Panasonic announces Toughpad FZ-F1, FZ-N1 rugged smartphones

Panasonic at MWC 2016 in Barcelona has introduced two rugged smartphones- the Touchpad FZ-F1 and Touchpad FZ-N1. Both share same specs except for the operating system. The Touchpad FZ-F1 runs Windows 10 IoT Mobile Enterprise, while the Touchpad FZ-N1 runs Android 5.1.1 Lollipop. They come with an optional stylus pens.

The Panasonic Touchpad FZ-F1 and FZ-N1 sports sunlight viewable display with glove touch support. For durability, they come with IP65, IP67 and MIL-STD-810G rating, ensuring that they can withstand the abuse of harsh environments. The handheld devices can also survive drops from up to 6-feet height and are submersible in up to 1 meter of water for up to 30 minutes. They also include a Angled 1D/2D barcode reader  that allows the user to scan items.

The Panasonic Touchpad FZ-F1 and FZ-N1 sports a 4.7-inch HD (1280 x 720 pixels) display and is powered by 2.3GHz quad-core Snapdragon 801 (MSM8974AB) processor, with Adreno 330 GPU, 2GB RAM and 16GB internal storage, expandable up to 64GB via microSD card. For photography there is 8-megapixel rear camera (w/ LED flash) and 5-megapixel front camera. For connectivit there is support for WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, 4G LTE, 3G HSPA+, Bluetooth 4, NFC and GPS. They are fueled by 3200mAh battery. Panasonic is also offering optional 6200mAh battery packs with the phones.

The Panasonic FZ-N1 (Android) will initially be available in WiFi onely model in March for $1,499 (Rs. 1,00,000). The voice-calling enabled model will be released in Summer this year. The FZ-F1 (Windows 10 IoT Enterprise) is priced at $1599 (Rs. 1,10,000) and both models (WiFi, voice calling) will be available in fall 2016. They come with a standard three year warranty.