101667 The Toughbook S1 Is Panasonic's Rugged Beast Of A Tablet

The Toughbook S1 Is Panasonic’s Rugged Beast Of A Tablet



While they might not be the hottest seller for consumers, tablets are still in demand among certain industries. Because of this, Panasonic has just launched its Toughbook S1, According to XDA Developers. It’s a ruggedized monster of a tablet.

The Touchbook S1 is equipped to handle harsh physical abuse

The overall build of the Touchbook S1 is robust. Depending on the variant you buy, it will either have IP 65 or IP 67 water and dust resistance. It’s clad in thick slabs of plastic that are all screwed in place. All of the ports are covered with rubber covers. It has a MIL-STD-810H certification. This means that it’s rated to withstand a lot of physical abuse like falls, bumps, and other things that would destroy an iPad. This is similar to what LG would do with its flagship phones.

On the bottom is where we see most of the action. Below, we see a barcode scanner that protrudes from the device. We also see the back-facing camera, the battery compartment, and two USB ports.

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It has two batteries, one removable and one integrated. This allows you to “warm-swap” the battery. If the main battery (which is the swappable one) dies or gets low, there’s an integrated backup battery that keeps the tablet alive while you switch the battery. It only allows you about 30 seconds of life while you switch the main battery.

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The display is made for business, not pleasure

The display isn’t really anything to write home about, but it’s not really for content consumption. It’s a 1,280 x 800 panel that’s most likely LCD. It’s not exactly a Retina display, but the 720p display is just enough to get the job done.

While it’s understandable that it’s not the sharpest, the 500-nit brightness may be an issue for people who work outside mostly. The screen might be washed out easily in direct sunlight.

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What’s neat about the display is that it has different modes. Notably, it has a glove mode that’s perfect for people who need to wear gloves on their jobs.

The Toughbook S1 will launch with Android 10

Where the Toughbook S1 shines in the hardware department, it lags behind in the software department. It will launch with Android 10 in tow. It’s a bit behind the curve with Android 12 soon to get its beta. While it’s not the shiny version of Android, version 10 should suit this tablet just fine.

Certain lifestyle features that we’re seeing in Android 11/12 aren’t really necessary for this tablet. This is mostly for people in factories, construction workers, first responders, and other people in harsh industries.

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Panasonic did say that it will issue an update to the newest version of Android eventually. We’re not sure when this will be, and we’re not sure if the company will consider Android 11, or wait for Android 12.

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