AOPEN Debuts Seriously Rugged Commercial Tablet That Runs On Chrome OS

August 22, 2019 by Dave Haynes

Taiwan-based AOPEN has been doing small all-in-one displays and media players built around Google’s Chrome operating system for a while now, and it just announced a commercial-grade tablet intended for use in heavier duty environments like self-service, retail POS and health care.

The company had earlier launched a 10-inch Chromebase all-in-one that would look very nice in office environments and hotel counters, but the ruggedized AOPEN Chromebook Commercial Tab is designed to take a licking in more demanding scenarios.

It has, for example, a “one-of-a-kind 9H hardened display and integrated exoskeleton protective case” with included VESA mounting points.

Use-cases include retail self-service and point-of-sale, industrial workflow and facilities management, healthcare patient care and data-sharing, and education applications. You could imagine, for example, this sort of thing being used for refresher training for new hires on a manufacturing or production floor.

The tablet passed MIL-STD 810G-516.6 military-grade testing, including 26 drops from a handheld height of 4 feet (48 in).

It has the normal tablet stuff like a camera and SD card slots (which I wish iPads had), and has a kiosk mode that prevents tampering in guest-facing commercial settings. The touchscreen is P-Cap, which is good. The ARM processor is only a dual-core, but I suspect the digital signage and interactive applications for this are more about menus, look-ups and forms than running HD videos.

UPDATED – The MSRP is $426 USD.

I am in Taiwan next week for Touch Taiwan, but don’t see the company listed as an exhibitor. Might see this at a partner booth?