And so I got my Toughpad in today!

It's AWESOME! LOVE IT!

I will post a review when I have time on the plane next week while going out to Texas.

But I will say a few things:

1) It's a little heavy, but not as heavy as my H1.
2) The touchscreen disables as soon as you use the digitizer pen just like any dual touch toughbook
3) I can't get my Microsoft OneNote database to open for the life of me on this thing! GAH! The Onenote Mobile app works but doesn't display stinkin' handwritten "ink" - CAN SOMEONE HELP ME HERE!?!
4) The Verizon 4G LTE is FAST AS HELL!
5) The little power brick that it comes with is BEYOND TINY
6) I have a DC LIND adapter on order
7) I eventually will have more Gamber and Johnson stuff on order to mount it in my truck
8) I set up Rugged Depot as a vendor for Arkon mounting so I have a free demo coming in from them as well. I will wait to order the mounting/docking once I see this mounting/docking first.
9) I have a 32GB MICROSD chip in the mail from Newegg so I can put my music on it.
10) All the apps I need to use that I use on my phone (DROID RAZR MAXX/Android 4.0) work GREAT on this device too!
11) Navigation works GREAT both through the Navigation app and through Navigator Free (Maps on internal memory)

Pics here: Index of ./Toughpad Stuff/Robs New Toughpad 1.3.12/

SO EXCITED!

 

Looks good. What are those hinges on the port cover made out of?

 

Thin @$$ plastic... What else!? LOL

 

Does it use a digitizer compatible with the H1 or the C1? Do either of those pens work? (I am hoping it is WACOM and not the H1 screen tech.)

 

Looks good, have fun with it.

 

YES, it IS a Wacom digitizer and ANY digitizer pen will work with it.

I found a digitized only pen app that is fluid and flawless! Its called quill and is only $1
The dual touch on this toughpad is the same as a normal dual touch toughbook. In other words, it is dual touch until the digitizer pen is there and it automatically disables the touch. This is system wide.
There is an option in the app to permanently disable the touch and ONLY respond to digitizer functions. It works great! This pressure sensitive part works great too! Only thing I can't get to work is the eraser function on the special pens. However, the eraser works better than one note anyways.

 

You can see more Toughpads available at this link: Best Rugged Tablet - Panasonic Toughbook Tablets (Toughpad)

JT-B1 - 7" Android

JT-B1APAAZAM - Android 4.0, TI OMAP4460 1.5GHz Dual Core, 7 WSVGA Multi-Touch, 16GB, 1GB, WiFi a/b/g/n, Bluetooth, GPS, No Drive, Toughbook Preferred for JT-B1 Mk1 - MSRP: $1,279.00

FZ-G1 - 10" Windows 7 Pro OS - NOT SKUED UP YET. - i5 CPU

 

Windows 8 Pro.

Image from Toughpad brochure )

 

So what the heck, I downloaded the 5.9MB .pdf file. Wow what a slick 13 page commercial!

Just thought I'd check the posting in this Panasonic "notebook" forum as I've so far done most of my posting in the Lenovo forum.

Your info on the expensive Panasonic tablet (above), seems more like a takeoff of the Mac iPad.

 

Ah I missed that you titled the thread as "Toughpad"

Sorry!

 

Congrats Rob. Yours is the A1 (10 inch Android)? You should add a picture of the "tiny power brick" with something beside it to show relative size.

Also, take a look at the desktop stand accessory in the 5th (retail) picture down in that brochure. Very Apple-esque. And the keyboard. Very clunky (but rugged) by comparison.

 

I wonder how long until the Windows 8 Toughpad comes out. It looks like it might be an upgrade to worth considering.

 

Here is my review on my new FZ-A1BDAAV1M:

Screen: Perfect. Just excellent. It’s bright, crisp, and doesn’t glare at all. It’s 500 nits and having it in my vehicle has proven to be just great. I can see it just fine at full blast with the sun shining directly on it through the window in my truck.

Digitizer functionality: As stated already, the dual touch capability is great. When the digitizer pen is put down on the screen it disables the touchscreen so your palm doesn’t mess with it. It is a CAPACITIVE TOUCH screen and doesn’t work with other foreign objects like a plastic stylus from a CF-30 touchscreen model. I don’t like that fact, but I haven’t had an issue with it yet. I cannot for the life of me figure out what functionality the little button on the digitizer pen serves (Obviously it’s a right click on a normal Windows 7/XP machine. Also, I have the digi pen that has an eraser on the other end and it doesn’t work either. It just acts and a normal digitized tip. I downloaded the “Quill” app to take notes and there is an option IN THAT PROGRAM to disable the touch screen and use only the digitizer function. That is a great feature and I like it!

Battery: Battery is great. Can easily get through an entire day with the screen at full blast! When in standby mode, if left on overnight (8 hours) it consumes 30%!!!!!! This sucks! The way around this is to turn the machine completely off.

