The graphics cores integrated into Bay Trail systems are of the same 7th generation Intel Graphics variety as those used in Intel's 3rd generation "Ivy Bridge" processors, albeit with fewer execution units (four instead of several times that number) and lower clock speeds.

Still, that means the new graphics support most of the same APIs and features. And with the E3826 chip frugally operating at a maximum thermal design power of just 6 watts, the Kenai has no need for a fan (it does get warm, though).

One question that comes up, given the Kenai's high-res display and suitability for complex tasks, is why Trimble didn't select the popular quad-core E3845 which runs at a higher 1.91 GHz frequency and has four instead of two cores without costing a lot more. The E3845 has a higher thermal design power, of course, but the fairly large body of the Kenai would seem to provide sufficient cooling. We asked Trimble about this. Their answer was that the processor decision was made based on the balance between speed/capability and the heat generated within the rugged casing.

To see what kind of performance the Trimble Kenai provides with the dual-core Atom E3826 processor, we ran our standard benchmark suite, Passmark Software's PerformanceTest 6.1, that runs about 30 tests covering CPU, 2D graphics, 3D graphics, memory, and disk and then computes scores for each category and an overall PassMark score. We also ran our second benchmark suite, CrystalMark, for confirmation and additional information. For comparison and to provide an idea where the Kenai stands, we're listing the results of Trimble's own Yuma 2 as well as some other rugged tablets we've had in our lab. And here's the data of our testing:

To determine idle power draw, we installed PassMark's BatteryMon. With Windows Power Options set to Power Saver and the backlight set to minimum but WiFi on, we saw overall system power draws as little as 5.2 watts. Given the 49 watt-hour battery, that translates into 9.4 hours of operation, far longer than Trimble's estimate.

With the backlight set to medium and still in the Windows Power Saver mode, power draw rose to 6.8 watts, which is still theoretically good for 7.2 hours.

But what if the 1,000 nit backlight is all the way cranked up to its maximum setting? Surprisingly, draw only rose modestly to 8.3 watts, and that' still good for 5.9 hours.

We also tested power draw in the Windows Balanced and Maximum Power settings. In both, the low, medium and maximum backlight tests showed about the same result as in Power Saver mode.

Real-world mileage will, of course, vary. Minimum draw in a test lab is not an accurate predictor of actual battery life. Under full load, even the miserly E3826 chip will draw considerably more power. That, however, will usually be offset by sleep or idle periods.

Which means that Trimble and others who had seen the great potential of Pixel Qi had to go another, more conventional, route. So the Kenai has a standard transmissive display equipped with all the optical treatments and layers and technologies that have made transmissive screens more viewable outdoors than anyone expected.

As if to make up for the ultimately unsuccessful Pixel Qi adventure, Trimble went all out with the Kenai's conventional display. 1,920 x 1,200 pixel in a 10.1-inch display makes for 224 pixels per inch. That's the same super-crisp resolution as Apple's 13-inch retina MacBook Pro. So when it comes to mapping, GIS and virtually any positioning technology, sharper is better, and that's where the Kenai shines.

And since even the best optical treatments only go so far in making a display truly outdoor viewable, Trimble also equipped the Kenai with an exceptionally powerful backlight that can generate luminance up to 1,000 nits. A standard consumer laptop has around 200 nits, a bright consumer tablet about 400 nits, so the Kenai goes far beyond that. Superbright backlight usually drain batteries in a hurry, but as we've already seen in our battery draw testing, the Kenai's backlight is remarkably frugal even turned all the way up.

Below are a couple of comparison pictures between the Kenai and an Apple iPad Air 2. They highlight a few things we noticed when taking both of those tablets outdoors. First, while the subjective difference between the iPad's roughly 400 nit backlight and the Kenai's 1,000 nits isn't very large (it's the law of diminishing return), there is a noticeable difference in brightness under all outdoor conditions. Second, while like all glossy displays the Kenai showed some reflections, they were generally more muted, and thus less intrusive than those on the Pad. And third, the Kenai generally was more capable of retaining a clearly viewable image than the iPad.

That all changed when first the iPhone and then the iPad demonstrated the advantages of capacitive multi-touch, such as effortless tapping, panning, dragging, rotating and zooming in and out. However, the capacitive touch technology's inability to work in the rain and with gloves on was a problem for vertical market and industrial applications. In addition, legacy Microsoft Windows with its small check boxes, scrollers and pulldowns simply wasn't designed for touch. So most vertical and industrial market tablets and handhelds stayed with resistive touch.

