January 2018

DRG predicts total PCs and tablets per user will peak in 2019
Daniel Research Group, a market research firm specializing in forecasting technology markets announces the publication of its United States Personal Device 2018-2022 Forecast 2017 Q4 Updated Report. The report is available on DRG's website, www.DanielResearchGroup.com. Overall, the report sees a decline both of traditional laptops and desktop PCs, but a significant increase in convertible PCs. On the tablet side, DRG sees a sharp decline in pure tablets and moderate growth in detachables. Stephen Daniel, President of DRG, said, "Detachable Tablets and Convertible Mobile PCs provide the same basic functionality and will merge into one form factor -- Hybrid PCs. [See Daniel Research Group] -- Posted Wednesday, January 31, 2018

Panasonic’s latest ATEX Zone 2 certified fully rugged Windows tablet designed for versatile mobile computing in potentially explosive industries
Panasonic announced the latest version of its popular ATEX certified, 10.1 inch fully rugged Windows tablet with up to 14 hours battery life and even more computing power. The Panasonic Toughpad FZ-G1 ATEX tablet has been certified for above ground, Zone 2 Working Space use in potentially explosive environments*, such as the chemicals, oil and gas industries. [See Panasonic press release] -- Posted Wednesday, January 31, 2018

Handheld announces CAN bus module for ALGIZ 8X rugged tablet
Handheld Group today announced a CAN bus expansion module accessory for its ALGIZ 8X ultra-rugged tablet. The module allows the ALGIZ 8X to communicate directly with machines and appliances using the CAN bus communication protocol. Designed for the automotive and industrial control industries, Handheld's new CAN bus expansion module facilitates efficient communication between the 8-inch Algiz 8X rugged tablet computer and devices that operate over a CAN interface, such as sensors, controllers and actuators. The CAN interface has a high tolerance for electromagnetic interference, making it ideal for use in vehicles. [See Handheld Group press release] -- Posted Monday, January 29, 2018

Panasonic accelerates push into rugged handheld market with appointment of global technology provider ScanSource in Europe
Panasonic today appointed global technology provider ScanSource to help accelerate its growth in the European rugged handheld market. ScanSource has been a long-time partner with Panasonic in the United States and will bring its extensive experience to support Panasonic's business in the rugged handheld market, where it aims to build on its leadership in the European rugged notebook and rugged tablet market. [See Panasonic press release] -- Posted Thursday, January 25, 2018

Should RuggedPCReview do product awards? Let us know.
Here at RuggedPCReview.com we not only follow rugged computing technology exclusively, we also test and examine numerous rugged products every year right here at our lab. As a result, a lot of readers have asked why we're not doing Annual RuggedPCReview.com "Best" awards. First, it's because there are so many truly great products, declaring one the best makes one company happy and all others disappointed. Then why not break it into 987 different categories so that everybody wins something? We don't quite believe in that. We'd like our readers' opinion on doing or not doing product awards. Email us and let us know. -- Posted Wednesday, January 24, 2018

Cool Technologies Mobile Generation (MG) systems to integrate Panasonic Toughpad rugged tablets
Cool Technologies, Inc. (OTCQB:WARM), an innovator in efficient mobile power generation and thermal dispersion technologies, announced today that the company's Mobile Generation systems will incorporate Panasonic Toughpad rugged tablets to run Cool Tech's patented (HAST E899WO) MG software system. This application is the first example of Cool Technologies using Panasonic devices. [See Cool Technologies press release] -- Posted Tuesday, January 23, 2018

Chassis Plans announces military grade CLX 1U layflat LCD keyboard
Designed and built in the USA, Chassis Plans' new 1U CLX military grade rackmount display is designed to perform and engineered to last. Meeting military standards such as 901E and 810G for ruggedization, its 5052-H32 aluminum construction and locking stainless steel hardware make the display inherently rugged and reliable for both military and industrial harsh environment applications. The CLX offers two LCD screen sizes: the standard 19" display offering a native 1280 x 1024 resolution or a 17.3" wide screen display offering a 1920 x 1080 native resolution. Both the 19" and 17.3" panels offer high bright options for daylight readability applications. [See Chassis Plans press release] -- Posted Tuesday, January 23, 2018

