May 2014

Thames Water standardizes asset management and field service with Motion rugged Tablet PCs
Motion Computing announced Thames Water Utilities Limited will standardize on the Motion F5 Tablet PC for its above ground asset management, maintenance and field service operations. The F5 was chosen as the clear favorite in user testing with 86% preferring the Motion device over two alternatives. The tablets will be rolled out as part of a phased introduction this summer to replace a fleet of legacy handhelds. The tablet, running Windows 8, will run Thames Water’s SAP and ClickSoftware asset and field management systems. -- Posted Wednesday, May 28, 2014 by chb

RUGGEDBOOK invites you to see their new rugged Windows tablets at 2014 COMPUTEX Taipei, June 3-7, 2014

RUGGEDBOOK invites you to visit them at 2014 COMPUTEX TAIPEI from June 3rd to 7th, 2014. They are at booth M1031a at 4F of the TWTC Nangang Exhibition Hall. RUGGEDBOOK will show four exciting new rugged Windows tablets based on state-of-the-art Intel Bay Trail and Haswell technology (for sneak previews, see Rugged Tablet PC 358, 751, 760, and 770). [Sign up for free 2014 Computex registration with personal badge]
-- Posted Monday, May 26, 2014 by chb

Metaio demonstrates thermal touch interface
Metaio, which is into augmented reality software and solutions, released a video illustrating potential applications of their "Thermal Touch" interface technology along with current examples of the working prototype. The technology works by registering the heat signature left by a person's finger when touching a surface, then supplementing it with augmented reality constructs to create user interaction with digital content in all-new tactile way. [See Metaio Thermal Touch video and read Metaio blog on thermal touch] -- Posted Sunday, May 25, 2014 by chb

Digitimes on Intel China subsidies and Taiwan struggles with automation
Digitimes reports that Intel offered incentives to select China-based white-box vendors such as Ramos to adopt Intel platforms for tablets, and has extended the offers to additional China-based white-box vendors in an attempt to reach total shipments of 40 million Intel platform-based tablets in 2014, according to Taiwan-based supply chain makers. Digitimes also reports that Taiwan electronics companies operating in China struggle automating their factories to reduce the impact of ongoing wage hikes. The problem is that standard automation equipment cannot easily be modified for specialized electronics manufacturing processes. -- Posted Friday, May 23, 2014 by chb

Microsoft introduces 12-inch Haswell-powered Surface Pro 3
Microsoft introduced the Surface Pro 3. The Intel Haswell Core i3/i5/i7 powered new tablet is just 0.36 inches thick, weighs 1.76 pounds, and has a 2,160 x 1,440 pixel 12-inch display, and dual cameras (5mp and 1080p HD). It comes with either 4 or 8GB of RAM, and up to 512GB of SSD storage. There's USB 3.0, a microSD card reader, mini DisplayPort, and a cover that's also a keyboard. The Surface Pro 3, which starts at US$799 (but goes as high as US$1,949 for a loaded model) has a pen which, interestingly, is from N-Trig and not Wacom (N-trig also replaces Atmel for the Surface 3's touch capabilities). [See Microsoft press release, and the transcript of press event introduction and -- Posted Tuesday, May 20, 2014 by chb

Accept payments in the field via a tablet credit card reader
If you have employees in the field performing maintenance, inspections, or installation of appliances, equipment, homes, machinery and more, you want a fast and safe way to collect payments once the job is complete without the hassle of paper invoices? Look no further than a tablet credit card reader. [See article in MobileDemand's Rugged Computing Blog] -- Posted Tuesday, May 20, 2014 by chb

Otterbox goes after counterfeit cases
OtterBox, which makes rugged cases for smartphones and tablets, reports that the company continues its fight against intellectual property theft. In the last six months, with the assistance of law enforcement and government agencies, OtterBox has raided 162 retail stores worldwide and seized approximately 30,000 counterfeit cases. [See Otterbox press release] -- Posted Tuesday, May 20, 2014 by chb

Digitimes on Q2/2014 tablet shipments
Digitimes predicts that in the second quarter of 2014, 61.4 million tablets will be shipped globally, increasing 4.9% on quarter and 30.9% on year. The shipments will consist of 13.5 million iPads, 24.6 million non-Apple tablets and 23.3 million white-box units, Digitimes Research indicated. Apple will be the largest vendor accounting for 22% of sQ2shipments, followed by Samsung with 20%, Asustek 6.3%, Lenovo 6.1% and Acer 1.7%. Android models will account for 58.9% of branded tablet shipments, iOS 35.4% and Windows 5.7%. -- Posted Saturday, May 17, 2014 by chb

SDG Systems announces Linux for the Trimble Yuma 2
SDG Systems has released a dual-boot Linux version of the Trimble Yuma 2 rugged tablet. The introduction of Linux to the Yuma 2 tablet enables the mobile use of a wide variety of free and open source applications. SDG's Linux version of the Yuma 2 is currently running the Ubuntu 12.04 LTS Linux release. Other Linux distributions or releases are available by request, with volume commitment or engineering payment. [Read SDG press release] -- Posted Friday, May 16, 2014 by chb

Case Study: San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department
This one was pointed out to us by Getac. Though the case study is primarily about deploying Microsoft Office 365 ProPlus to the 3,400 employees of the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department, the project also included providing patrol officers with rugged tablet PCs running Windows 8.1. And those tablets were Getac V110s, prominently featured in the YouTube video accompanying the case study. [See San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department case study and video] -- Posted Thursday, May 15, 2014 by chb

MobileDemand xTablet T1400 product page available now
Full description, analysis and specs of the MobileDemand xTablet T1400 now available on RuggedPCReview. [See MobileDemand xTablet T1400 product page] -- Posted Monday, May 12, 2014 by chb

MobileDemand announces new thin and rugged Windows tablet
MobileDemand announced it is launching a series of tablet innovations for the mobile workforce. The new xTablet T1400 rugged tablet is a thin and light device capable of running standard enterprise Windows (8.1 and 7) applications while withstanding harsh operating environments, at a new price point. The fanless T1400 is based on a "Bay Trail" 1.86GHz quad-core Intel N2920 processor, features a superb 10.1-inch 700-nits IPS projected capacitive touch screen with 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution, has dual cameras (5mp and 2mp), 802.11a/b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, a full complement of sensors, and optional 1D/2D barcode reader, HF-RFID and 4G LTE. The T1400 weighs 2.4 pounds, has IP65 sealing and can handle 4-foot drops. [See MobileDemand press release and T1400 product sheet] -- Posted Tuesday, May 6, 2014 by chb