Related
today i had the opportunity to attend the Xperia Play launch event here in London and managed to have a play with err well the Play! so i thought i might aswell put across my first impressions of it to you guys and any potential buyers!
* take note any reference to the PSP will be based on the PSP phat, not PSP Slim or PSP Go.
first thing i noticed when i saw the phone and held it, its actually not that big or bulky at all, in-fact i think it could do with a 4.2" or 4.3" screen. but the 4" screen and the phone dimensions are pretty well balanced, its really not that big a brick at all.
now the screen. we were indoors, in a very dark area, so i cant vouch for in-direct-daylight viewing but at least indoors; the screen was crisp, sharp and clear. the brightness i thought was absolutely fine, no more or less than any other phone tbh (bar AMOLED!). that said it is no AMOLED screen, it does'nt compare, but it is definitely better than your average LCD screen, by how much? i guess that'll change from person to person.
The performance? i'm going to talk about gaming performance first. hmm this was hit and miss tbh and i will partly blame the Qualcomm/Adreno setup. i never really liked Qualcomm or Adreno chips tbh as i think they are behind the game and have been for some time, this thing could have done with something similar to a hummingbird processor or at the very least chuck in a PowerVR GPU. Asphalt 6 for me was NOT running at 60fps, there was lagg, was'nt huge tbh but it was there and if you're picky (like me) you'll notice it. same goes for the Spider Man HD game that was on the phone, no way was it running at 60fps. again it was'nt bad bad lagg, but if you're used to smooth as honey gaming, you will notice it.
on the other hand i tested Bruce Lee Dragon warrior, which i can say did run very very well and can believe the 60fps quote. also tested fifa 10 and this also worked very well.
now i have to stress, this being a demo phone every Tom, **** and Harry had their mitts onto it so i did check running services after i closed the games and there were a hell of a lot of **** running in the background, heck there were two instances of the music player open! how much of this affected the 60fps performance? i do not know, but i sure hope it did and that was the root of the lowered fps count.
the controls themselves? hmm again, for me, it was a hit and miss but i defo need more time to give a honest review on this part. the controls felt quite a fair bit different to any playstation console controller or PSP controls that i had ever used. the D-pad and X,O,Triangle,and Square have this clicky sound when pressed. guess some people will like this others wont. i found them a bit stiff to use tbh, i can see pulling off a hadouken on this d-pad will be harder than you think. it just did'nt feel the way i thought it should. the control's size seems a little smaller aswell, probably as expected to fit in such a device though. i do hope these controls do "break-in" over time and will allow you to become more fluid in their operation.
The shoulder buttons were better imo, they pressed in easy enough and were responsive. however i had some fidgety moments trying to use the face buttons and shoulder buttons together, although shifting my hand position seemed to help a bit. i guess you just need to get used to it.
And lastly the analogue touch pad thingies. to be honest i was pleasantly surprised by these! they actually work very very well IMO! in fact while i was playing FIFA and spider man HD i actually moved to the analogue touch pads out of preference (probably helped on by the stiff'ish d-pad!) and they worked like a treat! the indentations really help and you dont need to look down at all to see where your thumbs are placed. i was quite impressed by them.
well theres my mini review guys, hope it helps some of you out there to make a decision. IMO if you want a nice smartphone; look elsewhere, the galaxy S II, Motorola Atrix, LG Optimus 2X, etc would probably be much better choices. But if you want a gaming smartphone? i think you cant get better than the Xperia Play, because, come on, lets face it, you cant beat physical controls!
As for me, my Xperia Play arrives tomorrow in the post and i cant wait to chuck on some Emulator madness!
UPDATE: i've recieved my xperia play, for the record you get a 16gb class 2 card with it and they also provide you with a screen protector (not fitted).
Thanks for your review my xperia play hoping arrives tomorrow. Just depends on Royal Mail. I'll post my findings on XDA too.
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App
Thanks for the review my xperia play will hopfully come in today if not tommorow by UPS
Will post my findings about it aswell
Although I think it will be positive to play all my childhood games again
yay! i've just received my xperia play! for the record you get a 16gb class 2 card with it and they also provide you with a screen protector (not fitted).
