Nvidia Shield Release Date July 31: Here's a Preview of Unique Gaming Hybrid

Nvidia is preparing to launch the Nvidia Shield, the Android-powered handheld device that will combine a touchscreen with a traditional console controller. According to an email sent out to customers, obtained by Android Central, the Shield will begin shipping out to those who preordered the device beginning on July 31.

"We want to thank you for your patience and for sticking with us through the shipment delay of your SHIELD. We have great news to share with you - your SHIELD will ship on July 31st," said Nvidia in the email. "Our goal has always been to ship the perfect product, so we made sure we submitted SHIELD to the most rigorous mechanical testing and quality assurance standards in the industry. We built SHIELD because we love playing games, and we hope you enjoy it as much as we do."

The device aims to be the middle ground between a traditional handheld video game console, such as the Nintendo 3DS and PlayStation Vita, and smartphone-style platforms such as other Android-powered devices and Apple products. The touchscreen will be five inches wide, and has a resolution of 1,280 x 720 according to CNET. The controller aspect of the device is reminiscent of the controller of the original Xbox, featuring four face buttons, triggers, two thumbsticks placed very close to each other, and a d-pad. The big difference between the Nvidia Shield's controller and those found on other consoles is that its more solid in the middle (with no gap making the controller boomerang shaped, but it does have handles sticking out of the device slightly), and four buttons around where the traditional start/select/home buttons usually reside.

The Shield will be able to play every game on the Google Play apps available, so those wishing they could play games such as Plants vs. Zombies or Minecraft: Pocket Edition with a controller instead of the touchscreen can now do so (if they do not have the console versions of those games). In addition, those who have the Shield can stream PC games via Wi-Fi connection from their home PC, provided they are from Nvidia-based computers.

One of the big hardware features that have many technophiles interested in the Shield is that it will come with the recently released Tegra 4 processor, which is part of the reason the handheld will be able to stream full PC games over it's 802.11n 2x2 MIMO Wi-Fi. The Shield carries 16GB of storage, with a microSD card slot for further expanding the storage for the device. Mini-HDMI and Micro-USB 2.0 slots come with the device, along with Bluetooth 3.0 support as well. In the sound category, the device will have integrated speakers and a headphone jack to deliver sound to the user. Finally, the device will feature a GPS, meaning that users who get sucked into a game and get lost can bring up the GPS and navigate themselves back to civilization.

The Shield was originally set for a $349 price tag, but has since dropped to $299. Look out for more news about Nvidia's Shield handheld once it begins shipping to customers at the end of the month.