Rugged tablet with integrated QWERTY keyboard for military and industrial use
(by Conrad H. Blickenstorfer)

Based in El Monte, California, AMREL (AMerican RELiance) has a long history of offering value-added applications in vertical markets. The Rocky line of ruggedized computers was introduced in 1995 and has been updated, enhanced, and fine-tuned ever since. This page covers the company's rugged 9.0-inch Rocky DT10 tablet computer with integrated keyboard.

The DT10 is a compact, relatively light and yet fully rugged tablet. It measures just 9.8 x 7.5 inches and is 1.5 inches thick. It weighs 4.6 pound, which is a lot more than consumer tablets, but actually quite light for an ultra-rugged design. The aluminum housing has a distinctly military look and feel, and the whole design is sealed to IP54 specifications. That means it can be used in dusty environments, and can also handle water spray from all directions. The unit is built both to MIL-STD 810G and (optionally) MIL-STD 461E specifications for resistance to rain, shock, humidity, vibration, salt fog, altitude and extreme temperatures. An optional built-in heater allows operation in temperatures as low as -30°C/-22F.

As is always the case with AMREL computers, the DT10 offers good expansion flexibility. There are both an ExpressCard/54 and a PC Card slot. Onboard connectivity consists of two USB 2.0 ports, a legacy DB9 serial port, a gigabit RJ45 LAN port, as well as docking and power ports. An optional "Docklite" stand/cradle adds four USB ports, audio in/out, and two serial ports and lots more. The touchscreen display is a 9.0-inch 1280 x 768 pixel wide-format WXGA LCD with AMREL's sunlight readable anti-reflective, anti-glare, direct-bonded technology and a very bright 700 nits LED backlight. The primary Li-Ion battery packs 62.6 watt-hours; a powerful secondary 80 watt-hour Li-Ion battery snaps onto the back of the device.

Under the hood, the ROCKY DT10 packs powerful, mature technology in the form of a "Sandy Bridge" Intel Core i7-2610UE chip running at a base frequency of 1.5GHz and at up to 2.4GHz in turbo mode. A maximum of 8GB RAM of fast 1333 MHz DDR3 is available. AMREL offers Windows 7, Windows 8.1, and also the new Windows 10 with this tablet. Available hard disks and optional solid state disks use the fast SATA II standard. The default hard disk runs at a fast 7,200rpm, and optional SSDs are available up to 256GB and more. On the wireless side, there is optional WiFi via 802.11a/b/g/n, and that also includes Bluetooth. GPS is optionally available as well.

Unlike most tablets, the Rocky DT10 has a built-in QWERTY keyboard in addition to resistive touch input.

AMREL mobile computers usually come in either a black/gray industrial version or a specially configured "NATO green" military version with MIL-STD 461F compliance, metal twist lock Amphenol power jack, EMI ground Army option and more. We're not sure if that applies to the DT10 as well, but it certainly looks that way.

Where does the Rocky DT10 fit in? Those familiar with AMREL's rugged tablet lineup may view it as a Rocky DR10 with a larger display and an integrated full QWERTY keyboard instead of just function keys.

The DT10, however, seems a follow-up to the AMREL Rocky DT6, which is physically nearly identical to the DT10, but was built upon much more modest technical underpinnings (1024 x 600 display, single-core Atom Z530 chip). Users of the DT6 will find in the DT10 a much more powerful version of the platform.