July 2015

Thai-based home product center goes mobile with rugged Panasonic tablets
The Panasonic Solutions for Business Blog reports how Thailand's HomePro Centre chain was looking for mobility solutions to help employees more efficiently track inventory, pricing, promotions, and other in-store operations. Like many retailers, they experimented with supplying their sales team with consumer-grade tablets, but this proved to be an expensive proposition, and HomePro ended up going with the Toughpad, Panasonic’s enterprise-grade rugged tablet line. [See Thai-based home product center goes mobile with rugged Panasonic tablets] -- Posted Thursday, July 30, 2015 by chb

Case study: Handheld Group's rugged Algiz 7 tablet saves huge at Carlton Plants in Oregon
Carlton Plants in Dayton, Oregon, grows millions of individual trees and shrubs on its 1,750-acre property. Workers have switched to using the Handheld Group Algiz 7 and a custom Microsoft Access database to track plant numbers and health. As a result, they’re saving countless worker hours spent on recording and re-recording items due to weather-damaged records, and have opened up time for exciting new projects. [See Carlton Plant case study] -- Posted Wednesday, July 29, 2015 by chb

Xplore wins $1.4 million contract
Xplore Technologies announced it was awarded a $1.4 million contract from a leading provider of top-quality construction rental equipment and tools. The customer purchased Xplore’s Motion F5te and F5m rugged tablets and desktop docking solutions. The tablets will be used by mechanics to make them more productive and less reliant on traditional desktop PCs. [See Xplore media release] -- Posted Tuesday, July 28, 2015 by chb

HZO and Dell partner to protect the new Latitude 12 Rugged Tablet
HZO, Inc, which provides manufacturers and device makers with a nanotechnology solution that inoculate electronic components and devices from damage and failure caused by exposure to any kind of liquid, announced it has partnered with Dell to protect its new Latitude 12 Rugged Tablet. HZO says that the new rugged Dell tablet is one of the first devices with HZO Protection that is built to withstand long-term exposure to the harshest weather and industrial conditions. [See HZO media release] -- Posted Tuesday, July 28, 2015 by chb

Samwell releases speedy Intel Bay Trail-powered 10.4-inch RUGGEDBOOK 752 with excellent connectivity
A substantial tech upgrade from its predecessors, the Samwell Ruggedbook PC-752 provides full Windows functionality in a rugged tablet form factor. Of compact size and weighing just over three pounds, the PC-752 is considerably lighter than most full-size rugged tablets. Its 10.4-inch resistive touch screen with 1024 x 768 pixel XGA resolution offers plenty of space to run Windows comfortably (a 9.7-inch procap screen is also available). There is excellent wired connectivity on board, all the connectors are standard size, and there is a wealth of wireless functionality, and also dual integrated cameras. [See description, analysis and specs of the Samwell RUGGEDBOOK PC-752] -- Posted Monday, July 27, 2015 by chb

Full review: Getac V110 Gen 2 rugged convertible notebook
Getac's second generation V110 is a remarkably thin and light rugged convertible notebook computer that's been upgraded with Intel "Broadwell" 5th generation Core processors and a variety of functional and technology improvements. Benefitting from the latest version of its LumiBond display layer bonding process and a new glove-capable operating mode, we found the second gen V110 an impressive upgrade to an already compelling mobile computing solution for tough jobs. [See full review of the 2nd gen Getac V110] -- Posted Wednesday, July 22, 2015 by chb

Dell launches Latitude 12 Rugged Tablet
Dell announced the Latitude 12 Rugged Tablet to complement its line of rugged laptops and rugged convertible notebooks. The new tablet has a 11.6-inch capacitive multi-touch screen that can be operated with gloves, weighs 3.6 pounds, is IP65-sealed, and is available with ATEX and C1D2 certification for use in hazardous locations. Based on Intel's super-efficient Broadwell-M processors, the Latitude 12 Rugged Tablet has up to 12 hours battery life. Modular expansion can cover even unique interface requirements. Dell's new tablet starts at around US$1,600 and will be available by the end of July. [See description, analysis and specs of the Dell Latitude 12 Rugged Tablet] -- Posted Tuesday, July 21, 2015 by chb

Panasonic explains the EMV/NFC relationship
Panasonic's Solutions For Business Blog explains how Magnetic Stripe Reader (MSR) technology has been the primary payment method for credit card carriers for decades. EMV (Europay, MasterCard, Visa) and NFC (near-field communication) payment technologies have made their way onto the landscape and are becoming more integrated into mainstream payment methods. [Read about the EMV/NFC Relationship] -- Posted Monday, July 20, 2015 by chb

