Editors' note: Due to the similarity in features and form factor to the Toughpad FZ-E1, some parts of this hands-on will be familiar.
BARCELONA, Spain -- Based on its specifications, you'd expect Panasonic's 5-inch Toughpad FZ-X1 to be a smartphone -- albeit a chunky-looking one. That's not the case, however; the company insists that the FZ-X1 is a tablet first and foremost.
The Panasonic slate is powered by a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 processor clocked at 1.7GHz, and runs the Android operating system (4.2.2). When I tried it out, it appeared to be close to stock Android, but Panasonic has added some tweaks.
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Long-pressing the physical Back button will dim the display, while holding down the Home button will call up a dashboard menu where you can adjust the settings of the slate.
Unlike other 5-inch devices, the FZ-X1 doesn't bother to hide its ruggedised bulk. It's big and bold and will survive a drop from 3 meters without damage. The tablet can also survive underwater for 30 minutes at up a maximum depth of 1.5 meters.
Inside, the tablet has 2GB of RAM, 32GB of onboard storage, LTE connectivity, an 8-megapixel rear camera, and a hot-swappable 6,200mAh battery. This means you'll be able to take the battery out, swap it for a fresh one, and get back to what you were doing without having to reboot.
Meant for use in places such as warehouses, the FZ-X1 comes with a built-in bar code scanner that also doubles as a flashlight. The FZ-X1 will launch in August with a retail price of around 130,000 Japanese Yen ($1,269).
