NVIDIA SHIELD updated with these new Google Home abilities

By Chris Burns/Oct. 18, 2018 11:16 am EST

This week the folks at NVIDIA revealed their longest-lasting device in the history of the world, NVIDIA SHIELD, will get a Google Home update. This isn't the first time users were able to command their NVIDIA SHIELD Android TV device to do things. It's just the most major expansion of commands available on the NVIDIA SHIELD that work not only with the NVIDIA SHIELD, but with other Google Home voice command-capable devices.

First we're going to take a peek at a video that showed the first set of abilities provided to NVIDIA SHIELD by the Google Home. This was first released in May of 2017 – about a year and a half ago. This device has been rolling with Google Home abilities since basically the beginning of time.

This week NVIDIA SHIELD was given a new set of abilities which give it "deeper integration" with Google Home devices. Basically you can ask more of the NVIDIA SHIELD through Google Home devices, just so long as your Google Home devices and SHIELD are connected to the same internet network. The following features now* work with NVIDIA SHIELD with Google Home devices.

Basic Commands

• "Turn on SHIELD"

• "Turn off SHIELD"

• "Open [name of app] on SHIELD"

Volume Control

• "Set volume to 50% on SHIELD"

• "Increase/decrease volume on SHIELD"

• "Mute/unmute volume on SHIELD"

Playback Features

• "Play [name of Netflix, HBO NOW, CBS, Viki, or Starz show] on SHIELD"

• "Play [name of song] on [name of app] on SHIELD"

• "Watch [name of channel] on YouTube TV on SHIELD"

• "Play on YouTube on SHIELD"

• "Pause on SHIELD"

• "Play on SHIELD"

Photos and Smart Home

• "Show me my pictures from Egypt on SHIELD"

• "Show me my pictures from last weekend on SHIELD"

• "Dim the lights"

• "Set the temperature to 72 degrees"

All NVIDIA SHIELD Android TV device users will see the update to their devices "this month." NVIDIA suggested today that if a user wishes to get the update as soon as possible, they should restart their device completely – turn it off and back on again or hit Restart in Settings.

NOTE: Sometimes SHIELD is called SHIELD, sometimes SHIELD TV, and even other times I and we call it NVIDIA SHIELD Android TV. These are all the same thing. Have a peek at our original NVIDIA SHIELD Android TV Review (Gen 2, 2017) to learn more about this device.