nVidia Shield or some other Android?

[the_randomizer]

So, my phone as it turns out, ain't that great at all for emulation. I mean, it runs them, but the 58 Hz refresh rate really ruins the experience. Well that, and the small 3.5" LCD screen. So naturally, I've been looking a a myriad of Android-based devices to sate my emulation needs. Now, there are few stipulations to this, things that I want established as I post

The PSP for homebrew, and why I wish to avoid it:
===============================
-Snes emulation, as of now, Snes9x is based off of 1.43, before Blarrg implemented the cycle-accurate S-SMP emulator of his, which passes all the SPC700 hardware tests. What does this mean? Horribly inaccurate audio. For anyone who needs elaboration, I'd be willing to do ABX testing to compare Snes9x on the PSP to
Snes9x 1.53 There is a beta port of 1.53 in the works, it's being test but at the time of writing, I don't know how it fairs. If it can be resolved, I might consider a PSP.

Summary - Sound is way off

-The interlacing issue on the screens, this leads to ghosting and fast-paced games look blurry a lot of the time.

As for other no-name Chinese tablets
=======================
-JXD SX7800 or whatever it's called, has a bad kernel, many HDMI out issues, 58 Hz screen tearing, nonfunctional right control stick, to name a few. Also, finding a good retailer for them proves difficult.
-GCW Zero, same issue as PSP, currently no Snes emulator based off of Snes9x 1.52, therefore, this truly kills the experience, knowing full well how bad pre 1.52 audio is.


For other tablets, they often require an external controller if you wish to avoid using touch controls. This is where the nVidia Shield portable comes into play, at $200, you have a very potent Tegra4 device that has a built in controller, nice 720p HD screen, and 1080p HDMI out via mini HDMI. Decent battery life, SD card slot, headphone jack, it's truly an awesome device.

What do you guys think, any suggestions or things to add to this at all?

 

[rdurbin]

I recommend nvidia shield portable if you more interested in emulation

but if your also interested in casual android games that heavily use the touch screen you may want to spring for nvidia tablet that comes with controller or just get any tablet with a bluetooth controller. The portable greatest weakness is its terrible support for touchscreen games. Although it does have a touchscreen it becomes awkard using it, especially if you play portrait only games, you have the big controller hanging to the left or right

I recommend the portable tho due to the built in controller and not having to deal with bluetooth syncing for the controller and keeping everything together. The nvidia portable also supports up to 4k hdmi with console mode. You can hook up portable to tv and use external controllers to play.

Another option is the xperia play, you can get them pretty cheap now but these phones are quite old now so they probably wouldnt be good for psp and n64 emulation. Battery life on xperia play isnt that good either.

 

[the_randomizer]

I recommend nvidia shield portable if you more interested in emulation

but if your also interested in casual android games that heavily use the touch screen you may want to spring for nvidia tablet that comes with controller or just get any tablet with a bluetooth controller.

I recommend the portable tho due to the built in controller and not having to deal with bluetooth syncing for the controller and keeping everything together. The nvidia portable also supports up to 4k hdmi with console mode. You can hook up portable to tv and use external controllers to play.

Another option is the xperia play, you can get them pretty cheap now but these phones are quite old now so they probably wouldnt be good for psp and n64 emulation. Battery life on xperia play isnt that good either.

Fair enough, the portable would be a good route to go, the Tablet might be a bit out of price range lol. That, and the reviews seem to be quite good, esp. compared to when it was first released

 

[rdurbin]

I should add that shield portable does allow you to set the buttons on the controller to click on buttons on screen. This will only be effective for touchscreen games that have very simple controls with static touchscreen controls. If the on screen buttons change or move or if your playing a puzzle type game, where you have to do swipe type motion on certain parts of the screen, this will not work.

 

[the_randomizer]

I should add that shield portable does allow you to set the buttons on the controller to click on buttons on screen. This will only be effective for touchscreen games that have very simple controls with static touchscreen controls. If the on screen buttons change or move or if your playing a puzzle type game, where you have to do swipe type motion on certain parts of the screen, this will not work.

