Each week, our friends at gdgt go through the latest gadgets and score them to help you decide which ones to buy. Here are some of their most recent picks. Want more? Visit gdgt anytime to catch up on the latest, and subscribe to gdgt’s newsletter to get a weekly roundup in your inbox.
We loved NVIDIA Shield‘s bone stock Jelly Bean OS in our review, but if you’re not a huge fan, NVIDIA’s now offering a way to dig in and customize your Shield’s OS even more. NVIDIA’s made the Shield’s software open source as of today, making the OS all the easier to customize. You’ll of course have to root your device and, ya know, have an idea of what you’re doing in the guts of a computer. NVIDIA warns new owners as much, saying, “To be sure, this is double-diamond stuff. If you’re not a coder or already set up with an Android development environment you should skip downloading these tools.”
The company’s blog post also notes that rooting your Shield or adding a bootloader will potentially void your device’s warranty, so hacker beware! Should the associated tasks and NVIDIA’s warnings not scare you off, the software is available right here. Our review video of the Shield is just below, in case you missed it last week.
Filed under: Gaming, Handhelds, Software, HD, Mobile, NVIDIA
Source: NVIDIA
Motorola has been doing its best to build some buzz around the Moto X, which launched this week. As a smartphone, the X is decidedly middle-of-the-road. It boasts specs and a design similar to the Droid models Motorola announced last week. Available later this month at $199 on-contract from most major US carriers, the X’s biggest claim to fame — other than swappable backplates, including one made of wood — is the fact that it’s assembled in the US, in a 500,000-square-foot factory in Fort Worth, Texas. Yes, that’s “assembled.” Despite widespread reports that the X is being made in the US, most of its components, from its display to those backplates, are produced in factories around the world, and workers in Texas will assemble the phones.
Does it really matter where your smartphone is made? If your main concern is domestic job creation, it might. A 2012 survey by Boston Consulting Group found that over 80 percent of Americans are willing to pay more for products that are made in the US instead of China, mainly because they want to keep jobs in the country. Interestingly, the same survey found that 60 percent of Chinese consumers would pay a premium for US-made products, apparently based on the belief that the US produces higher-quality products. When it comes to smartphones, that’s an idea that’s difficult to put to the test; there are none currently manufactured in the United States, and that’s not about to change with the launch of the X.
Gallery: Motorola Moto X preview
The folks at iFixit are braver souls than us, taking on NVIDIA’s tank-like new gaming handheld, the Shield, in a teardown. Shield’s cavernous shell houses a mess of multicolored parts, and hilariously reveals its Batman mask-esque properties when freed of said parts. Though it certainly doesn’t look like an easy process, the repair site offers a six out of 10 rating; it specifically cites the battery and screen as being tricky to replace.
NVIDIA’s Shield was a big surprise at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show — CEO Jen-Hsun Huang showed up with the device on-stage during his company’s press briefing, where he used it to demonstrate the just unveiled Tegra 4 processor. We finally got our hands on the final retail version earlier this month and you can find the full review right here. Consumers can also finally purchase the $300 handheld as of yesterday.
Filed under: Gaming, Handhelds, Mobile, NVIDIA
Source: iFixit
NVIDIA Shield is a truly strange device. It combines an eight-button console-size gamepad with dual analog sticks, and a 5-inch “multi-touch, retinal” screen. It runs stock Android 4.2.1. It touts wireless PC game streaming as its main selling point. It plays Android games, it plays PC games, it does the Twitter and the Gmail, et cetera. With Shield, NVIDIA is aiming to be the Swiss Army Knife of handheld game consoles. It slices! It dices! ShamWOW!
It also costs $300, weighs nearly 1.5 pounds and takes up quite a bit of bag space. Its main selling point — PC game streaming — is dependent on the user already owning a PC with a relatively fancy ($140) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 GPU or better. Let’s be honest, though: you already know this stuff, right? If you’re reading this review, you either already own all the necessary gear and wanna know if this is a worthwhile peripheral for your PC, or you’re morbidly curious about NVIDIA’s (admittedly bizarre) console experiment. Let’s all head below and try to find satisfaction.
