When comparing NVIDIA SHIELD Console vs Nvidia Shield Portable, the Slant community recommends NVIDIA SHIELD Console for most people. In the question“What are the best Android gaming devices that have proprietary game controllers?” NVIDIA SHIELD Console is ranked 1st while Nvidia Shield Portable is ranked 5th. The most important reason people chose NVIDIA SHIELD Console is:
Kodi media center is now available on the Play Store for Android TV devices which is very convenient since the old method of installing the app was to sideload, which can be difficult for new users.
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Pros
Pro Kodi is installable from the Play Store
Kodi media center is now available on the Play Store for Android TV devices which is very convenient since the old method of installing the app was to sideload, which can be difficult for new users.
Pro 50 curated games at launch
There will be 50 curated games at launch of the device including the likes of Borderlands and Crysis.
Pro NVIDIA Tegra X1
The NVIDIA SHIELD Tablet has an NVIDIA Tegra X1 processor, which is reported as having twice the performance of an XBox 360.
Pro Can be turned into a stationary console with 1080p
Console mode allows the user to use a USB cable in order to output 1080p video to a TV or monitor, making for an easy way to play ones games on a larger screen just as they would with a console.
Pro Has a 5-hour battery life
With the size of the device a large capacity battery is able to be used internally which will give up to 5 hours of playtime with even the most demanding of games.
Pro Very good speakers for a portable device
Louder than a 3DS or Vita handheld the speakers in the Nvidia Shield makes for a pleasant listening experience that does not require any strain the hear what is going on.
Pro Can wirelessly stream to a Chromecast
Since the OS 5.1 update the device can stream to any Chromecast compliant device making for an easy way to stream ones games or other content to a bigger screen.
Pro Huge selection of games to choose from
Since this is an Android device the selection of games is quite large.
Cons
Con Can only have 2 USB hard drives
There are only two USB ports built into the device, which limits how many hard drives one can hook up, but the kicker is, even when using a USB hub the device will still only read two USB devices hard drives at a time, no matter how many are plugged into the USB hub.
Con Only capapable of low end gaming
Even the demos of the games shown at the unveiling shows that any type of console quality game is going to be too taxing for the system, all running at only 30fps. Adding to that, the majority of console ports for the system are years old which shows that it is pretty obvious how limiting the system will be.
Con A relatively small subset of Android games available are optimized for controller use
Out of the majority of games available for Android most only have touch controls. There are a few that utilize HID controls and even fewer that utilize the nVidia controller. This makes for a very limited selection of native games to play on the device.
Con Navigating is cumbersome
Users can use the dual analog sticks to maneuver around the OS but sadly t is time consuming and not as accurate as touch controls. Users can of course use touch controls but now holding the device is difficult due to how it was designed to be held, with two hands.
Con Somewhat large and heavy for a portable device
At 1.5 pounds the device is quite heavy, which cuts down on the portability. What is worse is the size though as it is quite bulky and will not be fitting inside of anyone's pockets. Taking both of these into consideration reveals that this is not that portable of a device.