NVIDIA Shield Tablet - 16GB wi-fi model and 32GB LTE model

• VideoCardz reported on 18 July 2014 that "On July 22nd NVIDIA will announce its own device, called SHIELD Tablet", accompanied by a wireless controller "designed specifically for NVIDIA SHIELD family, meaning you will be able to control either SHIELD tablet or SHIELD console"^[1]
• NVIDIA did announce both on 22 July 2014, launching the SHIELD tablet and SHIELD wireless controller from its Santa Clara newsroom^[3][4]
• The leaked pricing held exactly: "the cheaper 16GB model costs $299 and it only has WIFI connection. NVIDIA will ask you for $100 more if you decide to get a 32GB model with LTE modem on board", and the controller at $59^[1] - confirmed as $299 for 16 GB Wi-Fi, $399 for 32 GB Wi-Fi + LTE, $59 for the controller and $39 for the cover^[2][4][5]
• Release dates: pre-orders opened on announcement in the United States, Canada and select European countries, with release on 29 July 2014 in the US and Canada and 14 August 2014 in Europe^[2][3][4][5]
• Reception noted the speakers and Twitch streaming as strengths, with weight (390 g against the Nexus 7's 290 g) and total cost as drawbacks^[2]
• Later history: on 31 July 2015 NVIDIA recalled devices sold between July 2014 and July 2015 over overheating that posed a fire hazard; the tablet was refreshed as the Shield Tablet K1 at $199-200 in November 2015, a hardware upgrade was cancelled in August 2016, and the line was officially discontinued in mid-2018^[2]

Notable features

• The tablet's pitch was gaming: Tegra K1 with Kepler-architecture cores, called by NVIDIA "the world's most advanced mobile processor", running Unreal Engine 4, with GameStream local streaming from GeForce GTX PCs, a GRID cloud gaming beta for owners in Northern California, ShadowPlay gameplay recording and Twitch streaming, and a Console Mode for native 1080p on TVs^[3][4]
• The leaked specifications also held: an 8-inch 1920x1200 display, 2 GB RAM and a Tegra K1 with 192 CUDA cores and a quad-core 2.2 GHz A15 CPU, with dual speakers and a 5 MP front camera^[1][2][3][5]
• The announcement added detail the leak did not have: front-facing speakers with PureAudio and dual-ported bass reflex, an 8-inch IPS panel at 283 ppi, microSD expansion, mini HDMI 1.4b at 4K/30fps, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS and a 19.75 WHr battery rated for up to 10 hours of HD video, at 13.7 ounces and 0.36 inches thick^[3][4][5]
• The sources differ on the camera and storage expansion: VideoCardz mentions only the 5 MP "selfie" camera^[1] and New Atlas a single 5 MP camera^[3], while Wikipedia and ABI Research give 5 MP front and rear cameras^[2][5]; microSD is given as up to 128 GB by New Atlas, the press release and ABI^[3][4][5] but as microSDXC up to 200 GB by Wikipedia^[2]
• The tablet preloaded SHIELD Hub and Trine 2: Complete Story with full Google Play access, shipping on Android 4.4.2 KitKat and later upgraded as far as Android 7.0 Nougat in February 2017^[2][4]
• The wireless controller ran over ultra-low-latency Wi-Fi Direct with up to four per tablet, a headset jack, touch pad, volume control and voice command; ABI notes it also works with SHIELD Portable, which cannot itself serve as a controller for the tablet, and that it lacks motion controls^[3][4][5]
• A DirectStylus 2, "twice as responsive as predecessor" and GPU-accelerated, shipped with the Dabbler app - New Atlas thought it fitted poorly with a gaming-first device^[3][4]