Motion tweaks their lightweight rugged tablet for increased performance and enhanced usability
(by Conrad H. Blickenstorfer)

On October 8, 2013, tablet pioneer Motion Computing introduced the latest generation of its F5 and C5 series of rugged tablets—the former geared towards use in the field, the latter for use in healthcare settings. In this overview we'll describe the new F5te; the C5te was afforded the same enhancements.

Note that after last year's massive upgrade from the F5v to the F5t, this year's changes are considerably more subtle, at least at first sight. The table below shows the primary differences between the new F5te and its F5t predecessor:

Motion F5te vs. Motion F5t

Device	Motion F5te (2013)	Motion F5t (2012)
CPU best	Core i7-3667U (2.0/3.2GHz)	Core i7-3667U (2.0/3.2GHz)
CPU better	Core i5-3337U (1.8/2.6GHz)	Core i5-3317U (1.7/2.6GHz)
CPU good	Core i3-3227U (1.9GHz)	NA
Touch	10-finger procap	2-finger procap
OS	Win 7, Win 8	Win 7, Win 8-ready
RAM	2/4/8GB	2/4GB
Mass Storage	mSATA 64/128/256GB	mSATA 64/128GB
SnapWorks	yes	no
EasyConnect RFID	yes	no

And here's our commentray on the changes, what they mean, and why they matter:

• Those who had hoped for "Haswell" 4th generation Intel Core processors will have to wait until next time. And the high-end i7 vPro chip in the F5Te remains the same as well. The available i5 chip was slightly upgraded from the i5-3317U to the slightly quicker i5-3337U. When we last looked at the F5t, there was no Core i3 option; the new F5te can be ordered with a Core i3-3227U.

• Memory and mass storage have been expanded. Maximum RAM is now 8GB, up from 4GB. And the largest available mSATA drive is now 256GB instead of 128GB. Both changes will be much appreciated by users who can never have enough/too much memory and storage.

• The big news in our book is the new 10-finger multi-touch. When we did our full review of the last-gen F5t we applauded the inclusion of 2-finger multi-touch, but cautioned that it might be a potential issue, especially with Windows 8. While, for the most part, Windows 8 uses one or two finger gestures, some apps can use up to five fingers, and apparently that's a requirement for Windows 8 touch hardware. It's one of those things that's really not that important, but it's much better to have it than not. And now Motion does.

• Along with the new hardware generation, Motion introduced productivity-enhancing software. There's SNAPWORKS by Motion, an intuitive, touch-based camera application for easy capture, annotation and sharing of images (see the SNAPWORKS page). There's also the new EasyConnect RFID Long Range Reader that transforms Motion rugged tablets into long-range UHF RFID tag readers for obtaining and processing critical asset data from a distance - ideal for an oil rig, rail transportation or warehouse environment (see the EasyConnect RFID page).