NVIDIA SHIELD K1-8-Inch Full HD Tablet (Black) - (192 Core Tegra K1 Processor, Micro SD Card up to Additional 128 GB, 4K Ultra HD Ready)

Purchased on 8 December 2015, Reviewed on 23 January 2016.I honestly cannot think of a better tablet within this price range than the Nvidia Shield K1 tablet.Sure, it doesn't come with a charger, but for £5 I bought EasyAcc® 5V 2A Micro USB Charger Mains Charger Wall Charger For Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge S5 S4 S3 Note 3 2 Tab 3, Nokia Lunia 520 1020 920, Moto G, Google Nexus 5 7 10, Android/Windows Smartphones, External Battery, More Micro USB Port Devices [4 Feet Length, Black], which powers this and every other Micro-USB device I own very fast!Now that the downsides of this tablet are out of the way, I'll cover why I think this tablet is amazing.SOFTWARENvidia has promised swift updates with this tablet, and they haven't disappointed. This tablet is one of the few Android devices that has been updated to Android 6.0 Marshmallow. The most noticeable thing about this update is the battery improvements. Whilst this rests on my desk, the battery life on standby lasts about 4-5 days, which is a remarkable improvement over Android Lollipop battery life. Whilst the battery life did improve compared to Lollipop in terms of tablet-use as well, don't expect to use this tablet for a remarkable amount of time more. (Would probably last 2 days of heavy use)The tablet has stock Android, which is great in terms of performance and ease of use, however I think it would have benefited from some improvements such as side-by-side apps like in Samsung's tablets. That being said, stock Android is a breath of fresh air compared to the laggy and skin heavy experiences provided by companies like Samsung.HARDWAREInternals are very powerful, and in terms of use make this tablet's experience hard to distinguish from a much higher end tablet! Nvidia provides their own processor and GPU (correct me if I'm wrong), which is very fast and makes for a smooth experience when being used generally or in games.2GB RAM allow this tablet to multitask efficiently, with little to no lag when switching between apps.The 1920x1200 screen on this tablet looks great. In the settings you can even adapt the colours etc to how you like it (I've opted for the Native setting). Text is sharp and movies/games look great. Thanks to the size of the display, it's also great for reading, although I'd rather an aspect ratio of 4:3 for reading.The dual front facing speakers also sound great, only distorting slightly on maximum volume. They make the movie watching experience much better than a rear-facing speaker.I don't really use the cameras, so I can't comment on them much.The tablet itself is really easy to hold and has a rubbery feel so it doesn't slip out of your hand. Doesn't weigh much either so it's easy to hold in one hand.As if it wasn't awesome enough already, the tablet also takes micro SD cards! I have a 64GB one installed in mine, which stores a plethora of music, movies and games.GAMINGThe main thing I use this tablet for. Thanks to the Mini HDMI port and Nvidia Shield controller (Bought separately), I use this as a console and media center that's plugged into my 40" TV. Games such as FF5 and FF6 work great with the controller, and the tablet is decently easy enough to navigate around with the controller (Some apps like YouTube don't like to play nice with it though).I would definitely recommend getting the Shield controller, as it turns this tablet into a gaming machine and feels as though it completes the experience.OVERALLI'd say this is one of the best tablets you can buy. Period. For the price the tablet is definitely a steal, and does much better than other tablets in its range, such as Tesco's Hudl tablet and Amazon's offerings.If you're looking for a sub-£200 tablet, buy this.If you're looking for an 8 inch tablet, buy this.If you're looking for a tablet, buy thisEven if you're not, buy this.

I have had the Shield K1 for 2 months now :)I bought the K1 after doing a lot of research on Android Tablets as had previously bought an Asus Z300M and it was slow, and I really needed a tablet for:* Microsoft Office* Playing Games when I'm bored* Running App Inventor Software I write.* Internet use when needed.* Ability to hook it to my TV via HDMI for watching TV* Something small and compact.* A reliable tablet.* A tablet with an up to date operating system* A tablet I could put a micro SD card in.After reading up on the Shield K1, it seems a good amount of graphics/processor power at a really good price, and having bought NVIDIA products for many years, was confident in the brand. It also met all of my requirements.I found set up was easy, and I didn’t have to mess around taking much bloat ware off the tablet, it was pretty much optimised already, though I did a teeny bit of tweaking.What I liked**********Its easy to hold :), the grip on the sides are really good, best I’ve had on any tablet.I Connected to my TV easily through the HDMI port and was able to watch a movie, which was great.It upgraded itself to Android 7.0, then 7.1 which was cool, and the process was painless.I find the controls for volume, and on and off responsive.Gaming is good, I found a game like World of Warcraft, called Order & Chaos and another called Dragon Soul, but to be honest, played loads, and really enjoy the pick and play thing.I put a glass screen protector on it, and the official NVIDIA case, and lucky I did, as I dropped the Shield on one corner, and the screen did not crack, luckily neither did the case, the Shield has been working fine since.Links to the ones I bought are here:OMOTON NVIDIA SHIELD K1 - 8-Inch Full HD Tablet Screen Protector - Tempered Glass Protector for NVIDIA SHIELD K1 Tablet (2015 Released) with [9H Hardness] [Crystal Clear] [Scratch Resist]NVIDIA SHIELD Cover for Tablet - BlackSound quality is excellent with speakers at the sides.The tablet really does have a lovely feel to the back of it, somewhere between a rubber and plastic feel, but the feeling is a non-slip feeling.It’s really responsive, I mean I don’t notice any delays, and games play well.What I liked less**************Battery life playing games isn’t great, but to be honest it isn’t on any portable device I have used or own, so I just make sure I have a charging cable at hand.In summary, it’s a tablet I carry around at times to play and do some work, it connects to my Bluetooth keyboard really well.Hope this was helpful, if you want to ask anything about my use of it, then please comment below.Sarah

First of all great price for a powerful tablet. This thing out performs a lot of the current tablets on the market and costs less than most tablets on the market.The reason it doesn't get 5 stars is purely down to my unluckyness with this device. I've had to factory reset the device 3 times due to micro SD card mounting issues but once that was sorted the tablet was back to its normal working speed and efficiency.What I like about this device is the speed and power of the nvida tegra graphics, which makes for a great gaming experience, but don't be fooled this isn't just a gaming tablet I use it more as a standard media consumption device (like my past tablets) and it performs these tasks very well I've only noticed small lag times every now and then when opening apps, but usually all opens quickly and only one force close issue so far (I've had this for 4 days now). My experience with battery life is good I was able to play nova 3 multiplayer for half an hour and use YouTube and other apps for a while without draining the battery too much, however this doesn't come with a charger so you're expected to have your own or buy the nvidia add on pack which I'd recommend since my micro USB cable and wall chargers seem to charge it slowly.To conclude great tablet for gaming or media consumption. Would definitely recommend it. Stock android makes for a fast experience with no skin bloating the experience. Battery life is good but no charger supplied.Plus it's also easy to set up with my ps3 controller (using an otg cable) for playing dead effect and dead trigger etc.