NVIDIA Shield Wireless Controller - Worth the $60 price tag?
NVIDIA Shield Wireless Controller - Worth the $60 price tag?
2014-08-21
nvidia has been putting the work in to
create a wonderful experience for their
follow up to last your shield and now it
is a tablet but to get that real gaming
experience you do need a pretty good
controller and luckily NVIDIA has made
one specifically for this tablet so it's
Java garment or authority what's going
on everybody and this is a look at the
Nvidia shield wireless controller
unboxing the shield wireless controller
is a pretty standard affair after all
you get just the controller and then
underneath you have the documentation
and microUSB cables in order to charge
the device but it's when you get past
the plastic on the triggers that you
really start to feel like Nvidia created
something special here after all this
has to provide the best experience
possible for the gaming on this tablet
and once you get it into your hands you
really do feel the girth of this
particular controller you have the
general button layout that you can come
to expect from a controller like this
but the top portion has touch sensitive
controls for Android specific commands
like home recent apps and back but that
Nvidia logo right in the middle is able
to be pressed in order to get you to the
Nvidia hub so you can go ahead and start
all of your games right from the
controller itself down on the bottom
however is where something really
special is that little silver area is
actually a touch sensitive area that
that feels a lot like a mouse trackpad
and you're able to use your thumb to use
the mouse and a cursor will come up on
the screen in order for you to click on
things inside of the interface on your
shield tablet and then you have a volume
controller on the bottom with the shield
logo in the middle head on up to the top
and you'll see another special feature
on here on while you do have the
charging port right there right next to
it is also an audio jack in which you
will be able to connect a standard pair
of headphones and you'll be able to
listen to all of the music or all of the
audio coming from your games or media
and through the controller itself so you
don't actually have to tether yourself
to the tablet it is great to use when
you are using the tablet on your TV and
thus it makes for a good wireless audio
solution so that you don't really have
to tether yourself to the tablet when it
itself is tethered to let's say your TV
now a quick note about the usage of the
controller itself sometimes we look for
controllers that not only will work on
our tablets but also our computers but
unfortunately in the case of the Nvidia
tablet it works via Wi-Fi direct this is
not a Bluetooth controller by any means
and it connects directly to the shield
tablet through its own connection and
thus will be able to provide more or
less a one-to-one experience definitely
one of the most low latency experiences
that I have had on any tablet with any
controller and that in that sense the
Nvidia shield controller is pretty much
only going to be used with the shield
tablet or the shield portable of last
year so it's not really an all-purpose
kind of controller and I really wish it
was because it is a badass-looking
controller and feels great to boot using
the actual controller shows how it
really shines after all on the box it
says that it has to provide a console
like experience and I tend to agree the
response time is great on this I really
experienced no lag from my presses to
what is actually happening on the Nvidia
shield tablet and after that the button
presses and all of the analog sticks and
the d-pad and all the buttons on the
sides even the trackpad itself feel
really high-quality but therein lies a
particular question that you may have to
ask yourself when you get the Nvidia
shield tablet it probably will be a
great media consumption device for you
even if you do like touchscreen controls
but if you don't want to spend $60 on a
controller which to some people out
there might sound a little ludicrous
there are a lot of other options out
there and in my case I used one called
the nickel play pad pro while I was
waiting for this shield controller to
finally come in because it is a
backordered in a lot of areas I just
went ahead and gotten a gold play pad
and the play pad pro was developed in
conjunction with Nvidia so it's supposed
to work quite well with NVIDIA Tegra
devices and in that regard I already
said before that it works pretty well
the Bluetooth connection is pretty
strong and the response time is alright
but I will say that invidious own
controller definitely outshines the
knight go play pad pearl especially when
it comes to just the general feel of all
of the ones out there tonight go play
pad pro is actually pretty good and
works really well with the Nvidia shield
tablet and with that price it really
does justify that purchase if you really
don't want to go for a more expensive
one like this I will say though that if
you do pay the $60 for the Nvidia shield
controller you are going to get your
money's worth it is working really well
with this and really it's the kind of
experience that only Nvidia could bring
you with their own peripheries so keep
it into Android Authority for all of the
as content including my full review of
the Nvidia shield tablet especially now
that I have the full experience
available with the shield wireless
controller keep it tuned here and watch
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