Panasonic has announced a new 7-inch tablet which runs Windows 8.1 and acts a mobile point of sale tablet – the Panasonic ToughPad FZ-R1. It comes with an integrated PIN pad, a magnetic stripe reader and support for NFC and EMV payment methods. The company’s ToughPad series of device are synonymous with ruggedity and are water resistant.
The Panasonic ToughPad FZ-R1 features a 7-inch WXGA (1280 x 800 pixels) display with 16:10 screen ratio and a capacitive stylus pen. Under the hood is an Intel Celeron N2807 processor clocked at 1.58GHz with 2GB to 4GB of RAM and 64GB space of internal storage. There is a microSD card slot for storage expansion which adds upto 64GB space of addition storage.
On the rear is a 5MP camera with LED flash (camera light); 8 hours of battery life when used as a tablet along and 7 hours when used for payment plus there is an optional brigde battery which allows you swap batteries switching off the device. It takes 4 hours to charge when the slate is on and just 2.5 hours when it is off.
The Panasonic ToughPad FZ-R1 weighs 589.7 grams, measures 257 x 130 x 27.4mm and runs on either Windows 8.1 or Windows 8.1 Pro. Connectivity options on the tablet includes Dual Band Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Bluetooth, USB 3.0, docking connector, GPS and 4G LTE.
The Panasonic Toughpad FZ-R1 is basically aimed at retail environment where payment are made; to ease payment worries and act as a more secure medium for making transaction. The basic version of the tablet would be available by Spring 2015 for a starting price of $1799.
