Hasta La Gadget!

The gaming device known as SHIELD is headed through the FCC this week with NVIDIA’s original code-name attached: Project Thor. As the machine was originally called Project SHIELD when it was introduced earlier this year at CES 2013, the name Thor follows well: Marvel Comics fans the folks at NVIDIA must be. This device is headed for the hands of pre-order users sooner than later, too.

The device known as SHIELD had its product drawings created by NVIDIA Senior Product Designer Jason Su as well as designer Richard Lai. Other than a confirmation of what we already knew to be true about this device, nothing much has turned up odd.

This machine is a clambshell Android gaming device, working with a 5-inch display up top and a set of physical controls below. The display works with 720p resolution and is fully multi-touch-sensitive. The display, the controls, and the two dedicated integrated speakers were all developed specifically for this device, and the whole device is manufactured for NVIDIA.

This is odd because of the lack of NVIDIA-made NIVIDA-designed devices up until this year. This is the first fully NVIDIA-made Android device, and though they’ve been working with manufacturers from all corners of the Android-toting universe to bring their Tegra mobile processors to the public, this is also the first time they’ve put one in one of their own.

Inside SHIELD is the NVIDIA Tegra 4 quad-core processor with 72 GPU cores – here coming to the public in a device for the first time. This processor was also introduced earlier this year at CES 2013.

Stay tuned as SlashGear has a look a SHIELD and its gaming abilities in the very near future. We’ll be looking at it from an Android perspective, from a GeForce PC gaming streaming perspective, and from the perspective of an everyday user, too.

VIA: Engadget
SOURCE: FCC

NVIDIA SHIELD hits FCC with Avengers hat tip in code: Project THOR is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Today the team behind NVIDIA’s SHIELD device have spoken on the activities and preparations made for showing the device on “P-Relase” day. P-Release signifies the device is ready for production, and what the team has shared today is what went on behind the scenes right up until NVIDIA’s most recent quarterly internal company meeting where CEO Jen-Hsun Huang showed off the very first SHIELD production unit. This device was first introduced back at CES 2013 earlier this year, and it’ll be shipped to the first wave of pre-order users in June.

The first run of SHIELD devices spoken about in this telling of the process was a small set of 220 devices – though its not clear whether this was the first full run of devices or not, the intense construction process behind the device is.

Two weeks before pre-orders for this device were set to go up and a “quick turn” manufacturing team is lead by a man named Brant. Brant spoke briefly to the team about how they’ll go about hands-on testing of this first set of 220 devices, then flew to the contract manufacturer taking the bulk of the assembling for SHIELD.

This quick-turn team has a set of deliverables that includes, amongst other things, a 100 page packet of assembly instructions. Details as small as how long each unit is charged before being shipped are covered in full. The fact that this machine works with elements like directional pads, physical buttons, and a clamshell display mean it’s also significantly more complex to put together than the average smartphone or tablet.

At around 24 hours before SHIELD would be announced fully “P-Release” ready, NVIDIA’s marketing team sat in a room speaking about what they’d be demoing the next day. They added a set of 30 games to the device itself (most of which won’t be on the final device, but will be available through the NVIDIA TegraZone). They plugged an SD card full of media into the device with movies like Thor and Iron Man.

The team made an effort to “wittle down” the app lineup that’d be launched on the device in this session as well. Twitter, Facebook, and Yelp were suggested, and the final set was selected. Though there is a unique set of apps on this device, SHIELD remains “pure android”, as they say, working with an un-skinned version of Android Jelly Bean.

P-Release was revealed to be just three days before publications like SlashGear arrived to test SHIELD out – just days before Google I/O 2013, as well.

The device is now being produced in its first full run, while the initial pre-order set is coming in less than a month. SHIELD is made to work with Android apps on the device itself with its NVIDIA Tegra 4 processor as well as (in Beta mode, for now) streaming from GeForce GTX-powered gaming PCs.

SOURCE: NVIDIA

NVIDIA SHIELD final hours recounted before Production Release is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Last week the folks from HP announced their latest Android tablet, one of the first devices to be powered by NVIDIA‘s Tegra 4 quad-core, and today we were able to get our hands all over it. It’s the new HP Slatebook x2 Transformer-like tablet running on Android 4.2 Jelly Bean and coming to market in

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Hisense, a company known for making budget Chinese tablets, will soon be releasing their Android tablets stateside. Late last month a new Hisense Sero 7 tablet was spotted clearing the FCC here in the US, and today we have all the details. Their first official Google Play certified Android tablet to go on sale stateside is pretty impressive. It has more to offer than the Nexus 7, and only comes in at $99. Read on for more details on this exclusive first look.