Can someone confirm whether the screen is plasstic?
I really wanted this phone but having a plastic screen and not glass is a deal breaker for me.
its hard to tell, becuase there seems to be a screen protector already fitted on the screen by default (ignore my previous post! had a closer look). so you cant really tell if its plastic or glass :/
so there is already a screen protector installed? no need to buy one more or evne use the one it comes with??
yh as far as i can tell there seems to be one installed, looks very well done. plus you get a spare one in the box. so alls good.
I got the phone today and ran it thought a few tests.
First of all - Beware! If you're getting the phone from the UK but are not currently in the UK, it seems Playstation Pocket is unavailable in many countries still. I am in Ireland and it's not available for me yet. I contacted support and hope it'll be enabled soon.
Let's get to the performance - Quadrant does around 1600, Linpack around 38. All in all, a little disappointing, it's about as high as the Nexus One gets. I'm pretty sure that's because it's still running a rather early build of the software. Let's see how well it'll perform with Android 2.3.3, I'm sure there's still a lot to improve.
The screen feels solid and nice, it's hard to tell if it's plastic or glass, to be honest. Feels a lot like the screen of the Nexus S. It supports a 4-point-multitouch and it works well. The Notification-LED supports all colors from red to white, the Playstation controls work really nice, but I had troubles with the analog sticks - altho I didn't really need them much. The buttons work awesome for emulators and even quite a lot of normal Android-Games, like Radiant and EVAC HD.
The browser is fast and the flash player works great. All in all, it's quite nice and it got quite some potential. Altho I miss the Notification power widget from the Touchwiz/Cyanogenmod roms
Thanks Meister!
I really want to get a Play and sell my DroidX. Problem is, I'm not sure it would be an actual upgrade. I really want dedicated controls, but benchmark scores are lower than my non-overclocked X. *sigh* what to do, what to do.
Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk
Tornlogic said:
Thanks Meister!
I really want to get a Play and sell my DroidX. Problem is, I'm not sure it would be an actual upgrade. I really want dedicated controls, but benchmark scores are lower than my non-overclocked X. *sigh* what to do, what to do.
Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I got it after the Galaxy S and for me, it really was an upgrade. Not on a hardware side, it's still in that Droid 2/X - Galaxy S/G2/DHD Range, but it's still absolutely worth it for the controls. Being able to play Zelda like that with my phone? So freakin' worth it. Aside from that, it looks really sleek and feels great. True, the screen isn't Super Amoled, but it's very good, and true, the Software still feels a little rushed but... Compared to what the Galaxy S shipped with, it's pretty amazing. And when looking back at what we where able to finally make out of the Galaxy S, I think this thing got a great future. Aside from that, the Dual Core phones still seem to be plagued by a lot of issues like battery drain, performance hickups and the like - this one is very consistent and running Zelda in an GBA Emulator for about 30 Minutes drained 3% Battery. Yes, it's not perfect, but it's pretty good, I'd say
holy **** im so on the fence but comments like yours make me want to get it now. stupid rogers not accepting orders yet.
Zub7 said:
its hard to tell, becuase there seems to be a screen protector already fitted on the screen by default (ignore my previous post! had a closer look). so you cant really tell if its plastic or glass :/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds like the shatter proof skin that se put on the x10, this would suggest that the screen is glass. The x10 screen felt very plasticky to me initially.
The xplay might still be in the running for my monies.
Tornlogic said:
Thanks Meister!
I really want to get a Play and sell my DroidX. Problem is, I'm not sure it would be an actual upgrade. I really want dedicated controls, but benchmark scores are lower than my non-overclocked X. *sigh* what to do, what to do.
Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
BenchMarks don't tell the whole story, this machine is fast when playing action games. using FPSE I get 55- 60 fps sustained on Tekken 2, Tekken 3 & Gran turismo
The quadrant scores are skewed by the IO tests like the stock Galaxy S.
Techdread said:
BenchMarks don't tell the whole story, this machine is fast when playing action games. using FPSE I get 55- 60 fps sustained on Tekken 2, Tekken 3 & Gran turismo
The quadrant scores are skewed by the IO tests like the stock Galaxy S.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Gran Turismo!?!? Did you say Gran Turismo?!? Dude if that's running smooth and controls are spot on, I'm so getting this phone.
