Fujitsu Stylistic M532 Review

Introduction:

You can’t deny one thing with Fujitsu, and it is the beautifully designed products – its laptops, for instance, always have a little something to make them stand out, but will that panache be translated now to the free-for-all tablet market?

The Fujitsu Stylistic M532 is the company’s push for a presence into the growing Android tablet universe, and regardless of the claims that there are only so many ways to design a rectangular tablet, it is a looker, and a tough one at that, conforming to military standards of handling.

Fujitsu is positioning it as both a consumer and enterprise device, unlike its Windows slate last year, which was chiefly aimed towards the business market. Has it cracked the code? Read on our review to find out…

In the box:

• Proprietary charging cable
• microUSB cable for data transfer
• Cleaning cloth
• Warranty leaflet and manual

Design:

Subtle red aluminum trim around the edges and around the 8MP rear camera lens, soft-touch plastic on the back that helps with the grip, red background when you power it on – the Stylistic tablet is stylish indeed. Eschewing aluminum for the chassis cuts into the premium feeling that, say, the Asus Transformers relay, but the plastic construction makes the 10” slate very light at 19.75 oz (560 g), and it is also pretty thin at 0.34” (8.6 mm).




The compact size and weight are even more welcome when we take into consideration that Fujitsu’s slate is built to comply with the MIL-STD-810G military standard for gadget toughness. It doesn’t mean the slate is waterproof, but rather that it will withstand a few more drops – both on the ground and of water – or fare better in a harsher in terms of dust, humidity, shocks and vibrations environment than your average Android tablet.

Fujitsu Stylistic M532 indeed feels very solid in the hand, with a tight build that lacks any squeaks or crevices. The power/lock button on the top, and the volume rocker on the right are easy to find and press, with solid tactile feedback.

There is more than enough bezel to go around when holding the tablet, regardless of the orientation, so that you don’t accidentally touch the screen while surfing, and head to another website, as so often happens. The two stereo speakers are also thoughtfully situated on the back’s bottom, so you don’t cover them with your hands when holding the tablet, yet they are edging towards the sides, so you can still hear them when the tablet is lying flat.

As far as ports are concerned, the tablet sports two of those – one proprietary dock connector for charging only, and one microUSB port for data transfer.

The slate also sports a microSD card slot for storage expansion on the right, next to a SIM card slot, both covered with one protective flap, as the slate is rated to be splash-proof. There is no HDMI port for streaming movies, which is a bummer, as you have to get the cradle dock for the tablet, that comes with one.

One last touch is the notification LED light next to the ambient light sensor on the front right, which shows the state of charging as well.



Display:

An ordinary 10.1” 1280x800 pixels display with Gorilla Glass is what we find on the tough Fujitsu tablet, and the panel is of the IPS variety meaning very good viewing angles. A pixel density just shy of 150ppi is low for a phone, but about standard for a slate that is looked at from much further.

We are seeing more and more tablets in this price range with higher resolution displays, though, and that could be an issue when considering the purchase. The display is otherwise sufficiently bright for comfortable operation outside, and has good color representation.