October 2011

Handheld teams up with PUMA for Volvo Ocean Race
Handheld Group, a supplier of innovative and advanced rugged PDAs and devices, has teamed up with PUMA Ocean Racing for the Volvo Ocean Race 2011-2012. As part of the sponsorship, the PUMA crew onboard PUMA’s Mar Mostro (Monster of the Sea) will use Handheld's ultra-rugged Algiz 7 tablet on deck for everything from navigation to calculations and communication. Handheld Marketing Director Sofia Löfblad said, "This is the kind of tough environment the Algiz 7 was built for, and I'm especially interested in hearing the crew’s response to our new MaxView screen technology." -- Posted Monday, October 31, 2011 by chb

Dell Latitude ST Windows 7 tablet
Dell's upcoming Windows 7-based and Intel Atom Z670-powered Latitude ST tablet offers both capacitive multi-touch and an active pen (using N-Trig technology). The 10.1-inch 1280 x 800 pixel display has Gorilla Glass protection, and there are rubberized bumpers to help survive use in the field. There are USB and HDMI ports, WiFi/BT4, dual cameras (720p front, 5mp rear), up to 128GB SSD, and up to 6 hours of battery life. Measuring 10.6 x 7.3 x 0.6 inches and weighing just under two pounds, the Latitude ST reminds a lot of the Fujitsu Q550. The Latitude ST will cost around US$1,000 and become available early November, 2011. [See Dell Latitude ST product page] -- Posted Friday, October 28, 2011 by chb

One Xoom sold for every 130 iPads
Motorola Mobility revealed it had shipped just 100,000 Motorola XOOM Android tablets in Q3 2011. That compares to 13 million iPads. Honestly, this has us baffled. Media tablets are super-hot, the XOOM is a very good product, so what's the problem? Perhaps Motorola Mobility, which concentrates on consumer phones, should pass the Xoom on to the vertical market oriented Motorola Solutions. [See Motorola Mobility Q3 Financials] -- Posted Friday, October 28, 2011 by chb

Samsung adds Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus
Samsung announced the upcoming availability of the US$399 Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus that runs Google Android "Honeycomb" on a 1.2GHz dual core CPU. The device has an IR interface to control home theater setups via its Peel Smart Remote TV application.
-- Posted Saturday, October 22, 2011 by chb

Motion introduces SlateMate add-on modules for its CL900 tablet
Motion Computing introduced the Motion CL900 SlateMate snap-on module technology that extends the functionality of the ruggedized CL900 Tablet PC. Securely attached to the tablet's internal frame, the first CL900 SlateMate module provides a 1, 2 and 3 track magnetic stripe reader and a 1D/2D barcode scanner for mobile data acquisition and transaction processing. [See Motion CL900 SlateMate page] -- Posted Wednesday, October 19, 2011 by chb

Global tablet shipments 18.7 million in Q3 of 2011
According to Digitimes Research, gobal tablet PC shipments reached 18.7 million units in the third quarter, with Apple iPad shipments accounting for 13 million units of that. Non-iPad tablet PCs suffered from high inventory issues in the third quarter and many new tablet PC product launches have been delayed. In terms of components, for tablet PC CPUs, Nvidia has become the second-largest supplier in terms of shipments with Texas Instruments dropping to fourth. As for ODMs, Inventec is currently the second-largest with Quanta Computer dropping to fifth. -- Posted Wednesday, October 19, 2011 by chb

Xplore closes additional financing
Xplore Technologies Corp. announced that it received $2.32 million in gross proceeds from the issuance of 2.32 million shares of Series D Participating Convertible Preferred Stock in a private placement. According to the company, the placement will enable Xplore to fulfill the expected increase in demand for its new product line and maximize its chances of success in a market with growing awareness and traction. -- Posted Monday, October 17, 2011 by chb

Australian ski resort uses Motion F5v tablets
At Australian ski resort Perisher this winter season, it's not only the skiers and boarders who are on the move. The resort is reporting excellent results after equipping its lift crews and IT department with Intel Core i7-powered Motion Computing F5v Tablet PCs. On the first day of the 2011 ski season, the tablet PCs and RFID gates were launched to process lift passes and immediately changed the way the resort services its guests. [See press release] -- Posted Monday, October 17, 2011 by chb

Motion celebrates 10th anniversary with CL900 tablet give-away
Celebrating its 10th anniversary, Motion Computing is giving away a CL900 Tablet PC to a lucky winner. How do you enter? By becoming a Motion Computing fan on Facebook and posting, before November 1st, a photo of yourself using your current Motion tablet and a brief description of why you love it, or a photo of where you would use a new Motion CL900 tablet and a brief description of how you would use it. [See Motion Computing Facebook page] -- Posted Monday, October 17, 2011 by chb

Motorola Solutions introduces enterprise-class 7-inch capacitive multi-touch Android tablet
Seeking to provide the familiarity and popularity of a consumer-class user experience to a true enterprise-class device, Motorola Solutions introduced the Android-based ET1 ruggedized 7-inch tablet. The TI OMAP 4-powered capacitive multi-touch ET1 brings enhanced durability (4-foot drop, IP54, etc.), an optional barcode scanner and magnetic stripe reader, hot-swappable battery packs, and secure system software. [See description and specs of the Motorola Solutions ET1 tablet] -- Posted Monday, October 10, 2011 by chb

Display resolution in mobile devices expected to rise
According to DisplaySearch, increasing demand for high information content and multimedia capability in mobile devices continues to drive flat panel display resolution to higher levels of pixel density. With panel makers developing ultra-high resolutions, such as 2048 x 1536 pixels QXGA and higher for tablet PCs and 1280 x 800 pixels for smartphones, the average pixel density of flat panel displays is expected to grow over the next few years. -- Posted Wednesday, October 5, 2011 by chb

GD-Itronix introduces fully-rugged GD3080 tablet
General Dynamics Itronix introduced the GD3080 fully-rugged tablet computer as a next-gen version of its Duo-Touch II tablet. The 4.0 pound fanless tablet now features higher XGA resolution on its 8.4-inch DynaVue display that has an auto-switching resistive touchscreen/active digitizer combo. The GD3080 runs Windows 7 and offers more memory as well as higher capacity hard disk and SSD options. Up to three RF modems and GPS can be integrated in a unit at one time. Sealing is at the IP54 level and the machine, which starts at US$3,250, can handle significant abuse. [See description and specs of the General Dynamics Itronix GD3080] -- Posted Wednesday, October 5, 2011 by chb