But you're right, benchies, don't tell the whole story. How is web and flash performance? I feel on my X things are a bit sluggish. Scrolling around, its as if I'm seeing 10-15fps.
Also, is the screen readable outside on a sunny day. It is on an X, but you have to strain.
Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk
The screen is perfectly readable in sunlight and flash content as well as websites load, scroll and play very smooth.
Niiice. Thanks so much
Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk
Okay, after two days with playing around with it, some pro and contras.
Pro:
- Great screen! It's vibrant, bright, perfectly readable. The blacks are not as awesome as on Amoled-Displays, naturally, but it looks a lot better than normal TFTs, I'd say it's closest to the iPhone 4's IPS display.
- Great controls! The controls are awesome. It's amazing what a difference it makes to have actual buttons to press, ESPECIALLY in Emulator games. GBA, NES, SNES, Gameboy, PSOne, they all work perfectly with this thing.
- It feels good in the hand - with the game controls slided out or in, it always feels comfortable to hold. The screen is small enough to be used with one hand, but big enough to enjoy movies and games on it.
Contra:
- The software is still a little wonky. Especially the auto-brightness seems to be working only sometimes. Still, you can set the brightness manually, so it's not so bad until it's fixed. Also, the performance is still a little hit or miss sometimes. For example, while the Galaxy S has pretty consistent FPS in Quadrant, it wildly varies on this device - The DNA only has 15 FPS, while the Planets have 59. On the Galaxy S both had about 30. I'm pretty sure that's a software issue as well, tho.
- The internal Memory is quite tiny, especially with the pre-installed games. You can move most apps and games to the SDCard, which is insanely fast, really. I never noticed a difference in the speed to launch a game from SD or internal memory. However, some games, apparently especially Gameloft games, don't allow you to install them on SD Card. Hopefully, with root access, we can uninstall some of the useless apps and games to free up more space.
- The Notification LED is hard to see. It's nice it has one, but it's hard to see when the phone is on the table.
- No Notification power Widget, no Gingerbread Screenoff-Animation. I'm pretty sure those two will come once the sources and Root are released.
Very odd that a lot of reviews are complaining about the screen brightness. I'm inclined to think it's a sporadic software bug associated with the auto-brightness feature, but that might be wishful thinking!
Barguast said:
Very odd that a lot of reviews are complaining about the screen brightness. I'm inclined to think it's a sporadic software bug associated with the auto-brightness feature, but that might be wishful thinking!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can't really agree to those reviews. When you manually set the brightness on max, that thing is bright as all hell and perfectly readable even in direct sunlight. So the screen defiantly is able to be very bright. It's just the auto-brightness software that's wonks.
Seriously, I love this phone. I got it 2 days ago and i can't take my hands off it.
I'm 32 years old (yea yea getting old now), and was brought up on computer games. This phone makes me remember just how good the old megadrive/genesis/snes games were compared to the (mostly) crappy indie games that we see these days. I've fondly been playing Sonic, Mario, Super Star Wars, Streets of Rage and a whole host of others flawlessly on this little beauty. It's an emulation dream come true.
The N64 emulator lags a little bit for me, but mostly it's just occasional sound skipping, it is certainly still more than playable, although the control mapping could be a little bit easier. I'm hoping a MAME emulator will be released that supports all the old mame games and not just the capcom games. (Anyone can tell me if there is one already or one coming out?)
Some fears i had for the phone before i purchased were these -
- Worried it would be too bulky
- Worried about the screen auto dim feature and not being able to turn it off
- Worried about the battery life
- Worried about the hardware being outdated before it even hit the shelves
- Well, the phone is bulkier than alot of other phones, but it is still slim enough to easily slip in and out your pocket. I didn't look at the phone before i ordered it, i just jumped in and ordered it off the net and hope it was what i wanted (or i could send it back within 7 days to get a refund). Overall i am very happy with the size of the phone. I certainly don't feel like an idiot getting it out my pocket, it looks very cool.
