While CES hasn’t officially started yet, NVIDIA had their press conference yesterday evening. It took a while to get to the juicy stuff but they unveiled two new treats coming this year. First they kicked things off with their new processor for mobile devices (smartphones/tablets).
Meet NVIDIA’s Tegra 4. This is a using a four-core Cortex A-15 processor equipped with a 72-core GeForce GPU (graphics processor), 4K ultra HD support, the ability to beef up your HDR photos/video, and LTE radio on-board. The Tegra 4 uses 45% less power than the previous model and is 2.6x faster as well. Expect to see this in many upcoming smartphones and tablets this year. It’s your move now, Qualcomm.
The other treat is seen in the photo below the headline. That is Project Shield: a Tegra 4-powered, portable gaming system running stock Android 4.1 and compatible with other open platforms like Steam for PC. The controller layout in familiar to those who own or have seen an Xbox controller. NVIDIA made sure to use a great screen for your on-the-go gaming. Shield has a 5inch 720p HD touchscreen w/ 294 dpi so no straining your eyes while playing. Also on-board are dual stereo speakers, dual-channel Wi-Fi, headphone jack, microSD slot, USB + HDMI ports. Practically everything a gamer needs. Dead Trigger 2 looks awesome this BTW.
Hopefully this will launch officially sometime within the second quarter. The sooner the better. Check a quick demo video on Project Shield below.
