14 DAY TRIAL // The media tablet market is branching out now, with ASUS having made an item which, despite running Android, is intended not for consumers but for the enterprise segment.
Some people might not be aware of the fact that tablets have actually been on sale for quite some time before the iPad appeared.
While the Apple device did set up the media slate market for consumers, the fact is that many tablets, with or without keyboards, were made for one or more industrial segments in the past.
The sort of merger of these two types of slate has now occurred, taking the form of the TOUGH ETBW11AA.
Created by ASUS, the tablet has the insides of a media tablet (Android 3.2, Tegra 2) packed in a frame made of durable materials, for survival in less than technologically-friendly environments.
More specifically, the item has IPX4 waterproofing, IP5X grade dust resistance and the ability to survive 76 cm drops onto concrete.
The predictable downside is that the slate is in no way as cheap as common tablets, though it is hard to tell for sure how severe this disadvantage is since no word on the cost was given.
There is a more easily visible downside though, namely the bulkiness.
The slate measures 215 x 132 x 20-22.2 mm and weighs a total of 630 grams because of all the rubber covering it and everything else. Considering that the screen size is just 7 inches, this is saying something.
Then again, enterprise-centric devices don't really care overmuch for beauty as long as they work, especially knowing that people who get to work in hazardous environments usually have the physical strength to shrug off the weight.
What will really determine the tablet's success is the life of the 7,400mAh battery pack. Alas, it is just as unspecified as the price, so prospective buyers have to wait until November 2011, when it goes on sale in Japan.