Pioneer Dash 7" Windows Tablet Review by POSGuys.com
Hi, this is Travis with POSGuys.com.
Today we are talking about the Dash tablet from Pioneer.
This is a Windows tablet developed by one of the leaders in all-in-on manufacturing.
They’ve been making all-in-ones for about a decade now, with their most popular units
being the Stealth Touch or the Magnus Touch.
Really widely available all-in-ones that are very common.
They’ve recently gotten into tablets and they have a 10-inch and a 7-inch size.
This is their 7-inch size.
It’s made more for retail or consumer based use.
Their 10-inch is more medically oriented.
It’s a little thicker than most tablets, as you can see.
For example, I have an iPad here.
The iPad is obviously thinner.
It’s a full size.
This is a 10-inch model, so it’s a little bigger screen.
So it’s smaller and thicker; however, what it is that the iPad isn’t is much more durable.
This has a four foot drop spec, it has an IP seal, meaning that it can get wet, it can
get dirty and you can clean it down.
So it’s made for being used in a retail or a restaurant environment.
It runs full Windows; that means your Windows programs can run on this tablet as long as
it’s supported by an Atom processor.
So your retail programs, your software for your restaurants all work fine, just check
to see what kind of processor it requires.
If it runs on an Atom than you’re good to go.
It also has a lot of included peripherals that you don’t normally see on tablets.
For instance, it has a card reader at the top.
It also can do a Smart Card, so potentially it will work for chip and pin verification.
The camera is on the back, but additionally, there also is a spot where a 2D barcode scanner
can go into and then you have two little triggers on the side for starting that barcode scanner
up.
So if you’re using it for retail for stock checks or additional information on products,
then having a barcode scanner built in is a real handy feature.
You can just walk up to the product, scan the barcode and then on the screen, it has
the details on the product.
It’s a multi-touch and it’s running Windows, so it says Windows 8.1.
It should be fairly familiar to people that have used Windows 8.1.
Overall, it’s a very good tablet for retail and restaurant type solutions.
It does cost more than your typical consumer level tablet; however, with the added durability
and the added features on it, it might be worth it.
So it’s something to look at depending on what you’re trying to do with your business.
If you’re trying to go to your customers rather than having your customers have to
go to a desk, then it’s a tool that your sales team or your service team might really,
really benefit from.
Let’s take a look at a couple of the ports on the Dash tablet.
On the one side, you have a serial port for doing traditional RS232 serial.
You will need an adaptor cable for that.
A full size USB port is available right in the middle if you want to plug in something
like a USB barcode scanner or a printer to it, you can.
And then a Sim card goes in that spot.
On the other side, you’ll find another full size USB port, so you can plug two full size
USB devices in and you can charge either from micro USB or 12 volt DC.
And right here in the headphones spot for plugging in 9 mm headphones.
On the front of it is a battery meter, right there so you can tell how charged it is.
And on the top, you have a Home button right here for going to the Home screen in Windows.
So overall, the Dash tablet is a pretty unit tablet.
A 7-inch Windows tablet, it has a dual core Atom processor, 2 gigabytes of RAM, and about
64 gigabytes of storage.
The battery is pretty good; it lasts for a whole day.
Our sales tech team played with it unplugged throughout the day and it lasted pretty much
the whole day with no problem.
Depending on how bright your screen is and how often you’re taking it in and out of
the charger and how heavily you’re using it, the batter life may vary.
But overall, plan on it working for about an 8-hour shift.
Additional peripherals are the card reader, SmartCard reader, MSR and the barcode scanner
is also optional, if you want to go that route.
The charging base that is optional as well, you can charge directly to the device if you
don’t want to buy the charging base.
But if you do, it has a hardware network land connectivity as well as three additional USB
ports.
So if you what to plug in like a receipt printer to the base then when you plug the Dash into
the base, then it will get connectivity to your receipt printer.
For more information on the Dash tablet or to purchase it, please visit us as POSGuys.com.
Thanks.