to expand...

It is as simple as plugging it in, I posted earlier in the thread explaining how it works and some potential controlling issues.
 
andshrew said:
It is as simple as plugging it in, I posted earlier in the thread explaining how it works and some potential controlling issues.
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Thanks for this!

Just so I'm understanding it correctly, with the mini-HDMI output you can either use "Mirror Mode" (which simply shows exactly what's on the tablet's screen - albeit you have the aspect ratio problem) or the "Console Mode" (where you lose what's on the tablet's screen, but it should still accept touch input for controlling what's shown on the TV?)

Basically I'm wondering whether this tablet, plus a mini-HDMI to HDMI cable, will replace the need for me to take my WDTV Live when I go away! (I usually load up on videos to a USB stick and play them through the WDTV Live on the hotel TV!)
 
StevieP said:
Thanks for this!

Just so I'm understanding it correctly, with the mini-HDMI output you can either use "Mirror Mode" (which simply shows exactly what's on the tablet's screen - albeit you have the aspect ratio problem) or the "Console Mode" (where you lose what's on the tablet's screen, but it should still accept touch input for controlling what's shown on the TV?)

Basically I'm wondering whether this tablet, plus a mini-HDMI to HDMI cable, will replace the need for me to take my WDTV Live when I go away! (I usually load up on videos to a USB stick and play them through the WDTV Live on the hotel TV!)
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Yes exactly. When you plug in the cable you get an on-screen prompt to pick either mirror or console modes. Mirror activates almost straight away, the console mode has to do 'something' to change the output resolution so it takes about 30 seconds. This mode also hides the on screen android buttons so you get a proper full screen.
 
StevieP said:
True but just about every review I've seen of the Nexus 9 mentions seemingly random slowdown in real-world application switching! (granted the K1 hasn't been out for too long so there may be other issues with the Nvidia slab!)
Click to expand...

You have to remember that the Nexus 9 originally came out at a much higher price point. So reviewers were instantly more critical of the tiniest things.

The Shield K1 would get slack because of its price.

If the Nexus 9 is lagging with a far better chip and vanilla android, then the K1 will lag. The GPU is the same in both.
 
Wouldn't it be more down to the CPU rather than the GPU? My understanding was that the Shield has a quad core running at 2.2GHz whereas the Nexus has a dual core running at 2.3GHz!?!? (not that I have the slightest clue as to which one of these is better!)
 
I'm considering getting one of these. Wife as a Nexus 9, which is pretty good, so as long as performance is on a par, it should be fine for me.

Whats the official case like? it looks like it only protects the screen and just attaches to the side of the tablet. I don't really like the look of that if thats the case.
 
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