They don't make 'em like that any more: NVIDIA Shield K1 tablet
I savaged the NVidea Shield K1 in my
2016 Amazon review.
I compared it unfavourably to the Samsung Tab S8, which would have been
its main competitor at the time, even though the Tab S8 cost
twice as much as the K1, despite its similar specification.
My S8 has long gone the way of eBay, but I use my K1 nearly every
day. In fact, as time has gone by, I've come to appreciate the
K1 more and more.
The most notable thing about the K1, when it was released back in 2014, was the price. The specification -- particularly of its video subsystem -- trounced everything at its price point, and sometimes beyond it. For sure, you could get a cheaper tablet than the K1 -- if you didn't mind waiting ten seconds between screen updates; but the K1 was aggressively priced for a quality, high-spec tablet. These days you can pick up a used one in good condition for about UK£50, and it's certainly worth this small investment, provided the battery hasn't been worked to exhaustion.
Although I haven't tried a side-by-side test, I suspect that the K1 would out-perform any contemporary tablet that is priced comparably with the K1's 2014 price of about UK£150, in spite of ten years of technological development. Consider, for example, the Lenovo M8 tablet (current list price about UK£200), alongside the K1. Both units have ~2GHz, four-core CPUs. Both have 32Gb of internal storage (although the K1 was available in 64Gb). Both have an 8", IPS LCD screen.
However, the K1 had a full-HD (1080p) screen, which is exactly the right resolution for an 8" screen. The M8 has "only" an 800p screen, which would not have been class-leading even ten years ago, although it wouldn't have seemed as underspecified as it might today. The K1 had an SD card slot for extra storage -- most modern tablets do not (yes, I'm looking at you, Tab S6 Lite).
In fact, when comparing the K1 to today's mid-priced tablets, it's almost as if the last ten years didn't happen. Of course there are devices with higher specifications -- much higher -- today, but the K1 out-guns today's similarly-priced offerings.
In my original review I complained that the K1 was large and heavy, but it's lighter than my Samsung S5E. Of course, the S5E has a larger screen, so it's entitled to weigh more; my point is that the K1 no longer seems particular heavy in the hand. I pointed out back in 2016 that the K1 had rubberized hand grips and, although unconventional, this continues to be an ergonomic benefit for me. It's easy to hand-hold the K1 without leaving fingerprints on the screen, even one-handed if necessary (but not for too long).
Another point I noted, but did not dwell on, is that the K1 has a real HDMI port. Not a silly USB C port that needs an adapter, but a real HDMI port. You can connect the K1 to an external monitor and a power supply at the same time. This is only possible on my Samsung tablet with a docking station of some kind.
In 2016, I did not need to remark on the fact that the K1 has a proper, 3.5mm headphone jack -- everything did at that time. In a huge backward leap, other manufacturers have abandoned this useful connection. So when I want to listen to music or watch video with wired headphones, I reach for my K1, rather than trying to work out where I put the stupid little USB headphone dongle that I need for my Samsung.
Another pointless trend that Samsung adopted, but NVIDIA did not, was the 4:3 screen layout. This was popularized by Apple in its iPad range, but it never made any sense in devices that were mostly used for media and games. Samsung quietly reverted to the same 16:9 layout that everybody else except Apple used, but a Tab S8 of the same vintage as the Shield K1 looks hopelessly dated now, just because its the screen shape -- as, frankly, a contemporary iPad does.
Coming from NVIDIA, it isn't surprising that the K1 was marketed for gaming. It even had a plug-in game controller, although I never used it, and I don't know how good it was. I guess this gaming heritage is what made (and still makes) the K1 handle video so well.
The K1 plays most full-HD video content smoothly, without any sign of stuttering or audio lag. More significantly, perhaps, it scales lower-resolution content to fit the Full-HD screen faultlessly. Even now, this can't always be said for my Samsung tablet. Playing local videos using VLC is a pleasure -- everything just works. Moreover -- again, unlike my Samsung S5E -- I can stream full HD video on WiFi even if the access point is at the other end of the house. All Samsung's tablets until very recently struggled with WiFi reception.
Unlike modern tablets (and cellphones) it's relatively easy to install custom ROMs on the K1. To be fair, it was easier on most devices back in 2014 than it is now. Sadly, Lineage OS no longer supports the K1, but version 15 variants for the K1 are still to be found, which will provide Android 8, and an absence of Google spyware, if that's a concern. It's comparatively easy to root a K1, with or without installing a custom ROM. Doing any of these things on a modern tablet is like sticking your face in a hornet's nest, although it's probably fair to say that we didn't really understand the security hazards of portable devices back in 2014.
In summary, as the years have gone by, I've come to appreciate the NVIDIA Shield tablet more and more. It's not perfect, but any means -- it's still a coulomb-gobbler, rarely giving more than three hours of screen-on time between charges. And the batteries of early models have been known to explode, which adds a certain something to watching a suspense movie.
An Android tablet, especially when rooted, is an amazingly powerful, portable computing device. Rooting is necessary, sadly, as new Android releases impose increasingly stringent internal security constraints, making it more difficult to do productive work. The K1 was a powerful, low-cost tablet that was genuinely useful. It's a shame that no manufacturer seems to be able to produce such a thing today. Why don't modern tablets have expandable storage, HDMI ports, headphone jacks, and screens whose resolutions are appropriate to their size? I really don't know.
