Nvidia has unveiled an Android handheld that can also stream games from a Windows PC.

Codenamed Project Shield, the system is powered by the just-revealed Tegra 4 processor, which it claims is “the world’s fastest mobile processor”.

Resembling an Xbox 360 controller with a fold-up screen, it features dual analogue sticks and a swathe of face buttons.

It runs skinless Android, and includes Gmail and Google Play apps.

The system runs all current Android games along with games available from the Tegra store, and is said to be capable of “console quality” graphics.

It can also stream games from a user’s Steam library over Wi-Fi, provided the PC in question is equipped with a GeForce GTX 650 GPU or better.

Project Shield can output 4K resolution video over HDMI to an external display, includes audio that “blows out high-end laptops”, and has a battery that lasts for five to ten hours of gameplay or 24 hours of HD video playback. That means Steam games may be sent to a TV via the device using Big Picture mode.

Nvidia said it hoped implement wireless streaming from the unit to external displays in the future.

It boasts a 294ppi five inch 720p retinal multitouch display, and a micro-SD card slot.

The system’s Tegra 4 processor features a quad-core Cortex-A15 CPU, 72 GPU cores, and provides six times the graphics muscle of its predecessor, according to Nvidia.

It is capable of real-time high dynamic range imaging, which provides photo and video images with great detail in high-contrast light-and-dark settings – even when using a flash or when taking burst shots.

Project Shield will be released in the US and Canada in the second quarter of this year.

A price and international release details are yet to be announced.