Good news: The PM67 mobile computer, easily recognized with its full physical keypad, is now part of the Android Enterprise Recommended (AER) program–making it the 6th device from Point Mobile to do so. Run by the Android 11 operating system, PM67 passed all the latest requirements Android has set for AER devices. The long list of requirements includes minimum CPU clock speed, architecture, ingress protection, and more, to make sure devices are suitable for professional usage. Manufacturers are also required to provide prompt security update and patches the program requires. Find more about what it takes to be an AER device in my previous post: Google’s guide for choosing enterprise devices.
List of Point Mobile devices found on Android Enterprise website
More information about PM67
PM67 is a device with industrial-grade ruggedness. It’s designed to withstand 1.5m (5ft) drops and is IP67 rain/dust proof. PM67 is powered by 2.0GHz octa-core processor and 3GB RAM/32GB ROM. With the full physical keypad for accurate data input and 1D/2D scan engine, it’s a device suitable even for harsh industrial settings.
After months of discussions, the UK finally voted to leave the EU in 2016. The official date for the Brexit was set to be January 31st of 2020, but in order to adjust to the complex changes, both the UK and EU agreed to keep things the same until December 31st of 2020. The Brexit has severe impacts for the trading business, and many companies struggle to provide their products and services to the UK.
Ensuring repair services for Point Mobile devices in the UK
When companies use mobile computers for their work, it is crucial to avoid any disruption to keep the business up and running. If a device breaks, tasks can’t be completed, and result in downtimes costing huge amounts of money. That’s why we work with experienced repair service providers all around the world to ensure that our products are repaired quickly to be back in business in no time. For the United Kingdom, we started a very close partnership with Mobile Computer Repair Ltd. as our Authorized Service Centre (ASC), located in Poole, Dorset. The guys at MCR bring in a ton of know-how, providing in- and out-of-warranty services, our Point Care SLA, as well as their own bespoke comprehensive annual maintenance agreements which include accidental damage.
Our Authorized Service Center (ASC) in the UK: Mobile Computer Repair Ltd.
We have worked closely together to ensure spare parts are stocked locally in the UK, realizing a fast 3 to 5 working day turnaround as standard, with expedited turnaround times also available for extra time-critical repairs. As a well established service provider, MCR knows rugged devices inside out, and we are super happy to work with them.
Easy RMA booking through online portal
To initiate a return, you only need to set up a return online using MCR’s handy online RMA tool. It only takes a few clicks to book a repair and generate shipping documentation for each device. The portal also features real-time repair tracking and next-working day collection options. When managing a large fleet of devices, a portal like that saves time and reduces errors massively.
A look behind the scenes: Devices waiting for service at MCR
Now, even though the Brexit has caused a bunch of problems and challenges, we are well prepared for the new situation, making sure spare parts are stocked and devices will be repaired quickly.
Mobile Computer Repair has a long-established reputation for delivering high quality repairs and fast turnaround times, all backed up with outstanding customer service – The perfect complement to our hardware offering.
There was a time when a physical keypad on a smartphone was not considered weird or a novelty: It was rather a normal, reasonable, and wanted feature. But as time went by, more and more people started wanting a bigger screen, and also touch panels have evolved enough to completely replace hard buttons with virtual ones. Today, consumer smartphone manufacturers no longer add hard keys along with the touch panel, filling the front of a device only with a display. However, for quite a few smart device markets, a full keypad right under the touch panel is considered desirable and roaming around even in 2021. Why is that?
1. Fast and accurate
Speed directly links to efficiency for workers who need to enter a lot of data every day. The physical, almost satisfying feedback that you feel by touching each hard button still has advantages over virtual keypad solutions, as it makes faster data input with fewer typos possible. Your hands just remember the position of each key better when you can feel it rather than only see.
2. Easier to multitask
Each time the virtual keypad pops up, it hides almost half of the information you are seeing, which makes task harder and downright annoying: with physical keypads, you can still enjoy the full capabilities of the entire screen while you are typing.
3. Perfect for outdoor workers
Touchscreens, no matter how great they have become nowadays, still don’t work perfectly well if you are wearing gloves or your hands are wet as they rely on the teeny tiny bit of electricity that comes from the fingers. While the rugged mobile device manufacturers often support wet-touch and glove-touch that come in handy, any obstruction between your hands and touch panel makes it just not 100% reliable. Physical keypad, which relies on pressure, is free from this inconvenience – Workers may go outside in the rain and still make full use of a keypad device, without being forced to take off the gloves or dry their hands.
Assigning functions or apps to F-keys is a great advantage
Illuminated keys make data entry at night or in dimly-lit areas no problem
One device, two keypad options: Some devices give you the choice
4. Easily customizable with F-keys
Another great benefit of a physical keypad is the integration of function, or F-keys. You all know them from your computer keyboard: Typically next to the ESC-key is where the F-keys start. On mobile computers, those keys are fully programmable. You have to take a lot of pictures? Simply assign F1 to your camera application. There’s an app you use every day? Put it on F2. For recurring tasks, this is a great shortcut and makes life a whole lot easier.
So for the above reasons, the demand for physical keypad on rugged mobile devices remain still very strong and manufacturers are living up to the expectation. Our portfolio consists of a variety of devices with hard keys, such as PM451 or PM550, and we are still designing new products with real keys, such as the upcoming PM67. Depending on the device, keypads are even available in different options, such as full numeric, alpha numeric or function numeric. Those devices are extremely important for industries among warehouse management, logistics, and delivery service industries, and help workers around the world to get their tasks done.
