Logan, UT – October 31, 2013 — Since Juniper Systems began previewing its newest rugged handheld computer, the Archer 2™, the handheld has garnered much attention, particularly its extraordinarily bright, amazingly crisp IllumiView™ display. Set to ship sometime in November, the Archer 2 makes the newest rugged handheld in Juniper Systems’ line-up, used for a wide variety of data collection purposes including geomatics, natural resources, public works, agriculture, industrial, and military markets.
In designing the Archer 2, Juniper Systems conducted customer research and found that their customers’ most important need was a high-quality display that was easily readable in direct sunlight. The company recently published a blog post describing its efforts in meeting this need, and in fact, surpassing expectations. The blog post can be read here.
In a nutshell, Juniper Systems lists three main steps it took to provide the highest-quality display possible. Firstly, the company was extremely selective in choosing the display component, finally settling on a first-rate display from an excellent manufacturer. Secondly, it diverged from past tradition and switched from a resistive touchscreen to a capacitive touchscreen. While the company states that there are advantages to both types, it cites capacitive technology’s particular conduciveness to superior luminance and clarity, even allowing for 20% greater display brightness over resistive touchscreens. And thirdly, Juniper Systems describes using a particular technology, called optical bonding, to fuse the touchscreen to the display. According to the blog post, most rugged handheld displays have an “air gap” between the touchscreen and the display which allows for light refraction, and thereby decreases the display’s brightness and clarity. In contrast, optical bonding involves attaching the touchscreen directly onto the display, eliminating the air gap, and consequently increasing the display’s brightness and image clarity. The company asserts that optical bonding can increase a display’s luminance by about 15% over a non-optically bonded display.
“We are extremely pleased with how the new Archer 2’s IllumiView display has turned out; competitor products don’t even come close.” said Josh Egan, Product Manager at Juniper Systems. “We have put in a lot of extra effort and used additional resources to design the best display possible, and we feel that it has all paid off. Knowing that our customers will greatly benefit from this new display makes it all worth it.”
Those interested in learning more about the Archer 2 may visit Juniper Systems’ website or contact Juniper Systems at sales@junipersys.com.
About Juniper Systems
Based out of Logan, UT, USA and Birmingham, UK Juniper Systems designs and manufactures rugged handheld computers and provides field data collection solutions for use in extreme environments. Since 1993, Juniper Systems has provided innovative mobile technology to natural resources, public works, geomatics, agriculture, industrial, and military markets. For more information on Juniper Systems products, please visit www.junipersys.com.