NVIDIA Announces Android 11 Update for All Shield TV Devices

[TheLostSwede]

What seems to be one of the best supported products by NVIDIA, is getting yet another update in the shape of the Shield Software Experience Upgrade 9.0, which brings Android 11 to the NVIDIA Shield devices. The fact that Android 11 is only arriving around the same time Android 12 is landing on most phones is a different matter, but the OS isn't the only update you're getting if you own a Shield device. NVIDIA has added support for aptX, something that should please users of compatible headsets, as it's so far the most common higher-end Bluetooth audio solution, although LDAC was already supported.

NVIDIA has also updated its GeForce Now game streaming software and is pushing its new RTX 3080 to those of us that have been unlucky enough to not be able to get one at MSRP. There are also updates for the Apple TV and Google Play Movies and TV apps, where the latter gets Dolby Vision support. US owners of a Shield TV device are also getting six months of Peacock Premium for free, but a Google account is required to take advantage of this offer. There are several other minor updates and fixes as well, such as an option to automatically disconnect Bluetooth devices when the Shield TV is put to sleep and a new energy saver setting.



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[TheinsanegamerN]

Hey, you know what would be nice?

A new shield TV, not using a 8 year old SOC or stuck with the same RAM as $90 budget phones.

Or a new shield handheld, we havent had one of those for nearly a decade now

Or a new tablet, as the android tablet market is a dysmal wasteland of choice.

The current hardware is just so....old.

 

[clopezi]

Hey, you know what would be nice?

A new shield TV, not using a 8 year old SOC or stuck with the same RAM as $90 budget phones.

Or a new shield handheld, we havent had one of those for nearly a decade now

Or a new tablet, as the android tablet market is a dysmal wasteland of choice.

The current hardware is just so....old.

For what? It's perfectly fine and supports all actual TV codecs, up to DV (almost no device in market support it), 4K, and so on. For what do you need a most powerful hardware or even more ram? Will be useless.

The tablet or the handheld are discontinued because was a failure in sales.

Shield TV it's a well supported device and all customers are very happy with all the new features over the years, we don need a brand new device every year like a phone... thank God.

 

[Halo3Addict]

Hey, you know what would be nice?

A new shield TV, not using a 8 year old SOC or stuck with the same RAM as $90 budget phones.

Or a new shield handheld, we havent had one of those for nearly a decade now

Or a new tablet, as the android tablet market is a dysmal wasteland of choice.

The current hardware is just so....old.

As long as the hardware works and still gets updates, I'm not complaining. My Shield upscales my content without a hitch and runs silenty even on high performance mode. The product still competes pretty well with other streaming devices.

 

[TheoneandonlyMrK]

For what? It's perfectly fine and supports all actual TV codecs, up to DV (almost no device in market support it), 4K, and so on. For what do you need a most powerful hardware or even more ram? Will be useless.

The tablet or the handheld are discontinued because was a failure in sales.

Shield TV it's a well supported device and all customers are very happy with all the new features over the years, we don need a brand new device every year like a phone... thank God.

Well supported, 12 is out, it's supported is fair, Well is a stretch IMHO.

 

[TheinsanegamerN]

For what? It's perfectly fine and supports all actual TV codecs, up to DV (almost no device in market support it), 4K, and so on. For what do you need a most powerful hardware or even more ram? Will be useless.

Perhaps some of us would like to use our gaming/streaming box for more then just TV? If all I wanted to do is stream there are any number of cheaper devices that do just as good of a job. For gaming, the X1 wasnt bad, but it IS 7 years old now. Technology has moved a long way.

The tablet or the handheld are discontinued because was a failure in sales.

They were a failure in sales due to obsolete hardware. And calling the shield tablet/K1 a "sales failure" is just...wrong. It actually sold very well, would have sold even better if nvidia wasnt using last gen technology and stupid slow eMMC storage that brought the device to its knees (and didnt have that whole battery fire issue). Maybe if its battery life had been anywhere near what the ipad offered it would have done better as well.

Shield TV it's a well supported device and all customers are very happy with all the new features over the years,

All customers? You have a source for that, or are you projecting again?

we don need a brand new device every year like a phone... thank God.

