February 2016

Samwell reports that the first batch of their well-received RUGGEDBOOK SR820s has been sold out and a new production run is underway. The SR820s represents a major performance upgrade to Samwell's long-running, popular SR820 rugged tablet platform. Users of the original SR820 can expect a massive speed and responsiveness improvement, especially if they are migrating from older units with rotating storage.

Xamarin acquisition changes Microsoft's Android porting strategy
Microsoft has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Xamarin, a provider of native mobile development tools. This has an impact on Microsoft's project "Astoria," the Windows Bridge for Android, which is now discontinued. In a February 25 Windows blog, Microsoft says, "For those developers who spent time investigating the Android Bridge, we strongly encourage you to take a look at the iOS Bridge and Xamarin as great solutions." -- Posted Friday, February 26, 2016 by chb

Yet more that the naked eye can't see
As a follow-up on our article on the Cat S60 thermal imagining smartphone (see More than the naked eye can see), thermal imaging isn't everything that can now be done comprehensively and inexpensively in the field: FLIR also offers their GF343, a video camera that can visualize Carbon Dioxide (CO2) as part of their gas detection visualization series of cameras that can "see" a variety of gases (see FLIR gas detection systems). -- Posted Thursday, February 25, 2016 by chb

U.S. Army Reserve Selects DT Research's DT311H rugged tablet for training missions
DT Research, which specializes in the development of information appliances for vertical markets, announced the U.S. Army Reserve has selected the Intel Broadwell-powered 11.6-inch and IP65-sealed DT311H rugged tablet to support their training missions. The DT311H offers ratings for water and dust resistance (IP65), shock and vibration protection (MIL-STD-810G), EMI and EMC tolerance (MIL-STD-461F), and is also HERO (Hazard of Electromagnetic Radiation to Ordnance) certified and NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) compliant. [See DTResearch media release] -- Posted Wednesday, February 24, 2016 by chb

Panasonic announces two more fully rugged handheld tablets
Panasonic announced that it is complementing its growing handheld tablet lineup with fully rugged 4.7-inch IP67-sealed handhelds available either with Windows 10 IoT Mobile Enterprise or Android 5.1.1. Powered by a 2.3GHz quad-core Snapdragon processor, the Toughpad FZ-F1 (Windows) and FZ-N1 (Android) offer glove-touch and rain-sensing procap displays with optional active pen, up to 500 nits brightness, integrated ergonomically angled scanner, 5mp/8mp cameras, and a 6-foot drop spec. Pricing starts at US$1,500. [See description, analysis and specs of the Panasonic Toughbook FZ-F1 and Toughbook FZ-N1] -- Posted Monday, February 22, 2016 by chb

Keeping an eye on the level of technology offered in consumer tech: Dell Venue 8
With the massive global reach of smartphones and tablets, what consumers expect from their personal gear has a direct impact of what they expect from rugged gear. With that in mind, we bought a Dell Venue 8 Series 7000 tablet so we could examine it in detail. What can Dell's 8.4-inch consumer/business Android tablet do? What's the technology inside the US$399 list device? How does it feel and handle? And what can rugged mobile computing manufacturers learn from it? [Read Keeping an eye on the level of technology offered in consumer tech: Dell Venue 8] -- Posted Monday, February 15, 2016 by chb

Xplore reports 64% increase in revenue for their fiscal Q3 2016
For Q4 of 2015 (which is actually Q3 of its fiscal year 2016), Xplore Technologies reported revenue of US$27.02 million, compared to US$16.44 million for the same quarter a year ago. For the nine months ended December 31, 2015, revenue was US$79.92 million, compared to the nine months ended December 31, 2014 revenue of $27.24 million, an increase of 148%. Xplore reported net income for the quarter of $786,000 compared to net income of $2,401,000 for the three months ended December 31, 2014, and a net income for the nine months ended December 31, 2015 of $2,039,000 compared to net income of $683,000 for the nine months ended December 31, 2014. The increase in revenue was due to revenue associated with the product line Xplore acquired in the April 17, 2015 acquisition of certain assets of Motion Computing. [See Xplore financials] -- Posted Friday, February 12, 2016 by chb

Full review: MobileDemand's remarkably affordable xTablet T8500 with IP67 sealing and integrated scanner option
Tablets are being used in more and more enterprise, government and industrial applications, but the high price of fully rugged devices often stands in the way. MobileDemand addresses this challenge with the affordably priced (starting at US$845) xTablet T8500, a rugged Intel Bay Trail-powered Windows 10 tablet with a 1280 x 800 pixel 8-inch capacitive touch display, 8-hour battery life, and full IP67 sealing. [See full review of the MobileDemand xTablet T8500] -- Posted Wednesday, February 10, 2016 by chb

Xplore secures $1 million contract from global logistics leader
X​plore Technologies announced it has received $1 million in orders from a global leader in logistics. The Motion F5m by Xplore Windows-based tablets will be deployed to crews to verify, certify, and analyze delivery routes. Utilizing the 4G XLTE mobile broadband connectivity and u-blox GPS of the F5m, the logistics customer is able to increase efficiency and productivity of route driver. [See Xplore media release] -- Posted Wednesday, February 3, 2016 by chb

Review: AMREL Flexpedient AT80 customizable Android tablet
With the Flexpedient AT80, AMREL offers a tough-as-nails 8-inch Android tablet that's about as customizable and configurable as it gets, down to not only ports and modules, but also color and even branding. This makes the AT80 an opportunity for any number of companies or agencies (or integrators or reseller) that need a tough tablet equipped to meet their very unique needs and standards. [See description, analysis and specs of the AMREL AT80] -- Posted Tuesday, February 2, 2016 by chb

IDC: Worldwide tablet shipments decline, detachables reach new high
IDC reports that the worldwide tablet market declined yet again in 4Q15 with 65.9 million units shipped, down -13.7% year over year. Total shipments for 2015 were 206.8 million, down -10.1% from 230.1 million in the prior year. Shipments for detachable tablets detachable tablets more than doubled since the fourth quarter of last year and reached an all-time high of 8.1 million devices. Pure slate tablets experienced their greatest annual decline to date of -21.1%. IDC says Apple sold over two million iPad Pros while Microsoft sold around 1.6 million Surface devices, a majority of which were Surface Pro and not the more affordable Surface 3, meaning that price is not the most important feature considered when acquiring a detachable – performance is." [See IDC report] -- Posted Monday, February 1, 2016 by chb

Xplore blog on why a tablet alone doesn't a solution make
Excellent new article by Bob Ashenbrenner on Xplore Technologies' blog. It discusses how there's still significant room for improvement in mobile technology utilization. That's because while a growing number of enterprises are leveraging mobile devices in some capacity, many are still striving for greater use and acceptance of mobile devices on a daily basis. Ashenbrenner points out that rugged tablets are a “necessary, but not sufficient” component of smart and successful mobility strategies. "Simply having a rugged tablet at their disposal doesn’t mean they have an effective rugged mobile computing solution. At least not at first," Ashenbrenner says. You need not only the right device, but also the right partner and the right solution for your exact job. [See Converting Mobile Workers into Devout Mobile PC Users] -- Posted Monday, February 1, 2016 by chb