- The auto brightness on the screen is not all that bad. I got annoyed at first, not being able to turn the phone on max brightness, but after a few minutes my eyes got used to it and i hardly notice it anymore. It must serve a good purpose because the battery lasts a long time. I think that an official patch is definately needed though, not giving people an option to turn off auto brightness is disastrous. Saying that, more than likely i would leave auto brightness turned on, it does save battery and it is implemented excellently imho.
- Battery life is amazing. I got through 12-14 hours of gaming, browsing, and general usage + a full night withought charge on standby and when i woke up it had 7% battery life left. You can not go through 2 days with this phone though, so still you will have to charge it every night, but you can guarantee a full, proper day usage out of it without too much worries about the battery dieing.
- Hardware is a bit meh. On one hand the phone runs super smooth. And FPSE plays PS1 games super smooth, no slowdown at all. The N64 as i mentioned has a few sound skips. So the hardware does exaclty what it was designed to do. This is where it stops though. There will be no PS2 emulation, no dreamcast emulation, no xbox1 emulation. Not until the next handset gets released. This is the limits of this phones power.
Overall i think this is the best phone made to date. I don't care it hasn't got 1080p recording, i don't care the camera is only 5 megapixel. This phone owns and is easily the best phone i have ever owned to date.
Roll on the Xperia Play 2. I am now a branded fan.
edit - Just thought i would say that my phone came with a 16gb Micro SD card, 2 screen protectors (1 of them already put on flawlessly, no air bubbles or dust underneath at all, 1 spare). I have heard people only getting 8gb cards and no screen protectors, but this did not happen with my order.
i mostly agree with you, this is the best phone i have had and i have owned a G1, motorola dext, motorola milestone and a HTC HD2, i would only recommend the HD2 out of these and even then, only after installing android (unless your into windows)
the thing is, i no some people dont value proper gaming as much as me or others so they think this device is not needed but im glad we dont all feel the same way
what im really hoping for this device is, for it to be popular enough so that other manufacturers (or even sony) make a similar device, hopefully with dual or even quad core in mind, add 1GB ram and dreamcast/PS2 emulation is a possibility
but for right now? the play is excellent considering its the first of its kind
agree with most of what you say. but yes hardware is a bit meh.
could have done with better implementation on shoulder buttons and i still think they coud've stuck in an L2/R2 somewhere
overall, the best android phone i ever had was hands down the galaxy S. ****ing beatiful, screen, performance (with custom rom and lagfix!), etc.
but as a gaming phone, this is THE best, despite it's lackluster hardware, it has hardware controls, which, IMO, makes up for all its shortcomings!
L2 and R2 buttons.....
Yeah, i guess they could be put next to each other so that it doesn't increase the thickness of the phone.
So it would look like this -
_______________________________
(L1....L2..............................R2....R1)
_______________________________
Still, FPSE allows you to put L2 and R2 at the bottom left and right of the screen. They are easy enough to get to with your thumbs, so it's no big deal tbh.
usually not a big deal, but when you have to use simultaneous button presses, i.e. press R2 and X together, can become tricky.
Sony * Rule * Got mine Today
Hi peeps,
Got mine today, excellent phone love the Ginerbread.
a few issues so far but no problem.
Love this phone, looks so stylish and plays excellent.
TapperOUT!
Im in the same camp as you mate, same age and gaming experience and I agree 100%
I'm 29 and one of the biggest retro gaming fans in the retro gaming scene.
if any of you have ever heard about the pandora (600mhz ARM TI OMAP 3530) based device. If not, more information is here www.openpandora.org
but I have both devices and I pitted them up agianst each other and gave a lenghy review/comparison of each. It's a good read if you're into that sorta thing.
http://boards.openpandora.org/index.php?/topic/2746-xperia-play-vs-pandora/
Spoiler
TLDR; this is the best mobile gaming handheld in terms of power and available software you can currently buy that satisfies the console emulators hobbyists needs.
not the absolute best when it comes to hardware and features, but makes up for it in interface and available software and raw power.
johnsongrantr said:
I'm 29 and one of the biggest retro gaming fans in the retro gaming scene.