Now, things are changing. That's in part because Windows 10 is much more touch-friendly than earlier versions of the OS, and to a larger part because of advances in capacitive touch technology. The Kenai, for example, can be used with bare fingers, with gloves, and also with a precise, narrow-tipped capacitive pen.

As is increasingly common in leading rugged tablets, the Kenai has a control panel that allows setting/optimizing the device for use with different implements and under different conditions. Note that this is an area where manufacturers usually have their own "secret sauce" on how they do it.

Capacitive touch technology works by measuring the capacitance between two electrodes, something that doesn't work when the display gets wet. What can be done is switching from a standard mutual capacitance mode to self-capacitance where the capacitance between one electrode and the ground is measured instead of the capacitance between two electrodes. An alternate method is to change controller sensitivity or other controller variables to optimize performance for a specific touch mode.

We're not exactly sure how Trimble did it. The stylus only works in stylus mode, but not in the finger or glove modes, so likely the controller is programmed to only recognize small touch areas, like that of the tip of a pen. Glove and finger touch seem to rely on different controller sensitivities. And note that Trimble also sells special "touch gloves" that use small inserts in the thumb and index fingers to work on capacitive touch screens. Bottomline here: it takes a bit of experimenting to see what settings work best for any given user.

Below is the fine-tipped capacitive stylus that comes with the Kenai. It's four inches long, has a tether, and uses all metal construction. Trimble says it works based on electromagnetic induction.

The Kenai manual suggests using the Windows 10 camera app which supports both still shots and video. Unfortunately, the settings of the Microsoft app are very limited. We could only find settings for aspect ratio, a framing grid, flash settings, exposure, and manual focus. So our test shots were all in 1,920 x 1,080 resolution, which means 2-megapixel instead of the camera's inherent 8-megapixel capability. Geotag, likewise, was unaccessible.

Doubtlessly, this is something that Trimble will address in shipping versions of the Kenai. Or perhaps we overlooked something.

Anyway, using the camera yielded some nice surprises. The autofocus, which is often very slow in such integrated cameras, was quick and reliable. What's interesting here is that the focus seems to seek detail and, especially, text. In every sample picture we took, the camera made sure text was in focus. Below are some of the pictures we shot with the Kenai camera.

A particularly impressive example of the camera's tendency to find text is the picture on the upper right. Here, a spec label was visible through a protective grid on top of an air conditioner. The camera did not focus on the grid, but apparently saw the text on the label beneath it and instead focussed on that! Impressive.

The auto-focus impressed in every other situation as well. There wasn't a single blurry out-of-focus picture in our entire sample run. And all pictures looked exceptionally good on the Kenai display. After we loaded them onto a big desktop display, however, the camera's bias towards detail and text became even more noticeable. While all text was readable, other areas of pictures often looked very compressed.

As far as recording video goes, the Kenai can competently record 1080p. It never falls behind, there's good focus, and the resulting video quality is plenty good enough for any project documentation. Audio is very good as well. Since video recording is also done with the Windows 10 Windows Camera app, the same limitations apply: almost no settings.

Does that mean Trimble devices aren't as tough? Far from it. Trimble is testing its rugged gear to MIL-STD-810G procedures wherever applicable. That means MIL-STD-810G Method 501.5, Procedure II and Method 502.5, Procedure II & III for high and low operating temperature testing, where the Kenai's range is a very impressive -22°F to 130°F (-30°C to 55°C). That's good enough for operation almost anywhere.

In the drops and bumps department, the Kenai is tested according to MIL-STD-810G Method 516.6 Procedure IV, Transit Drop, which means surviving multiple 4-foot drops. Four feet is relevant because that is about the height a tablet will fall when it's dropped from a standing position.

Since tablets are often mounted and used in vehicles, resistance against vibration damage is important. Here, the Kenai passed MIL-STD-810G, Method 514.6, Procedure I Procedure II, Category 5, the general minimum integrity and loose cargo tests, as well as the truck/trailer loose cargo testing in Annex C.

The Kenai also carries IP65 sealing, where the "6" means total protection against dust, and the "5" that it can handle low pressure water jets from all directions (albeit with limited ingress). These day, we're seeing an increasing number of IP67-sealed consumer phones because it is relatively easy to seal a small device with a minimum of I/O. It's much more difficult with a larger Windows tablet with full I/O. As is, we had the Kenai sit in a shallow pond with a waterfall running on it for an extended period of time, without any leaking whatsoever.

