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When we last covered the LineageOS project, support for the Nexus 9 was added along with a few phones from Xiaomi. Since then, more devices have been added to the official builds, and there are a wealth of new features in the ROM. Without any further ado, let's take a look.
The NVIDIA SHIELD Tablet provides one of the best Android gaming experiences you can currently have, and right now an update is rolling out to the device. Following this latest release, the slate now meets Android 6.0 Professional Audio requirements. This means low latency audio, MIDI support over USB and Bluetooth, 24-bit@192kHz Stereo and 7.1 HDMI output, and other audio improvements. In-game audio should sound more responsive, and the same is true when listening to music or watching video.
Nearly a year and a half after its launch, the NVIDIA SHIELD tablet remains one of the best ways to enjoy Android at over seven inches. Yet all this time it has existed without official support from the Team Win Recovery Project.
We usually equate the words "gaming tablet" with NVIDIA's SHIELD Tablet, but Acer wants to change the rules of that game a little. It previewed its new Predator 8 tablet in April, then announced it back at IFA, and now it's ready to start taking pre-orders in the US. The price is acceptable, if not a steal, for the specs. $300 should net you one and you can already reserve yours online with Acer, Newegg, and TigerDirect among other retailers.
The NVIDIA SHIELD tablet came out a year ago, and it was one of the best on the market at the time. Even now, it remains a solid way to spread Android across eight inches of screen. But today NVIDIA has announced a voluntary recall on all tablets sold between July 2014 and now. As it turns out, the company feels there's a significant enough chance of the battery overheating and starting a fire.
NVIDIA has recently started rolling out the latest update for its 8-inch SHIELD Tablet, which we just found out comes with a non-insignificant risk of overheating and causing fire. Fortunately, the company is offering out replacement units. To see if you qualify, you first need to have installed the latest software version.
A couple of days ago, we reported that NVIDIA was pushing update 2.2 to SHIELD Tablet units. For the most part, the update is a good one – it brings more GRID games, improved battery life, broader support for high performance chargers, and overall performance enhancements. Those are all the makings of an excellent update, no doubt.
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If you're in the market for a new Android tablet right now, there's a good chance that either the Nexus 9 or SHIELD Tablet is the front runner in the race for your dollars. While the N9 is a decent tablet (depending on who you ask, anyway), it's hard for any tablet to best NVIDIA's first large-screen offering - in this writer's humble opinion, it is the best Android tablet money can buy right now.And if your money is the one buying it, you'll be happy to know that, should you choose to get it from Amazon, you'll get a $30 Amazon gift card alongside your purchase. That's the best deal we've seen on a SHIELD Tablet since Black Friday. It's also worth noting that you can still get Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2: Episode One, and Portal in addition to the $30 card if you opt for the 32GB model (which I highly recommend). Since we likely won't see a SHIELD Tablet refresh till much later this year, this is definitely still the Android slate to pick up.
It's no big secret that I'm a huge fan of NVIDIA's SHIELD. In fact, I believe I called it my favorite device from last year on a recent podcast, a claim that I readily stand behind. To me, it shows how versatile Android can be, despite the fact that the unit itself is essentially a one trick pony (it's damn good at that one trick, though).
Just a day after @evleaks dropped a render of the upcoming NVIDIA Shield Tablet, VideoCardz.com (a name only a writer for a site called Android Police is not allowed to make fun of) has burst any bubble the new slate had left to pop - by dropping a massive pile of leaked, high-quality slides. Yep, you're going to get all the details.
An image of what looked to be a Shield-like controller at the FCC last month had rumors swirling about a successor to NVIDIA's hybrid touchscreen-gamepad system. Well, it looks like that may have only been part of the picture because @evleaks has just dropped a shot of what is claimed to be the Shield tablet. Take a look.