Business Fujitsu Stylistic M532 tablet to start selling in October

Before barely getting a chance to take a thorough look at the newly unveiled business-oriented Casio Paper Writer tablet, a new gadget with a similar target got introduced to the public. The Fujitsu Stylistic M532/EA4 will also focus on durability and functionality and will most likely limit itself to the Asian market, but, unlike the Paper Writer, it doesn’t seem to come with a lot of unique features or specs.

We already got acquainted with the Stylistic M532 about a month ago, but now we have a more complete spec sheet and we know a thing or two about its ETA. Unfortunately, although Fujitsu is ready to take pre-orders for the 10-incher in Japan and will start shipment in “early October”, there’s no official word on pricing.

Rumors from back August said something about the tab “starting at $549”, but we’re very much hoping for that bar to be considerably lowered. Don’t get us wrong, we fairly like the Stylistic M532, but it seems a bit obscene to ask a higher price for it than for the latest-generation iPad, not to mention more than double the pricing of the Nexus 7 or Kindle Fires.

The tablet is quite the looker for a ruggedized gadget, weighing in at only 560 grams while meeting “the U.S. military’s specifications for durability and dust-proofing”. We’re unsure what kind of build materials Fujitsu used for the M532, but it seems that the 10-incher can hold its own in the most difficult environments, being not only dust-proof, but also shock and waterproof.

The battery seems to be another strong point of the tablet, and, although the exact capacity is not mentioned in Fujitsu’s press release, the manufacturers boldly claim that the M532 can go for over 13 hours on a single charge. Additionally, there are also a bunch of business apps pre-loaded, although again Fujitsu “neglects” to get into specific details.

As far as actual performance goes, the slate will most likely not break any records, although the 1.4GHz quad-core NVIDIA Tegra 3 T30S processor and 1GB of RAM were not long ago the standard for high-enders.

The 8MP / 2MP dual cameras are certainly a very nice surprise, but the 10.1-inch TFT screen sounds rather mediocre, with a 1280 x 800 pixels resolution. Other features include Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, Android 4.0 ICS, GPS, micro USB 2.0, a memory card slot, and optional 3G connectivity. The lack of an HDMI port is a bit of a disappointment, while we certainly hope that the memory card slot is a full-sized one, and that there’ll also be Bluetooth, despite Fujitsu forgetting to list it in the spec sheet.

So, how about it, folks? Would the Stylistic M532 be worth $549? How about $500? Or maybe $450? Could Fujitsu ever bring it to the US or Europe and hope to sell more than a couple of items?

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