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

Trimble rugged handhelds being used for traumatic brain injury assessment system
The image on the right shows the Trimble Juno T41 rugged handheld computer, which is being used by a company called BrainScope, as it has developed assessment software for football concussion injuries directly on the field. BrainScope has been awarded more than $27 million of U.S. Department of Defense research contracts for the development of its TBI ( traumatic brain injury) and concussion assessment technology and has received significant funding from private investors to accelerate its development efforts. [See Brainscope media release and Trimble Juno T41 page] -- Posted Tuesday, July 28, 2015

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Microsoft announces restructuring of phone hardware business
Microsoft announced plans to restructure the company’s phone hardware business (i.e. the former Nokia Devices and Services business) to focus and align resources. This includes a reduction of up to 7,800 jobs, primarily in the phone business. The new layoffs are on top of the 18,000 layoffs Microsoft announced July 2014. [See Microsoft media release] -- Posted Wednesday, July 8, 2015

Janam introduces XM2-RFID UHF
Janam introduced the XM2-RFID UHF, a compact, rugged keyboard PDA with RFID reader and industrial-grade scanner. Based on Windows Embedded Handheld 6.5, Janam's new handheld RFID reader is designed to fill the need for a light, quick, and affordable device for the rapidly expanding deployment of EPCglobal Class 1 Gen 2, ISO18000-63 RFID data capture applications. [See description, analysis and specs of the Janam XM2-RFID UHF] -- Posted Monday, July 6, 2015

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