Road warriors looking for the best rugged tablets on the market today may be disappointed: there is no one rugged tablet that’s clearly best. Why? “It starts with understanding work flow, how the user is going to use it and all the elements (including peripherals) that are going to be used efficiently, accurately and safely as possible,” says Chief Marketing Officer Peter Poulin, of Austin, TX-based rugged tablet manufacturer Xplore Technologies Corp.
Getting With The Flow
Different sets of features are needed depending on your business’s workflow. When working in the office for example, you want to be able to connect your tablet to a printer or secondary monitor. When traveling in a vehicle, you need to securely mount your tablet. “In the event of an accident, you don’t want to have a projectile flying around the cab,” says Poulin. When you arrive at your work site, you want a carrying case or hands-free kit. “You also might want to have a keyboard that attaches to the device, or a kickstand that lets you put the tablet on a piece of plywood between two saw horses so you can show the screen to the contractor at the site.”
Getting Rugged
The demands of your workplace will determine the level of ruggedness you need. Ingress protection (IP) ratings are one indication of ruggedness. “Most consumer devices have no IP rating,” says Poulin. “IP 54 is considered rugged (52 or 54). IP 65 has an even greater degree, and then there is military grade at IP 67.” You need a much higher IP rating for a tablet used at a construction site than those used for processing insurance claims.
Other rugged features include the military standard 810G (MIL-STD-810G). “A lot of manufacturers claim they are 810G certified,” says Poulin. But 810G is not a certification. It’s a methodology that defines a number of different tests, including a drop test where the unit is dropped 26 times from 26 different angles and has to continue to work.
“Somebody that drops the device from two feet onto carpet 26 times—if it continues to operate—could claim 810G,” warns Poulin. “Customers need to look at that level of detail. Did they drop onto carpet or from five feet onto plywood over concrete? The one that survives a higher drop onto concrete is going to be more rugged.”
Sunlight readability is a feature measured in NITs (from the Latin word nitere, to shine). According to Tom Wang, vice president of Fremont, CA-based GammaTech Computer Corporation, a normal consumer product is rated 150 NITs to 200 NITs, with 500 NITs considered to be sunlight readable. Outdoor tablets range between 500 and 1,000 NITS, but the optimal level for crews working in direct sunlight is 1,300 NITs.
Getting What You Need
Build the tablet that best suits your business needs. If you are an architectural engineer for example, you want a bigger screen with better viewability. But there are tradeoffs. “Those screens are made of glass, and that adds weight,” says Poulin. “If you don’t need as much screen real estate, go to a 10 inch; it’s not as heavy.”
Wang’s company did a lot research and found the ideal screen size is 11.6 inches. “If you use anything less than 10 inch, it’s difficult to operate. It’s too small for the fingers to control. The buttons are too small and close to each other so you make mistakes.”
Heavy graphic information system (GIS) users, such as surveyors, need Intel Core processors. However, if you can use a lower speed processor like the Intel Atom, the battery will last longer. If your data usage is particularly heavy, you need a tablet with the coverage that comes from fourth generation (4G) data technology with long term evolution (LTE), high speed data capabilities.
Built-in features reduce the amount of external devices required. If you are processing payments on a job site, consider an embedded credit card reader or magnetic strip reader. “You can get an external reader that is cheaper, but then it’s two devices you have instead of one,” says Wang.
The possibilities these days are endless, so it’s important to start with workflow and usage. Still, Poulin cautions businesses to buy only as much rugged tablet as you really need. “It’s important to offer customers a broad range with different characteristics so they get everything they need, but don’t pay for more than that.”
SooJi Min is a freelance writer and nonprofit executive based in Ann Arbor, MI. She has written on small business topics for Crain’s, Imagination Publishing and The University of Chicago Booth School of Business.