Full standard aspect ratio screen—in DAP's earlier keyboard tablets, the display and the keyboard divided the tablet surface roughly in half. That was possible because those tablets used "half-size" displays, first in the old 640 x 240 pixel half-VGA format that originated in the Microsoft Handheld PC era of the late 1990s, and later in an oddball half-SVGA 800 x 300 pixel screen used in the M8920. With Windows requiring ever higher resolution, that's simply not an option for a contemporary device, and so DAP chose the next-best screen format that's still usable with today's versions of Windows, 1024 x 600 pixel WSVGA.

A competent, power-efficient processor—In earlier tablets, DAP, like everyone else, paid the price for the industry's experimentations with low-cost CPUs. Initially betting on AMD's Geode chip that was already at the end of its line when DAP used it in the original Kinysis models, the company then chose the Intel Atom E660T in the M9010, and that's also a chip that has been replaced by more powerful variants. Which is likely the reason why the new M9020 uses the dual-core Intel Atom N2600, a competent and widely used processor well suited for this class of machine.

Up-to-date technology—Standards and technologies quickly evolve, and with the M9020, DAP is keeping pace. There's not only Bluetooth v4.0 and comprehensive dual-band 802.11a/b/g/n WiFi, but also Gobi 5000 4G LTE, u-blox 6 GPS, micro SD card expansion, dual cameras, RFID, and a 1D/2D barcode scanner.

Ruggedness—Consumer tablets are sleek and light and elegant. Unfortunately, that also makes them fragile and flimsy, and that's why there's a need for rugged gear like the DAP M9020. It can survive 6-foot drops, operate in extreme heat and cold, and it's also totally dust and waterproof.

Superior WiFi performance— Remaining connected is essential, and so DAP equipped the M9020 with a dual-diversity antenna system. This type of arrangement uses physically separated antennas with polarization diversity for the same frequency so that fade will only affect one, with the best signal then being used, providing uninterrupted, optimal reception.

The concept is simple: the M9020 is tough, simple, and very functional. There are no ports or opening on the left and right sides of the device, as that's where you hold it. On the bottom is a surface-mount dock connector. On top there are the power and audio jacks, whatever I/O ports the device has been configured with, and the window for the optional 1D/2D scanner.

In terms of construction, the DAP M9020's blue plastic housing consists of a front and a back half, secured together with ten Philips head screws. The backpack interface cover is blue plastic, too, and screws on via four Philips screws. The thick black protective rubber cladding is an integral part of the design, and molded onto the plastic housing.

The tablet's two batteries pack 23 watt-hours each. They are custom-designed for the M9020, clad in the same blue plastic, and fit into the backside of the unit, one on each side. They have surface mount connectors, and each battery is held in place with a thumbwheel-driven rod that secures the battery. The dual battery approach makes battery power hot-swappable—bring along a couple of spares and you can replace discharged batteries one at a time.

In the picture to the right you can see, on top, the backside of the M9020 with both batteries and the multi-I/O compartment cover removed. With the cover off, you can see the PCIe, Micro SD, and SIM card expansion slots. Through the smaller cutout below you can see various I/O connectors on the motherboard: two COM ports, power, VGA, four USB ports, and two TxRx ports. A legend label shows exactly what each one is. Our eval unit came with just one USB and serial port, but various other configurations with multiple I/O ports are available.

For sealing between the two halves of the M9020's housing and other areas, DAP relies on a tongue-and-grove design with a rubber o-ring seal between the front and back halves, and rubber pressure seals for the batteries and the screw-on I/O cover. These rubber seals have their own guides and they firmly sit in place, reducing the chance that they may get crimped and thus lose their sealing properties. It's difficult to fully seal a complex device such as the M9020, but DAP has certainly done whatever it could. Glue and silicone are used to seal any opening to the outside of the housing. That includes the speaker, the interface connector plug in the I/O cover, etc.

One thing that's unique about the DAP M9020 is the way everything is secured inside. Rugged mobile devices may be subjected to extreme and/or extended vibration, and that can cause internal plugs, connectors and modules come loose, possibly with debilitating consequences. That's why in rugged systems, such parts are sometimes held in place with a drop of glue. DAP went way beyond that by also securing virtually every plug and connector with glue or silicone. That makes them a bit difficult to separate for service or repair, but none of those connections will ever come loose.

