NVIDIA announced that it had just released the Android 5.1 Lollipop update for its Shield Portable device.
The update for the gaming device comes with a variety of new features including support for Google's Chromecast.
The software upgrade, which was rolled out on July 23, is 435MB in size.
NVIDIA noted that the upgrade is optional and users can choose whether or not they want to update their Shield Portable. This is probably because aside from new features, and update will also permanently delete certain apps and games that are no longer supported by the latest version of Lollipop.
The contents that will be removed after update the device include "Sonic 4," "Episode II," "Expendable: Rearmed" and the Android Browser.
As for its features, aside from the basic components of the Android Lollipop, the update also comes with support for Chromecast, a digital media player device developed and launched by Google.
Through the update, NVIDIA Shield Portable users will now be able to stream games to their television sets or other Google Cast-ready devices using Chromecast, according to Android Authority.
The trade-off for this added feature, however, is that support for Miracast will be dropped once the device's firmware has been updated. Before the introduction of Chromecast, Shield Portable owners streamed games and other content from their devices to their television sets using this Wi-Fi-based program.
In addition, the update also comes with the latest version of the Twitch app.
Aside from new features, the Android 5.1 Lollipop update for the NVIDIA Shield Portable will also fix a bug that prevents users from reading books from the Google Play Books app.
The NVIDIA Shield Portable officially came out in July, 2013 and was marketed as a mix between a handheld gaming console and mini tablet device. It is shaped like a beefier version of the Xbox 360 controller and features a flip-up 5-inch touch screen display.
The console's control configuration has a similar set-up to that of the PlayStation's DualShock controllers.
It is powered by NVIDIA's Tegra 4 process and packs 2GB of DDR3L RAM and an expandable 16GB of flash memory. It runs on a 7350mAh battery.
The Android 5.1 Lollipop update is the first major firmware upgrade released for the handheld gaming device ever since it came out two years ago. Its out-of-the-box unit came with the stock Android 4.2.1 Jelly Bean OS and was only update to version 4.3 in February of this year.