Nobody said every year. The shield TV is running on 7 year old hardware. Some of us would like something newer then 7 year old 20nm cortex arm A-57 cores and maxwell GPU cores. And why does a new model bother you so much? Nobody is forcing you to upgrade to the newest model just because it came out, you are mroe then welvcome to continue using the old model if it does what you need.

 

[Flying Fish]

Hey, you know what would be nice?

A new shield TV, not using a 8 year old SOC or stuck with the same RAM as $90 budget phones.

Or a new shield handheld, we havent had one of those for nearly a decade now

Or a new tablet, as the android tablet market is a dysmal wasteland of choice.

The current hardware is just so....old.

Ok.......to fully counter this....
OG Shield TV used Tegra X1, released in Q2 2015 so not even 7 years old yet never mind 8.

Secondly, the 2019 shield TV's use the Tegra X1+, released in 2019.

Thirdly..........It's the same SoC as the nintendo switch. If it can run games well enough I'm sure it can handle streaming youtube or geforce now just fine.

 

[SiJiL]

I'd love a new Shield tablet, used mine for ages - the form factor was great and the mini-HDMI out was awesome when I had to go away with work - could just plug it into a hotel TV.
Now it's so painfully slow though, to the point of being unusable. Just opening a browser takes minutes every time.

 

[silentbogo]

A new shield TV, not using a 8 year old SOC or stuck with the same RAM as $90 budget phones.

Why? It's literally the same SoC that's powering Nintendo Switch, and it's not strictly speaking a gaming device (hence, "Shield TV", not "Shield Console"). Heck, there are even some modern STB/IPTV boxes that run fine on single-core SoC with gig or less of RAM. Plus, over the years pretty much all tegras have proven to be a benchmark of longevity. Even my old Nexus 7 2012 is still my mom's daily driver, after her new Galaxy Tab died just a few weeks past its warranty.

 

[Vayra86]

Ok.......to fully counter this....
OG Shield TV used Tegra X1, released in Q2 2015 so not even 7 years old yet never mind 8.

Secondly, the 2019 shield TV's use the Tegra X1+, released in 2019.

Thirdly..........It's the same SoC as the nintendo switch. If it can run games well enough I'm sure it can handle streaming youtube or geforce now just fine.

This. A smart TV replacement is not at all required to be updated yearly or bi-yearly. I say this is one of the few sensible products in tech, just doing what its supposed to do and if there is no market, Nvidia isn't pushing it either. Seems very sensible, instead of trying to push overinflated 'gaming on Android' that to this day is still complete and utter shit, as is any gaming on a smartphone beyond simple point and click.

The Shield gets an update when codec support or resolution increases warrant it. Honestly its what all devices should do, instead of updating every week for nonsensical crap and every year to sell you 5% more performant hardware at yet a higher price point than before. You already have a smartphone to do that for you, and guess what, you can connect an increasing number of them to use your TV as a desktop or smart TV regardless. So, I think @TheinsanegamerN is helped best by buying an HDMI>USB C cable, or just streaming netflix over home network.

 

[lexluthermiester]

which brings Android 11 to the Nvidia Shield devices.

I wish all Android devices had this level of support!

 

[BArms]

I wish all Android devices had this level of support!

I wish Nvidia would stop predatory ad practices on their shield homescreens. People don't want or need obtrusive ads, it's a $!@# awful practice and it needs to stop. Charge a few bucks more if you have to or create an ad-free SKU, but Shield ads suck.

 

[Camm]

A new shield TV, not using a 8 year old SOC or stuck with the same RAM as $90 budget phones.

Or a new shield handheld, we havent had one of those for nearly a decade now

Or a new tablet, as the android tablet market is a dysmal wasteland of choice.

Agreed. The GPU is okay enough, but the CPU is just awful which really hurts the SHIELD for Emulation and even modern Android gaming.

There was a time where Nvidia was innovating in this space with the various SHIELD tablets & handhelds, they didn't sell well, but they still had promise. It'd be nice if we saw that again personally.