Yeah, it's starting to look more and more appealing the more I watch videos

 

[rdurbin]

yeah its definetly the best emulator device imo, at least hand held wise although you can hook it up to tv. I think I like ouya better for hooking up to tv, it seems to work better with xbox360 and ps3 controllers. I am getting fire tv stick tomorrow, got it for $20 when amazon was doing a preorder sale. I am hoping it will work well with emulators (would be a nice portable device to bring) but I dont think it will easily sync to a ps3 controller as it prob doesnt have a usb port for syncing a ps3 controller

xperia play isnt horrible but its quite a bit older than nvidia portable. The xperia does have the advantage of being a lot smaller tho and more portable. The nvidia portable doesnt really fit in pocket well, unless you have big pockets. Xperia play doesnt have L2 and R2 (or LT and RT for xbox) buttons and uses touch pad as analog stick (white I hated), nvidia portable is essentially an xbox360 controller with screen.

One of the coolest things about nvidia portable is you can have it connect to your computer even accross the internet to play your games on computer. few weeks ago I was playing skyrim about 30 miles away from my house and it was working very well. I was quite impressed, I thought there would be insane lag. Please note this feature requires certain nvidia graphic cards

 

[the_randomizer]

yeah its definetly the best emulator device imo, at least hand held wise although you can hook it up to tv. I think I like ouya better for hooking up to tv, it seems to work better with xbox360 and ps3 controllers. I am getting fire tv stick tomorrow, got it for $20 when amazon was doing a preorder sale. I am hoping it will work well with emulators (would be a nice portable device to bring) but I dont think it will easily sync to a ps3 controller as it prob doesnt have a usb port for syncing a ps3 controller

xperia play isnt horrible but its quite a bit older than nvidia portable. The xperia does have the advantage of being a lot smaller tho and more portable. The nvidia portable doesnt really fit in pocket well, unless you have big pockets.

One of the coolest things about nvidia portable is you can have it connect to your computer even accross the internet to play your games on computer. few weeks ago I was playing skyrim about 30 miles away from my house and it was working very well. I was quite impressed, I thought there would be insane lag. Please note this feature requires certain nvidia graphic cards

I've seen a few videos and I think for many emulators, should do the job just fine, cool little device though, and convenient It's crazy how powerful these things can get, or already are.

 

[SuzieJoeBob]

Fair enough, the portable would be a good route to go, the Tablet might be a bit out of price range lol. That, and the reviews seem to be quite good, esp. compared to when it was first released

For the NVidia Shield Tablet, the Gamecube emulator "Dolphin" is being ported specifically to this tablet, so that is a major decisive factor when it comes to emulation. There was an issue with the first wave of tablets having cracked edges due to poor construction, but this has been resolved. I have a portable myself, and it is totally worth the purchase price.

NVidia even allows you to unlock the bootloader and root the device, but if an RMA is filed due to a custom ROM, overclocking, or other unofficial software, they will not help you; if the issue has to do with hardware, such as a broken button or a screen is tearing, assistance is provided.

 

[the_randomizer]

For the NVidia Shield Tablet, the Gamecube emulator "Dolphin" is being ported specifically to this tablet, so that is a major decisive factor when it comes to emulation. There was an issue with the first wave of tablets having cracked edges due to poor construction, but this has been resolved. I have a portable myself, and it is totally worth the purchase price.

NVidia even allows you to unlock the bootloader and root the device, but if an RMA is filed due to a custom ROM, overclocking, or other unofficial software, they will not help you; if the issue has to do with hardware, such as a broken button or a screen is tearing, assistance is provided.

The Tablet is 100 dollars more than the portable, a little out of my price range to be perfectly blunt. I have been following Dolphin and read about that NVidia Tegra K1 (I think), on the Dolphin Wiki and I am impressed. Unfortunately, again, the price is a bit steep and I can run Dolphin pretty much full speed on most games on my PC Good that there's a controller you can use with the tablet, as I absolutely detest touch controls, which would a PITA for Dolphin I'd think lol Either device is fantastic for emulators, that's for sure.

 

[garbanzox]

I picked up a Shield portable a few months back specifically for emulation. It's pretty amazing. I've got it set up for GB, GBC, GBA, NES, FDS, SNES, TG-16, SG, SGG, NGPC, and MAME - everything works great. I've even tried out a few N64 games on it with a fair bit of luck. Works a hell of a lot better than my PSP ever did.

