Panasonic launched three new rugged device in the Indian market today. All tablets are aimed at enterprise customers and cost more than Rs. 1 lakh. The devices offer performance and functionality with addition to their rugged nature.
Starting off with the Toughbook CF-54 HD, this is the new semi-rugged laptop from Panasonic under its Toughbook range. The Toughbook uses a high quality magnesium chassis and is priced at Rs. 1,39,000.
On the front, the Toughbook features a lid lock which felt fairly robust.
The Toughbook features a built in handle for easy portability. Panasonic claims it is the thinnest and lightest rugged tablet available today weighing in at just 1.99 Kg.
At the back, the toughbook has its battery pack as well as the docking port.
It features all the regular ports a user would require like HDMI, USB 3.0, VGA, etc, and everything is well hidden and protected under flaps.
The new Toughbook CF-54 HD also features configurable docks which can be configured to user requirements such as DVD drive or secondary battery, smart card reader or a PC card.
Opening up the Toughbook we can see, it runs Windows. The laptop comes with Windows 8.1 Pro pre-installed.
The device is powered by an Intel Core i5 processor. It comes with 4GB of base RAM which can be upgraded up to 16GB. It uses a 500GB HDD for storage.
The laptop has a 14-inch display which uses an Active Matrix TFT LCD with 1366 x 768p resolution.
The laptop uses an island type keyboard with nicely spaced keys. The keys also had good travel when pressed.
The trackpad is pretty normal and offers decent traction and a two button layout which felt quite tactile.
The laptop comes with TPM password security and there is a fingerprint scanner as well for added security.
Panasonic also launched its Toughbook FZ-E1 tablet. This is a 5-inch rugged Windows tablet. It is powered by a Qualcomm MSM8974AB SoC with a 2.3GHz quad-core processor. This comes with 2GB of RAM and 32GB of on-board storage. This device is IP68 rated and MIL-STD810G certified. It can sustain drops from upto 3 meters. It is priced at Rs. 1,19,000
The device gets physical keys for all the navigations buttons which makes it easier while using gloves. The search key is also user configurable.
The bottom of the device holds the docking port which can be used to sync data between mainframes and devices.
The right edge of the device has a micro USB and AC-in port. Both can be used for charging the 6200mAh battery inside.
The top has a barcode scanner and can be configured according to the customer’s requirements of either 1D or 2D scanning.
The left edge of the device has the volume rocker and one user configurable button.
At the back, the tablet features an 8MP camera with LED flash. On the front, the tablet has a 1.3MP camera
Panasonic also launched an Android version of the tablet which offers almost the same specs with the exception of a different SoC. This is the FZ-X1 and it is powered by a Qualcomm APQ8064T SoC with a 1.7GHz quad-core SoC. It is priced at Rs. 1,09,000.