Panasonic ToughPad: Pro Android Tablet Coming Spring 2012

Announced back in June with release initially scheduled for this winter, Panasonic's ToughPad FZ-A1 tablet for pros will now be landing in spring 2012.

Panasonic has confirmed it'll be launching into the touchscreen tablet market with a product designed for use in all kinds of work environments, the ToughPad FZ-A1.

Lining up alongside the firm's ToughBook pro-oriented laptops, the Panasonic tablet will have a high-resistance, splashproof, scratchproof and dust-resistant design in line with several military standards. In fact, Panasonic's tablet can resist being dropped from heights of 120 cm and has a rubber surround for extra protection.

This rough, tough design can be practical for all kinds of hands-on pros, including doctors, construction site engineers and scientists. It has a 1.2 GHz processor by Marvell and 1 GB of RAM.

Note that one of the processor cores is used for data protection and hardware encryption.

The 10.1-inch capacitive touchscreen has a resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels, as well as an anti-glare finish to help keep reflections at bay. The maximum screen brightness is 500 cd/m².

The ToughPad comes with a stylus, although there's no word yet about exactly how this can be used with the tablet (pressure levels, gestures etc.). It weighs 970 grammes in total and boasts connections including micro-USB, microSD, micro-HDMI, a proprietary connector for a dock and a 3.5 mm headphones socket. What's more, battery life is announced at 10 hours and the product battery can be removed and user-replaced if required—a nice touch!

The ToughPad FZ-A1 is an all-terrain tablet that's due to ship with Android Honeycomb 3.2. However, with its release now scheduled for spring 2012, we reckon there's a chance it'll be upgraded to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich before hitting stores.

Check out the ToughPad in action in this delightful promotional video:

 

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