For the past seven years, Samwell's SR820 rugged tablet has been used in a host of likely and unlikely applications around the globe. It was a design truly ahead of its time, and now Samwell has given it a new lease on life with a big performance upgrade. Welcome the RUGGEDBOOK SR820s!
Is there room for improvement for equipment used out there in the field where form follows function, and function follows whatever it takes to get the job done? Yes, there is. But progress in rugged tablets isn't measured in an even slimmer profile and new housing colors. It's measured in employing the latest in technology, to get the job done even faster and better.
With that in mind, Samwell gave the RUGGEDBOOK SR820s internal technology that is faster and superior in every respect, by a lot. This is evident from the specifications alone, and backed up by stellar benchmark performance. The overall bottomline performance of the new SR820s is in the 4.5X range compared to the old SR820. Yes, it's almost five times faster.
How did Samwell do that? By choosing the quad-core Intel E3845 processor for the SR820s. The chip is part of Intel's large "Bay Trail" family that includes Atom, Celeron and even Pentium branded processors. The E3845 is much more powerful than earlier chips in fanless packages, even though its thermal design power is just 10 watts, less than that of even ultra-low voltage mobile Intel Core processors.
This means that users of the original SR820 can expect a massive speed and responsiveness improvement, especially if they are migrating from older units with rotating storage. Even compared to brand-new designs, the upgraded SR820s can hold its own thanks to its thoroughly modern quad-core Intel Bay Trail processor and ancillary electronics.
What stays the same is the overall design with its tough magnesium alloy chassis, the rock-solid construction, the steel-backed rubber bumper protection, and everything else that made the SR820 platform the rugged, durable tablet computer it has been, and remains to be. With the new SR820s version, Samwell now provides a major performance enhancement to a rugged tablet platform that has been proving itself for years under even the most demanding operating conditions.
What hasn't changed is the SR820 platform's inherent strength and functionality. On the job, tablets are for work. They may get shaken, rattled, and tumbled. They be mounted, strapped on, stepped on, and stuck in a toolbox. The job is not a place for slender, glossy tablets. And RUGGEDBOOK knows that. And always has. That's why RUGGEDBOOKs are different. They're built for pros.
The basic RUGGEDBOOK SR820 platform has been around since well before Steve Jobs introduced the very first iPad. Samwell initially made it to bring netbook size and convenience to professionals in the field, in a rugged tablet form factor.
That's why the SR820s weighs less than three pounds, battery and bumpers included. And its 8.9-inch screen is large enough to be useful for real work.
It has good wired onboard connectivity, all the connectors are standard size, and there is a wealth of wireless functionality, including available GPS and mobile broadband. And also an integrated camera and an optional laser scanner, a real industrial grade one, and not just an app for the camera. The battery lasts a good long time, and it is externally accessible, so it can be replaced on the job. The screen is matte and can handle the glare and refections that are part of working outdoors.
And that isn't all. Samwell built the SR820s so it can be mounted almost anywhere. In cars, trucks, boats, airplanes and any sort of industrial vehicles. It is completely immune to dust and can handle not just rain, but water jets from all directions. It can be dropped from four feet to concrete over and over without breaking. That's important because when a worker in the field operates a tablet in standing position and it drops, it'll fall four feet. And since things can get very rough on some jobs, the RUGGEDBOOK SR820 not only has a magnesium alloy chassis and rock-solid construction, but also those steel-backed rubber bumpers that can easily be replaced.
As a result of the versatility of the platform, professionals around the world have been using the RUGGEDBOOK SR820 in all sorts of applications where consumer technology just isn't up to the job. The following are just some examples of how SR820 tablets are being used around the globe:
Utility workers use the RUGGEDBOOK SR820 for meter reading where reliable, trouble- and maintenance-free operation is imperative, even when it rains or when it's cold.
And by meter-reading we don't just mean looking up reading and typing it into the computer. SR820 tablets are used for that, but also for computer-based remote meter reading and control. While most meters still have conventional readouts and displays, reading itself may be electronic via serial, IR or other ports, or the data may be transmitted via WiFi, phone lines, or even power lines. The SR820 can handle that.
The SR820 found applications in high-dust environments such as metal foundries and metal casting operations where dust associated with sand, plaster, grinding, mixing and the overall preparation and handling of expendable casts is the enemy of all things electronic.
Standard desktop and notebook computing equipment was never designed for this type of use and, as a result, often quickly fails, causing costly downtime and interruptions. But the RUGGEDBOOK SR820 can handle that. It is fully dustproof.
Wafer fabs are the exact opposite from metal foundries. Here, dust is the ultimate enemy and the concentration of airborne particles is meticulously controlled to specified limits. Inside these clean rooms, humans and machines perform hundreds to thousands of processing steps.
Fanless operation of computing equipment is a must, and here, again, the RUGGEDBOOK SR820 delivered. It does not need a fan. And it has all the required communications features to reliably facilitate positioning, instant communication, lookups, and data capture/tracking.
Aerial laser scanning — LIDAR — is used in a wide range of surveying and imaging applications in numerous fields. The technology came into its own when GPS and differential GPS became available, drastically increasing positioning accuracy. That meant a need for mobile computers suitable for the job.
The problem there is not just the ever-present vibrations in chopper and airplanes, but also the widely ranging lighting conditions, ranging from very bright all the way to night-flight. The SR820 has no problem with vibration, and its sunlight-viewable display easily works in a cockpit.
Ground penetrating radar, or GPR, is an emerging technology used to survey the ground and to see what is beneath the surface. The technology is used to analyze soil, ground water, ice and bedrock, underground building materials, infrastructure, and so on.
Unlike above ground radar where electromagnetic waves are generally transmitted by rotating the emitter around a fixed axis, ground penetrating radar relies on moving the transmitter over the surface. Computers used here need to be compact, rugged, dustproof, and offer reliable, accurate GPS functionality.
The same is true for precision farming. Here, very precise computer-assisted site and crop management increases yield and boostsprofits. Tablet size can be a matter here, as small ATVs are often used in precision farming, so there isn't much space for mounting.
Add continuous vibration, frequent drops and spills, temperature extremes as well as dust and water, and once again, the tough RUGGEDBOOK SR820 tablet is the answer in many such specialized modern farming applications.
Down the line from farming is food manufacturing. Here, to avoid food contamination, equipment must be suitable for frequent, easy cleaning and disinfection in the workplace.
Fanless rugged tablet computers like the SR820 meet that requirement with a minimum of openings where germs can hide as well as housings that can withstand industrial cleaning agents.
SR820 rugged tablets are being used in the above applications the world over, but also in areas where one would not expect tablets.
Like on motorcycles, where SR820 computers serve as large GPS displays and for wireless communication. They can handle the vibration, and they can even mounted on snowmobiles, as they were in a project on the Kola Peninsula in Russia.
The above is just a short sample of the many ways thousands of RUGGEDBOOK SR820 tablets have been used over the past several years, all in professional applications where toughness and reliability matter. As well as technology designed not as a fashion statement to impress, but for the jobs at hand.
All of these jobs, and many more, can be handled by the new SR820s, faster and better than ever.
Relevant Information:
Samwell Group RUGGEDBOOK SR820s page
To learn more about the ruggedized Samwell SR820 tablet computer and its many applications, email RUGGEDBOOK at info@ruggedbook.com.tw. And check RuggedPCReview.com's full analysis of the SR820s.
