NVIDIA Shield may be a great tablet but but when you look at consumer based rankings (such as http://www.topreport.org/tablets/ for example) it is nowhere to be found within the top.
It could be such a great tablet... if it was 10". I keep wondering why people ask for bigger and bigger phones, yet the tablet space is going the opposite direction. If I already have a 5.2 or 5.7 inch phone, 7-8" tablet simply makes no sense to me.
Maybe Apple had something to do with it. Apple had a 3.5 or 4 inch phone and a 9.7 inch 4:3 tablet. This left a lot of room for competitors with larger phones and smaller tablets.
The screen area of an an 8 inch tablet is still 1.97x that of a 5.7 inch Galaxy Note, which in turn is about 2.03x the size of a 4 inch screen of 16:9 aspect ratio. A 10-inch 16:9 screen is only 1.56x the size of an 8 inch of the same aspect ratio. To my mind, this puts 8 inch tablets in a different niche from large phones.
The 7 to 10 inch tablet market seems overall to be pretty well served. It must be tough to sell these things in enough volume to make money, unless you are Apple.
For me, the 8 inch screen puts me off this otherwise great tablet. When I got my Note 3, I pretty much stopped using my Nexus 7. Now that the Nexus broke, I'm in the market for a tablet again, but this may be too small. 10 inch minimum.
Back when my phone was 3", I bought a 7" tablet. Then I got a 5" phone and the tablet collected dust. This time around I'm doing a bit more research and thinking it through a bit more, and I think that 11-13" is the way to go. I used to think that was too big, but having played around with that form factor I don't think I can go smaller. The closer one gets to an actual 8.5x11, the better it is. 1080p minimum.
I have a 5.2" LG G2 and it works perfectly fine with my 7" Nexus. On the other hand when I had a 4.7" Galaxy Nexus and a 10" Cube tablet, the tablet was hardly ever used, only when I wanted to play a certain game that only existed on Android and was better on the big screen. It never left my house, because taking my 11.6" notebook was just as easy and far more capable. The 7" Nexus gets taken nearly everywhere and is much better for website reading and ebooks (because of weight), it is equivalent to the 10" in the gaming department (some work better, some worse) and loses with movies and photos (though not by much). But the better availability because it fits in my jeans pockets means it is much more useful overall. Sometimes I wonder if people who say 5" and 7" or 8" are nearly the same have ever seen those devices at the same time. 2" sounds like a small number, but the difference is huge. 5" phone, 7" tablet and 11.6" windows 2-in-1 with a powerful desktop at home is really all I need at this point. I haven't played with enough 6+" phones to know whether they would replace my 5"+7" devices. A 5.7" Note3 was still small enough that I wouldn't get rid of my Nexus 7 for it. Mostly, the current 6"+ stuff is either not feature rich enough or too expensive for the specs. Though I guess 6.5" or 7" without bezel would be the maximum that would fit in my pockets.
No, you can't. It's an 8 inch tablet with 32GB & LTE. Let us know if you find something equally powerful and with similar features at this price point.
Fortunately they're not selling a 7in for 399. It's 8in, and comes with LTE and 32GB. Reasonable considering the competition (below apple). Who else sells a soc that beats it for $399? Nobody. K1 is tops in gpu and many cpu benchmarks also.
I guess you consider all tablets in this range overpriced then. You also get it for $300 if going with ATT, so again, a pretty good deal.
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ddriver - Tuesday, September 16, 2014 - link
Not exactly a bargain.mlambert890 - Wednesday, October 1, 2014 - link
Ok I'll bite... Compared to what exactly?$399 for the absolute top performing SoC with 32GB and LTE no contract isn't a bargain?
I'd like to see the comparable devices that are cheaper.
