• A new NVIDIA Shield is coming.
• It'll have Bluetooth.
• Because of course it'll have Bluetooth.
Birthing a new piece of tech hardware is a lot like gestating a baby. ... OK, it's actually nothing like that, except that there are a number of things that have to happen before you get your hands on one.
OK, that metaphor is going downhill fast. Really all you need to know is this: A new NVIDIA Shield "Android TV Game Console" has made its way through the Bluetooth Special Interest Group . Yes, there is such a thing, and it must give its blessing before Bluetooth can be used on a device. (Hat tip to 9to5 Google for spotting this one .)
More: NVIDIA Shield is the best streaming box for Android fans
This one's for model P3430, which those of you who obsess over new hardware being birthed (yes, we're back on that already) will recall already has gone through the FCC a bit .
In other words: It's coming.
There's not a whole lot to be said beyond that. Of course a new NVIDIA Shield was going to include Bluetooth — it's how NVIDIA's remote control talks back to the base. So of course a new NVIDIA Shield was going to go through the Bluetooth SIG — just like pretty much every other device you've ever seen.
The real question we have is this: What is a new NVIDIA Shield going to bring that the current one lacks? That's not a facetious question, either. Because the current Shield is still a ridiculously powerful device, even given its age, which is tech years is somewhere around retirement.
You also have to wonder what sort of software improvements we might see in a new NVIDIA Shield. You can put money on it continuing to be a platform on which you'll play NVIDIA's large stable of GeForce Now games. And you can put money on it running all the other TV-friendly games you can find on Google Play.
And you can bet money on it continuing to be a great platform for cord-cutters. (Though it'll be interesting to see if AT&T TV Now ever gets a proper app on Android TV.)
But will Google be doing anything new to Android TV beyond the little tweaks we've seen this year? Stay tuned.