Discover Point Mobile devices with physical keypads
PM451
Three keypad options, three barcode scanner options, optional LTE modem, and detachable gun handle, Android 9 operating system.
To call a device ‘rugged’, devices have to be protected against water and dust
As most of our readers probably know, rugged enterprise devices are designed to endure rough handling and harsh environments. Lots of device manufacturers in our industry use so-called ‘IP ratings’ to show how strong their devices are. ‘IP’ is an acronym, standing for ‘Identification code for protection’. Normally after ‘IP’, there is a number following, like 67 or 68. That number defines which strength level the product is on. Specifically, which level of protection the enclosure provides against access to hazardous parts (like PCBs or moving parts) and the ingress of solid objects, such as dust or water. Besides the drop specification, the IP rating is another very important value to identify the ruggedness of a product.
First things first: What do the numbers mean?
In IP ratings, first number describes the protection level from solid objects, the second number (7) describes the protection level from water. The higher the number, the stronger. For the protection level from solid objects, 6 is the maximum, which means being perfectly protected against dust particles. For the protection level from water, 8 is the maximum. 7 means it is water proof up to 1m. It’s not maximum, but for normal industrial usage this is absolutely sufficient. For better understanding, take a look at the table below.
So why not IP68? And is there even IP69?
As mentioned before, rugged devices are designed to survive harsh work environments. That could be a warehouse with many forklifts potentially running over the device, or a construction side with heavy machinery that could smash it. Or simply a deep puddle your mobile computer could drop into. For those applications, IP67 has proven itself to be the allrounder of IP ratings. It covers a wide range of use cases and offers optimal protection. IP68 means a product or equipment will survive immersion of water under conditions “which shall be specified by the manufacturer”. Generally it means, that the test depth and duration is expected to be greater than the requirements for IP67, and other effects may be added as well, such as temperature cycling before the product is thrown in the water. So, since the requirement for the 7 in IP67 defines “immersion, up to 1m”, IP68 could survive depths of more than 1m (generally up to 3m).
As rugged mobile devices typically don’t fall into waters with a depth of more than 1m, IP67 became somewhat of the leading industry standard for most applications. Of course, there could be situations where an even higher IP rating is necessary. For those cases, there is something called IP69K: It gives protection against close-range high pressure and high temperature spray downs. This kind of protection is used for products that have to cleaned with a pressure washer for example. In the testing procedure, the product will be “attacked” by high pressure water with 1,450 psi (or 100 bar) from four specific angles ( (0°, 30°, 60°, 90°) for at least 30 seconds.
Almost all of our devices are IP67 certified, so they are specifically made to be used in rough environments without anxiety to break them. A while ago, we took one brand new PM90 (of course with IP67) out of the box and test how much it can really take. If it survived the test you’ll see in the video.
Conclusion
So, while there are higher IP ratings, they just don’t bring a whole lot more protection to the products used in our environments. Adding higher level of protection would only mean more complicated engineering and design, resulting in more expensive components and products.
Browsing Android Enterprise Recommended website on lap top computer.
Although enterprise mobility devices have a relatively smaller market than consumer smartphones do, still there are thousands of devices with different specs and form factors to confuse you. To make it worse, while you can easily get reviews and comparisons of the latest smartphones through videos and blog posts created by well-renowned tech journalists or YouTubers, this is not the case for enterprise mobile devices. There is simply not much insightful public information you can get by just googling. When it comes to Android devices, however, there is one northern star that guides you through the rough terrain of scattered information: Android Enterprise Recommended.
What is Android Enterprise Recommended?
Android Enterprise Recommended (AER) is a program led by Google, designed to help businesses choose high-quality Android devices as well as software solutions. It is a list of validated devices against strict requirements, and through a public platform, it encourages manufacturers to match those requirements and register their devices to the program. The AER directory categorizes products by form factor, manufacturer, memories, etc., in which you can easily navigate it through to the product that you need. Currently, Point Mobile has five devices (PM30, PM451, PM90, PM45, and PM85) listed as Android Enterprise Recommended, and planning to register many more new products in the future, such as the PM67 or the upcoming PM75.
Point Mobile devices in Android Enterprise Recommended directory
What are the requirements that Google inspects?
Depending on the type of the device and the version of OS, Google sets a different standard. For a rugged device with Android 11.0, for example, it needs to be equipped with at least 2GB RAM / 16GB ROM, a processor faster than 1.1GHz, IP54 water/dust resistance, and MIL-STD-810G drop resistance. To keep the general user experience excellent, AER also requires manufacturers to include Google’s default system apps, additional device management apps and encourages them to follow the specific guidelines about how to design their interface, so that customers can enjoy standardized and intuitive experiences across different devices.
The security update standard requires manufacturers to publish update within 90 days with an announcement on their websites that has link to it from Google’s Security Bulletins. As most businesses buy devices in bulk and manage a fleet of mobile computers, AER states that manufacturers must offer at least two of the next three solutions: work profile management, full device management, dedicated device management.
Much sought after: Android Enterprise Recommended Badge
Advantages of certified devices for businesses
So, why do manufacturers and software companies keep registering their products to AER? And why should buyers consider choosing a device or service from that list? Well, the answer is simple: AER guarantees that a product matches the minimum level of specs to be suitable for enterprise use, in terms of performance, security, and availability. The sheer amount of available products (of any kind really) can be confusing, and buyers don’t have time to check every single product on the market. So by recommending products that are safe to be used in a professional environment, Google is giving us a hand which makes it a lot easier to choose the right product.