Review: Teguar TS-5010 Series of stainless steel waterproof high-performance industrial Panel PCs
Industrial Panel PCs come in all sorts of forms and sizes for a wide variety of applications. Teguar's new trio of stainless steel, Skylake-powered waterproof panels are designed specially for applications that require full ingress protection and can even handle frequent high-pressure hot water washdowns. RuggedPCReview.com took a detailed look at the 15- and 22-inch versions of these impressivel wellmade panels. [See review of the Teguar TS-5010 Series of waterproof stainless steel Panel PCs] -- Posted Monday, January 22, 2018

Xplore improves full-year revenue outlook on strong december quarter sales, customer wins and robust backlog
Xplore Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ:XPLR) today announced it expects revenue for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2018, to be approximately $85 million, at the high end of its previously announced revenue outlook of $75 to $85 million. This confidence is the result of preliminary fiscal third quarter revenue of $23.8 million, strong backlog entering the fiscal fourth quarter and continuing sales wins. [See Xplore press release] -- Posted Friday, January 19, 2018

Demand for mobile medical care to take off
Along with mature development of ECG (electrocardiography) and PPG (photoplethysmograph) sensing technologies, ICT firms are keen on developing monitoring devices for use in mobile medical care, which is expected to see demand take off, according to DigiTimes. Mobile medical care will be initially applied to diabetes and cardiac arrhythmia, Digitimes Research said. Global market value for mobile medical care will increase to US$189 billion in 2025 at a compound annual growth rate of 32.3% during 2017-2025, research organizations have forecast. -- Posted Tuesday, January 16, 2018

Ulcer and wound treatment revolutionised by new technology combining GPC 3D WoundCare software and Panasonic rugged tablets
The effective treatment of patients suffering from debilitating pressure ulcers, burns and other wounds is being revolutionised by new 3D imaging software that runs on rugged Panasonic Toughpad tablets and has been developed by Swansea-based health informatics company GPC. Running on a lightweight, yet rugged Panasonic Toughpad FZ-M1 Standard tablet with an integrated Intel RealSense 3D camera, the 3D WoundCare software captures the ulcer image using a simple point and click process. [See Panasonic press release] -- Posted Tuesday, January 16, 2018

Zebra brings Android to vehicle-mounts with new VC80x
Unlike handhelds where Android is coming on very strong, panels and vehicle-mounts are generally still mostly using Windows. That may be changing as more enterprises seek compatibility across their mobile platforms. For that reason, Zebra introduced the Android 7-based VC80x vehicle-mount computer. Using the same design and hardware (except processor and related electronics) as the existing Windows-based VC80, Zebra offers the VC80x as a proven platform to migrate material handling vehicles to the next generation platform for warehouse mobility. [See description, analysis and specs of the Zebra VC80x] -- Posted Tuesday, January 16, 2018

Kyocera DuraTR launches at Sprint, offering military-grade ruggedization and support for new sprint direct connect plus PTT service
Kyocera International Inc., the leader in rugged mobile solutions, today announced the Kyocera DuraTR, a 4G LTE ruggedized, waterproof feature phone with a candy-bar form factor and military-grade durability. It joins Kyocera's DuraForce PRO and DuraXTP as the first devices on the market that will support the new Sprint Direct Connect PlusTM push-to-talk (PTT) service. The DuraTR is available now for just $13.50 per month with Sprint Flex lease. [See Kyocera press release] -- Posted Tuesday, January 16, 2018

Zebra launches vastly upgraded rugged MC3300 with Android 7.0
Zebra announced the MC3300 as a thoroughly modernized and updated next generation of the company's very popular MC3x00 line of rugged wireless handhelds that has sold well over a million units over the years. While earlier updates to the original MC3000 platform mostly concentrated on technology updates and enhancements that leveraged the inherent usefulness of the device, the new MC3300 takes a bolder step forward with full commitment to the Android OS and all the technology required to make it shine. [See description, analysis and specs of the Zebra MC3300] -- Posted Thursday, January 11, 2018

