Panasonic Launches Rugged Android Tablet in Toughbook Range

Panasonic announced a product called the Viera Tablet at the CES earlier this year, but it's just released details of a rugged new tablet aimed at professional users that it's dubbed the Toughbook.

The concept behind the Viera Tablet was an Android tablet connected directly to a Viera TV, but the new product, which has been officially confirmed, will be a 10.1'' tablet called the Toughbook.

Panasonic's Toughbook range has a long heritage and is made up of laptop computers and tablets that are mostly designed for demanding professionals that need to be able to use them in 'extreme' environments like a building site or by the side of the road.  They include reinforced protection, shock-resistant casing and sometimes even waterproofing.

This new tablet is cut from the same all-terrain cloth, with a reinforced shell, easy to reach physical buttons instead of touch-sensitive ones and—this is the best bit—a very bright display with a matte finish that allows it to be used out of doors without any problems.


The tablet will have a stylus (so the HTC Flyer will be less of an anomaly at least ...) and will come in WiFi-only and combined WiFi/3G versions.

Panasonic hasn't yet confirmed which version of Android will be included, nor how much it will cost or an official launch date, beside vague promises of 'late 2011'.  We can hardly wait to get started on crash-testing a tablet!

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