Update: We’ve added our full review video below — please excuse the lateness! We ran into some technical glitches on our end, but the tribbles have all been eradicated.
NVIDIA has confirmed that its upcoming Android gaming handheld, Shield, will start shipping on July 31st. The Tegra 4 testing platform was originally scheduled to hit online retailers in late June, but was delayed due to “a mechanical issue that relates to a third-party component.” Now, the company is writing to customers with pre-orders thanking them for their patience and assuring them the product will be on its way by the end of the month.
The finalized ship date puts the product within its delayed July launch window by technicality, but due to the nature of snail mail, most buyers probably won’t receive their unit until after the first of August. Frustrating for eager buyers perhaps, but at least NVIDIA’s email strikes an apologetic tone — assuring customers that the delay was a quality assurance measure. Can’t wait until the end of the month? Check out our hands-on with the final hardware right here. Didn’t pre-order? You’ll find the company’s official statement after the break.
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Source: NVIDIA
NVIDIA’s Shield won’t arrive on its previously announced date of June 27th, instead moving its launch date to an undetermined point in July. A statement issued by NVIDIA explains the delay ambiguously, citing “a mechanical issue that relates to a third-party component” — the company confirmed to Engadget it’s an internal component, but wouldn’t go into any more detail.
“We want Shield to be perfect, so we have elected to shift the launch date to July,” the statement reads. We pushed the company for a specific date but were rebuffed — “We’ll update you as soon as we have an exact date,” was all we were told. We’ll have a full review of the Shield just ahead of its July launch; for now, we’ve got a hands-on with the final version from mid-May to tide you over. Head below the break for that video.
Filed under: Misc, Gaming, Handhelds, Peripherals, Software, Mobile, NVIDIA
Even before hitting store shelves, NVIDIA’s Shield is shedding $50 from its original $350 asking price — the little Android portable gaming console will cost $300 when it arrives at retail on June 27th. NVIDIA revealed both the new, lower price and release date today in a blog post which cited gamers asking for a lower price as the reason for the change. “We’ve heard from thousands of gamers that if the price was $299, we’d have a home run,” the post reads. As such, the company’s aiming for “a home run” with the new price point — despite $300 being $50 more than a new PlayStation Vita, and just $100 short of a new PlayStation 4.
Folks who pre-ordered aren’t out of luck, they’ll just be charged $300 when their unit ships rather than $350. As for where you can pick a Shield up outside of NVIDIA’s official website … well, we’re waiting on word from the company on supported retailers. We’ve dropped the video of our hands-on with the final Shield just below, should you wish to relive those memories with us.
Update: NVIDIA tells us that Newegg, GameStop, Micro Center and Canada Computers will all have Shield on the 27th.
Filed under: Gaming, Handhelds, Peripherals, HD, Mobile, NVIDIA
Source: NVIDIA
Now that we know mostly everything about the Xbox One and PlayStation 4, it’s about time for peripheral makers to start showcasing their planned gear for these next-gen consoles. As such, Nyko’s taken to this year’s E3 to announce a few products meant to be used alongside Microsoft and Sony’s recently announced entertainment boxes — there’s a Smart Clip, a Charge Base and a Headset Adaptor (Xbox One-only). Meanwhile, Nyko also took the time to unveil a little something for the NVIDIA Shield, including a dock that doubles as a charging station, a couple of sleek traveling cases and a kit which provides power to the unorthodox handheld while on the go or at home. Nyko didn’t dive into much of the availability (or pricing) specifics, but the trend seems to be that the add-ons will be available later this year.
Follow all of our E3 2013 coverage at our event hub.
Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals
Source: Nyko
Eager to get your mitts on NVIDIA’s first Tegra 4 device? Cast your jealous eyes upon the federal government — they’ve already got one. NVIDIA’s Shield gaming handheld dropped by the FCC to get its label approved, betraying its original code name, Project Thor, in the processes. Hardly a surprise to see the device passing federal muster, of course, as it’s slated for release at the end of next month. Unfortunately, the filings don’t reveal any hidden goodies (that is, no cellular radio), just a standard WiFi antenna. Still, if label location drawings and test reports are your thing, check out the FCC link below.
Source: FCC
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