Panasonic is set to break free from their Windows-based tablets and release their first Toughbook tablet running the Google Android OS. This is fantastic in many ways, firstly, it shows that Android is getting enough mainstream adoption that Panasonic is confident enough to roll it out to the enterprise partners, and secondly, you can take the ruggedized Android tablet out in the backwoods or in the crazy corporate world of hacking and digital espionage and not have too worry too much thanks to its ruggedized exterior and embedded hardware security.
The specs round out to a sunlight-friendly 10.1″ XGA (1024×768) multi-touch display, GPS, 3G/4G, a “full-shift” battery (probably not one of my shifts), and I’m hoping for Honeycomb, but the screenshots are showing 2.x. This is the first Enterprise-grade Android tablet to be announced, it’s release is set for Q4 2011 with no pricing in sight. If it’s anything like the Toughbook H1 – Panasonic’s beastly military-grade Windows 7-based tablet that sells for over $3000 – which I highly doubt since Android is much leaner than Windows in almost every way, the 10.4″ tablet could come in at over $2000.
