When comparing New Nintendo 3DS vs Nvidia Shield Portable, the Slant community recommends New Nintendo 3DS for most people. In the question“What are the best portable game consoles?” New Nintendo 3DS is ranked 4th while Nvidia Shield Portable is ranked 16th. The most important reason people chose New Nintendo 3DS is:
The New Nntendo 3DS (not the XL) is the only 3DS with support for interchangeable faceplates. This allows one to purchase new plates to customize the look of their device to their liking.
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Pros
Pro Customize look with interchangeable faceplates
The New Nntendo 3DS (not the XL) is the only 3DS with support for interchangeable faceplates. This allows one to purchase new plates to customize the look of their device to their liking.
Pro Improved glasses-free 3D
The New 3DS has an improvement over the regular 3DS model when it comes to the 3D, there is now an infrared sensor that allows for eye tracking, which keeps the 3D focused, even when the device moves. The older model had trouble with the 3D focusing when moving the device around, that is now fixed for the most part.
Pro Has microSD support
Users can use their own micro SD cards for expanded storage with support for up to 32GB cards (though there are users using 64GB or 128GB cards).
Pro Has built-in NFC
This means Amiibo and Amiibo card support for scanning in figures and cards with a tap to then use as addons in certain games. Previous models did not have this function.
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 Screen is smaller than the XL
Con Poor battery life
The battery life is not really improved over the previous models and will last between 3.5-6 hours, which is not really that long for a handheld.
Con No charger included
In order to keep the price down on the unit Nintendo has chosen to not include a charger with the device, meaning that if you do not have one already or purchase one you will not be able to use the device past the half charge that it has out of the box.
Con Low resolution screen
Technically the resolution of the main screen is 800 x 240, but each eye gets half that making it functionally 400 x 240. A 1080p screen has more than 10 times the pixels.
Con Only available a white themed bundles in the US
So far the only model available in the US is the white one and it can only be purchased as an Animal Crossing Happy Home Designer bundle or the Pokémon 20th Anniversary Bundle. This raises the price of the unit as each bundle comes with a game.
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.