Zebra helps retailers meet omnichannel demands and strengthen store operations
Zebra Technologies Corporation (NASDAQ: ZBRA), the market leader in rugged mobile computers, barcode scanners and barcode printers enhanced with software and services to enable real-time enterprise visibility, today announced new retail solutions designed to help retailers outperform their competition, elevate the customer experience, and strengthen their operations. Zebra will be showcasing these new solutions publicly for the first time in Booth #1603 at the National Retail Federation (NRF) Annual Convention & EXPO on Jan. 14-16, 2018 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City. [See Zebra press release] -- Posted Thursday, January 11, 2018

Full lineup of Xplore rugged tablet solutions now available for purchase through GSA IT Schedule 70
Xplore Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ: XPLR) announced that its full portfolio of rugged, fully rugged and ultra-rugged mobile computing solutions is now available for purchase by government agencies through Solvix Solution's General Services Administration (GSA) IT Schedule 70 contract #GS-35F-088HA / 47QTCA18D002C. Federal, state and local agencies looking for a highly secure and fully-featured computing experience will now benefit from the fast, easy procurement of Xplore's 10" and 12" tablet-based "mobile office" systems. They will also benefit from the expert guidance of Solvix Solutions, a Woman-Owned Small Business (WOSB) that has successfully supplied the U.S. Government with top quality workforce technologies for more than 3 years. [See Xplore press release] -- Posted Wednesday, January 10, 2018

Handheld launches the Nautiz X9 outdoor-rugged Android PDA
Handheld Group, a leading manufacturer of rugged mobile computers, announced the new NAUTIZ X9, a 5-inch, Android 7 "Nougat"-powered ultra-rugged enterprise handheld built for fieldwork in the most challenging outdoor or industrial environments. The new Nautiz X9 Android handheld is targeted for industrial and field applications where reliability is critical and ruggedness is key. Offering a complete and unique set of features, the fully rugged Nautiz X9 can be used as a mobile computer, data collector or field controller. [See description, analysis and specs of the Handheld Nautiz X9] -- Posted Wednesday, January 10, 2018

Spectre and Meltdown
In a blog post entitled Understanding the performance impact of Spectre and Meltdown mitigations on Windows Systems, Terry Myerson, Executive VP, Windows and Devices Group, explains the impact of the recently published chip vulnerabilities, as well as Microsoft's preliminary benchmarks on performance impact of updates and fixes: "With Windows 10 on newer silicon (2016-era PCs with Skylake, Kabylake or newer CPU), benchmarks show single-digit slowdowns, but we don’t expect most users to notice a change because these percentages are reflected in milliseconds. With Windows 10 on older silicon (2015-era PCs with Haswell or older CPU), some benchmarks show more significant slowdowns, and we expect that some users will notice a decrease in system performance. With Windows 8 and Windows 7 on older silicon (2015-era PCs with Haswell or older CPU), we expect most users to notice a decrease in system performance." For a good explanation of the overall issues, see Meltdown, Spectre, and the State of Technology. -- Posted Tuesday, January 9, 2018

Intel announces 8th Gen Core processors with integrated Radeon graphics
It's been eight years since Intel began integrating their own Intel HD graphics right into their processors. Many thought that would be the end of separate graphics subsystems, but that didn't turn out to be the case as graphics-intensive applications continued to require dedicated graphics cards. As a result, "discrete" graphics modules are often available as an option in rugged laptops. Now Intel announced 8th generation Core processors with AMD Radeon RX Vega M graphics. Will this bring greatly improved graphics performance to mobile systems? Probably not just yet, as the new chips start at 65 watt DTP (thermal design power), far more than the typical 15 watts in modern high-performance rugged laptops and tablets. [See Intel press release] -- Posted Monday, January 8, 2018

Juniper Systems partners with ProStar Geocorp to create an affordable, high-accuracy underground utility locate solution
Juniper Systems and ProStar Geocorp have recently joined forces to produce an affordable, efficient solution for capturing precise cable and pipe locating data. Combining Juniper Systems' Cedar CT7G Rugged Tablet and Geode Sub-meter GPS Receiver with ProStar's patented Pointman® software, utility locate professionals are equipped with a powerful, yet user-friendly underground utility locate solution. [See Juniper press release] -- Posted Monday, January 8, 2018

