Let’s face it. Most smartphones and tablets simply aren’t designed to put up with a hard day at work with a good chance of being dropped or rained on. Untimely accidental breakage of a device you or your people need to do their jobs results in office frustration, unhappy field workers and angry customers who are kept waiting. In the past, the solution to this headache has often been to write a big check and invest in big name rugged devices that offer an extended service life. That extended service life is quite necessary in order to ever realize a return on THAT investment. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with that approach. Well known reputable businesses do it every day. I get to help them three or four years later when those devices are nearing the end of service life and are perceived as old and sluggish by the people who use them every day.
That was before. This is now.
I recently found what I’ll call a pair of rugged, feature-rich, well-costed handhelds that can compete with the best of them on their own turf. In their latest generations of rugged handhelds, Two Technologies took the approach of augmenting larger smartphones, often referred to as phablets, with technology and durability enhancements. Think of it like making a really tough, fully rigged out cyborg unit from a powerful, but not-so-tough, Android device.
Enter the Two Technologies N4 and N5Print.
Two Technologies have taken a Samsung Galaxy Note ‘phablet’, wrapped it in a hard, water resistant shell, and added some pretty impressive accessories. Accessories like a hot swappable battery, a smart card reader, RFID scanner, mag stripe reader, printer and a drop on charging cradle. I’ve been working with them recently to discover situations where we could increase overall satisfaction of customers who clearly need rugged smartphones. I have to tell you, they are everywhere. It’s pretty exciting to see the interest our solution providers have in the form factor. We’ve lined up options for single app lockdown, basic forms, order entry/dispatch, fully automatic route optimization, all the way to custom applications that include back office and cloud integration.
If you’ve never heard the term ‘phablet’, it’s a really big smartphone that’s almost a tablet but still has full phone functionality that tablets lack.
Key benefits on the Sprint side include availability of UNLIMITED data and access to Sprint Direct Connect Now on the nation’s newest network. If your field workers frequently refer to training videos, transmit video of site work that’s been accomplished, or need to talk to workgroups or dispatch quickly, that will be really important to you. There’s even a Remote Speaker Microphone available to make Direct Connect safe and easy.
Like all Two Technologies products, the N4 and N5Print can be branded with your company logo, keypad graphics and case color. Now your mobility device can carry your unique brand one step further.
Take a look at the Two Technologies N4 and N5Print ultra-rugged Android devices below. If you’re even vaguely interested, contact and tell them the Sprint Philly team sent you.
Did I mention the N5Print is unprecedented?
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