NVIDIA Shield Tablet - can anything compete in specs at the $300 price point?

mshanann on 05/08/2014 - 11:50

Hi All

Looking to move off my ipad v1 - I cannot handle the constant browser crashing (Out Of Memory etc), and from the reports on the apple support site, browser crashes are still common even with the new models. Apples ridiculous price gouging based on internal flash storage size to differentiate models as well I feel is unjust.

Anyway - this new nvidia tablet looks the business as far as both performance, memory, and expandability at a very good price point:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LM6KF7O/

http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2014/07/nvidia-shield-tablet-an-an…

8 inch Display (1920x1200)
expandable storage
NVIDIA Tegra K1 2.2 GHz Processor
16 GB Flash Memory, 2 GB RAM Memory
Android Kit Kat 4.4

The only thing concerning maybe battery life.

Not looking to game - just want flawless and fast browsing / email etc, and potentially movie playback.

Are there equal / better tablets at this price point?

Computing

Comments

  • scotty on 05/08/2014 - 12:02
    +1

    Amazon does not ship that to Australia, do they? So the final price would be quite a bit more than $299 if you need to organise ship forwarding. Moreover I don't know why you would want to buy Shield Tablet if you are not thinking about gaming. Great review from AnandTech — however the emphasis is still on K1's GPU performance.

    You might also want to consider LG G Pad 8.3 (see this deal here) — under $300 delivered, a bit slower, screen a bit bigger, etc.

  • mshanann on 05/08/2014 - 12:59

    Thanks for the link to the LG G.

    Re the nvidia tablet - yeah understood is not yet available in Aus (or eligible on amazon for international shipping) ; I'm hoping someone like Kogan will pick it up soon

  • stevednj48 on 05/08/2014 - 13:33

    Check out the onda v975i I have one the way for $216 us not sure about spec wise but according to reviews its one of the fastest tablets around they also have a windows version which is v975w

    • scotty on 05/08/2014 - 22:26

      That's one interesting tablet. How's the performance of Android on Bay Trail Atom?

      • stevednj48 on 06/08/2014 - 21:27

        i received it today had a play seems very snappy and good response screen quality is excellent as well
        happy so far

        • quacka on 22/08/2014 - 14:22

          A big call.

          Since its an intel chipset, can you install windoze on it? :)

      • iridiumstem on 08/06/2015 - 19:20

        I've heard that in terms of benchmark, CPU is comparable to Snapdragon 800 and GPU is comparable to Snapdragon 600. So in terms of benchmark at least, Baytrail tablets perform alright on Android, so I've heard. Though I am not sure how well these will translate to real life experience.

        http://www.anandtech.com/show/7314/intel-baytrail-preview-in…

  • mooney on 05/08/2014 - 21:33

    At this stage I'd wait it out and go for the nexus 8. It's hard to beat the nexus program for bang for buck. I've a nexus 7 (2013) and iPad air and honestly the air doesn't get a look in.

    If you're too pressed to wait then it's hard to get past the Samsung Galaxy tab pro 8.4 (though it ain't so cheap)

  • tonyjzx on 06/08/2014 - 13:45
    +1

    is nvidia gonna actually sell this here?

  • astarman on 07/08/2014 - 19:10

    i reckon this is good for not just gaming
    the price point is low and it has a stylus
    compared to the samsung tab s 8.4 this is a bargain

  • firstpost bekind on 13/08/2014 - 11:49

    Screen res on the shield is a real downside but everything else looks great.

    • MustResistPurchase on 13/08/2014 - 18:36
      +2

      1920x1200 isn't enough for you?

      • firstpost bekind on 15/11/2015 - 12:52

        late reply lol
        i thought it was less than that. 1920x1200 is ample

  • [Deactivated] on 13/08/2014 - 20:34

    You certainly got decent use out of an iPad 1.

  • Diji1 on 08/06/2015 - 19:04

    Not looking to game - just want flawless and fast browsing / email etc, and potentially movie playback.

    You just stated exactly why this is a "terrible" choice for your usage. There is no other reason to buy this tablet other than playing or streaming games and it makes sacrifices to be so cheap and yet so powerful.

    (I say "terrible" meaning The Shield will do all these things perfectly fine but other devices will give a better experience for what you want it for).

    Although it trounces other tablets on benchmarks you are unlikely to realise much percieved difference if you compare it to another similarly priced device when it isn't playing games partly due to how the Shield's SoC works and partly because most things that aren't games are not taxing current hardware.

