I got mine from Best Buy last week. It has 4.2 out of box and I plan on sticking with that due to emulators playing slower on 4.4 and 3rd party external writing killed. I am really liking the device more than expected. Here are IMO key points (good & bad).
+ Battery life and standby time are great
+ Display is very good for 720p
+ Controller works great
+ The key reason I like this design over using an external gamepad is the integration with apps. Huge plus.
+ All emulators tested work superbly: NES, GBC, GBA, PCE, Genesis, SNES, Neo Pocket, Amiga, C64, MAME, PSX, N64, DC, Wonderswan, Master System, Gamegear and DS. Playing Dead or Alive 2 with Reicast is super serious superb.
+ DoomGles is great and so are the Quake games. Those games and Android games are much better with the Shield controller.
+ I find myself going back to games I stopped playing due to the controls. Dual sticks for shooters is pure good.
+ Speakers are as everybody says. Very good.
- Wifi is robust, but sometimes stops working even though says still connected. I have a LOT of devices and this is the only one that has the issue.
- The 5" display is too small for MAME games that are designed for long portrait displays like most shootemups, Digdug, etc. At least with a tablet of phone you can rotate the display and not have black bars taking up a lot space.
- Not a Shield negative, but Google and their blatant attempt to passively aggressively kill off external storage. Even if emulator issues are fixed in the next Nvidia update, I will not bother due to this. I would rather not root, since means starting all over again and brick concerns. I vested some fairly serious time in setting everything up.
- I find games like Modern Combat and NOVA 3 too small on the display, so would expect PC games to be even more tiny. The Shield 2 could fit a 5.8" display and that would help. At least for the Android games. MC 4 and NOVA 3 both play great though, and ditto for Asphalt 8.
As far as a Shield 2:
1. At least a 5.5" display, but can stay at 720p. Better for game performance and battery.
2. Have a plugged in and battery mode option. Full tilt with fan when plugged into power and allow customizing if not.
3. 32GB flash. Goople's lame card killing effort compels this for a gaming device. Really.
4. K1, of course.
That is pretty much it. I would buy this again if just added the four things noted above. Shield would be a 10 if had a bigger display. 9/10 as is
They didnt kill writing to the sdcard completely. Apps can only write to their respective folders which no big deal how many games need to access a different games folder. You can still move apps to sd and you can still write anything you want to the sd card using a root explorer. As for The emulator slow downs they are so minor you cant really notice them. I had to update to 72 because it supports laptop streaming.
hexitnow said:
They didnt kill writing to the sdcard completely. Apps can only write to their respective folders which no big deal how many games need to access a different games folder. You can still move apps to sd and you can still write anything you want to the sd card using a root explorer. As for The emulator slow downs they are so minor you cant really notice them. I had to update to 72 because it supports laptop streaming.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The big issue is people are reporting zipped roms have issues as well as saves. A nice thing about the emulators is a resume mode that is relative to the rom folder. Since I have a bunch of roms, not practical to use internal for that. For people that say "Just leave all roms unzipped", that results in on average at least three times more storage space being needed. Even worse for PSX games, since in compressed PBP mode, the games average anywhere from 15MB to 600MB. In correct PSX image mode, a 15MB game is 700MB. Big difference.
Anyway, not a hit on Nvidia, but is with Android. The emulator issue is actually pretty bad to me, since results in game going from smooth to sporadic stutters with 4.4, depending in part on control pad use. Smooth to not smooth is not a good option, IMO. Kind of like using an old Tegra 2 again for emulators. Tegra 2 had some throttle issues, but not due to the OS. Tegra 3 (not Tegra 2) with my Excite 7.7 is smoother with most emulators than Shield with 4.4.
Added: I also have a S4 and Note 2014 and am leaving those on 4.2 as well. Not sure if the emulator issue is Shield specific, but do know the card write issue for all devices. 4.2 does what I need, so no desire to update and then have to go through the trouble and brick potential with rooting. Yes, this is an ironic perspective for an XDA forum.
Hmm thats odd i havent had any troubles with zipped roms on any emulation app. And i have a few. As for the sony pbps i hear you there. Its ridiculous how much filler are in those, i use to rip psp and psx games.
