[The ET40 - and its 5G-equipped counterpart the ET45][1] - is a new addition to Zebra's entry-level rugged Android tablet line. The unit comes with a price tag more affordable than most similarly-equipped rugged Android tablets on the market today and from our testing, we've found that the price tag doesn’t come at a compromise in performance.
We believe the tablet is a great middle-ground for business owners looking to invest in a tablet that offers more than a consumer Android tablet without dishing out over a thousand dollars for a super rugged tablet.
**The Big Picture**
Looking at the big picture items: The ET40 comes loaded with Android 11 but is upgradable up to at least Android 14, according to Zebra. All units are going to come loaded with Bluetooth and WiFi 6, but the ET45 models in particular are also going to have a SIM slot for 5G LTE. The base model of the ET40 is going to have 4GB of RAM and 64GB of Flash Memory but there are models that come loaded with 8GB RAM and 128GB of Flash. The RAM is a little lower than what you’d see in some higher-end tablets but for most POS and warehouse applications you’ll never really need anything more from the RAM. All models will have a Qualcomm Snapdragon SM6375 processor clocking in at 2.2GHz.
**Ruggedability**
There are two different screen sizes available - an 8” and a 10” Corning Gorilla glass display. Corning glass is a special type of glass made with a special chemical layer to reduce the risk of screen shatter. This allows the unit to take more abuse - increasing the life of the product overall.
Further improving durability is the ET40's IP65 sealing - meaning that it can withstand low-pressure jets of water and all forms of dust. The ET40 can also withstand 4 feet of drops to concrete by itself and 5 feet with a rugged frame - more than most consumer tablets on the market right now.
**Scanning & Camera**
A big differentiator between the ET40 from consumer tablets is the inclusion of an integrated barcode scanner directly into the unit. So instead of having to buy a separate barcode scanner and carry it around with you - which invariably is going to get misplaced or dropped - it’s all built into the unit. So right away, you’re going to earn back some of the premium that you’re paying for an enterprise device. I’ll very briefly jump into some of the specs on the scanner. Standard models will come with a SE4710 scan engine - which is a mid-range engine used in their industrial barcode scanners and can scan to about 3 feet away.
Looking at the camera - the ET40 comes with a 13MP rear camera. For context, the iPad Pro 12 is only 12mp and the Galaxy S8 Tab Ultra just meets it at 13mp itself. The front camera comes in at 5MP, which is lower than most high-end tablets but it does fall in line with many mid-range tablets and most use cases for this tablet wouldn't use a front-facing camera anyway.
**Battery & Power**
The ET40 charges with a USB-C connection or with a set of pinless contacts at the bottom of the tablet via a charging dock. The pinless contacts are ideal for commercial applications because the prongs on USB-C connections can degrade over time and break if employees are rough with them. That’s way less likely to happen with pinless contacts. This will lead to a lower cost of ownership over the life of the product and minimize downtime.
Further minimizing downtime is the tablet's ability to hot-swap the battery. If you're not familiar, hot swapping the battery means that if the tablet does start to die during a shift, you have the ability to take out the depleted battery and replace it with a new one without the unit turning off. This means you or your employee you can get right back to what you were doing without waiting for the unit to boot up and re-open all your needed applications.
**Accessories**
A big difference between the ET40 and most consumer tablets on the market is the range of point-of-sale and warehouse-focused. These include a 4-Bay tablet charging dock, battery docks, expansion battery backs to increase battery life, rugged boots that increase the unit's drop rating to a little over 5 feet, detachable presentation stands to turn the tablet into a POS setup, and more. These all need to be ordered separately from the tablet itself so feel free to reach out to us if you’re interested in any of those and need some help choosing the correct equipment.
