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NVIDIA SHIELD Tablet Android Lollipop Update Performance Explored

Posted by timothy on from the stats-and-figures dept.

MojoKid writes Last week, NVIDIA offered information regarding its Android Lollipop update for the SHIELD Tablet and also revealed a new game bundle for it. This week, NVIDIA gave members of the press early access to the Lollipop update and it will also be rolling out to the general public sometime later today. Some of the changes are subtle, but others are more significant and definitely give the tablet a different look and feel over the original Android KitKat release. Android Lollipop introduces a new "material design" that further flattens out the look of the OS. Google seems to have taken a more minimalist approach as everything from the keyboard to the settings menus have been cleaned up considerably. Many parts of the interface don't have any markings except for the absolute necessities. While the OS definitely feels more fluid and responsive, the default look isn't always better, depending on your personal view. The app tray for example has a plain, white background which looks kind of jarring if you've using a colorful background. And finding the proper touch points for things like a settings menu or clearing notifications isn't always clear. Performance-wise, NVIDIA's Shield Tablet showed significantly better performance on Lollipop for general compute tasks in benchmarks like Mobile XPRT but lagged behind Kit Kat in graphics performance slightly, which could be attributed to driver optimization.

32 of 57 comments (clear)

  1. CM11 users already have the look available. by Lumpy · · Score: 2, Informative

    In the CM11 themes you can apply the Lollipop theme and pretty much make the whole phone take on the biggest changes of Lollipop without effort.

    Plus the new apps are already rolling out so you can have it all today instead of waiting for February to get CM12

    --
    Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
  2. Enough already by ArcadeMan · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I don't care if we're talking about Microsoft, Apple, Android or someone else. These flat, over-simplied GUIs are making things less intuitive and harder to use.

    Don't hide scrollbars because they're ugly, they're there to tell us something can scroll (ex: horizontal scrolling in the iTunes Store). The fact that I need to have my mouse cursor over the area to see it can be scrolled if a failure in user interaction.

    Stop with the over-simplified icons that don't mean anything, the lack of button borders that prevents me from knowing the area I can touch to push that button (ex: iOS 8).

    Stop with the GUI elements that looks like a blur on regular monitors, the pastel-color-coded shit in 16x16 pixels icons that requires 20/20 vision and absolutely zero color blindness to discern between them all (ex: Finder tags).

    The list goes on and on. Hardware people have no business designing user interfaces.

    --
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    1. Re:Enough already by i+kan+reed · · Score: 2

      Here's the thing:

      Power users can manage to get through dumbed down interfaces.
      Regular users get confused and give up on "smarter" interfaces.

      You can see that microsoft doesn't dump their current god-awful interface design choices on Visual Studio, but anything they even remotely imagine a typical user using, they wrap in useless shiny crap.

      (None of what you described, however, quite matches the evil of websites that think you want to do anything other than scroll when you scroll)

    2. Re:Enough already by digitalchinky · · Score: 2

      I agree with you, one difference though. There are tablets out there that have 2560x1600 pixels or more, and people with 20/20 that want everything to be tiny. The problem is the lack of choice, most apps dont include any way to shrink the giant fisher price widgets and 20 point fonts. I know I can change dpi settings per app with root, but this doesn't address poor UI design and the trend toward bigger, more white space, and fewer configuration options.

    3. Re:Enough already by ArcadeMan · · Score: 1

      It's not about the complexity of the user interface, I'm not talking about the removal of the Start button in Windows, I'm not talking about power users vs regular users here. I'm talking about what the interface looks like. All the problems I see with the modern GUIs are applicable to everyone.

      And as you said: to all website coders, programmers and web-monkeys: don't fuck with my fucking scrollwheel or I'll just go to another website.

      --
      Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
    4. Re:Enough already by jeffmflanagan · · Score: 1

      Regular users get confused by these dumbed down interfaces too, because functionality is hidden and not easily discoverable. Hiding functionality helps no one.

    5. Re:Enough already by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 1

      As an OpenGL and UI/UX expert "Preaching to the choir!"
      Fads go in ~20 year cycles. Hopefully the latest UI fad to flatten everything will start to change. /Oblg. Windows 1 vs Windows 8.
      http://charlie.amigaspirit.hu/...

    6. Re:Enough already by antdude · · Score: 1

      Yeah, I hate the flat GUI too. It seems like us, old computer geek/nerd farts hate it?

