January 2011

Toshiba Tablet teaser website
Toshiba put up a teaser website for its upcoming NVIDIA Tegra 2-powered Android tablet, which will have a 1280 x 800 pixel 10.1-inch capacitive multi-touch screen, dual cameras (2mp front, 5mp rear), good connectivity (USB, mini-USB, SD Card), dual speakers, and a cool, albeit by now standard, black & gloss look. [See Toshiba Tablet teaser site] -- Posted Tuesday, January 25, 2011 by chb

Full review: DLI 8300 Rugged Tablet
DLI of Laporte, Indiana, offers a full lineup with tablet computers for different purposes and in different sizes. The role of the Intel Atom-powered DLI 8300 with its 8.4-inch display is that of a general purpose tablet computer large enough to serve as a "real" computer in the field or in a vehicle, but small and portable enough to be carried around on the job. RuggedPCReview.com conducted a detailed review of the DLI 8300 and found much to like. [See full review of the DLI 8300 Rugged Tablet] -- Posted Tuesday, January 25, 2011 by chb

DAP Technologies introduces two new rugged tablets
DAP Technologies has expanded its lineup with two updated versions of its full screen and half-screen plus keyboard tablets that are available both in Windows Embedded Standard and Windows CE versions. The new M8930 and M8940 include various technology updates and now run Windows CE 6.0 rel3 on 624MHz Marvell PXA300 processors. [See description and specs of the DAP Technologies M8930 and M8940] -- Posted Monday, January 24, 2011 by chb

Winmate offers super-compact 7-inch rugged tablet
Taiwanese industrial display technology and rugged solutions provider Winmate introduced a minimalist rugged device geared towards providing GPS information and computing power for military and similar deployments in the smallest possible package. The Atom Z530-powered tablet has a sunlight-readable 7-inch resistive touch display and weighs less than two pounds. [See description and specs of the Winmate 7-inch rugged tablet PC] -- Posted Thursday, January 20, 2011 by chb

Arbor releases second MCA tablet
Arbor Technology of Taiwan has introduced a second generation MCA (Medical Clinical Assistant). The elegantly designed M1040 MCA has a bright 10.4-inch XGA display with dual input (resistive touch and active digitizer), runs Windows 7 on an Intel Atom N450 processor, has both 2D scanner and RFID, and weighs less than three pounds. There are two cameras, optional 3.75G WWAN, a very well designed dock, and enhanced ruggedness. [See description and specs of the Arbor M1040 MCA] -- Posted Wednesday, January 19, 2011 by chb

DRS Tactical expands roster with ARMOR X7 rugged tablet
DRS Tactical announced the release of the DRS ARMOR X7 rugged tablet computer, which will complement the company's larger X10 rugged tablets. The Intel Atom N450-based X7 has a 7-inch WSVGA display with auto-sensing dual input (active digitizer and resistive touch), is exceptionally rugged (6-foot drop, IP65, -4 to 140F), weighs under three pounds, and offers excellent configuration and customization potential via expansion bays and "FlexSpace" interfacing. [See description and specs of the DRS ARMOR X7] -- Posted Thursday, January 13, 2011 by chb

Gunze USA introduces new line of projected capacitive touch screens
Touch panel specialist Gunze announced their new line of extremely durable and nearly vandal-proof projected capacitive touch screens. Gunze's PCAP technology allows them to be tuned to operate through glass or polycarbonate facings in a variety of thicknesses. The panels, which support Windows 7 native gesturing, are available in various sizes from 7 to 22 inches. Gunze PCAP products are made in their state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Austin, Texas, with 20,000 square feet of Class 10K (ISO 9001 & 14001 certified) clean room and manufacturing space. [See Gunze's projected capacitive product page) -- Posted Wednesday, January 12, 2011 by chb

