Tablets have become so popular now that they’re not just the plastic shells we once knew and loved. They come in all sizes and variants, with all sorts of capabilities, like keyboard docks, true pen input and some amazing graphics capabilities. One thing that a lot of tablets still have in common though – no matter how sophisticated they become – is that they’re all still pretty fragile. I can’t say that I’ve been given any confidence by any of the tablets I’ve owned and some of them have made me fear the worse pretty much every day of use.
One such tablet from Panasonic is one that you’ll really have to try and do some damage to. Panasonic have long been known for their Toughbook series of laptops used in war zones, by those in the building industry and beyond. Now they’re bringing the same sort of protection to Android with their FZ-A1 Toughpad. It’s seriously tough. Specs include the following:
- 10.1″ 1024 x 768 Display with anti-glare coating
- 1.2 Ghz dual-core CPU
- 1GB of RAM
- 16GB of internal storage, support for microSD cards
- microHDMI out, Bluetooth 2.1, Satellite GPS
- Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich
- It weighs 993 grams
- The removable 39wH battery should last around 10hrs
- There’s optional 3G as well
So, the Toughpad doesn’t come with all the bells and whistles that we’d like it to but, it’s built to withstand a whole lot of abuse and it’ll survive a drop of up to 4 feet high, operate just fine in temperatures of 14 to 122 degrees Fahrenheit and it’s also completely spill-proof so, drink all the coffee you want around this guy. It’s IP65 compliant and MIL-STD 810G compliant as well, if you like your standards.
The Toughpad is about to go up for sale in Australia and should be heading to Korea, the UK and Canada, too. Its RRP in Australia is a hefty $1500 AUD which makes this thing not cheap but, when you consider just how rugged this thing is then you start to appreciate the price tag a little more. Of course, this is a tablet that isn’t meant for everyone and is instead the reserve of those in need of something pretty close to indestructible. It’s good to see Panasonic produce a tough Android tablet like this and if anything it presents us with the ultimate challenge to break it. I wonder how high a drop test this’ll survive…
[Source: Android Authority]