if any of you have ever heard about the pandora (600mhz ARM TI OMAP 3530) based device. If not, more information is here www.openpandora.org
but I have both devices and I pitted them up agianst each other and gave a lenghy review/comparison of each. It's a good read if you're into that sorta thing.
http://boards.openpandora.org/index.php?/topic/2746-xperia-play-vs-pandora/
Spoiler
TLDR; this is the best mobile gaming handheld in terms of power and available software you can currently buy that satisfies the console emulators hobbyists needs.
not the absolute best when it comes to hardware and features, but makes up for it in interface and available software and raw power.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i just wanted to say i read your review and it was pretty good, i was interested in pandora at first but because of how long it took to release i completely forgot about it, although looking at it now, i totally envy the keyboard except the D pad and triggers, having gaming controls AND a qwerty keyboard is just excellent, sony should consider this with the xperia play 2 or what ever manufacturer decides to make a PS certified phone, if extra bulk was needed i could certainly live with it
that said, the keyboard is the only thing i would take from pandora, in my opinion the play beats it in every other area except screen size but then thats balanced with capacitive vs resistive
EDIT - forgot to check the pandora website to see how much it costs.....wow, 440 euro is alot, i was expecting a little over half that, just for comparisons sake i bought my play , sim free for £400 a few days after release, considering the play has more useful features (in my opinion) 3G, android OS and its market, phone functions etc....im surprised it cost so much
I agree here !
I am 27 and also brought up with retro games it's so nice able to play my games again from my childhood.
The device lays good in your hand indeed the as for the brightness well it's fine although my xperia x10 with lowest brightness on is still readable and not with my xperia play but even cranked up at highest brightness the battery still remains exellent thought it would drain like hell like my x10 does but it doesn't !
Glad I got rid of my omnia with win mobile and now have 2 nice xperia devices !
Android is the OS I am currently hooked on never was to happy with my omnia due winmobile but the phone was hyped in my country and it was the biggest mistake I made.
Hardware wise yea there are already dualcore devices and tegra2 gpu powered
as for the emulators of xbox , ps2 , dreamcast & gamecube
I don't think we will see them in the next year or so
but then again there is a developer working to get a dreamcast emu working and progress is already nice I think it's a matter of time we will see
as for my order I recieved a stock screenprotector already on screen , extra screen protector ( they are very scratch resistant my x10 didn't have such a good screenprotector had to take the factory applied on off and apply a newly bought screen protector ) Wall charger , car charger , leather poach & 8gb SD card which I recently upgraded to 32gb
I think in point of view it is the best phone for me but can be better if they added more memory/better screen/ and a PSP Emulator
baaa3 said:
I think in point of view it is the best phone for me but can be better if they added more memory/better screen/ and a PSP Emulator
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
fair point but like someone told me, this is the first generation of this particular device, yes, sony could have gone all out but that would just mean the xperia play 2 would only have minor updated features
think of it like the first iphone, it probably should have had 3G, better ram etc but it just meant that the jump from iphone 2g to 3g was that much greater
although saying all that, im pretty sure HTC, motorola, samsung or LG will bring a play competitor before the years end with atl east dual core onboard
silvacrest said:
fair point but like someone told me, this is the first generation of this particular device, yes, sony could have gone all out but that would just mean the xperia play 2 would only have minor updated features
think of it like the first iphone, it probably should have had 3G, better ram etc but it just meant that the jump from iphone 2g to 3g was that much greater
although saying all that, im pretty sure HTC, motorola, samsung or LG will bring a play competitor before the years end with atl east dual core onboard
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does anyone know how the sales are going in Europe of this device?
If sales were crazy, like on the iphone, then probably we will have more joypad versions, if not, then this will be like the Nokia Ngage... how many years have passed from that phone to this one? i dont remember well, but at least 6 o 7...
So basically, we will have to wait until the phone gets released worldwide and see how the numbers go to SE.
Probably on the next version i will expect an exclusive suite and not an android suite that all phones can play with. Because if we have something exclusive, then we will have a game that will be made for this controls. (from what i heard, the PS Suite will be available on android market for all high end devices)
my only annoyance with the device is the power button should have been on the screen section not controller, I occasionally press it when im playing something that uses the L shoulder a lot e.g. street fighter
FrAsErTaG said:
my only annoyance with the device is the power button should have been on the screen section not controller, I occasionally press it when im playing something that uses the L shoulder a lot e.g. street fighter
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How do you manage to do that?
