GOLE F7 is a rugged Windows 10 Pro tablet with a 10.1″ touchscreen display, an Intel Atom x5-Z8350 Cherry Trail processor, and “triple-proofed” with resistance to shocks, waterproofness, and dustproofness (see full specs). The tablet also comes with various features that can be useful to industrial use cases.
The company sent me a sample fitted with 4G, a QR and bar code scanner, and a fingerprint print, as well as a separate charging dock.
I’ll first have a look at the device and its hardware features in the first part of the review before trying it out with Windows 10 Pro in the second part that will focus on special features and ruggedness.
All ports are covered to make the tablet dust-and-waterproof, and I could easily pull those to reveal USB, Ethernet and a COM port on one side…
… a 3.5mm audio jack, micro HDMI port, micro USB port, USB 3.0 port and power jack on the other. If you need to use any of the ports IP67 waterproofness obviously goes out of the window on the exposed side.
… scanning on/off, power on/off, and volume buttons, as well as QR/barcode scanner visible through a transparent window. Both top and bottom sides have M4 threads for mounting.
The tablet comes with a 5V/3A power supply and a user manual in English.
If we look at the back of the tablet we’ll see NFC support, the camera, a fingerprint sensor,
and a hand strap that allows for safe single-hand operation.
The hand strap really keeps the tablet firmly against your hand, and it will not fall off.
If we take out the hand strap, we can remove the back cover which will reveal a 12,000 mAh/3.7V battery.
The battery is removable and will give access to a MicroSD slot and SIM card socket which are not that convenient to access.
Let’s switch to the other package which contains the charging dock with another 5V/3A power supply.
There are two rubber pads placed on the dock with a protective film which can be peeled off if you intend to leave the tablet in place all the time.
The rear panel of DC7 “Charging Docking” just includes the power jack and one USB port.
That’s what the setup looks like when GOLE F7 is placed on its charging dock.
Since Intel Atom x5-Z8350 mini PC‘s have been around for several years, I’ll limit benchmark testings in the second part of the review, and instead, showcase waterproofness and shock resistances of the rugged tablet, and test features like QR code & barcode scanner, fingerprint scanner, potentially 4G support, and so on.
You can contact the company for pricing based on options and volume requested for your application via the product page.
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
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