The Xplore XSlate B10 ($2,799 as tested) is a ruggedWindows tablet that's designed to be used in the elements. It has submarine-like latches and sealed I/O ports to keep dust and water out, and its Intel Core i5 processor is ready for business. It features excellent connectivity, including optional 4G LTE. However, short battery life and a high price keep it from supplanting our current Editors' Choice for rugged tablets, the Getac F110. It's still suitable if you work in, say, the government, engineering, or police fields, as a tough Windows Pro tablet that will survive extreme conditions
Design and Features
The XSlate B10 certainly looks rugged. It has rubber bumpers protecting each of the corners of the tablet, along with a magnesium internal frame rated for 5-foot drops. The front bezel is molded polycarbonate that resembles carbon fiber. Xplore claims that commonly used ports, such as the Ethernet jack, are also sealed internally, so they prevent intruding dust and water from damaging the interior components, like the CPU, the motherboard, and the system's solid-state drive (SSD). The tablet measures 0.86 by 11.05 by 7.07 inches (HWD) and weighs in at a manageable 2.57 pounds. That's slimmer and lighter than the Getac F110 (0.96 by 12.3 by 8.15 inches and 3.1 pounds) and the Dell Latitude 12 Rugged Tablet (7202)(8 by 12.3 by 0.96 inches and 4.46 pounds).
View All
The tablet is designed to withstand vibrations, drops, shocks, temperature extremes, humidity, and the other hard knocks. The system is tested and certified for MIL-STD-801G and IP65, so you can accidentally drop it in a mud puddle, rinse it off, and it's ready to go after it dries. It's not quite waterproof (that would be IP68), but it's close enough that you won't have to worry if it starts raining. Just don't drop it off the side of a kayak into a stream.
The 10.1-inch screen has a 1,366-by-768 resolution, fairly common in rugged tablets and similar to rivals like the Dell Latitude 12 Rugged, the Getac F110, and thePanasonic Toughpad FZ-M1$2,182.00 at Amazon. The Dell Latitude 12 Rugged and the Getac F110 have 11.6-inch screens, while the Panasonic FZ-M1 has a smaller 7-inch display. The XSlate B10's screen is bright and clear, even in a brightly lit room or in direct sunlight. If you're using a menu-based data-entry system for information retrieval, like looking up a driver's records, the resolution offers more than enough screen space. If you need a 1080p display for full HD movies or large spreadsheets, you'll want a larger rugged tablet, like the 12.5-inch Motion Computing R12$3,274.46 at Amazon (now known as the Motion R12 by Xplore).
Connectivity options are very good for a rugged tablet, and most of them are behind submarine-like doors. Under such a door on the left side are a headset jack, a micro-HDMI port, a micro-SIM slot for the optional 4G LTE modem, a microSD slot, and two USB 3.0 ports. On the right side are the Power jack and Ethernet ports, which are both behind a shared door, and are sealed internally to help keep water and dust out. You'll also find a place to clip the included tethered Wacom-compatible stylus on the right side. The system includes GPS, as well as dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0 for wireless connectivity. There's a docking connector on the bottom of the unit, for optional external keyboards and docking mounts, like the ones you see in police cars.
You'll have to remove the bottom cover with a screwdriver to replace the system's battery. That's not an easy fix on the road, so Xplore offers an optional expansion clip-on battery ($189). Along with the clip-on battery, you'll also have to buy a bracket ($29), which is also available bundled with a kickstand ($55). Note that if you use the external battery with the tablet, it will run down before the internal battery, but you can hot-swap the external battery pack with a freshly charged one. The system's front-facing 2-megapixel camera is optimized for Web conferencing, and the rear camera can take 8-megapixel snapshots. Both are adequate for business use, but the camera in your phone is likely better in low-light situations.
The 128GB SSD is adequate for business use, particularly if you work primarily online or in the cloud. Thankfully, the drive isn't burdened with any bloatware. There are a few utilities included for the optional 4G LTE modem, as well as for the built-in fingerprint reader, and to switch the screen from the default capacitive touch mode to modes that work with gloves or wet hands. The system comes with Windows 8.1 Pro, with a free upgrade to Windows 10 Pro. Windows Pro adds features like the ability to join a Windows Domain, which lets you sign on to your company's file and mail servers with one IT-managed login. Other notable business features in Windows Pro include Bitlocker (full disk encryption) and Remote Desktop support. The XSlate B10 has a three-year warranty, which is what we expect from business-oriented systems.
Performance
A fifth-generation 1.8GHz Intel Core i5-5300U CPU with integrated Intel HD Graphics 6000 and 8GB of system memory helped the XSlate B10 motor through our benchmark tests. It placed first in the PCMark 8 Work Conventional test (3,120 points), which measures the system's ability to run office tasks, browse the Web, and hold video conferences. The tablet beat the Getac F110 (2,942), the Dell Latitude 12 Rugged Tablet (2,833), and the Panasonic FZ-M1 (1,470) soundly. This means that it will perform well on business-oriented day-to-day tasks.
The system has strong multimedia chops. It took only 3 minutes 12 seconds to finish our Handbrake video-encoding test, and it dispatched the Photoshop test with equal aplomb (4:10). Both scores were the quickest among its competitors. Its CineBench score (177 points) was second only to the Getac F110 (181), and ahead of the others. 3DMark and 3D gaming tests were also strong, if closer to the average for the group. This system is certainly capable of creating sketches in the field, or even rendering a quick site plan and elevation rendering for an architect.
Battery life is less than stellar. The system managed to last just 4 hours 13 minutes on our rundown test. That's a lot less than the all-day performance of the Getac F110 (9:14). The others in this group also beat the XSlate B10 by an hour or two. If you don't spring for the external battery (which we didn't test), you're better off using this system within reach of a power source, like a wall outlet in a field office, or in a vehicle with a charger in its docking mount.
Conclusion
The Xplore XSlate B10 provides very good mobile computing power in a thin and light tablet that can take the knocks of everyday life. That is, if your everyday life involves toiling at a construction site, working out of an appliance repair van, or patrolling a suburban neighborhood in a squad car. It's thinner and lighter than its rivals, and offers more computing power. However, those two features also mean a much shorter battery life than the competition, and a relatively high price tag. The Getac F110 is $700 less expensive, has competitive performance on our benchmark tests, plus it has a full-size HDMI port, much longer battery life, and dual hot-swappable batteries. For these reasons, the F110 remains our Editors' Choice for rugged tablets.
No comments:
Write comments