DT Research releases WebDT 372 rugged tablet with encrypted PIN pad and MSR
At the National Retail Federation Expo in New York, DT Research announced the latest addition to its line of WebDT mobile tablets. The Intel Atom-powered ruggedized WebDT 372 offers a 7-inch display and is the first mobile tablet that can be configured with a fully integrated magnetic stripe reader and encrypted PIN pad for secure payment transactions in the field. The encrypted PIN Pad, which will also be available with the company's recently introduced larger WebDT 390, is PCI (Payment Card Industry) certified and supports TDS and AES encryption. [See description and specs of the DT Research WebDT 372]. -- Posted Monday, January 10, 2011 by chb

Microsoft announces.... nothing. Google follows suit.
Well, the much anticipated Las Vegas CES is shedding no light on how the industry will react to Apple's monster tablet home run. Yes, there were some tablets here and there, but really nothing that we didn't know already, and certainly nothing earth-shattering that'll change tablet history. [read more] -- Posted Friday, January 7, 2011 by chb

Samsung PC 7 Series "sliding Tablet PC"
On January 5th, Samsung announced the PC 7 Series "sliding Tablet PC" that seeks to combine tablet and netbook functionality. Samsung says, "the display elegantly slides up to reveal a physical keyboard giving the user the option of a multi-touch display or full keyboard and mouse interface." Samsung did not publish detailed pictures, but the design seems to work similar to a 2008 Apple patent submission (see here), which itself was something IBM (750P and 360P, and later TransNote) and others (Vadem et al) already did in the early 1990s. In terms of specs, the 10.5 x 6.7 x 0.8 unit weighs 2.2 lbs., runs Windows 7 on a 1.5GHz Z670 "Oak Trail" Atom chip, has a 340-nit 1366 x 768 pixel 10.1-inch touch screen, 32 or 64GB SSD, 1.3mp webcam, 8-hour battery, microSD, USB/HDMI, WiFi/WiMax/3G, and have a starting price of US$699. [See Samsung news release] -- Posted Friday, January 7, 2011 by chb

Leveraging the effortless multi-touch experience
The iPhone and iPad have forever redefined user expectations in how touch should work, and now we're seeing a rush to recreate and leverage that experience into other products sizes and form factors. An impressive example are the 15-32-inch projected capacitive multi-touch monitors announced by Touch Revolution at CES in Las Vegas. [See release] -- Posted Friday, January 7, 2011 by chb

Acer shows dual screen tablet notebook
When Microsoft (re)introduced the Tablet PC platform almost ten years ago, Acer was the first to come up with the convertible notebook concept. With the Iconia, Acer again introduced something different, this time a clamshell notebook with two screens, one of which can become a virtual keyboard or "Acer Ring" old iPod-style control. The two 14-inch displays offer 1,366 x 768 resolution, there's a Core i5 processor, and the whole thing weighs kist over six pounds. Acer even was a finalist for one of this year's Best of CES awards with the Iconia. [See Acer's Iconia page] -- Posted Friday, January 7, 2011 by chb

Dell tries again with a larger tablet
Dell introduced the Dell Streak 7 as a follow-up to the earlier Dell Streak 5 that consumers apparently felt was too large for a phone but too small for a tablet. The Streak 7 measures 7.9 x 4.7 x 0.5 inches, as a 7-inch multi-touch display with Gorilla Glass, runs Android 2.2 on a 1GHz NVIDIA Tegra 2 chip, has a 1.3mp camera, and supports T-Mobile's 4G mobile broadband, WiFi and Bluetooth. [Check Dell's Streak 7 page for info and shipping dates] -- Posted Friday, January 7, 2011 by chb

Motion introduces rugged Windows-based multi-touch tablet
At the 2011 CES in Las Vegas, category pioneer Motion Computing introduced the Motion CL900, a lightweight tablet computer with a high-res 10-inch display and n-Trig DuoSense dual input. The tablet runs Windows 7 on Intel's new "Oak Trail" System-on-Chip Atom platform. The CL900 can handle 4-foot drops, its display is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass, and the battery is said to last 8+ hours. The CL900 will be available with Gobi 3000 WWAN/GPS, dual cameras, as well as peripheral modules. Starting price is under US$1,000. [Read description and specs of the Motion CL900 rugged tablet] -- Posted Tuesday, January 4, 2011 by chb