The interior chassis consists of a sturdy aluminum frame and aluminum subframes upon which the motherboard and daughterboards are mounted. The interior is heavily componentized, which allows DAP to offer customized versions of the M9020. Embedded antennae made by global RF design pioneer Penson Wireless are located along the inside of the housing for least signal interference and optimal RF performance.

The picture below shows a number of details. From left to right, one of the two batteries of the M9020, a close-up of the I/O ports on the motherboard and the neat label so you know what each one is, and the cover of the I/O bay that may include all sorts of expansion functionality.

Overall, the design and interior of the DAP M9020 impresses with a clean layout, a very high level of attention to detail, and a modular approach that makes customization easy.

In terms of size and weight, the DAP M9020 has a 9.0 x 7.3 inch footprint, is two inches thick, and weighs 3.15 pounds as tested. That makes it a rather hefty piece of equipment, as you'd expect from such a sturdily built and heavily protected piece of mobile computing gear.

Atom's predicament was always that the cost had to be low enough for inexpensive devices such as netbooks, and the power draw low enough for industrial devices without fans, but they could not eat into the lucrative Core processor market. The third generation of "netbook" processors addressed the performance issue by being the first Atom family to use 32nm process technology instead of the older 45nm, making for smaller, more efficient packages, and members of the Cedarview processor family had dual cores. Graphics performance benefitted from a different design and much faster clock speed, allowing at least twice the graphics performance of second generation Atoms as well as, finally, smooth full HD video playback.

Thanks to the 32nm process technology and additional power conservation measures, the N2600 has a maximum thermal design power of just 3.5 watts (Core processors start at 15 watts). The NM10 Express chipset is miserly as well, with a TDP of just 2.1 watts, making for a combined CPU/chipset maximum draw of just 5.6 watts.

To examine the power draw characteristics of the Atom N2600-equipped M9020, we used PassMark's BatteryMon to check power draw under various operating conditions.

We first used Windows Power Management to set the M9020 to Power Saver mode and also turned off all the radios (WiFi, BT, 3G, GPS, I/O bay and cameras). That way, we saw as little as 8.5 watts.

Turning all the radios on increased draw to a minimum of about 10.5 watts.

The Windows "High Performance" setting with maximum backlight and all the extras on increased power draw to about 15 watts. Running 1080p HD video, which provides a good workout for the device, added another five watt, for a total draw of 20 watts. Full HD video playback, by the way, was flawless both in high performance mode and in power saver mode.

A couple of notes here:

First, as usual, real world mileage will vary. If the tablet goes into standby mode a lot, the battery will last a lot longer than it will under almost constant use.

As is, DAP describes the M9020 screen as sunlight-viewable, but the specs do not provide brightness or design specifics. It measures 7.0 inches diagonally and uses the WSVGA format with 1024 x 600 pixel, making for a wide 17:10 aspect ratio. While the 1024 x 600 pixel format was used in tens of millions of netbooks, it can be a bit frustrating because it often cuts off the bottom of software designed for the much more common 1024 x 768 format. Note that while the M9020's display is physically a bit smaller than the tablet-only M9010's, it actually offers higher resolution (1024 x 600 vs. 800 x 480 pixel).

Devices with resistive touch screens often suffer from "pooling" where tapping the display surface results in annoying distorted reflections. The M9020 doesn't have that problem because it uses a glass-on-glass design that, unlike softer touch screen surfaces, is totally flat. The display surface is glossy, but not nearly as glossy as that of virtually all consumer tablets. The display does reflect nearby objects, but not as much as consumer tablets.

Unlike desktops and notebooks that are usually viewed from a more or less constant viewing angle, and usually indoors, tablet screens will be viewed from various angles and under various lighting conditions. They must remain as viewable as possible no matter how and where they are being used. We took the DAP M9020 outdoors and, in the picture below, sat it next to Google's inexpensive, but highly regarded, 1st-gen Nexus 7 consumer tablet. That one picture essentially tells the whole story: the M9020 is brighter than even a very good consumer tablet, and it has far fewer distracting reflections outdoors.