I rooted it as soon as I got it - the whole KitKat SD card deal kind of required it.

I couldn't get the streaming to work with the nVidia app, but there's a version of Splashtop that runs it great. Combined with Pinnacle Profiler on my PC, I can stream just about any game I want and use the Shield controller to play it. I've played everything from DinoRun to Burnout 360 to Cave Story, and it all works great.

As for Android games, as mentioned above it has software to emulate touch screen controls. Profiles are sharable so you won't have to set anything up for more popular games. I was enjoying some Need for Speed on it the other day, it worked very well.

I guess if I had to throw out a complaint, it would be the controller itself. The d-pad is sensitive and will sometimes register UP when you hit LEFT. The main buttons are fat and lumpy, and are pretty heavy to press. It's not a bad controller, but it's definitely no SNES dogbone....

 

[the_randomizer]

I picked up a Shield portable a few months back specifically for emulation. It's pretty amazing. I've got it set up for GB, GBC, GBA, NES, FDS, SNES, TG-16, SG, SGG, NGPC, and MAME - everything works great. I've even tried out a few N64 games on it with a fair bit of luck. Works a hell of a lot better than my PSP ever did.

I rooted it as soon as I got it - the whole KitKat SD card deal kind of required it.

I couldn't get the streaming to work with the nVidia app, but there's a version of Splashtop that runs it great. Combined with Pinnacle Profiler on my PC, I can stream just about any game I want and use the Shield controller to play it. I've played everything from DinoRun to Burnout 360 to Cave Story, and it all works great.

As for Android games, as mentioned above it has software to emulate touch screen controls. Profiles are sharable so you won't have to set anything up for more popular games. I was enjoying some Need for Speed on it the other day, it worked very well.

I guess if I had to throw out a complaint, it would be the controller itself. The d-pad is sensitive and will sometimes register UP when you hit LEFT. The main buttons are fat and lumpy, and are pretty heavy to press. It's not a bad controller, but it's definitely no SNES dogbone....

Should I be particularly worried about when playing Snes games? I also believe you can use a BT controller with it when hooked up via HDMI, I think... Don't really plan on Android games themselves as I'm not a big fan, but glad to know even PSP runs very well on it.

 

[KingVamp]

If you can find it, I'll say the Galaxy Pro. It's more well-rounded as a tablet and still has power.


Sorry, I read that as Shield Tablet. Anyway, it's so big, you may as well get a controller and tablet.

 

[the_randomizer]

If you can find it, I'll say the Galaxy Pro. It's more well-rounded as a tablet and still has power.


Sorry, I read that as Shield Tablet. Anyway, it's so big, you may as well get a controller and tablet.

My only concern would be trying to avoid touch controls as much as possible. What can I do for a physical controller in lieu of the screen itself? The price seems a bit steep for my budget.

 

[Pleng]

I loved my JXD 7800B until I lost it, but it seems that you're always taking a gamble with build quality with one of these things.

The Shield... well its form factor confuses and frustrates me, to be honest! With all that space they could have easily fitted a keypad along with the gaming controls, which would make it far more appealing as a general purpose gaming device/laptop/talet hybrid - as it is, I really don't see the advantage to the design over the JXD form factor, which works perfectly well for touch screen games, too


(Edit: I've just realized that the Shield is a 5-inch device, not a 7-inch as I had always assumed. This maked the form factor more understandable and makes it less reasonable to expect a keypad to be included along with the controls!)

 

[Mark McDonut]

As an owner of a jxd s7300b (even with good custom firmware) I still wish I would have just waited and bought a shield.

The time I spent making the fucking thing work right I could have done overtime at work and bought a shield and a shield tablet.

Enjoy your Shield

 

[the_randomizer]

I loved my JXD 7800B until I lost it, but it seems that you're always taking a gamble with build quality with one of these things.

