14 DAY TRIAL // When you say rugged tablets, you automatically think of bulkiness and heaviness, don’t you? Well, Xplore Technologies wants to challenge this dogma and show you that rugged slates can be (relatively) light and full of grace.
Maybe that all sounds a little bit too poetic, but the company’s latest Bobcat tablet is one sleek device compared to the previous chunky Windows-based XC6 it put out.
Shredding all the "fat" hasn't rendered the Bobcat less rugged, not by a long shot. The device can continue working in extreme temperatures and withstand drops from almost 2m / 6.56 ft on concrete, so it’s one tough cookie. And that's all because the Bobcat has MIL-STD 810G and IP65 certification.
Anyway, let’s advance to some real specifications. The full rugged 10.1-inch Bobcat is 2.2cm / 0.86 inches thick and weighs just 1.09 kg / 2.4 lbs.
Surely, this might not sound very sleek to you, but consider the fact that in the world of rugged tablets this product could be considered a supermodel. To compare, the Getac F110 is 1.45 kg / 3.2 lbs and about 2.5cm / 1 inch thick.
The tablet comes with a 10-inch display with a rugged IPS panel offering 500-nit brightness, 800:1 contrast ration and a resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels (155ppi).
Since the tablet is going to be used in outdoor environments for the most part, the screen is anti-reflective in order to allow workers to make good use of the device despite lightning conditions.
The tablet houses a lot of its ports on the left-hand side including two full-size USB 3.0 ports, micro-SD card slot, SIM card slot, Micro HDMI port plus headphone jack. Moreover, the slate takes advantage of an Ethernet jack and an optional Sierra Wireless 4G modem.
The powerhouse of the Xplore Bobcat is an Intel 1.91GHz quad-core Atom E3845 Bay Trail processor fitted with 4GB of RAM and 128GB Toshiba SSD (to be increased up to 240GB).
The slate has two cameras (720p one in the front and 5MP-megapixel snapper with flash on the back) and runs Windows 8.1 out of the box.
Since this is not a tablet aimed at the average users, you should expect the Bobcat to sell for a hefty price tag. For example, if you opt to have 256GB SSD and the 4G modem onboard, you’ll have to take $2,200 / €1,616 out of your bank account.