Subjectively, the M9020 screen works well outdoors. There are some reflections, but they are not debilitating. The display also has near perfect horizontal and vertical viewing angles. That means you can look at the screen from any angle without the image vanishing or drastically changing in color. That said, the LCD assumed a distinct yellow hue when viewed at an angle from above or from each side.

The compilation image below shows the DAP M9020 under a variety of lighting conditions and from various angles. Click on the picture for a much larger version (4,310 x 3,096 pixel) for close-up viewing.

As is usually the case with cameras built into ruggedized computing equipment, they're a mixed blessing because they're generally just not fast and competent enough to replace a dedicated camera or even a smartphone. That holds true for the ones in the M9020. With practice and study of the significant customizations of the presets, it's quite possible to get decent shots, but the cameras are not at the same high standard as the rest of this DAP tablet.

The integrated scanner, on the other hand, is industrial quality, fully integrated into the tablet's design, and highly configurable through the ScannerManager utility.

The included ScannerManager 2.0 allows configuration for the internal scanner, as well as for tethered or Bluetooth scanners.

Decoder properties can be set for some three dozen different codes, and parameters can be imported and exported. Within each decoder, every single variable is also described in detail, including possible values.

For tethered and Bluetooth scanners, there are panels for all required communication settings, trigger options, as well as where output is to be sent, or whether the result should have a prefix or suffix appended.

Our review tablet also came with the DAP Control Center utility where System Info provides a comprehensive listing of all available device parameters, Hotkeys lets users link physical controls and keys to a choice on a long pop-up list of functions, and in Power Options various power-consuming options can be turned on or off. These include WWAN, WLAN, Bluetooth, GPS, scanner, front and rear cameras, and the I/O bay.

• Operating temperature is -22 to 122 degrees Fahrenheit (-30 to 50 degrees Celsius). That's plenty good enough for virtually all field environments, and even for extreme deployments such as commercial freezers or desertlike climates. That said, in desert climates it can easily get hotter.

• The M9020 can handle multiple drops from six feet to concrete, and the tablet looks like it can easily handle that, and likely more. Given than dropping a handheld device while in use rarely results in a fall from more than four feet or so, six feet gives a nice extra cushion.

• IP67 sealing, which means it's completely protected against dust, and it is also protected against full immersion into water down to a meter or so. For all practical purposes, this means the M9020 is completely waterproof and can easily handle a hose-down or even a drop into a puddle or stream.

• Vibration resistance is only listed as MIL-STD-810G. In fully rugged devices we like to see more detailed and more comprehensive ruggedness data in tech specs and brochures. All of this is most likely available from DAP, but we'd like for it to be more visible.

Measuring 9.0 x 7.3 x 2.0 inches and weighing just a bit over three pounds, the M9020 won't slip into a pocket, but is still light and handy enough to go almost anywhere.

Its Intel Atom N2600 processor is a proven performer in this class of device, DAP offers plenty of (hot-swappable) battery power, and the tablet is easily configured for all sorts of special applications and deployments via its innovative customizable I/O compartment.

DAP also added plenty of interesting features to the new M9020. No integrated ZigBee wireless technology as in the M9010 pure tablet, but customers get not only Bluetooth v4.0 and comprehensive 802.11a/b/g/n dual bandWiFi, but can also specify Gobi 5000 4G LTE mobile broadband, a u-blox 6 GPS module, dual cameras, RFID and a 1D/2D barcode scanner.

The integrated keyboard and physical function keys will appeal to those who prefer hardware data entry even in a tablet form factor. And despite the full-function keyboard, the M9020 also has a full 7-inch 1024 x 600 pixel touch display that offers very good outdoor viewability.

The M9020 looks tough and rugged, and it is. It can handle 6-foot drops, extreme temperatures, and even immersion in water. It also feels invulnerable. Overall, with the M9020, DAP Technologies offers a unique tablet that's powerful enough to handle full Windows with ease, rugged enough to be deployed virtually anywhere, configurable enough for almost any application, and it still won't weigh you down.