Bootup: Bootup times are not bad. Less than 1 minute on average with the Android 4.0 system. Sometime when you turn the screen on after standby it takes about 2 seconds to actually come on and isn’t INSTANT like an iPad would be. That is a weird thing and I feel it will be fixed in time.

Verizon 4G LTE: Obviously the 4G around me here in Chicago is CRAZY FAST. Real world download speeds around 15MB EASY and upload at 5 – 7MB. The Verizon will stay connected with the screen on and when the WIFI is enabled (But it routes all the internet traffic though the WIFI of course). The Verizon “sleeps” when you turn the screen off and takes a good 20 seconds to connect after you turn the screen back on. It’s not a problem, it connects and works just fine every time, but it’s not INSTANT! This in another thing I feel can be fixed with software updates.

External audio jack: EXCELLENT! Panasonic nailed the audio quality on the head on this! Using Pandora with “High quality audio” enabled yields AMAZING SOUND in my truck through the AUX port. So go that I’m tempted to say it’s the best quality music I’ve ever heard come out of my truck! It’s a GREAT
experience! I don’t have the most high end audio in my truck, but I do have HD speakers (HD satellite radio too) and it’s simply remarkable how great the quality is!!!!

OS: Android 4.0 is a pretty rock solid platform on the phones (including my DROID RAZR MAXX) and that is no exception here. Runs great, hasn’t crashed yet. One issue I would say is pretty ridiculous is that with the latest version of Chrome browser and the latest built in, default calendar app, it just crashes. These programs just simply don’t run! I have no clue why. I have found that I can get the calendar app to work if I use the tablet in landscape mode, but that simply isn’t practical so I removed all updates and went back to the “old version”

Bluetooth: I have a $200 Jambox Bluetooth speaker that I use all day every day. The audio quality is the same as my CF-19 or H1 via Pandora, but for some reason when you pause the music the damn thing disconnects and re-connects NON-STOP! It’s BEYOND annoying!!! I also have a $100 Monster branded BT speaker and I will use it all week while here in Texas and hope for better results. The Monster doesn’t yield anywhere NEAR the audio quality as the Jambox, but it’s my “travel speaker”.

Camera: camera is just as good as the camera on my phone. It has a flash and the “flashlight” app works great too. I’ve used it to deposit checks to my Chase account just like I do on my phone and it worked great! The front facing camera is good too although I haven’t tried it with Skype yet.

Accelerometer: Fluid, works better than the one in my RAZR phone! I like it. It works with ALL angles even upside down! SMART MOVE THERE PANASONIC!!!

WIFI: Works great. No problems at all yet at my house. Will be testing and using it all week in Texas, so we’ll report back later on that.

Infocase: Great – I bought the xstrap version (NOT the hand strap one) and it’s a TIGHT fit. I’m breaking it in before I attach the permanent Velcro adhesive sticky pad things. Comes with a shoulder strap so I can throw the thing over my shoulder. Love it!

Internal speaker: MEH!! Just as I’d expect it to be on any tablet. Nothing great, but effective as it needs to be.


That’s it for now!

 

Check battery statistics - available in Android. It's 100% software (maybe additional software) bug.

 

If one were to buy their first Toughpad, which of the three would you suggest?

 

I was thinking there was only 2 so I took a closer look. Didn't realize they were doing one in windows. Going to have to check out the specs for it, I was thinking they were going to keep them all android.

 

Its an overpriced and under powered sub standard Android tablet.
Local PD got em in, sent em back 24 hours later, its chassis is impressive, but that's where it ends.
Once you look at specs and performance, coupled with price, its just a dumb decision.
Every location up here that has seen or got them, has sent them back.
Its crap, and you can tell with the reviews who is BIASED and who is not.
Toughpad, sounds like a maxi-pad for active women...

But these... These look interesting....
http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=6732
Screw the Android rubbish, gimme one of these.

 

I think they need to be dual booted like the viewsonic viewpad 10. Android and Windows 7.

And you could do that with the Windows model, set up a dual boot with the Android X86 project. i5 1.9, 4 to 8 gb of ram and SSD drive. Sounds like a good combo.

The specs on the Android units don't sound too bad as long as they got there custom image right. If the software isn't right it will be a slug. The reason I got the HTC inspire and not the Motorola Atrix. The Atrix is 1ghz dual core with 1gb ram, the Inspire is single core 1ghz with 768mb ram. The inspire out of the box beat it hands down in a speed contest. Maybe with rooting and playing with the image it can really shine. Cryomod time maybe, lol.\

Rob, If someone was to play with the image how hard is it to get the android units restored back to stock? Do they have any restore media with them. Every Android tablet I have seen so far does not have any kind of restore media.

 

I agree.
And Windows 8 devices have HD 800nit display. It's interesting, usable and actual.
But I think prices will be USD 3000+ )

 

$2800+
Pfft.... Priced for morons...