Review: Bezalel wireless charging products
Bezalel is a company that concentrates on wireless power. Their goal is "empowering all people to live free from the entanglement and chaos of all cords." Here at RuggedPCReview we've been using several of Bezalel's products for a few months, and so we'll report on our thoughts about wires and cord cutting first, and then of our experiences with Bezalel's wireless charging technology and products. [See Bezalel's wireless power products — Wire-free charging is coming of age] -- Posted Sunday, January 7, 2018

Featured blog: Juniper Systems' Get Rugged
Juniper Systems' Get Rugged blog has been around for almost five years. Juniper started it as a way for discussing the data collection industry and related news, goings-on at their company, and helpful how-to’s, among many other topics. Recent blogs included Creating a Topographic Survey with the Mesa 2 Rugged Tablet, Water Asset Mapping in Accordance with the New Jersey Water Quality Accountability Act, Android AOSP: What You Need to Know, and The Geode Sub-meter GPS Receiver Put to the Test Under Dense Forest Tree Canopy. [See the Juniper Systems Get Rugged blog] -- Posted Sunday, January 7, 2018

Peter Trosien takes over CEO position at faytech
faytech Tech. Co., Ltd., which specializes in the design, development, manufacturing and marketing of industrial touchscreen monitors and touchscreen PCs, announced that Peter Trosien, who had a 23-year career at German IT solutions firm Pyramid Computer, has taken over the CEO position at the company, starting January 1, 2018. faytech founder Arne Weber, who had held the CEO position, will concentrate on handling strategy, co-operation and technical development of the company. [See faytech new] -- Posted Friday, January 5, 2018

Iridium NEXT launch campaign reaches its halfway point with a fourth successful launch
Many remember Iridium as a futuristic satellite phone system that went live two decades ago, but was quickly overtaken by the explosive growth of land-based cellphone technology. Iridium, though much slower and much more expensive than modern wireless data, lived on in niche markets that absolutely require full global availability. Well, Iridium may soon become more attractive again thanks to Iridium NEXT. In December, SpaceX took the fourth set of ten Iridium NEXT satellites into orbit, reaching the halfway point to a system that will replace the original Iridium constellation, providing better voice quality and much faster data communication. [See Iridium press release] -- Posted Tuesday, January 2, 2018

Global mobile industry ready to start full-scale development of 5G NR
The 3GPP TSG RAN Plenary Meeting in Lisbon successfully completed the first implementable 5G NR specification. AT&T, BT, China Mobile, China Telecom, China Unicom, Deutsche Telekom, Ericsson, Fujitsu, Huawei, Intel, KT Corporation, LG Electronics, LG Uplus, MediaTek Inc., NEC Corporation, Nokia, NTT DOCOMO, Orange, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., Samsung Electronics, SK Telecom, Sony Mobile Communications Inc., Sprint, TIM, Telefonica, Telia Company, T-Mobile USA, Verizon, Vodafone, and ZTE have made a statement that the completion of the first 5G NR standard has set the stage for the global mobile industry to start full-scale development of 5G NR for large-scale trials and commercial deployments as early as in 2019. [See Intel/3GPP press release] -- Posted Tuesday, January 2, 2018

What happened in rugged computing 5 years ago: Jan. 2013
In January 2013, Sprint launched the Kyocera Torque as their first ultra-rugged 4G LTE Android smartphone. Sony showed the water- and shatterproof Sony Xperia Z Android smartphone. Datalogic announced preliminary 2012 annual sales of 462 million Euros. Motorola Solutions announced full-year 2012 sales of US$8.7 billion. We reviewed the Winmate E430T rugged 4.3-inch Android PDA and the TabletKiosk eo a7400 7-inch enterprise Windows tablet. Gammatech introduced the semi-rugged Durabook CA10 tablet, and Panasonic the 7-inch Toughpad JT-B1 and the 10.1-inch Windows 8-based Toughpad FZ-G1. [See full January 2013 archive] -- Posted Monday, January 1, 2018