Panasonic ToughBook CF-H1 Mobile Clinical Assistant

We're on 10 per cent commission for every CF-H1 sold in the UK :)

No, seriously, just because it's a little uncommon doesn't mean we've been paid to feature it. We just thought it was something a little more different, and thus interesting, than "just another notebook." And TR has a history of featuring TooughBooks which, we concede, most consumers would never buy.

This was a real stab from the past for me.

In 1992 I formed a partnership to design and build such a device as this. At first we were going to use the EO-440 and EO-880 (PenPoint OS) but that was killed by AT&T as soon as we finished writing the proposal (for a nursing home).

The target device would be a tablet PC, wireless, lan connected, and have a bar code reader. It would also have had fax and voicemail. We had in mind using it on medicine carts in convalescent and nursing homes.

We actually went to many trade shows looking for equivalent functionality to the discontinued EO pc's. Our final proposal included the Dauphin DTR-1 with MS Windows for Pen extensions, PenOP for signature authentication, with PowerBuilder generated applications on a Novell Network.

Alas, our Client had nowhere near the amount of money to fund the pilot project (and I learned a valuable lesson about doing proposals on spec). On the upside, we learned a lot about the state of the art circa 1992-1996. Also, many of the features we demanded and communicated to vendors started to appear around 1996-99 with the initial iterations of PDA's from Palm and others.

Sigh. It just doesn't pay to be too far ahead of Your time without Angel Investors. It's been 17 years, and here is this fine machine.

Good Job Panasonic!

- David C. Manchester
http://dredeyedick.wordpress.com

@bar simpspinn - And there I was thinking that a fully rugged touch screen device with unique features like integrated RFID and wireless smartcard security might be of interest to some people. I'm glad you pointed out the error in my thinking, what would I do without you. Strangely though, my bank account doesn't seem to have grown since publication - do you think I should contact someone about that?

@Dave Manchester - I've spoken to a few people over the years who had great ideas, but simply couldn't find the backing to implement them. It's a frustrating situation, especially when you have to watch someone else bring something similar to market. That said, I think the only reason that Panasonic has gone down this route is because it has already carved such a strong niche for itself with its ToughBooks, that it can carry that reputation and knowhow across, while also making use of existing manufacturing facilities.