Panasonic has released many laptops and notebooks in the past bearing the “Toughbook” name but this will be a first for the company. They are going after an area of the market that has yet to be filled, this will not be a thin and pretty tablet but it will be rugged and tough that is for sure. They are calling it a “Enterprise and Business Ready” tablet geared for professional and business users that need to take their tablet out in the wild and with them everywhere in the field.

They have not released any main hardware information such as Processor, Ram, or internal storage but with this being geared for business users and not all of us power hungry consumers it probably wont set any performance records but will more than do the job for professionals. They did mention a few basic specifications and I’ll post those below. One of the photos shows the Toughbook running a version of Android 2.x but we don’t have an exact version. Sources tell us the device should start shipping out to the field starting in the 4th quarter of this year. Some of the specs include:

* 10.1″ 1024×786 matte-finish display that is “viewable in sunlight”
* GPS, Wifi, 3G/4G capability
* Security embedded at the “hardware level”
* battery life for a “full shift”
* Active Stylus for capturing signatures

The Toughbook series has been known for having a very durable construction that can handle just about any situation and this should be no different. With deep “hardware level” security and a solid build quality this device should be perfect for those “Enterprise and Business” professionals that are in the field on a daily basis. For more information and pictures check out the source link below.

[via PCMag]