And "well i don't need LTE and Qualcomm SoC is fast enough" aren't answers
Matching performance, matching features, matching quality, lower price. Empty list
craighamilton - Saturday, December 6, 2014 - link
NVIDIA Shield may be a great tablet but but when you look at consumer based rankings (such as http://www.topreport.org/tablets/ for example) it is nowhere to be found within the top.Barilla - Tuesday, September 16, 2014 - link
It could be such a great tablet... if it was 10". I keep wondering why people ask for bigger and bigger phones, yet the tablet space is going the opposite direction. If I already have a 5.2 or 5.7 inch phone, 7-8" tablet simply makes no sense to me.jimbo2779 - Tuesday, September 16, 2014 - link
Couldn't agree more.Klug4Pres - Tuesday, September 16, 2014 - link
Maybe Apple had something to do with it. Apple had a 3.5 or 4 inch phone and a 9.7 inch 4:3 tablet. This left a lot of room for competitors with larger phones and smaller tablets.The screen area of an an 8 inch tablet is still 1.97x that of a 5.7 inch Galaxy Note, which in turn is about 2.03x the size of a 4 inch screen of 16:9 aspect ratio. A 10-inch 16:9 screen is only 1.56x the size of an 8 inch of the same aspect ratio. To my mind, this puts 8 inch tablets in a different niche from large phones.
The 7 to 10 inch tablet market seems overall to be pretty well served. It must be tough to sell these things in enough volume to make money, unless you are Apple.
Klug4Pres - Tuesday, September 16, 2014 - link
*Forgot that the Shield is 16:10 aspect ratio, so it is 2.07x the size of the Note and a 10 inch 16:9 only 1.49x bigger. A fortiori.TheTurboFool - Tuesday, September 16, 2014 - link
I wouldn't buy it at 10". But I might buy this one. Small tablets are a much more portable form factor for me.deschutes_350 - Tuesday, September 16, 2014 - link
For me, the 8 inch screen puts me off this otherwise great tablet. When I got my Note 3, I pretty much stopped using my Nexus 7. Now that the Nexus broke, I'm in the market for a tablet again, but this may be too small. 10 inch minimum.nathanddrews - Tuesday, September 16, 2014 - link
Back when my phone was 3", I bought a 7" tablet. Then I got a 5" phone and the tablet collected dust. This time around I'm doing a bit more research and thinking it through a bit more, and I think that 11-13" is the way to go. I used to think that was too big, but having played around with that form factor I don't think I can go smaller. The closer one gets to an actual 8.5x11, the better it is. 1080p minimum.Death666Angel - Tuesday, September 16, 2014 - link
I have a 5.2" LG G2 and it works perfectly fine with my 7" Nexus. On the other hand when I had a 4.7" Galaxy Nexus and a 10" Cube tablet, the tablet was hardly ever used, only when I wanted to play a certain game that only existed on Android and was better on the big screen. It never left my house, because taking my 11.6" notebook was just as easy and far more capable. The 7" Nexus gets taken nearly everywhere and is much better for website reading and ebooks (because of weight), it is equivalent to the 10" in the gaming department (some work better, some worse) and loses with movies and photos (though not by much). But the better availability because it fits in my jeans pockets means it is much more useful overall.Sometimes I wonder if people who say 5" and 7" or 8" are nearly the same have ever seen those devices at the same time. 2" sounds like a small number, but the difference is huge. 5" phone, 7" tablet and 11.6" windows 2-in-1 with a powerful desktop at home is really all I need at this point. I haven't played with enough 6+" phones to know whether they would replace my 5"+7" devices. A 5.7" Note3 was still small enough that I wouldn't get rid of my Nexus 7 for it. Mostly, the current 6"+ stuff is either not feature rich enough or too expensive for the specs. Though I guess 6.5" or 7" without bezel would be the maximum that would fit in my pockets.
IlllI - Tuesday, September 16, 2014 - link
399 for a 7 in tablet? Can yoy say overpriced???varad - Tuesday, September 16, 2014 - link
No, you can't. It's an 8 inch tablet with 32GB & LTE. Let us know if you find something equally powerful and with similar features at this price point.descendency - Tuesday, September 16, 2014 - link
It's 8 inches.TheJian - Thursday, September 18, 2014 - link
Fortunately they're not selling a 7in for 399. It's 8in, and comes with LTE and 32GB. Reasonable considering the competition (below apple). Who else sells a soc that beats it for $399? Nobody. K1 is tops in gpu and many cpu benchmarks also.I guess you consider all tablets in this range overpriced then. You also get it for $300 if going with ATT, so again, a pretty good deal.
Treynolds416 - Wednesday, September 17, 2014 - link
BombSquad, Broadsword, and Beach Buggy Racing (which is a sequel to Beach Buggy Blitz)This seems like something that happened on purpose