Trimble also did altitude testing on an operating unit at 15,000 feet (MIL-STD-810G, Method 500.5, Procedure I, II & III). If 15,000 feet doesn't seem much compared to commercial jetliners flying at 38,000 feet or so, remember that commercial planes are all pressurized. 15,000 feet unpressurized is a different thing. Trimble also tests for solar exposure and chemical resistance to mild alkaline and acid cleaning solutions fuel hydrocarbons, alcohols and common vehicle and factory machine lubricants.

Specifically, the Kenai is for those who need enough display real estate for complex applications, high resolution for even the most detailed mapping and location applications, and enough screen brightness to work outdoors even in strong sunlight.

The Kenai runs Windows 10, uses an efficient Intel "Bay Trail" processor, speedy solid state storage, and provides both current and legacy connectivity.

The 10.1-inch capacitive multi-touch screen is large enough and is gratifyingly sharp with 1,920 x 1,200 pixel resolution. It is also very bright, bright enough to be used outdoors, and it has a rock-solid picture that won't change or fade no matter what direction and angle it's being looked at.

The meticulously designed magnesium-alloy/rubberized polymer housing provides excellent ruggedness and good protection. The Kenai offers sufficient onboard connectivity, has fast WiFi, Bluetooth and precision GPS, a good camera, and it can be ordered with a variety of Trimble and third party field software.

For professionals in the field, the Trimble Kenai tablet provides the full Windows 10 experience, a large display with superior resolution that's viewable anywhere, good onboard connectivity, ruggedness, long battery life, and exemplary quality in an ergonomically designed package. It is a reliable, professional, competent tool suitable for a very wide variety of jobs out there in the field. -- Conrad H. Blickenstorfer, April 2016

Trimble Kenai Specifications Added/changed Added 01/2016; full review 04/2016 Type Rugged tablet computer Processor Dual-core 1.46GHz Intel "Bay Trail" Atom E3826 CPU TDP 6.0 watts OS Windows 10 Enterprise Memory 4GB or 8GB DDR3 Display 10.1-inch/WUXGA (1,920 x 1,200 pixel) sunlight-readable (1,000 nits) TFT, 1.3mm Gorilla Glass protection Digitizer/Pens 10-point capacitive multi-touch Keyboard Onscreen keyboard + optional external Storage 64GB, 128GB or 256GB solid state drive (SSD) Slots 1 x microSIM Housing Plastic, protective rubber bumpers, AZ91D magnesium alloy chassis Temperature -22F to 130F (-30C to 55C), MIL-STD-810G, Method 501.5/502.5 Enclosure Class IEC 60529, IP65 Humidity MIL-STD 810G 507.5, Proc. II Aggravated, 90% RH temp cycle +30°C/+60°C) Drop Survives multiple 4-ft drops (1.22 m) MIL-STD-810G, Method 516.6 Procedure IV, Transit Drop. Vibration MIL-STD 810G 514.6, Poc. I, Proc. II, Cat. 5 (Vibration; Truck/Trailer-Loose Cargo Annex C, gure 514.6C-4, Table 514.6C-I, one hour) Altitude MIL-STD-810G, Method 500.5, (Altitude) Procedure I, II & III Operational at 15,000 ft. Certifications FCC, CE, UL 60950, IC (Canada), RoHS compliant. MIL461, RSS 210, CSA, RSS CSA C22.2,IEC 60950, A-Tick, C-Tick, Wi-Fi Alliance Certified, MIL-STD-810G, IP65, GSM AT&T network compatible. Size 11.7 x 8.1 x 1.7 inches (298 x 206 x 43 mm) Weight 3.5 lbs. (1.6 kg) with standard battery Power Hot-swappable Li-Ion battery 10.8V/4,500mAh/49.0 watt-hours ("5 hours"); optional extended battery 10.8V/9,100mAh/98 watts ("10 hours") Camera Outward facing geotag-enabled still/video autofocus 8-mp camera with LED flash Sensors Gyro, accelerometer, e-compass, ambient light sensor GPS 72-channel uBlox NEO-M8T GNSS module (GPS, GLONASS, or BeiDou), supports real-time DGPS (RTCM v2.3 or SBAS), protocol support for NMEA-0183, SBAS (WWAS, EGNOS, MSAS) UBX binary, 2.0 meter SBAS accuracy Communication 802.11a/b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, 4G LTE-FDD, HSPA+, GSM/GPRS/EDGE, GPS pass-through Interface 2 x USB 2.0 Host, 1 x RS232 serial, 3.5mm audio, dock Price Starting at US$2,399 Product page Kenai product page Brochure page Kenai spec sheet Contact Trimble Navigation P.O. Box 947, Corvallis, OR 97339 Phone 1-541-750-9200