The shield is nearly unbrickable its almost ridiculous how well they did with that. No need for root to go back and forth from system firmwares, but you do have to have an unlocked bootloader which voids warranty although i had to return a rooted unlocked shield and they didnt give me any guff. Not trying to say upgrade to KK but i will say its not as bad as you think.
N64 emulation is superb? Mupen has a lot of N64 games which it cant handle. Granted I know this is an emulator issue, and not an issue with shield capability, but its still disappointing that android emulation hasn't advanced further.
I've read reps from Nvidia stating how surprised they were with emulation being such a popular feature with the Shield. Would it be illegal for Nvidia to work and release emulators, designed exclusively for the Shield, which emulate N64 and Dreamcast games? Considering Reicast and Mupen are allowed on the google play store I don't see why Nvidia can't release their own emulators.
I always thought the roms unzipped into RAM and there was no writing to the card for this process, but reports are some emulators have issues (saves being a key). MAME writes into it's parent directory and no special path can be created for the Android version. Given the 10GB size of my MAME roms, internal storage is not an option and losing settings for roms would mean redoing the settings every time the game is played. No thanks :silly:
As far as N64, I am referring to the control use with games. The PC version is about the same as far as what works, but using certain video plug-ins with Mupen makes a huge difference it what is playable. Mupen plays more games than N64oid as a result.
Going back to zipped file sizes, same thing for PSP, but not as big a ratio. ISO files on average are 50% bigger than compressed CSO files.
For me shield = massive paper weight
None of the games I would use it for on PC or android support it.
Hey guys,
First of all, Im a new proud owner of the LTE 32GB Shield Tablet with the Nvidia controller after watching some youtube videos.
I was such a noob that while I was searching the web, I kept getting Nvidia Shiled and Nvidia Shield tablet confused! I didnt realize that their names were so similar which made searching for Roms compatibility a bit difficult.
Some of things I noticed:
1. updated to lollipop right away after I turned it on and deleted FB app and instagram app (just in case) from what I read here. Feels snappy enough that I dont think I need to do a factory reset.
2. Tried several of my App games but many didnt recognize the controller. Bummer.
-Need for speed hot pursuit didnt
-MC4 right analog wont turn my head so its impossible to aim
3. Installed PPSSPP so far the best emulator so far on the tablet. The aspect ratio seems to be very similar to PSP so it makes sense.
4. Snes 9x is good for the SNES roms but I dont know what happened to that other SNES emulator that I downloaded many months ago but no longer appears under my account. I forget the name of it but it was way better than this SNES 9x emulator.
5. Great overall tablet. A bit on the heavy side. Power button is probably the worst I've ever experienced. However, once I get the case, Im sure I wont need it as much.
6. I have a library of games on steam but disappointed that I have to rebuy half life 2 and portal to play it on my tablet.
7. Lack of library games on the Nvidia Hub.
Questions:
1. Do you guys keep your tab on at all times or do you turn it off at night?
2. Are there other android games I can use the controller with? If so, how do I get it so the buttons are configured correctly?
Thank you so much!
First thing? Buy the cover, it's awesome. There's magnets in it so it does't flop around open or closed and when you prop it up, the magnets hold the wedge in place.
But yea the power button sucks. First thing I did was upgrade to Lollipop then second thing I did was downgrade to Kitkat lol. No xposed and the single notification pull down were the deal breakers.
Haven't tried too much gaming but I do keep mine on at night, it's my alarm clock. Battery is great for me, my thing says I'm good for 5.5 hours use of battery and 5 days of standby.
Root it of course too There's a volume mod I found somewhere, for me Netflix is very quiet. Plus you need to unlock write privileges for the SD card.
64/128 gb SD card obviously too.
Tastycakess said:
First thing? Buy the cover, it's awesome. There's magnets in it so it does't flop around open or closed and when you prop it up, the magnets hold the wedge in place.
But yea the power button sucks. First thing I did was upgrade to Lollipop then second thing I did was downgrade to Kitkat lol. No xposed and the single notification pull down were the deal breakers.
