February 2019

When the original IBM PC XT arrived in 1983, customers were blown away by its cavernous 10megabyte hard drive. It eliminated the need for cartons full of floppy disks and rang in a new era of personal computing. Well, Western Digital's SanDisk and Micron just announced 1TB microSD cards. That's 100,000 times as much storage as that old PC XT had, on a card the size of a fingernail. SanDisk's 1TB card will initially cost US$449, but prices will likely fall quickly.

Panasonic: Solving real world problems with mobile thermal imaging
Panasonic's Rugged Mobility for Business blog posted an interesting article on the emerging uses of mobile thermal imaging. These include finding heat loss or escalation, taking no-contact measurements, and recording photo documentation. Panasonic's article also looks into easier inspection of hidden electrical systems and components, more proactive mechanical inspections, and safer and faster law enforcement interventions. As is, Panasonic's FZ-G1 tablet can be equipped with an integrated FLIR infrared camera, saving the cost of a dedicated thermal gun. [See Panasonic blog Solving real world problems with mobile thermal imaging] -- Posted Monday, February 25, 2019

Janam delivers 40% decrease in water meter reading time
Janam Technologies LLC, a leading provider of rugged mobile computers that scan barcodes and communicate wirelessly, announced today that Stone Oak Property Owners Association (POA) is using XT2 rugged mobile computers from Janam to improve its water meter reading processes. Decision makers at Stone Oak POA selected Janam's XT2 because of its compact size, rugged design and superior barcode scanning technology. [See Janam media release] -- Posted Thursday, February 21, 2019

Full review: DURABOOK S14I
With the S14I semi-rugged laptop, Durabook Americas presents a thoroughly modern tool for customers who require high-performance computing power out there in the field, in vehicles, on the shop floor, or wherever else a tablet or a handheld just won't do. It's an attractive, businesslike machine with a very bright, reflection-free 14-inch wide-format display, good connectivity, excellent battery life, and superior performance, everything that's needed to make the DURABOOK S14I a very strong offering in the hotly contested market of semi-rugged laptops. [See full review of the DURABOOK S14I] -- Posted Tuesday, February 19, 2019

Zebra announces Q4 and full-year 2018 financials
Zebra Technologies announced net sales of $1,137 million in Q4 2018 compared to $1,026 million in Q4 2017. Net income for Q4 2018 was $115 million, compared to $4 million for Q4 2017. Full year 2018 sales were $4.218 billion compared to $3.722 billion in 2017. Net income for 2018 was $421 million, compared with a net income of $17 million in 2017. Net sales in the Enterprise Visibility & Mobility ("EVM") segment (formerly Enterprise segment) were $770 million in Q4 2018 compared with $675 million in the Q4 2017. Asset Intelligence & Tracking ("AIT") segment (formerly Legacy Zebra segment) net sales were $367 million in Q4 of 2018 compared to $351 million in the prior year period. The company expects full-year 2019 net sales to increase approximately 4% to 7% from 2018. This expectation includes an approximately 1 percentage point positive impact from the acquisition of Xplore Technologies. [See Zebra Q4 2018 financials] -- Posted Thursday, February 14, 2019

Added: DT Research DT340T rugged 14-inch tablet for demanding mobile and in-vehicle operation
The primary purpose of tablets is to bring everything you can do on a smartphone to a bigger screen, and do so while still being reasonably light and handy. That's why most tablets have screens in the 10-inch range. But what if you need a bigger screen and more power? That's what DT Research made their big, high-performance 14-inch DT340T tablet for. [See description, analysis and specs of the DT Research DT340T] -- Posted Tuesday, February 12, 2019

Iridium declares victory; $3 billion satellite constellation upgrade complete
Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: IRDM) today hailed the completion of its $3 billion satellite constellation upgrade campaign known as Iridium® NEXT, during a press conference held at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. During the press conference, the company also used the opportunity to introduce a new small-form-factor transceiver known as the Iridium CertusSM 9770, which will enable creation of new consumer and industrial applications that are highly portable and IoT-friendly, optimized for small size and low cost, yet with higher speeds than in the past thanks to the upgraded Iridium satellite network. [See Iridium media release] -- Posted Wednesday, February 6, 2019

What happend in rugged computing 10 years ago: February 2009
In February 2009, we reviewed the RMT Duros 1214 fixed-mount computer. Intermec was on a roll in Australia and Saudi Arabia with its CN3 handheld, and ended its fiscal year with no debt. Fujitsu published a paper on the many uses of capacitive touch (but also backed WiMAX over LTE). Lenovo designated eight ThinkPad laptops as "semi-rugged." Trimble introduced the 7-inch Yuma tablet and support the Iditarod with rugged Nomad and Yuma computers. General Dynamics moved its rugged business (née Itronix) from Spokane to Florida. Microsoft introduced Windows Mobile 6.5 and an app store. ARM announced Cortex-A9 multi processing on the Symbian OS mobile OS. HP began selling Getac rugged PCs. Dell updated its Latitude XT2 tablet with enhanced multi-touch. [See February 2009 rugged computing archives] -- Posted Monday, February 4, 2019

New: Datalogic Memor 1 general purpose touch device
Many jobs in assisted sales, on manufacturing shop floors, in backend receiving, in warehouse distribution and many more depend on reliable, effortless scanning. More often than not, such devices are big and bulky, but not the new Datalogic Memor 1. It's a light and handy Android touch device that comes in versions with or without a pistol-grip. It has integrated industrial-grade scanning, wireless charging, and is economically priced. [See description, analysis and specs of the Datalogic Memor 1] -- Posted Friday, February 1, 2019