At its press conference at CES 2017, Nvidia announced a new Shield console running Android and capable of 4K HDR streaming.
We first heard rumors of the an updated Shield back in December when a leak suggested that we’d see two new consoles in 2017. The most interesting thing about the leak was the new console's controller, with longer hand-grips that make it look significantly different from the console's previous iteration.
The first Nvidia Shield impressed us with its 4K output and ability to stream games over a local network using Nvidia’s gamestream technology, but it was let down by a hefty price tag.
Now, Nvidia has let us in on its new device, and while there's only one, this streaming box is loaded with power. What's more, it's backed by Google Assistant and a new peripheral named Spot, giving it much more capabilities than simply playing games and watching TV and movies.
Nvidia Shield 2017 price and release date
The Nvidia Shield 2017 will cost $199, though Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang didn't announce a release date.
The Spot peripheral will be sold as a separate accessory in the coming months, and no price was announced for the device.
Nvidia Shield 2017 specs and features
Huang was like on the new Nvidia Shield's specs, but did detail the streaming box's capabilities.
Among them are the ability to stream 4K HDR content, including from Amazon and Netflix. Huang says the Nvidia Shield 2017 is the first entertainment platform to support the entire library of both Amazon and Netflix in the high-resolution standard.
It also supports 4K services from YouTube, Google Play as well as PC games. A Steam app from Valve lets you connect to your PC and stream 4K HDR games from your computer to straight to your TV.
As if that wasn't enough, the Nvidia Shield 2017 also supports Google Assistant, the Android maker's answer to Siri. You can communicate with the Shield as you would another personal assistant device, such as Google Home or Amazon Echo, and Google Assistant will speak to you through your TV.
In order to pick up your voice anywhere in your house, Nvidia has also developed a microphone called Spot. Several of the tiny black mics can be placed throughout your house, and Spot will configure and triangulate your location based on your voice.
Nvidia Shield can perform tasks such as turning on the coffee pot, searching for movies and TV shows for you to watch, and shutter your house if you're heading out for the day.
As Huang put it, the new Shield, Spot and Google Assistant combo are like Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's Jarvis smart home AI, only now, available to everyone.
