The Nvidia Shield Tablet will be getting Android L as soon as possible, Nvidia has confirmed.
Currently the gaming-centric Nvidia tablet is running Android 4.4.4 KitKat, but Nvidia has revealed it will get Android L as close to its release as they can.
Speaking to TrustedReviews at GamesCom, Nvidia showed off the new Shield Tablet, which has just been released in the UK.
“We are very well known for ensuring our devices always patch up as close to market release as possible”, explained Nvidia's Ben Berraondo. “We have listened very closely to the feedback from users and haven’t added any skinning or overlays. It’s just the standard Nexus experience.”
The Nvidia Shield Tablet runs on the latest Nvidia Tegra K1 mobile processor and the company is excited that it is already compatible with the enhanced capabilities coming with Android L.
Among other enhancements coming with Android L, the Android Extension Pack will open up huge new gaming capabilities for mobile developers.
“One of the main focuses for Android L is to make mobile gaming really popular and very graphically rich just as PC gaming is. What [Google} discovered was that every 3 out of 4 purchases on the Google Play Store was a game purchase, so they see the humongous potential for gaming on mobile devices,” explained a lead Nvidia Shield developer .
“They integrated this feature called Android Extension Pack into its next generation OS. What Android Extension Pack basically does is ports over some of the high end graphic features like dynamic lighting, tessellation and global illumination and things like that. It repackages it into existing mobile graphic APIs, so that mobile game developers can easily use these features to develop rich mobile gaming experiences", explained Sridhar Ramaswamy, Nvidia's Director of Technical Product Marketing.
“The fact that our Tegra K1 processor is based on our high-end gaming GPU architecture means we already support this feature. This comes for free for us. The Nvidia Shield Tablet is already enabled and developers won’t have to do any additional work.”
The Nvidia Shield Tablet features an 8-inch full 1080p HD display and is surrounded by front-facing speakers equipped with Nvidia PureAudio technology. There is a 5-megapixel front-facing camera for Twitch streaming.
It is built with an integrated magnesium shield that should keep the tablet cool for extended gaming sessions and you’ll also get a DirectStylus 2 pen that is stored within the slate.
Read more: Android L Features - What's new?
