January 2018

Panasonic announced the latest version of its popular ATEX certified, 10.1 inch fully rugged Windows tablet with up to 14 hours battery life and even more computing power. The Panasonic Toughpad FZ-G1 ATEX tablet has been certified for above ground, Zone 2 Working Space use in potentially explosive environments*, such as the chemicals, oil and gas industries. [See Panasonic press release]

Chassis Plans announces military grade CLX 1U layflat LCD keyboard
Designed and built in the USA, Chassis Plans' new 1U CLX military grade rackmount display is designed to perform and engineered to last. Meeting military standards such as 901E and 810G for ruggedization, its 5052-H32 aluminum construction and locking stainless steel hardware make the display inherently rugged and reliable for both military and industrial harsh environment applications. The CLX offers two LCD screen sizes: the standard 19" display offering a native 1280 x 1024 resolution or a 17.3" wide screen display offering a 1920 x 1080 native resolution. Both the 19" and 17.3" panels offer high bright options for daylight readability applications. [See Chassis Plans press release] -- Posted Tuesday, January 23, 2018

Review: Teguar TS-5010 Series of stainless steel waterproof high-performance industrial Panel PCs
Industrial Panel PCs come in all sorts of forms and sizes for a wide variety of applications. Teguar's new trio of stainless steel, Skylake-powered waterproof panels are designed specially for applications that require full ingress protection and can even handle frequent high-pressure hot water washdowns. RuggedPCReview.com took a detailed look at the 15- and 22-inch versions of these impressivel wellmade panels. [See review of the Teguar TS-5010 Series of waterproof stainless steel Panel PCs] -- Posted Monday, January 22, 2018

Ulcer and wound treatment revolutionised by new technology combining GPC 3D WoundCare software and Panasonic rugged tablets
The effective treatment of patients suffering from debilitating pressure ulcers, burns and other wounds is being revolutionised by new 3D imaging software that runs on rugged Panasonic Toughpad tablets and has been developed by Swansea-based health informatics company GPC. Running on a lightweight, yet rugged Panasonic Toughpad FZ-M1 Standard tablet with an integrated Intel RealSense 3D camera, the 3D WoundCare software captures the ulcer image using a simple point and click process. [See Panasonic press release] -- Posted Tuesday, January 16, 2018

Zebra brings Android to vehicle-mounts with new VC80x
Unlike handhelds where Android is coming on very strong, panels and vehicle-mounts are generally still mostly using Windows. That may be changing as more enterprises seek compatibility across their mobile platforms. For that reason, Zebra introduced the Android 7-based VC80x vehicle-mount computer. Using the same design and hardware (except processor and related electronics) as the existing Windows-based VC80, Zebra offers the VC80x as a proven platform to migrate material handling vehicles to the next generation platform for warehouse mobility. [See description, analysis and specs of the Zebra VC80x] -- Posted Tuesday, January 16, 2018

Zebra launches vastly upgraded rugged MC3300 with Android 7.0
Zebra announced the MC3300 as a thoroughly modernized and updated next generation of the company's very popular MC3x00 line of rugged wireless handhelds that has sold well over a million units over the years. While earlier updates to the original MC3000 platform mostly concentrated on technology updates and enhancements that leveraged the inherent usefulness of the device, the new MC3300 takes a bolder step forward with full commitment to the Android OS and all the technology required to make it shine. [See description, analysis and specs of the Zebra MC3300] -- Posted Thursday, January 11, 2018

Handheld launches the Nautiz X9 outdoor-rugged Android PDA
Handheld Group, a leading manufacturer of rugged mobile computers, announced the new NAUTIZ X9, a 5-inch, Android 7 "Nougat"-powered ultra-rugged enterprise handheld built for fieldwork in the most challenging outdoor or industrial environments. The new Nautiz X9 Android handheld is targeted for industrial and field applications where reliability is critical and ruggedness is key. Offering a complete and unique set of features, the fully rugged Nautiz X9 can be used as a mobile computer, data collector or field controller. [See description, analysis and specs of the Handheld Nautiz X9] -- Posted Wednesday, January 10, 2018

Intel announces 8th Gen Core processors with integrated Radeon graphics
It's been eight years since Intel began integrating their own Intel HD graphics right into their processors. Many thought that would be the end of separate graphics subsystems, but that didn't turn out to be the case as graphics-intensive applications continued to require dedicated graphics cards. As a result, "discrete" graphics modules are often available as an option in rugged laptops. Now Intel announced 8th generation Core processors with AMD Radeon RX Vega M graphics. Will this bring greatly improved graphics performance to mobile systems? Probably not just yet, as the new chips start at 65 watt DTP (thermal design power), far more than the typical 15 watts in modern high-performance rugged laptops and tablets. [See Intel press release] -- Posted Monday, January 8, 2018

Review: Bezalel wireless charging products
Bezalel is a company that concentrates on wireless power. Their goal is "empowering all people to live free from the entanglement and chaos of all cords." Here at RuggedPCReview we've been using several of Bezalel's products for a few months, and so we'll report on our thoughts about wires and cord cutting first, and then of our experiences with Bezalel's wireless charging technology and products. [See Bezalel's wireless power products — Wire-free charging is coming of age] -- Posted Sunday, January 7, 2018

Featured blog: Juniper Systems' Get Rugged
Juniper Systems' Get Rugged blog has been around for almost five years. Juniper started it as a way for discussing the data collection industry and related news, goings-on at their company, and helpful how-to’s, among many other topics. Recent blogs included Creating a Topographic Survey with the Mesa 2 Rugged Tablet, Water Asset Mapping in Accordance with the New Jersey Water Quality Accountability Act, Android AOSP: What You Need to Know, and The Geode Sub-meter GPS Receiver Put to the Test Under Dense Forest Tree Canopy. [See the Juniper Systems Get Rugged blog] -- Posted Sunday, January 7, 2018

Global mobile industry ready to start full-scale development of 5G NR
The 3GPP TSG RAN Plenary Meeting in Lisbon successfully completed the first implementable 5G NR specification. AT&T, BT, China Mobile, China Telecom, China Unicom, Deutsche Telekom, Ericsson, Fujitsu, Huawei, Intel, KT Corporation, LG Electronics, LG Uplus, MediaTek Inc., NEC Corporation, Nokia, NTT DOCOMO, Orange, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., Samsung Electronics, SK Telecom, Sony Mobile Communications Inc., Sprint, TIM, Telefonica, Telia Company, T-Mobile USA, Verizon, Vodafone, and ZTE have made a statement that the completion of the first 5G NR standard has set the stage for the global mobile industry to start full-scale development of 5G NR for large-scale trials and commercial deployments as early as in 2019. [See Intel/3GPP press release] -- Posted Tuesday, January 2, 2018