Nvidia Shield Tablet (16GB)

Tablets / 8-Inch Screen and Smaller Tablets

Recall notice

NVIDIA has received four reports of batteries overheating due to thermal runaway, including two reports of damage to flooring. Consumers should immediately stop using the tablets and contact NVIDIA for instructions on receiving a free replacement tablet. Call NVIDIA toll free at (888) 943-4196 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. PT Monday through Friday or online at www.nvidia.com and click on “NVIDIA Tablet Recall Program” at the bottom center of the page in green letters. More info at http://www.cpsc.gov/en/Recalls/2015/NVIDIA-Recalls-Tablet-Computers.

A smaller tablet from NVIDIA with an 8-inch screen and Wi-Fi Internet only, running on the Android 5 operating system. Uses the Google app store for downloading apps. Tested with 16GB of storage.

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CR Expert Take

How did it perform in our expert lab testing?

Overall Score

The Overall Score for this model is derived from our expert lab test results.

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Current Range of Tested Tablets

What goes into the Overall Score?

Performance

/ 5

Display

/ 5

Convenience

/ 5

Specific tasks

/ 5

Photo and Video

/ 5

Versatility

/ 5

Camera: Video quality

/ 5

Portability

/ 5

Camera: Image quality

/ 5

Ease of use

/ 5

Battery Life - web (hr.)

/ 5

Battery Life - video (hr.)

/ 5

Battery - 30 min charge (hr.)

/ 5

Weight (lbs.)

/ 5

Screen size (in.)

/ 5

Battery life (hr.)

/ 5

Detailed Test Results

The NVIDIA Shield Tablet (16GB) was easy to use for a wide variety of functions. It was easy to move from screen to screen using finger swipes, and to move app icons among screens. Home screens have useful custom widgets. The onscreen keyboard may be used in "gesture" mode to type by swiping to each letter.

The rear-facing camera was only fair in performance. Photos can be displayed full height without interference from the navigation bar. Turning from portrait to landscape while reading a book worked well. A voice-typing feature lets you dictate emails and text documents. You can sync and transfer files to and from a PC using USB. The memory card was more difficult than most to insert and remove.

The display quality was very good overall. Colors were accurately reproduced, realistic, and natural-looking. The screen had typical brightness for a tablet and readability in daylight was good. Viewing angle was extremely wide in landscape orientation, making it easy to share viewing of photos or video with several people. Viewing angle was extremely wide in portrait orientation, making it easy to view by several people at one time.

Touch response was excellent. The capacitive touchscreen responds to a light finger touch, and allows multiple fingers to perform gesture actions. Moving objects and using finger gestures is easy and precise. Icons were easy to move and place precisely. A special coating on the screen resists fingerprints and makes cleaning easier.

This tablet has a very good set of useful features that make it convenient and versatile to use - see the "About" section for more details. There is full access to the Google app market, with a large and varied selection of apps. There is also access to a large media market through Google, for downloading movies, music and books.

There are a variety of sensors to provide positional and environmental info to apps and games. These include a global positioning system (GPS) receiver to locate the user geographically and allow the use of navigation apps, an accelerometer to give motion feedback to apps, a gyroscope to give rotational feedback to apps, a magnetic compass to give directional feedback, and an ambient light sensor to reduce the screen brightness to extend battery time. The long charging cord makes it easier to use the tablet while charging. There's a stylus included to enable handwriting, precise drawing, or using the tablet with gloves.

This tablet ranks high in portability among tablets in the 7- to 8-inch category. Its battery life of 9.8 hours let you go a long time between charges. It's compact for its screen size, and at 0.84 pounds, it's a lightweight tablet for its size.

About

The NVIDIA Shield Tablet (16GB) is a smaller tablet computer with an 8-inch screen. It has very fine screen resolution, 283 pixels per inch. The rectangular screen is a better shape for videos than for photos.

The tablet has a 2.2 GHz Tegra K1 processor with 4 cores. It runs on the Android 5 operating system. It has 2GB memory and is available with 16GB storage. You can add a microSD memory card for more storage.

There is a headphone jack with a volume control, a built-in microphone, and stereo speakers. Internet connectivity is via Wi-Fi. You can plug a digital TV into the HDMI port for a large-screen view. It has a 5-megapixel webcam, and a 5-megapixel camera. Optional wireless gaming controller, about $60.

The tablet measures 8.7 inches long by 4.9 inches wide by 0.37 inches thick, and weighs 0.84 pounds.

Features & Specs

Features

Memory-card reader

Yes

Camera

Yes

Webcam

Yes

GPS

Yes

Capacitive touchscreen

Yes

Detachable keyboard optional

Fingerprint-resistant screen

Detachable keyboard included

Active stylus optional

Approved app market

Swype-capable keyboard

Active stylus included

Detachable carrying case

Specs

Internal storage (GB)

Available storage (GB)

Operating system (as tested)

Android 5.0

Length (in.)

8.7

Width (in.)

4.9

Depth (in.)

0.37

Resolution

1920 x 1200

Screen type

Pixel density

283

Mobile data

Camera MP

Camera: Video definition

Webcam MP

Webcam: Video definition

RAM (GB)

Processor brand

Processor model name

Color

Operating system

Connections

WiFi type

802.11n

Mobile Type

Act as WiFi hotspot

Price & Shop

Nvidia Shield Tablet (16GB)

CR Expert Take

Overall Score

What goes into the Overall Score?

Detailed Test Results

About

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