Toughpad FZ-A2 - honest (!) opinions? 8-)

Seen Toughpad FZ A2's for sale. Didn't know Panasonic had actually released a new 10.1" format Android tablet to replace the nice but annoying FZ A1's but from first glance the specs look good.

Price wise they seem to be selling for over A$2500 new at present.

So can anyone offer any honest real world opinions of the FZ A2 or is it too early to tell?

Seems Panasonic may have listened to many of the complaints about the FZ A1 but I'm yet to see one in person to enable a side by side comparison.

Craig.

 

Just saw one on ebay for 2k US,at least it uses a conventional ac adapter now. Problem is by the time the price drops,will it be completely obsolete or will we be able to update the OS?

 

At least it's running a much more 'developed' version of Android (4.4.x kitkat) compared to the fz-a1 which only runs 4.0.3 and cannot (officially) be upgraded.

I've seen a few ads for new fz-a2's in tech mags here but not laid eyes on one in person.

As with any tech product, the day it's released for sale it becomes obselete! Hence the day the Samsung S8 went on sale, it was already out of date!

It's how effectively we make use of the hardware in it's offered form that matters.

 

Part of the joy of living in the "west" and 62 miles from town is that anything is new. Yeah there are two "cities" closer than that but they regard laptops as doorstops with handles.

 

ehhh ...
the town i grew up in was so small that the electrical supply was via an extension cord from the "big city" .

yeah ...
the situation aint much better here .
i think i have bought about maybe 40 bucks worth the electronic parts locally in the last 10 years .
no more though ... the trash shack here shut down and the parts selection had gotten very thin over the years ... as with all of them .
all i buy comes from yourselves , ebay , mouser , digikey , aliexpress and dealextreme .

surely panasonic would have seen what was going on and made the unit/os upgradeable .
android is an interesting os ... just as with windows , the backward/foreward compatibility can be limited only with android it seems to be more so .
a quick check of the "compatibility" of programs with older os versions will show this .
i liken it to where W98-2 was when XP was released .

 

Speaking of Windows I still run my old CF28 occasionally, and it's still run Win XP pro, as is the CF18 and CF29 I do still use quite often. Never had a need to change.

I guess the FZ-A1 and it's smaller 7" cousin were the 'prototype' hardware so nothing was really set in stone for upgrades. I think the FZ-A1 originally had Android 3.2 though, so at the time 4.0.3 would have been a significant change.

Hopefully Panasonic gets smart and at least creates an upgrade to 5.1.x for the FZ-A2 as lots of apps will not run on older versions.

 

I'm considering getting a FZ-A2 and noticed Panasonic Australia doesn't acknowledge there existence.

I doubt that really matters as I never cared about support for the FZ-A1. ;-)

Is there anything specific to the FZ-A2's that won't work here? I'm presuming the radio hardware in them supports 3g and 4g (fz-a1 only supports 3g [plus now-defunct 2g]) with all the most common bands?

Does it *properly* support the use of a micro-SD card?

I'm coming across two main configs for sale - FZA2A200GAA and FZA2A200MAA - does anyone know what the difference(s) is(are) with them?

 

ftp://ftp.panasonic.com/computer/specsheet/fz-a2_specsheet.pdf

 

Haven't seen any FZA2's come up for sale in the used market here yet. Is or has Panasonic offering any Android OS upgrades for it or is it knobbled with an old release (stuck with 4.4 maybe but at least that's a quite 'mature' version in the whole 4.x stream) and not upgradable through any vendor-supported route?

 

https://na.panasonic.com/us/computers-tablets-handhelds/tablets/tablets/toughpad-fz-a2

 

Software & Hardware Android 6.0.1-powered tablet with software encryption for enterprise-grade security and management

Intel® x5-Z8550 processor (2M Cache, 1.44 GHz up to 2.4 GHz)
Durability Fully Rugged
Display 10.1-inch WUXGA , 800 nit daylight-readable screen with 10-point capacitive touch
Battery Standard 9-hour with hot-swap battery
Ports & Expansions USB 3.1 Type-C, USB A 3.0, HDMI output, front and rear cameras, optional 2D barcode reader or additional USB A 2.0 and Smart Card reader
Wireless Wi-Fi with GPS or optional 4G LTE mobile broadband with GPS, Bluetooth® 4.2, optional dual pass external antenna connection
Weight 2 lbs.
Certification: MIL-STD-801G, IP65
Warranty 3-year warranty with business-class support
1 Exclusively configurable by selecting one from barcode reader or secondary USB A 2.0.