My power button is actually indented. I can't turn it off with my 'L' finger even if i try to do it on purpose.
dsswoosh said:
How do you manage to do that?
My power button is actually indented. I can't turn it off with my 'L' finger even if i try to do it on purpose.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
other people testing my phone have done it too, so we are not different you are...
FrAsErTaG said:
other people testing my phone have done it too, so we are not different you are...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually, to me it also seems nearly impossible to turn the device off while gaming
must agree, has never happened to me also
Maybe me and my friends just have more manly fingers?
I still strand by original comment power button should be on screen half, would also help to see the notification light
Sent from my R800i using XDA App
FrAsErTaG said:
Maybe me and my friends just have more manly fingers?
I still strand by original comment power button should be on screen half, would also help to see the notification light
Sent from my R800i using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
or maybe you guys just have chubby sausage fingers?
I'm asking about how this phone scores with graphic intensive games and whether it gets hot(after a certain duration) while playing such games. Is thermal throttling really an issue or is it a faulty unit thing? Supposedly getting mine today, so I need to know.
I've been playing zombie gunship and dots all day...both absolutely destroy my battery life but it dies not get that warm, at least no throttling. Maybe more demanding games will hurt....really missing my n4 and Franco kernels per app CPU speed
Got it
I've just bought it and used it for a little while downloading stuff and it got a little warm.. hmm
flickyamom said:
I've just bought it and used it for a little while downloading stuff and it got a little warm.. hmm
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The first day and a half after getting this device out of the box it got kinda warm in the back, not on the screen though. After that period of time though i havent had a problem with heat so maybe it has something to do with being a new device out of the box? Now it stays cool and just gets a little warm here and there, not much though, but it seems normal.
Please, someone, point out a device that is quad core even running max speeds of just 1.5ghz and does not get hot after 20+min of graphics intense gaming with no breaks. Anyone? That's what i thought, people should try to understand this before complaining. This device is i believe 2.4ghz in speed with quad core snap dragon 800. My HTC One X+ with Tegra 3 chip "made for gaming" only allows me to play a graphics intense game like dead trigger for 20min then the device shuts down! Yes it shuts down because the device gets too hot for itself, blinks red notification light, then a minute or so later shuts itself off so it doesn't blow up.
Mobile gaming has come a long way for sure. Mobile gaming hardware wise has not, obviously! Sure this device could probably play Diablo 3 with 50 FPS but for maybe only 20min before it gets red hot! I think cellphone compaines should address this and make the devices available to "breath" just like a PC machine would. Sure we can't have a "fan" in these devices to cool them off but when you're running a quad core device on 2.4ghz of speed that's practically a damn laptop! Now imagine that laptop running full bore with zero fan to cool it down and zero ventilation. How long could u run that laptop under those conditions before it gets way too hot???
Gaming is AMAZING on this screen is good , the gpu has power to drive whatever.
MC4 actually runs buttery smooth , something my s3 couldnt do.
Riptide GP2 plays beautifully with the graphics all set to high. The water effects look sick
Sent from my LG-D801 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
I ordered a tegra note despite having a shield, something about the form factor made me want to buy it given its very cheap. I wanted to know peoples gaming and general experiences on it
a) do you have issues with heat while holding it?
b) do you find using the stylus to write emails easy? (can you write emails or webpage adresses with the stylus like in the galaxy note and use it to browse)
c) do you find the wifi is fast enough for gamestreaming via apps like limelight or kainy?
d) Is the ips display on par with the color quality of the shield or other ips displays.
e) does the back have rubber grip or is it all plastic.
f) is it safe to upgrade to 4.4 ( iv bought the xolo tegra note)
thanks for the replies.
nielo360 said:
I ordered a tegra note despite having a shield, something about the form factor made me want to buy it given its very cheap. I wanted to know peoples gaming and general experiences on it
a) do you have issues with heat while holding it?