      --
      Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
  3. irrelevant by slashmydots · · Score: 1

    PC gamers hate joysticks. Mice, better performance, and mods are the only reason that PC gamers play PC games. Say goodbye to your mouse, goodbye to desktop-level performance (and screen size), and I bet the shield doesn't support game mods very well. So that's 3 for 3. I really don't care about performance numbers on a product that nobody wants and nobody will buy.

    1. Re:irrelevant by jeffmflanagan · · Score: 2

      >PC gamers hate joysticks. Mice, better performance, and mods are the only reason that PC gamers play PC games.

      Why would you say something that's obviously not true except for a subset of PC gamers as if it's a fact? Not all PC gamers are at desks in bedrooms at their parent's house. Some of us PC game from our own couches with XBox 360 controllers. We do it for the much improved graphics and better performance than console games.

    2. Re:irrelevant by hort_wort · · Score: 1

      PC gamers hate joysticks.

      I'm not throwing hundreds of $$$ into Star Citizen just to fly around with a mouse....

    3. Re:irrelevant by LearningHard · · Score: 1

      Shield is compatible with bluetooth keyboards/mice and can be connected to a display panel via HDMI.

    4. Re:irrelevant by alvinrod · · Score: 1

      Actually I think they're more popular than ever before. There are a lot of people who got into Minecraft which has exposed PC gaming to a whole new generation of users. There's also the popularity of MOBA, RTS, and FPS games that are being played professionally now that are attracting wider audiences. Never mind companies like Valve that practically survive off their take of the sales of digital games.

      Just because there aren't millions of people running Intel Extreme Edition CPUs with water-cooled CrossFire/SLI setups doesn't mean that PC gaming isn't doing well.

    5. Re:irrelevant by slashmydots · · Score: 1

      My PC is faster than an Xbox One. See you in 7 years!

    6. Re:irrelevant by slashmydots · · Score: 1

      Flying and racing games need multi-level directional steering from joysticks. Shooters and every other type of game ever made needs a mouse.

    7. Re:irrelevant by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      PC gamers hate joysticks.

      Joysticks are part of what I love about PC gaming. The ability to use any input device for which someone has been arsed to cook up a driver is a beautiful thing, and it's one of the things I've missed during my latest foray into console gaming. I have an F22 Pro with Stickworks conversion which I'll probably stuff an Arduino into soon so I can make it a USB device finally, two logitech twisty sticks, two cyborg golds, and probably some more joysticks I'm forgetting about. Each of them fulfills a different purpose - for example, the cyborgs can be converted to the left hand and they're fun for 'mech games if you don't have a proper throttle or just don't want to dig it out. A throttle is the one thing I still don't have, since I do have a CH yoke and pedals as well. The yoke has one or two throttles on it, though. And of course, I also have gamepads which work on the PC, because emulation. I also have converters for PS2 controllers, which are what I actually tend to use.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    8. Re:irrelevant by slashmydots · · Score: 1

      OH GOOD! I freaking love wireless mouse delays. Sometimes when I can't get mine to 100ms delay, I just bury my hand in sand instead for the same effect.

    9. Re:irrelevant by jeffmflanagan · · Score: 1

      >Shooters and every other type of game ever made needs a mouse.

      No they don't, unless by "Shooters and every other type of game ever made" you just mean Peggle. You're locked into a tiny worldview, and completely fail to see that many other people do not share your narrow preferences. This is far from the first time that you've demonstrated your own limits in your posts.

    10. Re:irrelevant by edxwelch · · Score: 1

      The real reason why Nvidia tablet is doomed is because of the lack of games written for it. They aren't anywhere near as much AAA games as for Playstation, or XBox.

    11. Re:irrelevant by khellendros1984 · · Score: 1

      Platformers, shmups, fighting games, lots of puzzle games, and many non-RTS top-down view games work better without a pointing device. Some of them work just fine with digital buttons, some are better with some kind of analog control (but still not a mouse).

      --
      It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
    12. Re:irrelevant by PixetaledPikachu · · Score: 1

      My PC is faster than an Xbox One. See you in 7 years!

      In seven years, You'll have at least upgrade the processor once, upgrade the ram once, and replace the graphic adapter twice, just to play the same games that Xbox One readily play out of the box, albeit in lower resolution and maybe half the frame rate. Pros and cons

    13. Re:irrelevant by Yosho · · Score: 1

      Stop buying cheap bargain mice wireless mice from Wal-mart. Every wireless mouse I've used since the early 2000's has had as much delay as a wired mouse. Try something like a Logitech M510, it's lag-free and the batteries will last longer than the switches in the buttons.

