After launching the Shield handheld gaming console that had quite a few unique selling points, Nvidia now confirms the existence of an Android tablet with the same name.
The only problem about this is that Nvidia did so by mistake. It’s not like this graphics card maker is the first company to officially leak info about its yet-to-be-launched products, but in Nvidia’s case, this is pretty big news.
Unfortunately for the avid gamers that are looking forward to buying the next product launched by Nvidia, there’s not much to say about this device’s specs. As far as I’m concerned, this might as well be a PR stunt, or in proper terms, a trial balloon. Nvidia may or may not have a Shield tablet in the works (while writing this phrase, my mind flew to CIA’s first tweet), and it all depends on the public’s reaction to this piece of news. Knowing gamers, however, it’s anyone’s guess that most people are excited about the prospect of owning such a product.
Nvidia listed this mysterious device on the TegraZone website, where games optimized for the company’s Tegra-based devices are displayed. A few weeks ago, leaked images of a device called Mocha popped up, and this Shield tablet may be one and the same with that powerhouse. Besides the quad-core Tegra K1 (which Nvidia also plans to use in butonless dashboards), Mocha was also equipped with 2GB of RAM (plenty even for today’s most power-hungry games and apps), as well as a 7.9 inch display with a 2,048 x 1,536 resolution.
In the handheld gaming console’s case, the name Shield makes a lot of sense, given the form factor and the folding display, so the number one question regarding the Shield tablet is: How is this device going to look? One great idea would be to add detachable gaming controls, even though there have been attempts to do that from other companies in the past.
I guess we’ll have to wait and see if the Shield tablet is a real device, or if all of this was a hoax. The company has yet to officially comment this leak or to make an announcement, so until such a moment in time, gamers need to wait patiently. Maybe their hopes will materialize in the form of the Shield Android slate.
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