Nougat is Here for the NVIDIA SHIELD Tablet!

Almost three years ago the original NVIDIA SHIELD Tablet was released.  It was ahead of the game then, and it is still ahead of the game today. At release, it had top of the line specs and fairly decent build quality.  More importantly, it could connect to all of NVIDIA’s cloud gaming services.  These cloud gaming services allow the Tablet to run high-end games like No Man’s Sky, Witcher 3, and Borderlands.  Today the SHIELD Tablet (and it’s successor the SHIELD K1) are both getting even better and will start to receiving Android Nougat (7.0)! 

Currently, roughly 1% of all Android devices are running Nougat.  Of that 1%, I believe the SHIELD Tablet is the oldest device running it.  This continued dedication to a product that many manufacturers would consider to be passed it’s End of Life phase is one more reason I love NVIDIA!

That update to Nougat brings the Tablet a lot of great new features, stability and security enhancements, and the cryptic “SHIELD Rewards Program.”  There’s no more information about the Rewards Program yet, but we’ll let you know as soon as we learn more!

The update will be a phased roll-out, meaning it won’t hit everyone all at once.  It will be coming to Wi-Fi devices first, with LTE devices receiving the update after carrier certification.

The full changelog is available below.  If you haven’t yet, check out our review of the NVIDIA SHIELD Tablet here: NVIDIA SHIELD Tablet – Two Years Later.

SHIELD Controller (2017) Support
 – Updates to SHIELD controller support

New Multitasking Features
 – Split-screen: Run two apps side by side* in Portrait or Landscape modes
 – Quick switch: Double tap the Overview button to quickly switch back to the last opened app

Improved Notifications
 – Multiple notifications from the same app are now bundled for a streamlined experience
 – Reply to messages directly from within the notification*
 – Tap and hold on a notification to quickly silence or block notifications from the app

Improved Power Consumption
 – Doze on the Go: Doze is now smarter & kicks in even when the device is being carried around

Emoji
 – Includes all-new Unicode 9 emojis

Usability Improvements
 – Display & Font size can now separately adjustable to improve readability or screen space
 – Quick Settings can now be customized directly from the menu by tapping “Edit”
 – The top Quick Setting tiles can now be accessed with a downward swipe from the lock screen
 – Settings now includes a Navigation Menu & Suggestions to improve usability
 – The “Clear all” option in Overview have been relocated to the top right

System-wide improvements including
 – New Data Saver: when enabled, limits access to Cellular data for background apps
 – New JIT compiler: improves the speed of App & System updates
 – Update to Android Security Patch Level December 1, 2016

SHIELD Rewards Program
 – Introducing SHIELD Rewards, the exclusive loyalty program for SHIELD owners

*App compatibility could vary, requires App to be updated with support for the feature.