      --
      Karma: Terrifying (mostly affected by atrocities you've committed)
    14. Re:irrelevant by exomondo · · Score: 1

      Shooters and every other type of game ever made needs a mouse.

      That must be why nobody plays shooters with controllers...oh wait.

    15. Re:irrelevant by exomondo · · Score: 1

      Nah he has his mouse connected to his PC with a Monster cable, no other mouse can compete with that!

    16. Re:irrelevant by Gibgezr · · Score: 1

      No, PC gamers don't hate joysticks; many of them love joysticks and gamepads.

      That said, I have no interest in a nVidia Shield. It runs freaking Android. Android is great on my phone, where I also do not play games.

    17. Re:irrelevant by Gibgezr · · Score: 1

      No, they don't need a mouse. Maybe 20 years ago, when gamepads and the software written for them were clunky and awkward (remember playing FPS games with no response curve applied to the input?), but nowadays lots of folks who are comfortable with a dual-stick controller prefer playing PC shooters with a gamepad. Yes, I might be a tiny bit more accurate with a mouse, but I no longer care about being the world's best Quake player. I play games to have fun, and most shooters are more fun for me if I use a gamepad. BTW, I have a nice mechanical gaming keyboard and mouse...you know, for games that don't support gamepad input. Nowadays, though, few PC shooters are released that don't support gamepad input (off the top of my head, I can't think of any released lately that lack it); it would hurt sales too badly, as gamepads are extremely popular. I teach classes full of 18-25 year olds, and every year I ask them how many play PC games, and whether they prefer mouse or controller for input; the balance has swung from one side to the other steadily over the last 20 years, to the point where almost the whole group prefers controllers now (of course, 20 years ago it was joysticks, not twin-stick game controllers that I asked about, and they almost all preferred mouse and keyboard for Quake, although a few preferred joysticks for Descent).

      I do think mice give you an edge in precision aiming, but unless you are a pro gamer it hardly matters, and of course it doesn't make any difference in a single-player game. There are lots of videos that show PC gamers using a controller and doing just fine against other PC gamers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

  4. ./ Headlines are becoming unparseable by Overzeetop · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Is it a name or an acronym, an adjective or a noun - or maybe a verb. Who the fuck knows. Is it SHIELD or Shield? Is it made by NVIDIA (And should get a possessive 's)? Do we need to know that NVIDIA is the maker at all, or is it important that the Shield (or SHIELD) is the particular tablet (do we need to know it's a tablet?) that you've benchmarked. Should we know what is happening (performance explored - or was it just a benchmark?) and then find out it was under a particular release. And why Lollipop - aren't we past codenames now to understand that this is the official Android 5.0 (pre)release?

    If you're going for obscure and useless, you guys are nailing these headlines. Why not take the next step and just pick 8 random words from the summary and post those in any order?

    (ob: now get off my lawn)

    --
    Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
    1. Re:./ Headlines are becoming unparseable by jaminJay · · Score: 1

      Title case is a good indicator that you are, in fact, reading a title.

      --
      Leela: "Is all the work done by children?" Alien: "No, not the whipping."
  5. Seriously? by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 1

    SHIELD needs their own tablet?

    --
    It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
    1. Re:Seriously? by RyuuzakiTetsuya · · Score: 1

      Of course SHIELD runs Android, how else could they have gotten Ultron?

      I don't think Ultron's too keen on sweets though. Must be a proprietary fork.

      --
      Non impediti ratione cogitationus.
  6. Name eight unrelated words by pjwhite · · Score: 1

    "NVIDIA SHIELD Tablet Android Lollipop Update Performance Explored"

    This headline has meaning for many of the people reading it on this website, but imagine the average non-technical person trying to parse this.

    1. Re:Name eight unrelated words by beheaderaswp · · Score: 1

      "NVIDIA SHIELD Tablet Android Lollipop Update Performance Explored"

      This headline has meaning for many of the people reading it on this website, but imagine the average non-technical person trying to parse this.

      Do average non-technical people read this site? Rarely... and they do not last long.

      --
      Another consultant who stuck it out.

      "We are the Priests, of the Temples of Syrinx..."