VIA Intros Viega Ruggedized Android Tablet

Looking for a ruggedized Android tablet for the home or office? VIA may have what you're looking for, as the company on Tuesday introduced the VIA Vega, a tablet solution for warehouses, construction sites and people with slippery fingers. The tablet has a rating of IP65, meaning it can withstand rain, spills and dust. The device can even withstand accidental drops of up to 6.5 feet.

The device features a 10.1-inch LED-backlit screen (1280 x 800) that is Πprotected by a tempered glass panel to prevent the display from shattering. Powering the screen is a 1.2 GHz dual-core Cortex-A9 chip with NEON technology and a Mali-400 DP GPU, 1 GB of DDR3 DRAM and a "long life" battery promising up to nine hours on a single charge.

The specs also show that this tablet provides 8 GB to 32 GB of internal storage and a microSD card slot for adding even more storage. Other features include an optional 5MP camera on the back and a 2MP camera on the front, a microSIM card slot for 3G connectivity, Wireless (N or AC) and Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity, GPS and NFC. It also includes two speakers, an earphone jack, two microUSB ports (one for charging the device) and one microHDMI port.

"The VIA Viega features a highly-customizable Android 4.2 Operating System with enhanced security features such as hardware-assisted data encryption/decryption and built-in manageability through the VIA SMART ETK," according to the press release. "A wide range of framework, kernel and device management customization services for the VIA Viega are also available from VIA."

By comparison, Panasonic also offers a ruggedized tablet called the Toughpad FZ-A1. This model features a 10.1-inch screen with digitizer capabilities, a dual-core processor clocked at 1.2 GHz, a microSD card slot, microUSB, microHDMI output, GPS, Wireless (N or AC) and Bluetooth connectivity, and an optional 4G LTE connection. This durable tablet is FIPS140-2-(Level 2) compliant for "impenetrable protection."

For more information about VIA's latest ruggedized tablet, head here. Pricing and actual availability is currently unknown.

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