Rugged

Rugged mobile phone maker Sonim Technologies seems to be on a never-ending mission to create products that can withstand whatever extreme torture can be thrown at them. The company has just announced another tough cookie that's been designed to help enterprise and government organizations locate, track and manage its mobile workforce - whatever conditions they may find themselves in. As well as some impressive tough guy credentials, the XP3300 FORCE also lays claim to the industry's longest talk and stand-by time.  Read More

Israel's CompuLab, makers of the fit-PC range of energy efficient mini-PCs, has announced a new miniature computer powered by NVIDIA's Tegra 2 processing platform. The Trim-Slice computer is said to offer the rich multimedia capabilities and user experience of a full-size PC at only a fraction of the power draw. It benefits from a fanless design, Wireless-N connectivity, solid state memory and expansion via both a full size and a micro SD card slots.  Read More

Fujifilm is about to release its first rugged digital camera to feature GPS geo-tagging of images, the FinePix XP30. In addition to being water-, dust-, shock- and freeze-proof, the compact camera can guide you from your current location to a point where you snapped a particularly interesting shot, and use collected data to create a travel map, using your photos as illustrations. The camera can also record high definition video and includes a number of user-assist features to help capture the best shots without too much effort.  Read More

Looks like Panasonic has got some serious competition in the rugged tablet arena in the shape of the Motion CL900 from Austin's Motion Computing. The new tough kid on the block has been shock-proofed, is dust and moisture sealed, and benefits from a Gorilla Glass multi-touch display and Vertak bonding. Upon release it will be powered by Intel's next generation Atom processor, have durable solid state storage and Wireless-N connectivity. Let the battle commence...  Read More

Super Talent Technology has announced a special edition gold edition Pico-C flash drive which is claimed to be the smallest of its kind. The 64GB NAND Flash storage solution offers 30MB per second read speed and 15MB write, is USB 2.0 compatible and is just 1.23 x 0.48 x 0.13-inches (31.3 x 12.4 x 3.4mm) in size.  Read More

It's only been a few weeks since Ricoh unveiled its G700 rugged camera and already the next phase in its evolution has been revealed. The new G700SE retains much of the feature set of the earlier model – including the 12.1 megapixel sensor, wide-angle zoom lens and 720p high definition movie capability – but adds Bluetooth and Wi-Fi functionality to the mix. It's also water and dust resistant and able to withstand the odd rough bump. The new camera also caters for the addition of optional units to provide GPS and laser barcode reader functionality.  Read More

If you're looking for a powerful, space-saving personal computer that's small enough to fit in the palm of your hand then the new LPC-100 from Stealth might just tick all the right boxes. Despite its diminutive dimensions, the little computer is claimed to outperform most desktop and mobile computers available today. There's up to 2.53GHz of processing power on offer, some 500GB of hard drive storage with solid state options too and up to 4GB of memory.  Read More

For most of us, holidaying in the sun means dusting off the trusty old camera and snapping some memorable moments around the pool or bar. But if your ancient photographic box is starting to become an embarrassment then a flurry of Lumix releases from Panasonic might be just what you need. There's a rugged model, a couple with touchscreen displays, a couple ultra-wide angle lenses and some capable of full high definition video too. All are storage-friendly SDXC card compatible and include a host of automated settings to help get the best from any situation.  Read More

Adventurous types in the digital age need storage that's as rugged and tough as they are. LaCie's says that its appropriately-named XtremKey rugged flash memory will provide the kind of industrial-strength protection that stands up to all sorts of punishment. Resistant to pressure, water, high drops, and extreme hot and cold the drive comes in capacity sizes up to 64GB.  Read More