January 2014

Xplore Technologies announced that their rugged lightweight RangerX tablet now uses Android 4.2.2 "Jelly Bean." During RuggedPCReview.com's initial evaluation of the RangerX (see initial review), we mentioned that the Android 4.0.4 tablet did not yet have Google's GMS certification that would allow it to use the Google Play store and some of the official Google apps. The new Android 4.2.2 upgrade, free to current RangerX customers, fixes that and provides access to the Google Play store, with the Google Play Private Channel allowing enterprise users to distribute internal/approved apps to employees throughout the business. Also new is software that makes the RangerX display more glove-touch capable. [Read Xplore press release]

Review: DAP Technologies M9020 — ultra-rugged, highly configurable QWERTY 7-inch Windows tablet
Tablets are in, but there are tasks where an integrated keyboard comes in handy. That's what DAP Technologies created the fully-rugged DAP M9020 tablet for. Powered by an Intel Atom N2600, the M9020 runs Windows 7 on a 7-inch WSVGA resistive touch display. The M9020 supports Bluetooth v4.0, dual-band 802.11a/b/g/n WiFi, Gobi 5000 4G LTE, u-blox 6 GPS, micro SD card expansion, dual cameras, RFID, and a 1D/2D barcode scanner. The tablet can survive multiple 6-foot drops and carries IP67 sealing. [See full review of the DAP M9020 rugged tablet] -- Posted Monday, January 27, 2014 by chb

Havis dock for the Getac F100 rugged tablet now available
Havis announced that its innovative new Docking Station for the Getac F110 Rugged Tablet is available for order. The rugged yet lightweight DS-GTC-200 Series Docking Station provides a secure location for tablet charging and connection to essential peripherals via USB, VGA, LAN, serial, audio, and HDMI. It also has EMI shielding and can be ordered with an optional antenna. [See Havis docking station for the Getac F110 rugged tablet] -- Posted Saturday, January 18, 2014 by chb

Review: Trimble Yuma 2 — impressively rugged 7-inch tablet gets the job done, even in direct sunshine and in driving rain
We had a chance to do a full review of GPS specialist Trimble's Yuma 2 7-inch tablet and found it to be an innovative, very well executed rugged tablet computer that offers speed, capacitive multi-touch (even in the rain!), advanced technology, excellent battery life, impressive GPS performance, and a superb screen that remains viewable and usable in direct sunlight. [See full review of the Trimble Yuma 2 rugged tablet] -- Posted Friday, January 17, 2014 by chb

Original Microsoft Surface Pro blow-out
Microsoft seems to be clearing out inventory of the original Surface Pro tablets. Those on Microsoft's mailing list received offers for US$300 off the the Surface Pro. That brings the price of a 128GB Surface Pro down to US$599 (w/o the keyboard, though). That's not bad for an Intel 3rd gen Core I5-powered tablet with a full 10.6-inch 1920 x 1080 pixel screen, both capacitive touch and an active pen, dual cameras, etc. The Surface Pro 2, of course, is that much better with a Haswell chip and all sorts of improvements, but the equivalent model starts at US$999. [See Surface Pro offer] -- Posted Friday, January 17, 2014 by chb

Panasonic announces rugged 7-inch FZ-M1 tablet
At CES in Las Vegas, Panasonic announced their latest rugged tablet, the Toughpad FZ-M1. It's an Intel 4th-gen "Haswell" powered 1.2-pound device with a 1280 x 800 pixel capacitive multi-touch 7-inch IPS display, heated solid state disk, IP65 sealing, a 5-foot drop spec, dual cameras, and a wealth of options that include 4G LTE, GPS, mag stripe reader, 1D/2D scanner, and NFC. The Toughpad FZ-M1 starts at US$2,099. [See description, analysis and specs of the Panasonic Toughpad FZ-M1] -- Posted Tuesday, January 7, 2014 by chb