THE GOODS
Your Business Toolbox
3
2
1
4
Tough Customers
Great rugged tablets for business
When you think of tablets, the word rugged doesn’t usually spring to mind. These durable models
are designed to withstand a range of abuse, including drops, spills, and even full submersion in
water. We roughed them up to see if they’re as tough as advertised. —John Brandon
SCREENS: CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: FRANZ ABERHAM/GET TY; RAJ KAMAL/GET TY; WALLACE GARRISON/GET TY
BES T FOR: Smaller budgets
DELL LATITUDE 10
1
TABLE TS: COURTES Y COMPAN Y ( 4); DIRT: NICHOLAS COPE/GETT Y;
A great option in the
business-rugged cate-
gory, the 1.47-pound Latitude
has a magnesium-alloy case
and durable 10.1-inch LCD
screen. The speedy Windows 8
tablet has front- and rear-
facing cameras, as do the
other models we tested,
and an optional fingerprint
scanner. It comes with a trial
version of Microsoft Office
2010 and lasts 10 hours fully
charged. During our test, it
survived a 4-foot drop onto a
low-pile carpet. One complaint:
The screen was hard to read
in direct sunlight. COST: $649
for a 1.8GHz processor, 2GB
of RAM, and 64GB of storage,
plus $100 for the docking
station pictured above
BEST FOR: Extreme conditions
GETAC Z710
This fully rugged Android
4. 1 tablet has a soft plastic
outer shell and a 7-inch LCD
screen. Unlike the other tablets
here, the 1.7-pound Getac is
fully waterproof and can operate
in subzero temperatures. During our test, it survived a 6-foot
drop onto carpet. The screen
was less responsive after we
dunked the tablet underwater
but returned to normal when
it dried. The tablet, which lasts
10 hours fully charged, comes
with custom apps and has an
optional bar-code scanner and
radio-frequency identification
reader. Downsides: It was a bit
slow, and the screen was hard
to see in direct sun. COST: $1,499
for a 1GHz processor, 1GB of
RAM, and 16GB of storage
2
BEST FOR: Fieldwork
PANASONIC TOUGHPAD FZ-A1
This 2.1-pound, fully
rugged tablet has a
magnesium-alloy case and
a 10.1-inch antiglare screen
that was easy to read in direct
sunlight. A plastic insert
popped off the camera when
we dropped the tablet 4 feet
onto concrete, but it was
otherwise unscathed. It also
withstood a dousing with a
bottle of water. Another plus?
The Toughpad, which runs on
the Android 4.0 operating
system and lasts 10 hours fully
charged, can be equipped with
a bar-code reader. It also
comes loaded with a few apps,
including Google Maps and
Adobe Reader. COST: $1,299 for
a 1.2GHz processor, 1GB of
RAM, and 16GB of storage
3
BEST FOR: Versatility
FUJITSU S TYLISTIC Q702
You can use the 1.87-
pound Stylistic as a
tablet or attach it to an
included QWERTY keyboard
to transform it into a laptop.
The business-rugged tablet,
which runs on Windows 7, has
a magnesium-alloy case, an
11.6-inch screen, and a finger-
print scanner. It survived being
dropped 4 feet onto a carpet
and sprayed with a sink hose.
The Stylistic, which comes with
a trial version of Office 2010,
was the fastest tablet in our
test group. Two drawbacks:
The tablet’s screen was
unreadable in direct sunlight,
and it lasts just five hours on
a full charge. COST: $1,399 for
a 1.8GHz processor, 4GB of
RAM, and 128GB of storage
4
