Panasonic has carved something of a niche for itself over the years in supplying rugged tablet devices for extreme workplaces but it now faces serious rivalry from Dell as the U.S. firm wants to muscle in on the action. Dell basically took out the screen and made it into a tablet.
Advertisement
This Windows-based tablet features Intel’s fifth-gen Core M processors under-the-hood, and with its dual 2-cell batteries, it can last for up to 12 hours. “The 11.6” display is illuminated by an extra-powerful backlight for easy reading in direct sunlight, and its touch digitizer can be used even by gloved hands.
The Latitude 12 Rugged Tablet meets both the MIL-STD-810G and IP65 specifications, meaning it’s designed to survive up to four foot high drops, vibration, shock, temperatures between -20 and 145 degrees Fahrenheit (-29 to 63 degrees Celsius), high altitudes, salt fog, explosive environments, solar radiation, dust exposure, and water jets.
The recently-unveiled Dell Latitude 12 Rugged Tablet is a flawless example of how tablet makers are trying to diversify their tablet offering in an attempt to create more specialized devices. For a tablet that will keep working after you drop it in the mud, without having to remove your gloves, while in near-freezing temperatures, it sounds fairly reasonable.
The Dell tablet has up to 512 GB of storage and connects anywhere with 802.11ac Wi-Fi, along with Global Positioning System and Bluetooth 4.0 capabilities as well as the option for 4G LTE. But don’t expect this rugged tablet to be cheap as the devices are available to purchase price at $3,649.
Advertisement
The tablet has USB, microHDMI, microSD card and micro serial ports built in, and consumers can work through any environment thanks to the Pogo-pin connectors that let them attach an optional keyboard dock (that is waterproof and dust-resistant) and other accessories such as a desk dock, vehicle dock, stylus and other items, including barcode scanners or magnetic strip readers.
