Photos: Fujitsu's Q550 Windows 7 tablet goes back to the future with stylus

The enterprise kit for those who remember when a slate wasn't a slate without pen input...

Tablets may be making their way into the business by the consumerisation back door, but only a few slate devices are aimed specifically at the business world.

Fujitsu is among those targeting enterprises, having recently launched its Stylistic Q550 device which, according to the hardware maker, is being evaluated by 1,500 corporates.

The slate sports a 10-inch screen and weighs in at 800g.

The Q550 differs from most consumer tablets on the market in two distinct ways.

First, its operating system: unlike the mainly Android consumer crowd, the enterprise-aimed Q550 runs Windows 7.

And, thanks to its OS and the tiny icons that go with it, the device is meant to be used mainly with a stylus rather than with fingers - much like the tablets of yesteryear.

The stylus means documents can be annotated by hand using Microsoft's OneNote collaboration software.

The stylus itself features a button - shown above - that when pressed has the same effect as a right mouse click.

While the device does support multitouch, such as pinch to zoom, the three-fingered flick needed to bring up the screen of all open apps is not an easy manoeuvre to pull off.

If you do manage it, this is what you'll see.

While there's no clip for the stylus on the tablet itself, those of an accessory-losing disposition can stow the stylus in the case.

The tablet's battery lasts around seven hours, according to Fujitsu, and is removable, allowing the power-hungry to keep a spare battery to hand.

On the security front, access can be controlled by means of a fingerprint reader or a smartcard reader, shown above.

The Q550's main connectivity option is wi-fi, which is rather puzzling for a device presumably aimed at mobile workers. For those who need a more practical wi-fi and 3G combination, there will be a Q550 with both coming out in early August.