GammaTech to feature rugged tablets and notebooks at NAPO 2015
GammaTech announced it will showcase its latest mobile rugged tablet and PC options for the public safety industry at NAPO's (National Association of Police Organizations) 37th Annual Convention in Savannah, Georgia from July 19 to July 23. GammaTech will exhibit its popular models — the R11 rugged tablet (see our review), the R8300 fully rugged notebook (see our review), as well as the U12Ci convertible and SA14 semi-rugged notebook (see our review) — at its booth to leading public safety communications professionals. [See GammaTech site] -- Posted Friday, July 17, 2015 by chb

Finnair pilots use purpose-built Panasonic enterprise tablets
Panasonic's Solutions for Business Blog describes how Finnair pilots are using Panasonic Toughpad FZ-G1 rugged enterprise tablets for their electronic flight bags, or EFBs, to replace all-in-one user manuals for their aircraft. Finnair started with a review field of 20 different Windows 8 tablets before they decided on the Toughpad. [See Finnair Pilots Stay in the Air with Purpose-Built Enterprise Tablets] -- Posted Tuesday, July 14, 2015 by chb

Full review: ARBOR Gladius 8 compact rugged tablet
With the Gladius 8, ARBOR Technology presents an elegant, rugged and very compact 8-inch class Android tablet for IoT (Internet of Things) and numerous other applications. RuggedPCReview examined the 1.35-pound Gladius 8 in detail and found it to be a technologically advanced multi-purpose handheld tablet computer with industrial-grade scanning and NFC capabilities, a very good 12mp camera, IP65 sealing, excellent drop and temperature resistance, and a bright 7.85-inch capacitive multi-touch display. [See full review of the ARBOR Technology Gladius 8] -- Posted Monday, July 13, 2015 by chb

Digitimes voices concerns about tablet sales
In an article about supposed upcoming Apple products, Digitimes expressed general concerns about the tablet market: "With demand for tablets weakening a lot faster than expected, sales of iPad, white-box and brand tablets have all been seriously impacted recently. Strong popularity of smartphones with 5-inch and above displays plus the fact that [the] tablet is lacking new innovative applications are also major factors seriously undermining tablet sales." -- Posted Monday, July 13, 2015 by chb

10 things to love about Windows 10
In a new entry on their Ruggedized Computing Blog, Mobile Demand points out that the launch of Windows 10 is just 20 days away, and lists ten features of Microsoft's new operating system most users will love. The list starts with the Start Menu being back and ends with the fact that Windows 10 will be free for most users who have a Windows 7, 8, or 8.1 license. [Read 10 Features of Windows 10 That You'll Love] -- Posted Friday, July 10, 2015 by chb

Added: ARBOR Gladius G1052C
ARBOR Technology announced the Gladius G1052C, a major technology update of its prior Gladius G1050. The Gladius 1052C is a rugged Intel Bay Trail powered 10.4-inch Windows tablet with capacitive touch, a 23-key keypad for rapid data entry, and broad data capture functionality. A 800 nits sunlight-readable version is available. [See description, analysis and specs of the ARBOR Gladius G1052C] -- Posted Thursday, July 9, 2015 by chb

RAM introduces IntelliSkin for Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 tablets
RAM Mounts announced IntelliSkin™ for the Samsung Galaxy Tab 4. IntelliSkin is a protective sleeve for the Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 7.0 and 10.1 featuring GDS™ Technology to ruggedize and protect Samsung devices for commercial use. IntelliSkin offers drop protection as well as an integrated connector that's molded directly into the skin, preventing damage to the connector from repetitious docking and undocking. For docking, there's the spring-loaded, quick release TAB-TITE cradle as well as the TAB-LOCK cradle with a keyed lock. [See IntelliSkin, TAB-TITE, and TAB-LOCK] -- Posted Friday, July 3, 2015 by chb

Article: 'Blue light' segments in transition — rugged computers a game-changer in critical field rescue situations
Handheld Group CEO Jerker Hellström explains how new advanced technological solutions — both hardware and software — are changing the security, public safety, and law enforcement sectors to the very core — and for the better. Advanced mobile applications and rugged mobile computers have greatly improved these professions' ability to perform in time-critical situations and in less than favorable environments. [Read 'Blue light' segments in transition] -- Posted Friday, July 3, 2015 by chb