New Delhi: Panasonic unveiled two new Toughpad devices - the Toughpad FZ-F1 and FZ-N1 - at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
The Panasonic Toughpad FZ-N1 will be available as a Wi-Fi model in March at price of $1,499 (approximately Rs. 103,000) while the voice model will be launched in summer. The Windows 10-based Panasonic Toughpad FZ-F1 will be launched at $1,599 (approximately Rs. 110,000) and will be available starting in the second half of 2016.
The company also says that the Panasonic handheld Toughpads will be available via authorised Panasonic handheld resellers and come with 3-year warranty. The company is touting its new Toughpad devices as handheld tablets but will classify voice-calling devices below 7-inches as phones.
The Toughpad FZ-F1 and FZ-N1 feature rear barcode reader that will allow the user to scan items and also pack barcode reader activation buttons on either side making it easy for use by left- or right-handed users. Other features of the phone include a glove enabled display and sunlight adaptive display with rain sensing mode. The company says that the Toughpad FZ-F1 and FZ-N1 feature a drop rating of 1.8 metres and have passed tumble test from 1 metre. The smartphones come with IP65 and IP67 certification requirements that can withstand in up to 1 metre of water for 30 minutes.
The Panasonic Toughpad FZ-F1 and FZ-N1 feature 4.7-inch (720x1280 pixels) display and are powered by 2.3GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 (MSM8974AB) processor with Adreno 330 GPU coupled with 2GB RAM. Both the phones pack 16GB inbuilt storage and support expandable storage via microSD card (up to 64GB). Both these devices differ only on the OS front. The FZ-F1 runs on Windows 10 IoT Mobile Enterprise while the FZ-N1 runs on Android 5.1.1 Lollipop. They support dual-SIM functionality apart from Bluetooth 4.1, NFC and GPS. The devices come with an 8-megapixel rear with LED flash as well as 5-megapixel front camera. Both come with a 3200mAh battery while the company offer an optional 6200mAh long-life battery back.
Commenting on the launch, Jan Ruderman, Vice President, Business Mobility Group, Panasonic System Communications Company of North America, said, "Enterprise and government users are looking to do more with handheld tablets than ever before. The majority of handheld computer solutions in market today are using an antiquated OS and are vastly underpowered. Additionally, older devices aren't compatible with today's standard enterprise applications, offer poor voice and data features and are larger and heavier than they need to be. The Toughpad FZ-F1 and FZ-N1 handheld tablets give companies looking for an up-to-date, powerful, flexible and purpose-built solution, an excellent option that will improve efficiency, productivity and bottom-line performance for years to come."
