Recently in Panasonic Category

At CES in Las Vegas this week, Panasonic unveiled a tablet to be added to CES's growing category of super-size screens.

Sitting more in the "table PC" category, than "tablet", this technology demonstration will hopefully be out later this year with a few tweaks here and there. But the 20-inch tablet impressed me more than Lenovo's Horizon 27-inch Table PC, also launched at the show this week. At only 2.4kg, it's still very weighty, but compare it to its rivals - the Sony Vaio Tap 20 is 5kg and Lenovo's Horizon is a whopping 8kg but only 7-inches bigger. I found the device easier to pick up, but I'm always quite delicate when I pick up devices of this size. When doing so I found the aluminium backing very elegant, but also very warm, a kink that Panasonic will most definitely sort out before mass production.

Panasonic claim that the device has the thinnest body with a screen of this size. It has 2 hours of battery life and at the moment the company is thinking of marketing it to photographers, architects and designers who will appreciate the large screen super high resolution screen from an artistic point of view.

The Windows 8 Pro device set up in CES also came with a special handwriting digital pen which I had a go at using, it was very responsive and was able to create hair-thin lines to chunky paint brush type strokes. The device had a Intel i5 Core processor, 128GB SSD as well as 16GB of memory.

Kyp Walls, director of product management, said that the device was set up to use Bluebeam software for architects using blueprints, it enabled users to collaborate together while working remotely. The device is still portable, he said, "because architects are used to carrying around big flat folders of designs anyway."

This week at CES in Las Vegas, Panasonic added to its line of rugged Toughpad tablets with the Windows 8 Pro 10.1-inch FZ-G1 and the Android 7-inch JT-BI.

Since 1996 Panasonic has been producing mobile computers for the mobile workforce who need to rely on a more study product that will resist dust, water, shocks when in use in the field. The two tablets join a 10.1-inch Android tablet which was broadly available last year.

Toughpads are designed for mobile workers in sectors such as military, government, construction, healthcare, public safety, utilities, retail, and maintenance to name a few.

The devices come with optional added extras such as heighten security features, electronic scanners and card readers. The new tablets are also splash proof and feature screens that are viewable in the sunlight, as well as being robust enough to survive drops and dust.

The Windows 8 Pro FZ-G1

•             Operating System: Windows 8 Pro

•             Processor: 3rd Generation Intel Core i5-3437U vPro™ 1.9GHz up to 2.9GHz with Intel® Turbo Boost Technology

•             Memory: 128-256GB SSD, 4-8GB RAM, optional micro SDXC

•             Rugged: MIL-STD-810G, 4' drop, IP65, 14° to 122°F (operational temp range)

•             Display: 10.1", sunlight viewable, touch screen and active digitizer, 800nit, WUXGA (1920x1200)

•             Battery: 8.0 hours (user-replaceable)

•             Dimensions: 10.6" x 7.4" x 0.75"

•             Weight: 1.1kg

•             Wireless: Bluetooth V4.0, 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi, optional embedded 4G LTE or 3G

•             I/O: Full size USB 3.0, HDMI, optional micro SDXC, Full size USB 2.0, wired LAN, true serial port or dedicated GPS.

Panasonic claims it will survive a 4 foot drop and it wouldn't surprise me as this device, despite its rugged and therefore very clunky look, is surprisingly light at just over a kilogram, easy enough to carry about.

The FZ-G1 comes with a barcode scanner and the option of adding on e-card readers and other types of bespoke enterprise technology. Its battery is also replaceable if you run out of the included 8 hours.

The Android 4.0 JT-B1

•             Operating System: Android 4.0

•             Processor: TI OMAP4460 1.5GHz Dual core

•             Memory: 16GB ROM, 1GB RAM, micro SDHC

•             Rugged: MIL-STD-810G, 5' drop, IP65, 14° to 122°F (operational temp range)

•             Display: 7", daylight viewable, 500nit, WSVGA (1024 x 600)

•             Camera: Front: 1.3Mp fixed focus, Rear: 13.0Mp auto focus w/ LED light

•             Battery: 8.0 hours - Large 5,720mAh battery (user-replaceable)

•             Dimensions: 8.7"x 5.1" x 0.7"

•             Weight: 0.54kg

•             Wireless: Bluetooth V4.0, 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi, optional embedded 4G LTE + 3G

•             I/O: Micro USB

This device is a much smaller form factor, running Android's operating system, the device itself doesn't have the capacity to run Windows 8, so it's aim at those out in the field not needing quite as much power under the hood.

