NVIDIA SHIELD Tablet with SHIELD Wireless Controller goes official [VIDEO]

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NVIDIA SHIELD Tablet with SHIELD Wireless Controller goes official [VIDEO]

We weren’t sure how long it would take the NVIDIA Shield Tablet to make its way out of the rumor mill and into the official news bin, but that question was answered this morning. NVIDIA has announced the device in all its glory, and all the official details are waiting for you ahead.

First thing’s first: the specs

The SHIELD Tablet is about as powerful as you’d expect from NVIDIA with the Santa Clara company stuffing their latest Tegra K1 inside. The Tegra K1 is a 2.2GHz quad-core SoC that features a 192-core GeForce GPU. That ought to be enough to handle all the high quality Tegra games you’ll be able to play on it. Here’s what else to expect:

• 8-inch 1920 x 1200 display


• 2GB of RAM


• 16GB of internal storage for WiFi-only, 32GB for LTE


• microSD up to 128GB


• 5MP front and rear cameras


• WiFi N with MIMI 2×2, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS w/ GLONASS


• HDMI for video out


• NVIDIA DirectStylus 2


• 221 x 126 x 9.2 mm


• 390 g


• Full-on Android

So the rest of it isn’t quite as mind-blowing as the chipset, but it’s still top-line stuff that should be enough to do anything you’d need a tablet to do.

Features

NVIDIA’s put together a pretty compelling package here, with a few different things setting their offering apart from the competition. For starters, you’ll get the usual collection of over 400 games that are optimized for Tegra with better graphics and physics. NVIDIA’s also touting the ability to stream supported PC games from your GeForce PC to the SHIELD Tablet for an even more robust gaming experience.

If that’s not enough, this is being billed as the first tablet with Twitch streaming built into its core. We knew Twitch was working on mobile games streaming a while ago, but this is the first time we’ve actually seen anything concrete implemented. It’s a great step in the daunting quest of legitimizing mobile gaming.

SHIELD Controller

Also being offered is a controller that can pair with the tablet via direct WiFi connection. NVIDIA says a Direct WiFi connection has more bandwidth than typical Bluetooth-based solutions, and it also provides lower latency so your inputs are pretty much immediate. We’re not sure you’ll need such good performance for mobile gaming, but it definitely can’t hurt.

Pricing and Availability

Wondering when you’ll be able to get one, and for how much? They start at a pretty remarkable $299 for the WiFi-only version, though we’re sure you’ll have to add a bit more for the LTE and extra storage.

That’s a small price to pay for the hardware you’re getting, though we’re sure those costs are being recuperated from the accessories being offered up. The controller will come with its own cost of $60, while a cover that doubles as a tablet stand is also coming for $40. Pre-orders begin today (we’ll have the link in this post as soon as we get it) and will begin shipping in North America starting this month, Europe next month, and the autumn season for everyone else.

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