The smartphone or the rugged handheld?

摘要

The success and relative affordability of smartphones have many wondering whether they can use the device on the warehouse floor. For now, our experts advise against it and suggest limiting the applications of smartphones' to supervisory level employees.rn"Tablets and smartphones aren't very rugged at this point," says Intermec's Bruce Stubbs. "When dropped repeatedly from eight feet to concrete, smartphones are going to break and will need to be replaced, thus increasing the total cost of ownership." There are also concerns about the smartphone's functionality in wet or extreme temperature environments, adequate battery life, and theft-because workers can easily use the device outside the DC.