Panasonic was also present at CES 2013, where they unveiled a bunch of new tablets from the ToughPad series. This means that those are rugged slates and both models with Windows 8 and Android were unveiled. Panasonic believes that the newcomers and not only them will help them reach a 50% market share of the ruggedized slate market by 2015.
The newcomers include the ToughPad FZ-G1, a 10 inch Windows 8 Pro slate, with a 1920 x 1200 pixel display and a 1.9 GHz Ivy Bridge Intel Core i5 processor, as well as 128 GB of SSD storage. The storage is upgradable to 256 GB of storage and up to 8 GB of RAM are also available. The system is powered by a battery that should provide about 8 hours of functioning time. The JT-B1 model is a 7 inch slate with Android 4.0 ICS, a 1024 x 600 pixel resolution and a 1.5 GHz dual core TI OMAP CPU, as well as 16 GB of storage and 1 GB of RAM.
Both models have been tested for drops, fluid ingress and extreme temperatures, ensuring that they can deliver reliable performances even under a great deal of stress. Panasonic’s Windows 8 ToughPad will be priced at $2,900 and it will be available in March, while the smaller Android unit will come in February, with a price tag of $1,300.
