Really well designed controller in my opinion, much higher quality than typical third party controllers for video game console systems. The buttons and sticks work without any issue for me and I really like the size of the controller itself; I was a big fan of the original Xbox controller (the Duke) and this falls somewhat between that and an Xbox 360 controller. There's more to the body than an Xbox 360 or PS3 controller but the mold fits nicely with where your fingers and palms naturally rest.
The button design is very slick as well. Everything is easy to push for me, and I love the addition of Android/Shield specific buttons - the touch sensitive and lit Back/Start/Shield/Home buttons look very slick. The clickable touchpad comes in very handy when using things such as Gamestream (for popup items such as in Skyrim's intro), and the volume buttons are much more useful than I would have thought. The headphone jack just makes it that much easier to relax in a chair while you game on the tablet, or TV if the tablet is set up that way.
I have experienced no latency or stability issues through the wi-fi connection. The controller itself retains the charge for a very long time while in sleep mode (I've gone 2 weeks after a charge to find it still over 75%.) I'm not sure if it drains the tablet battery anymore than other methods but I end up charging my tablet almost nightly anyway.
The controller seems to work with no extra set-up in many games and emulators that can use it. Otherwise, the included nVidia mapper software is so very easy to use compared to the hacks that I have used in Android in the past - those were necessary and I was thankful for them, but the nVidia version is just so incredibly easy in comparison. I have heard that the gamepad mapper was a battery drainer when left on so I have it disabled at all times I'm not actively using it. The controller connects with it off (which can be done via the settings menu for the controller) and most games and software work with it off, but if something needs the mapper it is very easy to turn back on.
If you're wanting to game on the Shield tablet (and I assume Shield for the TV) then this is easily a worthy purchase. I have used gamepads for Android in the past but run into issues with needing to have the right controller software for the right version of Android, needing to buy a button mapper for games they weren't supported in, and needing to do a lot of manual set-up for each game. The Shield and its controller have been near effortless in comparison. You will still need to do some setup or try mapper profiles in games it's not supported in, but it's pretty intuitive.
| Standing screen display size | 8 Inches |
|---|---|
| RAM | 2 GB |
| Wireless Type | 802.11n |
| Number of USB 2.0 Ports | 1 |