This device is easily portable at half a kilogram, pop it straight into a laptop bag without noticing. It also is available with additional extras including different types of handles to grip securely to the device.

The FZ-G1 will be available from March, starting at $2,899, and the JT-B1, will ship February, starting at $1,199. At these prices they are definitely aimed at large scale operations, as smaller businesses would be unlikely to kit out the entire workforce at pushing two grand per device for Windows.

Speaking to Kyp Walls, director of product management, at CES, I asked him how he thought the Windows 8 Pro version would fair in the enterprise space which is generally not looking to adopt the new operating system straight away.

He said, "Even though it has been built for Windows 8, a fair number of our customers will buy it with a Windows 7 downgrade."

Panasonic have a Windows 7 Toughbook on the market at the moment, but the convenience of buying the new FZ-G1 is that it is around a third lighter.  

Having created this blog and nurtured it for the past four years, I've decided to put the best blog posts/videos from the best on one page.

Diary of an outcast: Apple's Special iPad 2 Event
I will start with my favourite post, the infamous Apple event. I had been invited to Apple events before but somehow started getting missed off the list. I hate Apple so it was no surprise that they didn't want me there. Safe to say that after this post not only was I missed off the list but Computer Weekly never received an invite from Apple ever again.

iPhone Vs N97
This was the first big video project that me and David (video editor) put together. At the time I was so happy that I'd got the N97 I decided to make a video pitting it against the iPhone while mocking Apple's advertising campaign. Little did I know that the N97 would prove to be the worst purchase I've ever made in my life.




HTC Desire HD Review
David (who stars in this video) and I wanted to do something different and create a cool video review. This is what we came up with.

Sadly once we started recording David (and the department he worked for) were made redundant. It didn't effect the video but it wasn't a happy time for us. Having cleared out his desk he set up at home the next day to finish it. This was our last hurrah and the last video I made. Very proud of it.




What is the best mobile OS around?
At this point, no one wanted to be in any of my videos. The company was starting to cut back on them and so I tried to play four roles with four outfits and a moustache before I got told that what I was doing wasn't a productive use of my time. Honestly, how could they say that?

This video used to have a voting element that has since been removed because we couldn't afford to pay for the server the flash sat on.

The most ambitious video we ever tried.





Video: The future of business cards, I'm not taking the Poken
There was a girl I was desperate to go out with at my work. I needed to do a video to have a reason to talk to her but the only thing I'd been sent was a Poken. No phones or cool gadgets. Somehow I persuaded her to help me make this video. We're still together :)




Video review of the wiimote like Gyration Air Mouse
This video is pretty much when I realised that I can be funny. What people don't realise is that filming didn't take long but discussions between David and I on what was funny took forever.

He would stand there saying "That's not funny" every time I cracked a joke or did something stupid. Or one of my favourite lines of his was "You might think that's funny, but it isn't".




Video: Palm Pre vs the iPhone - The big debate
I had 2 weeks before Christmas to do a video armed with my wit and a white wig that was left over from a very bad 'Back to the future' spoof I'd made where I played the Doc. That video was so bad that the company we producd it for sent us a letter saying that if the video ever saw the light of day, they'd sue my a** off. 

David went on holiday with a week left of editing/filming to do so I didn't have anyone to tell me that what I was saying wasn't funny and some of the editing is a bit off. It's still a good video but we felt it was rushed.




Video: I heart iPad - Dating website matches man to iPad
What do you do when you get your hands on an iPad before the UK release? Write a review. Then what? Make a video about having a special relationship with it. Yep, not sure why.



The HTC and Google story: A love affair and a tragedy
Lord knows what compelled me to write this. Had I taken more time to craft it, I think it could've been great but when I read it now I feel it's rushed. Still good, where the idea came from I'll never know.

Video: Flip Mino HD review
This video took 84 takes. For no reason at all I couldn't stop laughing during recording. We got in trouble because it was meant to take a couple of hours but took almost two weeks.

Video: Zeemote review - Is this the future of mobile gaming?
I did this video because Zeemote said that they'd give me a free phone if I reviewed it. So...

GeeklyWeekly Sexy Halloween Special
Wow, how bad is this video? It doesn't even have anything to do with gadgets!!