 

[Mussels]

I genuinely keep thinking i should get a shield, since i'm heavily into the nvidia ecosystem and would use the in-house streaming (as well as the android TV features)

I just kinda want new hardware in one...

 

[TheLostSwede]

I wish Nvidia would stop predatory ad practices on their shield homescreens. People don't want or need obtrusive ads, it's a $!@# awful practice and it needs to stop. Charge a few bucks more if you have to or create an ad-free SKU, but Shield ads suck.

Samsung is doing it in its TVs in some regions. I'm sure others do it too.
I mean, shit, out cable company inserts local ads over international programming, so it's not really a new thing.

 

[Caring1]

I wish all Android devices had this level of support!

This ^^^
My "smart Tv" is getting old and it's stuck on Android 2.2 and won't update, It now won't connect online to any service.

 

[medi01]

Just when my phone auto-upgraded to 12, chuckle.

 

[lexluthermiester]

I wish Nvidia would stop predatory ad practices on their shield homescreens.

While annoying, I would hardly call them "predatory". Root it and install an adblocker.

My "smart Tv" is getting old and it's stuck on Android 2.2 and won't update, It now won't connect online to any service.

This is why I avoid "Smart" TV's. Get yourself an Android TV box. They're inexpensive and they work well. Get a quality unit though. Or just get a shield.

 

[clopezi]

Well supported, 12 is out, it's supported is fair, Well is a stretch IMHO.

Just when my phone auto-upgraded to 12, chuckle.

Only one month ago (1st december), Google launched Android 12 for TV for developers, still in beta. Not even official Google TV devices has Android 12. Why do you need Android 12 on the TV box? I mean, this it's not a phone, we don't need the last system features because them are not even applicable to TV box. Stability from a supported version it's a lot more important.

Nobody said every year. The shield TV is running on 7 year old hardware. Some of us would like something newer then 7 year old 20nm cortex arm A-57 cores and maxwell GPU cores. And why does a new model bother you so much? Nobody is forcing you to upgrade to the newest model just because it came out, you are mroe then welvcome to continue using the old model if it does what you need.

When companies launch new hardware, they usually forget the old devices. For example, new Shield (2019) has exclusive features like the IA resolution upgrade from FHD and SD contents. We all know it, and launch a new device has to be supported with new features.

Shield TV can do 4K DV, can do 4K HDR gaming streaming, can emulate many platforms... what do you want to do with the device that a new powerful device can do and the actual can't? That's the key. If there's not a new device, if because Nvidia can't find features that justify a new device

 

[stimpy88]

If now they would only refresh the hardware to something less ancient.

Just when my phone auto-upgraded to 12, chuckle.

Enjoy it, it's unlikely to see Android 13

 

[wolf]

I genuinely keep thinking i should get a shield, since i'm heavily into the nvidia ecosystem and would use the in-house streaming

I wanted one for years and got the 2019 Pro in 2020, and I have 0 regrets. I also crave bleeding edge and would love this to be newer/higher specced, but it is excellent at what it does. In home streaming to my 4k60 TV over gigabit ethernet is nye on flawless, ~1ms latencey, ~2ms decode time, it feels so close to connecting the PC by HDMI honestly. Plus it looks cool.

 

[medi01]

Enjoy it, it's unlikely to see Android 13

Why not? (not that I'd care, but still wondering)

 

[lexluthermiester]

Why not? (not that I'd care, but still wondering)

NVidia sometimes skips a version of Android. They skipped 6 and 10. They will likely skip 12 & 13.

 

[stimpy88]

Why not? (not that I'd care, but still wondering)

If you have to ask the question, then there is no help for you. Try Google, or anyone that has owned the same Android phone for more than a year.

 

[Flying Fish]

If you have to ask the question, then there is no help for you. Try Google, or anyone that has owned the same Android phone for more than a year.

OK

My old phone launched with Android 8 and it got to Android 11 before EOL.

My current phone launched with Android 11, is currently Android 12 and I expect it to go EOL with Android 14.

Feels good

Even Samsung are supporting 2-3 versions of android per device now. Nokia have commitments with Android 1 for 2 years OS updates and 3 years security.

Just don't buy cheap phone brands and you're better off.