Panasonic Toughpad FZ-E1 And FZ-X1 Rugged Phablets Unveiled At MWC 2014

| Updated: Wednesday, September 17, 2014, 10:29 [IST]

Panasonic, best known as rugged device maker, today unveiled two new enterprise-targeted rugged phablets at the Mobile World Congress in Spain.

The Panasonic Toughpad FZ-E1 runs Windows Embedded 8 software and Toughpad FZ-X1 runs Android 4.2 Jelly Bean out of the box.

The 5-inch Toughpads will first go on sale in Japan for about US$1,268 (Rs. 78,711). The FZ-E1 will launch in June, and the FZ-X1 will launch in August. The company has plans to launch these latest innovate "phablets" overseas.

Panasonic's latest Toughpad lineup looks sturdy and weighs around 430 grams. Both the Toughpad FZ-E1 and Toughpad FZ-X1 feature 5-inch shockproof touch screen displays ( 720p HD), aside from 2GB of RAM, 32GB of on-board storage with an microSD card slot, and more.

Panasonic Toughpad FZ-E1 And FZ-X1 Rugged Phablets Unveiled At MWC

"We decided to use Windows Embedded 8 Handheld instead of Windows Phone 8 because it offers more customizability," Masaki Mutou, general manager at Panasonic System Networks' Terminal Systems Business Unit".

Both the rugged devices also sport 3G and LTE connectivity, besides an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera, and a VGA quality front-facing shooter.

The Toughpad FZ-E1 variant is powered by a 2.3 GHz quad-core processor powered by Qualcomm 800 (MSM8974AB) SoC, and runs Windows Embedded 8 software. On the other hand, the FZ-X1 runs Android 4.2.2 mobile OS, and is powered by a 1.7 GHz Qualcomm S4 Pro (APQ8064T) processor.

The latest Toughpad smartphones can sustain shock when dropped onto a concrete floor from a height of 3 meters and being submerged in 1.5 meters of water for 30 minutes. Panasonic claims, these phablets can be used in most extreme conditions, ranging from minus 20 to 60 Celsius.

Other connectivity options include: 14-hour battery (6200mAh), Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth v4.0, Micro USB, USB 2.0, GPS with A-GPS and GLONASS, and NFC.

Last year, Panasonic withdrew making smartphones in Japan. However, the Japanese giant is actively promoting and producing smartphones for Indian market. The company recently unveiled features phones in India.