The Shield... well its form factor confuses and frustrates me, to be honest! With all that space they could have easily fitted a keypad along with the gaming controls, which would make it far more appealing as a general purpose gaming device/laptop/talet hybrid - as it is, I really don't see the advantage to the design over the JXD form factor, which works perfectly well for touch screen games, too

The problem with the JXD is one, I believe the company stopped making them as of a little while ago, two, the close-source kernel, so issues like HDMI out, 58 Hz screen issues and some of the controls not working, well, yeah, it's cool looking, I won't deny it. My problem is difficulty in trusting the longevity of the build, how long the machine itself will last before it breaks down/stops working slowly, and the retailer as they could very easily rip me off and take my money and run. I heard rumors on the Dingux forums that the kernel source code was released and WebClaw fixed the screen issues and HDMI out (screen tearing and slowdown), but...I still have my doubts for some random Chinese company over an American company I know and love. But that's just me. I've never held one before, so, I won't assume lol. Have all the issues it had been resolved? Not trying to shoot your suggestion down, not at all, I just would personally rather trust an American manufacturer for gaming, that's all

Don't get me wrong, the device looks cool, but, the OS kernel flaws and unknown build quality (longevity) kind of turn me off.

As an owner of a jxd s7300b (even with good custom firmware) I still wish I would have just waited and bought a shield.
The time I spent making the fucking thing work right I could have done overtime at work and bought a shield and a shield tablet.
Enjoy your Shield

I hope I'll be getting one soon Yeah, a while back, I did make a thread about the JXD, but after hearing all the issues the kernel had (among other issues), I decided not to go that route.

 

[rdurbin]

I may be in the minority but I think the shield portable is alot better. seems stupid to have controller and screen separate.

with shield tablet or tablets in general you have to do one of the following

have to hold tablet in one hand and play with controller with 1, which would be nearly impossible (unless your an octopus)
invest in some kind of tablet stand to prop the tablet screen up so you can use controller with both hands.
put screen on lap and play with controller, if your sitting down this causes severe neck strain by looking down (I would know)
hook the tablet to a tv and play with wireless controller (which destroys the portability)

none of these options seem to be acceptable to me. The only advantage I see to the tablet is you can play casual games that heavily rely on touchscreen, some of these would be quite hard on shield portable. Yes I am aware the tablet has a better processor but the portable seems more geared towards gaming to me, especially emulation

 

[Pleng]

Yea I wasn't really recommending the JXD, just letting you know my experience as you mentioned it in your original post. As a gaming device I'm sure the Shield is great (although those Analogue sticks look quite a far stretch even for my big hands), I'm just frustrated that it could have been so much more.

 

[KingVamp]

My only concern would be trying to avoid touch controls as much as possible. What can I do for a physical controller in lieu of the screen itself? The price seems a bit steep for my budget.

Well, you wouldn't forget the controller, right?


The Galaxy Pro is going around the same price as the Shield.


Good point. You would need a stand case or bend over to play.

Not that the Shield is that portable to begin with.

 

[the_randomizer]

I may be in the minority but I think the shield portable is alot better. seems stupid to have controller and screen separate.

with shield tablet or tablets in general you have to do one of the following

have to hold tablet in one hand and play with controller with 1, which would be nearly impossible (unless your an octopus)
invest in some kind of tablet stand to prop the tablet screen up so you can use controller with both hands.
put screen on lap and play with controller, if your sitting down this causes severe neck strain by looking down (I would know)
hook the tablet to a tv and play with wireless controller (which destroys the portability)

none of these options seem to be acceptable to me. The only advantage I see to the tablet is you can play casual games that heavily rely on touchscreen, some of these would be quite hard on shield portable. Yes I am aware the tablet has a better processor but the portable seems more geared towards gaming to me, especially emulation

Er, I did mention that at the bottom of the OP that I was using mentioning the portable itself, will change the thread title. Sorry for the confusion. The Tablet is way too expensive for me lol.

Well, you wouldn't forget the controller, right?

The Galaxy Pro is going around the same price as the Shield.

Price close to the Shield Tablet or Portable? I haven't seen any less than 299 on any sites for some reason.... Do you have any links that sell them for $200?

Yea I wasn't really recommending the JXD, just letting you know my experience as you mentioned it in your original post. As a gaming device I'm sure the Shield is great (although those Analogue sticks look quite a far stretch even for my big hands), I'm just frustrated that it could have been so much more.

Luckily you can get a BT controller for the Shield as well, probably a Wii remote might even work. I know, I mean, I want to at least give it a try