NVIDIA SHIELD Tablet Getting The Android Lollipop Treatment This Month

With Android 5.0 'Lollipop' having officially released yesterday, the game is on to predict when the myriad of supported devices will actually receive their update. Word has it that Google's recent Nexus lineup (4, 5, 7, and 10) will be one of the first to receive the OTA update, while select phones, like the Moto G, will receive it later this month. Not wanting to keep quiet in this party, NVIDIA has just announced its support of Lollipop as well, with note that its SHIELD Tablet will be treated to the update later this month.

The above video is a quick one, so on the NVIDIA side, it seems that little is "new". That doesn't lessen the impact that a Lollipop release will have on the device though, because the new OS itself brings a lot of great features and enhancements to the table, so anything NVIDIA gives us beyond that is the cherry on top of a delicious cake.

That said, those who make use of the Dabbler drawing and painting app will be glad to know that it's been enhanced in time for this Lollipop rollout, though it's hard to tell from its brief appearance exactly what's been changed.

Also updated is the SHIELD Hub app, but admittedly, I can't see much of a difference there, either. The one difference I do see is that the games / apps list scrolls vertically now instead of horizontally. I'm not sure if it's just an illusion or not, but that design does seem to display more apps at any one time, which is nice, since the device's beefy 1080p resolution can certainly show more than two rows of titles at once.

What's unclear at this point is whether or not SHIELD Tablet users who opt to download beta releases will get Lollipop in advance, but if you're as anxious as I am for the update, there's no harm in selecting that option and hoping (it can be found on the system updates page).

Considering the fact that only the SHIELD Tablet is being focused on right now, let's hope that NVIDIA's not planning to overlook its SHIELD portable or Tegra Note 7. Both devices are still quite new, after all.