Thanks to an eagle-eyed reader we’re getting the first official details, specs, and pictures of what is called the Hisense Sero 7 Pro. This tablet aims to deliver Nexus 7 like performance to the masses for only $99, and will be hitting retailers like Walmart shortly. According to our tipster, it’s already for sale extremely early at some select Walmart stores.

The Hisense Sero 7 Pro is a pretty impressive tablet in every sense of the word, especially given the price. You’ll be enjoying a 7-inch 1280 x 800 IPS HD display, and quad-core power thanks to NVIDIA‘s Tegra 3 clocked at 1.3 GHz. The same as the Nexus 7. You’ll enjoy 1GB of RAM and 8GB of internal storage, but hey, unlike the Nexus 7 this has a micro-SD slot. Oh and it also sports a mini-HDMI out port as well. Two things sorely missing from ASUS and Google’s Nexus 7.

That isn’t all this has going for it either. The Hisense Sero 7 Pro not only runs on Android 4.2.1 Jelly Bean, but it also rocks two cameras. A 5 megapixel rear (with LED flash) and 2 megapixel front facing camera. You’ll enjoy the usual WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, and sensors, as well as NFC and a 4,000 mAh battery. So basically everything you’ll get from the Nexus 7, plus 4 or 5 things we wish it had like cameras and micro-SD, all for only $99.

Hisense has been popular in China with their well-rounded tablets, and it looks like the same is about to be true here in the US. The company, Hisense, sells some TVs and other things here in the states but this is their first tablet to officially go on sale. According to our reader, who has the tablet in hand after purchasing it from a local Walmart, said the link to their US tablet site doesn’t even work. Claiming it says www.hisense-usa.com/tablets on the box, which at the time of writing isn’t an active page. Their new slate just cleared the FCC in late April, and shouldn’t be available for sell yet, but we’d recommend you run down to your nearest Walmart and try to snag on up before they sell out.

With those specs, that design and build quality, all for $99 we expect this tablet to do quite well. Running the latest version of Android and having full access to the Google Play Store doesn’t hurt either.

– Thanks Selim for the tip

Hisense Sero 7 Pro Tablet leaks to take on the Nexus 7 is written by Cory Gunther & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

It would appear that NVIDIA is ready to power HP’s newest attempt at converging the mobile and desktop worlds with a transforming notebook/tablet machine called the HP SlateBook x2. This device works with a 10.1-inch HP touchscreen display, an NVIDIA Tegra 4 processor under the hood, and a version of Android that’s all but vanilla. Taking on the mantle brought up with the ASUS Transformer tablet/notebooks many seasons before, here HP attempts to make Android an all-day OS.

Inside this device you’ve got 16GB of internal storage, a microSD card slot that allows you to expand memory by 32GB, and 2GB of RAM. You’ll also be able to work with full-sized SD cards in a slot separate from the smaller cards. Inside both the slate itself and the keyboard dock you’ll find batteries ready to bring on a rather massive amount of up-time.

Sound will be handled by HP’s implementation of DTS Sound+, which sounds nice, but this device’s speakers continue to suffer from the dreaded back-facing syndrome that continues to plague the tablet universe. Until they head to the front, you’ll continue to get a bounced-sound experience.

The display on this machine is a 1920 x 1200 resolution IPS panel with some impressive viewing angles and 400 nit brightness. Through this you’ll be breaking out high-definition graphics at 224.17 PPI – not the densest panel in the world by any means, but certainly ready to compete with the rest of the 10.1-inch competitors on the market today.

This system is officially licensed by Google, meaning you’ll have access to the Google Play system for media – apps, movies, music, books, and the like. Android is a nearly-vanilla iteration with 4.2.2 Jelly Bean ready right out of the box. It’s not yet clear whether HP will be handling updates for the system itself in the future, or if Google will be able to send updates directly: once the final software build is shown, we’ll know for sure.

Above you’ll get a peek at an extended chat we had with NVIDIA’s Technical Marketing Director Nick Stam earlier this year about the NVIDIA Tegra 4 mobile processor. This processor is being delivered in the HP SlateBook x2, the first transformable machine to deliver it and one of the first devices in general to deliver it as well. Another high-powered example: NVIDIA’s SHIELD.

The HP SlateBook x2 will be available starting in August in the United States for $479.99 USD, while international sales have not yet been confirmed. This device will be released alongside a similar machine working with Windows going by the name HP Split x2 – have a peek at that machine and the rest of HP’s ever-expanding line of devices in SlashGear’s HP tag portal right this minute!

HP SlateBook x2 makes Android notebook a reality with Tegra 4 is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.