 

Hmmm doing a google search brings up an Australian tech retailer claiming to have available stock 'at the supplier' of this config:
FZ-A2A200GAA

so does anyone know exactly what that is?

Quoted price is under A$2k so that's a lot better than when they first appeared!

 

google tells me it is a
FZ A2
mk1
4gb ram
32gb storage memory
built in gps
Android 6.0

 

Righto I have come across another local Australian supplier listing three different FZA2 model codes. There's
FZ-A2A200GAA

as mentioned previously, but also
FZ-A2A200MAA

and
FZ-A2A202MAA

Righto found yet another Aussie site with all three listed, and it's smartly listing the different specs...

The first one is a std config pricing under A$2k, the second one adds 4g MBB (mobile broadband) support pricing around A$2.3k, and the last one also adds a barcode reader pricing a bit under A$3k. There might be other differences I can't figure out yet.

Does anyone know how good (or bad) the built-in MBB radio hardware is?

 

Prices have gone up - the basic configuration now sells for over A$2k, the middle one for about A$2.5k and the top of the range one for about A$3k.

Does anyone happen to know if FZ-A2's imported from say the USA as used items will automatically work here, or will I need to buy one here to get the right 3g/4g functionality with Australian mobile broadband services?

 

The difference in price in between the FZ-A2 and the CF-20 is small and, at least with the CF-20 you can upgrade to the latest android x86 versions.

You can also swap the cellular module in the CF-20, i doubt you will be able to in the FZ-A2(even if hardware allows it the software probably won't)

 

I'm running Android 6 on this tablet....it sucks. A Lot of apps not compatible including tapitalk.

But it was cheap....

 

Panasonic tends to not keep android versions up to date on their devices, i would stay away from arm toughbooks or toughpads.

 

I have to agree after having the FZ-A1.

 

But it does make a good e-reader.

 

Pricing on new FZ-A2's here is still high and the prices have jumped up a fair bit, so I'm finding it harder to justify A$2 to 2.5k for one. Given that FZ-A1's used now sell for around A$200 a pop (basically because they cannot be upgraded beyond Android 4.0.3 so basically nothing can run on them). I actually extracted all my image files, etc. off my FZ-A1 just recently and have parked it since it's useless now. Android 6 should be supported by everything? 4.4 Kitkat is pretty much the baseline level now.

 

I have a CF-20 and it offers me way more flexibility than a Panasonic android tablet ever will. You can install android on it as well if you really want to use it.
Made a quick video with android 8.1 x86 on this tablet, not sure about bluetooth functionnality but almost everything else seemed fine. Even the keyboard and play store works!

 

I wouldn't do it. I'm running Android 6.0 right now and already having problems with app compatibility.

For the kind of money you are looking to spend you are going to end up at the same dead end as the A1.

 

And this is the view I'm getting from people who work in the tech industry. My phone (Sonim xp8) just did an Android 8.1 update a week ago. My FZ-A1 is now a useless brick (the camera is ok but to keep using it just for that - no thanks).

I'd be better off with a Samsung galaxy tab s4 in a protective case, sad to say.

 

I'm seeing a lot of the D1 tablets for sale but its a Windows 10 and big. This 6.0 tablet I'm on can be a pain but it was $65 US new.

Off brand but if I replace it someday I will go Android 8 at least.

 

CF D1 runs Linux nicely.
I have MX-18 on mine.

 

Hey, sunrk, I still use a Samsung S4 - it's been in a £30 Trident case since new, been dropped lots, been too hot to touch from using it as a hotspot - sometimes had 3 Toughbooks and an ipad running at the same time. Tethering has caused 3 batteries to swell up and pop the screen off and the phone still looks like new after five years or more of such abuse. Just got the monthly bill down to £5 though so it'll probably die next week...

 

It might be worth it for you to get a dedicated device for hotspot purposes as a second device on your data plan, i would be worried that the battery would end up catching on fire.