Haven't tried too much gaming but I do keep mine on at night, it's my alarm clock. Battery is great for me, my thing says I'm good for 5.5 hours use of battery and 5 days of standby.
Root it of course too There's a volume mod I found somewhere, for me Netflix is very quiet. Plus you need to unlock write privileges for the SD card.
64/128 gb SD card obviously too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unlock write privilages? How?
Sent from my Nexus 5
malhaarkale said:
Unlock write privilages? How?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you are in kitat and rooted (towelroot, easy...), I use:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=nextapp.sdfix&hl=en
I think Lollipop needs to mature, so I will wait to 5.0.1, I hope soon...
You should never root a device as soon as you get it. Wait a few days first to make sure everything works before you start tinkering.
I rooted my device as soon as it was powered on. I get your point but without root I don't have much use for the tablet
mcord11758 said:
I rooted my device as soon as it was powered on. I get your point but without root I don't have much use for the tablet
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here but in the case of the Nvidia Shiled, I chose to suffer a bit to wait out any issues that might come up before rooting it.
mcord11758 said:
I rooted my device as soon as it was powered on. I get your point but without root I don't have much use for the tablet
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just out of curiosity, why do you root? sorry for bummer I am newbie
Ruturaj001 said:
Just out of curiosity, why do you root? sorry for bummer I am newbie
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Reasons for rooting vary. For this Tablet these are the things I needed root for so far
Using titanium backup to restore app data for games my kids play
Installing modified file to allow my ouya controller to pair and have buttons mapped
Installing folder mount to fix writing to external sd and move allot of my larger game files to external which is 64gb vs 16 internal. I would already be over my internal capacity without this
In the future if nvidia leaves issues in firmware that a developer here can fix it is nice to be able to have the freedom to try
xelemental said:
Hey guys,
First of all, Im a new proud owner of the LTE 32GB Shield Tablet with the Nvidia controller after watching some youtube videos.
I was such a noob that while I was searching the web, I kept getting Nvidia Shiled and Nvidia Shield tablet confused! I didnt realize that their names were so similar which made searching for Roms compatibility a bit difficult.
Some of things I noticed:
1. updated to lollipop right away after I turned it on and deleted FB app and instagram app (just in case) from what I read here. Feels snappy enough that I dont think I need to do a factory reset.
2. Tried several of my App games but many didnt recognize the controller. Bummer.
-Need for speed hot pursuit didnt
-MC4 right analog wont turn my head so its impossible to aim
3. Installed PPSSPP so far the best emulator so far on the tablet. The aspect ratio seems to be very similar to PSP so it makes sense.
4. Snes 9x is good for the SNES roms but I dont know what happened to that other SNES emulator that I downloaded many months ago but no longer appears under my account. I forget the name of it but it was way better than this SNES 9x emulator.
5. Great overall tablet. A bit on the heavy side. Power button is probably the worst I've ever experienced. However, once I get the case, Im sure I wont need it as much.
6. I have a library of games on steam but disappointed that I have to rebuy half life 2 and portal to play it on my tablet.
7. Lack of library games on the Nvidia Hub.
Questions:
1. Do you guys keep your tab on at all times or do you turn it off at night?
2. Are there other android games I can use the controller with? If so, how do I get it so the buttons are configured correctly?
Thank you so much!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the controller is mappable to many games,hold the back button in the hame you have selected and then drag and drop controls and you can playba?lt pf gamesthis way,but you probably know this now though or it will download specific cpntrols from the web, this tablet is excellent,cant really fault it,imnot rooting this this time i have two other devjces both roooted amd running custom stuff but i have not found a specific reasom why i would want to root this time,i lobe thetjing the way it is.
---------- Post added at 05:04 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:01 PM ----------
xelemental said:
Hey guys,
First of all, Im a new proud owner of the LTE 32GB Shield Tablet with the Nvidia controller after watching some youtube videos.
I was such a noob that while I was searching the web, I kept getting Nvidia Shiled and Nvidia Shield tablet confused! I didnt realize that their names were so similar which made searching for Roms compatibility a bit difficult.
Some of things I noticed:
1. updated to lollipop right away after I turned it on and deleted FB app and instagram app (just in case) from what I read here. Feels snappy enough that I dont think I need to do a factory reset.
