Xplore’s Bobcat promises ruggedness without any of the bulk

By Williams Pelegrin June 24, 2014

xplores bobcat promises ruggedness without bulk xplore tablet — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Xplore Technologies, a company known for making tablets that can survive when left in the elements, announced the “fully-rugged” Intel Atom-based Bobcat tablet.

The Bobcat’s claim to fame is containing the feature set of average rugged devices into a form factor that’s 0.86in. thick and 2.4 pounds, which, in the world of rugged tablets, make the Bobcat a “thin and light.” It helps that the Bobcat has an outdoor-readable touchscreen that accepts stylus and gloved-finger input, plenty of ports and slots, and the ability to hot-swap the battery. The Bobcat also has MIL-STD 810G and IP65 certification, so it should survive most tortures you can conceive of.

In terms of inputs, the Bobcat throws in everything but the kitchen sink: an Ethernet port, Micro HDMI port, two USB 3.0 ports, a MicroSD reader, a Micro SIM slot, and a serial port hidden behind a screwed-down cover. Optional integrated options include a 1D/2D barcode scanner, a Common Access Card (CAC) reader, NFC, and a fingerprint scanner.

Performance-wise, the Bobcat is powered by a quad-core 1.9GHz Bay Trail (E2845) chip that is coupled with 4GB of RAM. The display is a 10.1-inch, 1366 x 768 pixel IPS affair with a 500-nit backlight, which should let you read content shown on the screen while in direct sunlight.

While the base model comes with a 128GB Solid-state drive, you can upgrade to a 256GB SSD. In addition, you have the choice between Windows 7 Proand Windows 8.1 Pro. Whatever you decide to equip the Bobcat with, Xplore promises it will give you up to 8 hours of battery life, or up to 14 hours with an external battery.

Editors' Recommendations

Lifelogging isn’t dead. It lives on, just without any of the promised benefits

Topics

Computing

Williams Pelegrin

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Williams is an avid New York Yankees fan, speaks Spanish, resides in Colorado, and has an affinity for Frosted Flakes. Send…

Mobile

Best tablet deals: iPad, Samsung Galaxy Tab, Fire, and more

Front face of Samsung Galaxy Tab S8.

Whether for work, play, or anything in between, a new tablet can make a nice addition to your tech lineup. They’re perfect for kids and professionals, and most brands have something at a price point for everyone. Tablets also make some great tech for some savings, as even the best tablets often see a discount. There are a lot of tablet deals out there, and among them are some of the best Samsung tablet deals, best iPad deals, and best Surface Laptop and Surface Pro deals we’ve seen. Below you’ll find what we feel are the best tablet deals to shop right now, as well as some information on why each might best suit your tablet needs.
Samsung Galaxy Tab A7 Lite (32GB) -- $90, was $160

If you need an Android tablet for simple tasks like browsing the internet and watching streaming shows, the affordable Samsung Galaxy Tab A7 Lite may be enough for you. Its 8.7-inch screen is decent with WXGA+ resolution, while maintaining portability so you can easily hold the tablet in one hand. Its internal storage is limited at 32GB, but you can expand it by up to 1TB using a microSD card. For the clumsy ones, the Samsung Galaxy Tab A7 Lite is perfect for you because it's protected by a sturdy metal frame.

Mobile

Best cell phone plan deals: T-Mobile, AT&T, Verizon, Mint Mobile and more

Woman

One of the best phones deserves one of the best cell phone plans, and whether you’re shopping for yourself or you’re looking to add a line to your plan for a family member, there are more options out there than many people think. With larger carriers like AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile you can often find some great phone deals, but if you’re simply shopping for a cell phone plan, we’ve got all of the information you need to get yourself one of the best cell plan deals. Reading onward you’ll find the best cell phone plan deals to shop right now, and while these are general plans offered by each provider, they do include some of the best cell phone plans out there.
Mint Mobile: Get any 3-month plan for $15 per month
For a limited time, Mint Mobile has dropped the three-month price for all of its plans to just $15 per month. That means, the Unlimited plan, normally $30 per month, or $90 for three months, is no just $15 per month or $45 for three months. The base 5GB of data per month plan is $15 per month, and the 15GB per month plan is $15 per month, or $45 for three months. That is an incredible deal. All Mint Mobile plans include unlimited talk and text, access to 5GB high-speed data, free calling to Mexico and Canada, free mobile hotspot access, and WiFi calling support. You can't beat that!

U.S. Mobile: Pre-pay $23 per line per month
Prepaid wireless plans are a great option for light users, kids, and anyone else who won’t be consuming a lot of data on a daily basis. U.S. Mobile is one of the best prepaid service providers available today, allowing you to build your own custom plan, so you’re only paying for as many minutes, texts, and gigabytes of data as you want to. As just one example, its Unlimited Starter plan is just $15 per line, or $276 for 12 months -- saving you $72 per year. You get unlimited talk, text, and data, 10GB of hotspot data, international calling and texting, and more. If you're adding multiple lines to a plan, you can also unlock free extras like Disney+ and Netflix.

Mobile

Are you having iPhone alarm problems? A fix is coming soon

A person holding the Apple iPhone 15 Plus.

If you’ve slept through an important meeting or missed your alarm lately, it may not be entirely your fault if you’re an iPhone user. For weeks now, iPhone users have been reporting on social media that their devices are no longer ringing.

Today, The Wall Street Journal’s Joanna Stern finally confirmed this. According to Stern, Apple has confirmed that it’s aware of the issue causing some alarms not to play a sound and is working on a fix.
iPhone alarm issues explained
The iPhone alarm problem seems to be tied to Apple’s Attention Aware features. For those unfamiliar, it’s a feature that lowers the volume sound of your alerts and alarms if you’re looking at your device and avoids dimming the screen, similar to how Samsung phones keep the screen on if they see you looking at your screen.