b) do you find using the stylus to write emails easy? (can you write emails or webpage adresses with the stylus like in the galaxy note and use it to browse)
c) do you find the wifi is fast enough for gamestreaming via apps like limelight or kainy?
d) Is the ips display on par with the color quality of the shield or other ips displays.
e) does the back have rubber grip or is it all plastic.
f) is it safe to upgrade to 4.4 ( iv bought the xolo tegra note)
thanks for the replies.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I also own a Xolo Play Tegra Note and I am using it for last 4 months and it is the bestttt!!!! (performance+money). The BEST part of this tablet is it's TRUE stereo speakers PLUS a bass reflex port so actually it has 3 speakers and they are very LOUD!!!!. Yes, it's form factor is really good, smoothly fits in one hand ( if you have a big hand ), very comfortable.
a) Yes, the tablets gets heated while playing asphalt 8, real boxing etc ( heavy games ). But that's mostly at central part of the back side and while normal usage ( browsing, movies, casual games etc..) it does not heat up at all.
b) I don't write emails generally but use my tablet for web browsing. What you are asking is I think about handwriting recognition?? This tab does not have by default handwriting recognition keyboard.
c) From my experience the wifi cannot stream 1080p 30Mbps video ( original Blu-ray video from my pc to TN7 using BSPlayer Free ) smoothly. I have not streamed games from my PC till now. I will also try using kainy and stream games.
d) The IPS display is very glossy ( high reflective screen even on highest brightness ). But its contrast quality is very good. This screen has really good white, especially useful for those who want for reading, does not strain eyes.
e) Back cover is rubber in the central part and also where you put your fingers while holding it. It creates a good grip which can not get from just plastic.
f) I have upgraded to 4.4.2 and have no issues, so it is safe to upgrade to 4.4.2.
its definitely a solid tablet so far, between my note 2014 and mini retina, this feels much more comfortable and great for gaming.
I do have one issue so far, I played gangstar vegas and did some emails, both of them for 1 hour in power saver mode and the next in balanced mode.
the overall battery im getting seems to be around 4 hours. the screen brightness was around 30%. This seems low for a 4000mah device. Should I downgrade to 4.3?
Im including a screenshot if for you or someone can tell me if its normal.
It does get pretty hot when the CPUs and the graphics chip are all on full load -- playing demanding games. The screen area around the corner with the volume/power buttons gets quite hot and the back of that area, too. But the only way it can dissipate heat is by radiating it through the device's surfaces, so I guess that's not surprising.
I was concerned originally, so grabbed a CPU temp monitor widget and notice it can hit just above the 70c mark. I haven't seen any heat related issues (shutdowns, artifacts, etc.), though. And depending upon chip, 70c isn't necessarily too hot. Not sure what the rated threshold is for the CPU/GPU temp. in this tablet, though.
gangstar vegas seems to be one of the most demanding games, in balanced mode the heat seems ok almost on par with an ipad mini retina, I dont know if heat from phones and tablets cause cancer or something but Im always weary of it. On maximum performance the heat is quiet noticeable while holding the tab.
whats the heavy gaming battery life you guys are getting?
anyone about the battery life im getting?
I was really looking for a gaming tablet (mainly for world of tanks blitz) and the shield k1 was a very viable option for me because of the gaming controller, but when I heard they didn't upgrade the specs I was really disappointed.
So I eventually went with the iPad Air 2, and soon planning to buy a steel series nimbus controller. The price is more then twice as much, adding the controller and the oem Apple cable to be able to connect the tablet to my tv, but in the end I believe it is the better option for gaming and future proofnes.
Or is it? What do you think I should have gotten?
lvnatic said:
I was really looking for a gaming tablet (mainly for world of tanks blitz) and the shield k1 was a very viable option for me because of the gaming controller, but when I heard they didn't upgrade the specs I was really disappointed.
So I eventually went with the iPad Air 2, and soon planning to buy a steel series nimbus controller. The price is more then twice as much, adding the controller and the oem Apple cable to be able to connect the tablet to my tv, but in the end I believe it is the better option for gaming and future proofnes.
