Panasonic is delivering a few good smartphones and tablets in recent times. Why even a finicky and almost nagging user would opt for a Panasonic Toughpad FZ-M1 on Amazon. The best feature offered by this tablet is the excellent value for money it offers.
The tablets font is slightly different, though. Panasonic tablets is solely concentrating on the industrial tablets which are not your everyday leisure and pleasure tablets. Now, while that might seem to be a deterrent when you are planning to buy it for regular use (it shouldn't be, we will explain why), these tablets are excellent when you need something for your outdoor jobs.
You might be a field engineer or a roaming salesman or even an on-site repair mechanic, you can use these tablets to get your work done. And, contrary to popular belief, these tablets can easily be your entertainment tablets as well. While there are a couple of designs around, the Toughpad FZ-M1 is certainly the best choice when multiple usefulness is considered.
Before we explain it in details, have a look at the tablet. A lot the image would explain many features itself.
OK, coming to the features of this laptop, first thing first, this is not an Android tablet. This runs on Windows 10 Pro, and Panasonic strongly recommends Windows 10 as well. There are certain advantages of using Windows on the work tablet because Windows is still the most preferred operating system in the professional world and with Windows running on this tablet will make it compatible with most of the ‘neighbouring’ devices.
It’s tough! Really really tough!
Now, when we say, anytime, anywhere in the title, we really meant it. You can carry it anywhere, even to a war-zone. It has more than enough protection inside Magnesium alloy chassis encased with ABS. The corners, the most damage prone area, are covered with elastomer corner guards. But then, this device is IP65 certified as well which means that this comes with the highest dust and water protection in the present world.
However, dust and water are not the only nemesis of the electronic gadgets in the modern world although they are still the largest threats. Apart from those, there are certain other threats which the field engineer’s tablet should be prepared to face. Magnetic or Electromagnetic disturbances are such forces. These forces are becoming more prevalent with IoT (Internet of Things, where everything, even your toaster will be connected to the internet) and NFC becoming commonplace. Then, of course, there are threats which don't occur daily, like extreme operating temperature. However, the safer it is, the better it is.
So, coming to the unusual protection this tablet has, it is protected against 5 feet drop, altitude, shock, vibration, rain, dust, sand, freeze/thaw, high/low temperature, temperature shock, humidity and explosive atmosphere. In short, like we said before, Toughpad FZ-M1 can be operated in a war-zone, and it will not have any problem.
There can be another way of interpreting my “Anywhere Anytime” title, and that is how it can be the most ideal tablet for any purpose and any situation. For that, the tablet must have great adaptability. This is an aspect which is stressed upon by Panasonic, and they claim that Panasonic FZ-M1 is the “most configurable 7-inch tablet”.
Let's verify this claim.
First of all, the tablet has multiple standard ports, like USB 3.0 or USB 2.0, MicroSD, Ethernet. But it also has other features which you will not find in tablets, like Smartcard reader, magnetic stripe reader, Near Field Communication (NFC), 2D barcode reader, True Serial, and UHF RFID. Any or a combination of these features can make it the tablet a mobile POS, a distribution kiosk, a floor supervisor’s mobile record book and more.
If you are not satisfied or if you are not looking for these features, then you can also try these features. 4G LTE multi-carrier mobile broadband with satellite GPS, dedicated GPS (UBLOX NEO M8 SERIES) or optional dual high-gain antenna pass-through for WWAN AND GPS.
If you are a roaming engineer, instead of a roaming salesman, these features would be rather life-saving for you. Especially, when you consider that the tablet already has hardware like Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 8260 Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth v4.1 (Class 1) + EDR. For the security of the communication and/or the sensitive data it might transmit, there is an extensive list of authentications and encryptions including LEAP, WPA, 802.1x, EAP-TLS, EAP-FAST, PEAP and CKIP, TKIP, 128-bit and 64-bit WEP, Hardware AES.
The Power Supply
But to carry it around, you would require a battery which delivers, isn't it? That would be my last consideration here, and we will not bore you with the hardware specification.
Not only you get a long-life battery delivering up to 16 hours (9 hours if you buy the standard 3200mAh battery) of operation without charging, you can actually hot-swap (replacing the battery without shutting the tablet down) a battery. The tablet carries a tiny auxiliary battery which gives you 1 minute to replace the battery. Carry a couple of batteries with you if you really can't charge it.
In short, Panasonic FZ-M1 is a rugged tablet which is pretty ready to take on any operating environment and processing or connectivity challenges. Moreover, the number of possible customisation is high, making it ideal for carrying to “anywhere, anytime.”