2. Tried several of my App games but many didnt recognize the controller. Bummer.
-Need for speed hot pursuit didnt
-MC4 right analog wont turn my head so its impossible to aim
3. Installed PPSSPP so far the best emulator so far on the tablet. The aspect ratio seems to be very similar to PSP so it makes sense.
4. Snes 9x is good for the SNES roms but I dont know what happened to that other SNES emulator that I downloaded many months ago but no longer appears under my account. I forget the name of it but it was way better than this SNES 9x emulator.
5. Great overall tablet. A bit on the heavy side. Power button is probably the worst I've ever experienced. However, once I get the case, Im sure I wont need it as much.
6. I have a library of games on steam but disappointed that I have to rebuy half life 2 and portal to play it on my tablet.
7. Lack of library games on the Nvidia Hub.
Questions:
1. Do you guys keep your tab on at all times or do you turn it off at night?
2. Are there other android games I can use the controller with? If so, how do I get it so the buttons are configured correctly?
Thank you so much!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the controller is mappable to many games,hold the back button in the game you have selected and then drag and drop controls and you can play a lot of games this way,but you probably know this now though or it will download specific controls from the web, this tablet is excellent,cant really fault it,im not rooting this this time i have two other devjces both roooted amd running custom stuff but i have not found a specific reason why i would want to root this time,i love the thing the way it is.
Ruturaj001 said:
Just out of curiosity, why do you root? sorry for bummer I am newbie
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Because I can
Sent from my Xperia Z1 Compact using Tapatalk
xelemental said:
1. updated to lollipop right away after I turned it on and deleted FB app and instagram app (just in case) from what I read here. Feels snappy enough that I dont think I need to do a factory reset.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How did you upgrade right after getting it??? I'm not being prompted for a system update and it tells me there are no further updates and developers.nvidia.com doesn't even have them posted...
I got Lollipop on day #1 ...which for me was back in November. 5.0 has been out for a while...
<Edit>
... That being said ... oh gawd I miss KitKat. Lollipop was a laughable upgrade. I don't see any major performance improvement. The single notification is a mess. Memory management seems worse. And I hate to say it but I miss xposed.
I don't feel like the tablet is my own anymore. Google has made the experience just so generic. Kind of Apple-ish. Maybe if they are ever able to port xposed to ART, it'd be better. I don't know why, but somehow, I doubt it's going to happen.
I'll probably downgrade again soon, but don't know that nvidia will continue to support KitKat anymore.
Ruturaj001 said:
Just out of curiosity, why do you root? sorry for bummer I am newbie
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Some apps (Tasker, Titanium Backup, etc) require root.
Having root also allows you to uninstall the bloatware that eats up the storage you paid for.
"Because I can" is a valid answer as well. If you can't root it, you don't own it.
Get yourself a controller mount ASAP and you will love the tablet.
xelemental said:
Hey guys,
First of all, Im a new proud owner of the LTE 32GB Shield Tablet with the Nvidia controller after watching some youtube videos.
I was such a noob that while I was searching the web, I kept getting Nvidia Shiled and Nvidia Shield tablet confused! I didnt realize that their names were so similar which made searching for Roms compatibility a bit difficult.
Some of things I noticed:
1. updated to lollipop right away after I turned it on and deleted FB app and instagram app (just in case) from what I read here. Feels snappy enough that I dont think I need to do a factory reset.
2. Tried several of my App games but many didnt recognize the controller. Bummer.
-Need for speed hot pursuit didnt
-MC4 right analog wont turn my head so its impossible to aim
3. Installed PPSSPP so far the best emulator so far on the tablet. The aspect ratio seems to be very similar to PSP so it makes sense.
4. Snes 9x is good for the SNES roms but I dont know what happened to that other SNES emulator that I downloaded many months ago but no longer appears under my account. I forget the name of it but it was way better than this SNES 9x emulator.
5. Great overall tablet. A bit on the heavy side. Power button is probably the worst I've ever experienced. However, once I get the case, Im sure I wont need it as much.
6. I have a library of games on steam but disappointed that I have to rebuy half life 2 and portal to play it on my tablet.
