NVIDIA SHIELD Tablet getting its Android 5.1 Lollipop upgrade

In a flurry of activity over the last day or so, NVIDIA has made available and began pushing out OTA Android 5.1 Lollipop to its SHIELD Tablet, both the WiFi and LTE versions.

The SHIELD Tablet Software Upgrade 3.0 comes in form of a roughly 200MB download and will bring your tablet to Android 5.1. Included in the update is your typically vague ‘Performance enhancements and bug fixes’, the full notification of improvements is as follows:

• Upgrade Android Operating System to version 5.1
  • Improved performance and responsiveness.
  • Enhanced security, including support for Android for Work.
  • Improved quick-settings menu, profile management etc.
• Improved display performance
  • Enabled Global Tone Mapping feature. This feature can be toggled by the user.
• New firmware update for SHIELD controller
  • Improved pairing experience and other optimizations.
  • Please note: You can update the SHIELD controller over WiFi. Look out for a notification on your SHIELD tablet.

Perhaps some of the best improvements in this Lollipop update are the display and camera performance bumps. Although the NVIDIA SHIELD‘s camera capabilities were already decent for a 5MP shooter on an 8-inch gaming focused tablet, improvements are always welcome. The display, however, we found to have fairly poor color reproduction – the new Tone Mapping feature looks to put color control in your hands, we hope it helps the 1920×1200 display come to life for you.



If you are not seeing the update on your NVIDIA SHIELD Tablet just yet, it is rolling out this weekend and may take half way into next week to get to everyone. Of course, XDA member gavin-phelan has arranged some links to the image files for you.

• SHIELD Tablet Wi-Fi update
• SHIELD Tablet LTE North American update
• SHIELD Tablet LTE International update

Do you have the Android 5.1 Lollipop update on your NVIDIA SHIELD Tablet yet? Anything fun to report?