NVIDIA SHIELD Adds Android 6.0.1 and Vulkan API Support

The NVIDIA SHIELD Tablet is getting a slew of updates, including Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow, Vulkan API support, and numerous tweaks and bug fixes. Vulkan is renowned as a great lightweight graphics API renderer, capable of CPU multi-threading and with lower latencies and overhead than DirectX and OpenGL.

The NVIDIA SHIELD Tablet Software Upgrade 4.1 release notes list the following updates:

• Supports the new Vulkan™ API for high-efficiency access to SHIELD’s graphics hardware
• Adds Android 6.0.1 changes
• Repositioned Navigation Buttons in Landscape mode & Updated Emojis
• Double Tap Power Button to launch SHIELD Camera app
• Do Not Disturb Until Next Alarm
• Support for Android Doze mode & additional power optimizations
• Adds USB MIDI support
• Adds memory compression enhancement
• Improved Wi-Fi connectivity when waking from sleep
• Fixed Compass functionality
• Fixed Gamepad Mapper issues
• Fixed issues with moving apps to SD card
• Fixed Doom 3 HDMI output issue
• Repositioned Lasso Capture icons in landscape mode
• Update to Android 6.0 Security Patch Level March 1, 2016
• Overall stability and security enhancements

The Vulkan API support addition is huge, offering NVIDIA SHIELD users a significant boost in performance, and could see developers create titles specifically to take advantage of the platform and its ability to bypass CPU bottlenecking.

Are you an NVIDIA SHIELD owner? Would you like to see exclusive titles that take advantage of the Vulkan API for the powerful platform?