7. Lack of library games on the Nvidia Hub.
Questions:
1. Do you guys keep your tab on at all times or do you turn it off at night?
2. Are there other android games I can use the controller with? If so, how do I get it so the buttons are configured correctly?
Thank you so much!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Amazon sells a great SmartShell Case by Fintie and I highly recommend grabbing one!!
RiffyDivine said:
Get yourself a controller mount ASAP and you will love the tablet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you have a recommendation?
Art blows dalvik away in performance gains. I like the new drop down. But I have been using lollipop since June. I just got this thing today and the thing runs circles around the nexus 9. The big thing lollipop brings is a ton more security checks.
Sent from my SHIELD Tablet using XDA Free mobile app
ailima said:
Do you have a recommendation?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Ipega http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00OZEO576/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 is amazing and since it can do both orientations it wins every time. However if you got the offical controller there is always http://www.shapeways.com/model/2843...controller.html?li=shop-results&materialId=25 which fit perfectly and does a very good job but will only hold it in widescreen which makes it a bit weird to do DS games on it.
RiffyDivine said:
The Ipega http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00OZEO576/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 is amazing and since it can do both orientations it wins every time. However if you got the offical controller there is always http://www.shapeways.com/model/2843...controller.html?li=shop-results&materialId=25 which fit perfectly and does a very good job but will only hold it in widescreen which makes it a bit weird to do DS games on it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks!
I've seen the Shapeways one and have almost bought it in a couple occasions but it seems like the weight of the tablet would be uncomfortable with it being so far on top. The Ipega one looks interesting. I like my Shield controller though. How does the controller portion compare?
so i've had my 16gb nvidia shield with a 64gb memory card for about 6 months now but used id sparingly. is there a FAQ that can explain the things that can be done to the shield tv? i'm pretty new to the whole rooting since i've been out of the android scene for a while. any help is appreciated.
one of the main things i'lm looking to use the shield tv for is for kodi, streaming my sling box (is there a slingplayer app?), as well as some gaming.
thanks for your time.
By all means root if you want to, but Kodi and gaming are both things that the Shield TV excels at OOTB, no modification required. I don't use Sling but if I remember correctly there were people who were sideloading the slingplayer app with success a few months ago. No idea if Sling shut that down or if it still works.
Take a look on Youtube. Enough people with info about apps and games.
You've had it 6 months an yet you know nothing about it? Maybe try reading before making a pointless thread
I've been looking to buy this laptop (if you can even call it one) and wanted to know how light games like Roblox, Minecraft and CSGO would run because I mostly want it for drawing and media but I want to play a few light games.
CSGO seems like a bridge too far, however at reduced graphical settings minecraft should be good. I'm inexperienced with Roblox. Also, I have the android version rather than the Windows version, so this is speculative, however I feel strongly that CSGO will not run well. It will probably run, though. Expect to use an external keyboard if you plan to play fast paced games.
What about the Android version? I think it in some ways will handle the light gaming better. But some of the games you have mentioned, might run on on lowest settings according some YouTube videos with similar hardware. On the Windows version and not on the Android version. But the Android version will have more touch screen supported games. A lot of touch screen supported windows games is made for Arm processors exclusively. On Android you can play the original Counter strike though. Using xash3d and cs16client, which has touchscreen support.
Hello everyone,
I have found this awsome android tablet/tv in one of a friends work he was gona throw it away. I thougt it was cool to take it and check it out. It runs and its a clean install i think. It runs android 7. But i want to install a higher version of android on it and use it as a tv. Can someone help me out with this?
I will provide full pictures of the parts inside and the os installed.
Specs:
16gb internal space
2gb of ram
touchscreen 15 or 17inch
Build in speakers
I thank you all for helping me.
Android tablets are good for watching video, browsing the web, reading, checking email, and playing games, and some people even manage to get work done on one. Tablets are also great first devices for kids (though we prefer the iPad or the Kindle Fire to regular Android tablets for this purpose). The market is mostly stagnant, with old devices and outdated versions of Android dominating it. The best modern Android tablet is way more expensive than an iPad, which makes it a waste for casual users.