    It's screen image quality and resolution (if you buy the argument that 2K res is perceptibly better than 1080p on a 8" screen) are noticeably inferior to similarly priced tablets and you you have 0 additional performance as far as movie playback goes. Battery life, camera and stylus (if you compare to an active stylus such as Samsung Note devices) are noticeably inferior to similarly priced tablets although the stylus is apparently much better than a passive stylus without the software trickery the shield uses to pretend to be active.

    For example I'm pretty sure a 10" Samsung S is ~$300, about what you'd pay for the cheapest Shield Tablet (in USD).

    There are also a number of issues that have led to high rates of returns with the Shield Tablet that you might want to be aware of. More info and ways to buy it can be found here: http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=2289277

  • iridiumstem on 08/06/2015 - 19:23

    In terms of spec at least, Xiaomi MiPad?

    The price on Tab S will fall soon enough, given that the newer model is coming out soon. I've grabbed Tab Pro 10.1 for ~$350 AUD, ~$267.35 USD, when they were getting discountinued in Australia, cheaper than the Shield tablet. Even now, Tab S 10.5 and Tab S 8.4 is cheaper than or around the price point that Shield Tablet is on (around $400 AUD, approx $305 USD). They do have slightly outdated SoC, Exynos 5420, one that's used in Galaxy Note 3. For your usage, however, I don't think it would matter that much.

    Other than that, Nexus 9 is also under your price point right now from Telstra eBay store.

  • Diji1 on 09/06/2015 - 13:32

    Okies so I'm probably gonna buy a Nvidia Shield Tablet in a month or two but I'm doin mah research - discounts seem to be pretty rare and many third parties are jacking the price due to lack of supply from what I can see.

    There's 2 versions: 16GB WiFi only and 32GB LTE. The LTE version has two variants with different radios: North America and International (sometimes referred to as EU).

    If you want LTE connectivity in Australia in summary (I don't vouch that these are correct, do your own research!):

    *North American LTE will work on 4G Telstra and some 4G Optus bands (=won't work outside capital cities and possibly slower than devices with other bands). It will not take advantage of upcoming faster Optus bands. You will have 3G connectivity on all networks.

    *International LTE will work on all Australian cell networks.

    There is no point in buying the LTE version just for the added storage IMO as adding a 128GB microSD card to the 16GB WiFi version costs the same approximately.

    So currently the cheapest options I've found are:

    Nvidia Shield Tablet 16GB WiFI + Controller + Nvidia cover: 487.32 AUD (before shipping/fees and using the current CAD -> AUD exchange rate)

    http://www.ncix.com/detail/nvidia-shield-8in-tablet-wifi-bc-…
    http://www.ncix.com/detail/nvidia-shield-controller-a8-99708…
    http://www.ncix.com/detail/nvidia-shield-tablet-cover-8c-997… (OR cheaper case but 2 seperate orders/hassle http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MJXK8VM/ref=oh_aui_detai… )

    Nvidia Shield Tablet 32GB LTE (North America) + Controller + Nvidia cover: 555.44 AUD (before shipping/fees and using the current CAD -> AUD exchange rate)

    http://www.ncix.com/detail/nvidia-shield-tablet-32gb-4g-68-1…
    http://www.ncix.com/detail/nvidia-shield-controller-a8-99708…
    http://www.ncix.com/detail/nvidia-shield-tablet-cover-8c-997… (OR cheaper case but 2 seperate orders/hassle http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MJXK8VM/ref=oh_aui_detai… )

    Nvidia Shield Tablet 32GB LTE (International) + Controller + Nvidia cover: *725.78 AUD (before shipping/fees and using the current GBP -> AUD exchange rate)

    http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=BU-007-…

    If you can handle the time and hassle of seperate orders then this is what I'd do ATM:

    Nvidia Shield Tablet 32GB LTE (International) + Controller + ProCase SlimSnug Case for NVIDIA Shield Tablet: *686.42 AUD (before shipping/fees and using the current exchange rates)

    http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=TB-001-…
    http://www.ncix.com/detail/nvidia-shield-controller-a8-99708…
    http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MJXK8VM/ref=oh_aui_detai…

    More info about the ProCase: http://forum.xda-developers.com/shield-tablet/accessories/pr…

    Note that you can take additional money off the 16GB WiFi and 32GB LTE North American version by buying controller and case seperate and substituting the ProCase SlimSnug ;)

  • Diji1 on 11/06/2015 - 20:20

    Nvidia Shield 32GB LTE (International) + controller +nvidia case: $673 AUD (before shipping and exchange)

    http://www.amazon.fr/NVIDIA-SHIELD-Tablet-Wi-Fi-LTE/dp/B00M8…

Login or Join to leave a comment
Login Join