Or is it? What do you think I should have gotten?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The K1 isn't a 2nd Generation device it's just an makeover! Have the original one and also play Wot Blitz, works great on max settings with an average of 60 fps. Don't use the controller for it, because as i tried it some time ago the game wasn't optimised for it.
So you essentially wanted a more expensive Nvidia option perhaps with the the X1 chip? I think Nvidia wanted to sell more K1 inventory and keep the price at $200. I imagine there will eventually be something new from them though.
The only reason I own the K1 is because of the low-ish price. I don't see value in more expensive tablets.
The Apple products might have a better game library.
lvnatic said:
I was really looking for a gaming tablet (mainly for world of tanks blitz) and the shield k1 was a very viable option for me because of the gaming controller, but when I heard they didn't upgrade the specs I was really disappointed.
So I eventually went with the iPad Air 2, and soon planning to buy a steel series nimbus controller. The price is more then twice as much, adding the controller and the oem Apple cable to be able to connect the tablet to my tv, but in the end I believe it is the better option for gaming and future proofnes.
Or is it? What do you think I should have gotten?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's no such thing as future proof in regards to technology. I have the k1 it's a steal for 200.
Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk
Well, the x1 does look promising, but if there's no news about it in the next 28 days before I can return this ipad, i guess I'll have to stick with it.
I really hope they announce something, ios is very optimised but is also extremely limited, even jailbroken.
Read something about Nvidia saying that they had been shut out of the tablet market and were going to focus on gaming devices instead. I'm not sure how accurate that is, but I wouldn't count on a Shield Tablet 2. They only sold something like 88,000 units of the Shield Tablet 1.
It's too bad, I just got one and am loving it. Head and shoulders better than my Nexus 7 and I'm really impressed with the stylus. Really impressed. I'm not an artist, but I feel like I should start doodling or something just because I can.
soap_and_dish said:
Read something about Nvidia saying that they had been shut out of the tablet market and were going to focus on gaming devices instead. I'm not sure how accurate that is, but I wouldn't count on a Shield Tablet 2. They only sold something like 88,000 units of the Shield Tablet 1.
It's too bad, I just got one and am loving it. Head and shoulders better than my Nexus 7 and I'm really impressed with the stylus. Really impressed. I'm not an artist, but I feel like I should start doodling or something just because I can.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's really bad news. I'm guessing because they sold in limited countries and really didn't advertise the product at all, which is a shame because they definetly have the budget to do so.
At that price and performance, they could rock the market.
Yeah, no device is perfect, even iPad has it's own cons.. but having the shield tablet is worth the $.
The ipad air 3 should come out in the next few weeks, if it will have the same a9x as the pro i think that i will give it a try( would be my first ios device). Thought first about the pixel c, but well tegra chips arent that good in google devices. I owned a nexus9 and compared to my shield tab it didn't played wot blitz that good on max settings, heats and throttles a lot which leads to frame drops(30fps)although it scored higher in Benchmarks. If you want an Android device for media and gaming there is still nothing better than this 2 year old shield tab.
cyraxx84 said:
The ipad air 3 should come out in the next few weeks, if it will have the same a9x as the pro i think that i will give it a try( would be my first ios device). Thought first about the pixel c, but well tegra chips arent that good in google devices. I owned a nexus9 and compared to my shield tab it didn't played wot blitz that good on max settings, heats and throttles a lot which leads to frame drops(30fps)although it scored higher in Benchmarks. If you want an Android device for media and gaming there is still nothing better than this 2 year old shield tab.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's my problem with android, even if it has the horsepower, sometimes the device just won't perform as it should, probably because of lack of optimization.
The iPad 4 still runs games better then most high end android devices.
Wot blitz crash on stock firmware, aoo stay with apple
The shield for the money is amazing. The shield compared to tablets twice it's price is still pretty amazing. I wouldn't get something twice as much just because it's twice as much. I also wouldn't want anything other than Android for a tablet.
Sent from my SHIELD Tablet using Tapatalk
OmenHTX said:
Wot blitz crash on stock firmware, aoo stay with apple
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No it doesn't. Happened sometimes on 5.1.1 Lollipop but since 6.0 crashes are gone. Btw saw people with ios devices where it also crashed, so it was more a problem of the servers.