Panasonic kicked off this year’s MWC with two new rugged “tablets with phone functions” – FZ-E1 and FZ-X1. While the Panasonic Toughpad FZ-E1 runs Windows Embedded 8 Handheld, the Toughpad FZ-X1 runs Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean. Both the devices have 5-inch display, quad-core processor and LTE connectivity.
The Panasonic Toughpad FZ-E1 has a 5-inch display with 720 x 1280 pixels resolution. It is powered by a 2.3GHz Qualcomm MSM8974AB processor along 2GB of RAM. The device comes with an 8MP rear camera and 1.3MP front camera. It has 32GB of built-in storage and supports microSD for additional space. The tablet is powered by a massive 6,000 mAh battery.
The Panasonic Toughpad FZ-X1 features same specifications, except that it runs Android and is powered by a 1.7GHz Qualcomm APQ8064T processor.
Like all other devices in Toughpad range, the FZ-E1 and FZ-X1 has been designed for rugged environments. The new devices can bear drops of up to 3 meters, sustain underwater to a depth of 1.5 meters for up to 30 minutes.
“We believe there will be a growing market for a small-sized tablet that has phone functions,” says Yasuharu Enda, a spokesman for Panasonic System Networks, which developed the latest Toughpad. “That would replace having to handle a large tablet and a phone separately.”
“We decided to use Windows Embedded 8 Handheld instead of Windows Phone 8 because it offers more customizability,” Masaki Mutou, general manager at Panasonic System Networks’ Terminal Systems Business Unit.