Dell Launches First 2-In-1 Windows Tablet With Wireless Charging Support

Dell has launched a new 2-in-1 tablet with the Dell Latitude 7285. It is the first high-end, 12.3-inch Windows tablet to arrive with optional wireless charging capabilities.

A prototype of the Dell Latitude 7285 was first shown off by the company back in January during CES 2017. The device is seen as a competitor to the Microsoft Surface Pro, and it starts at $1,199 in the United States, as announced by Dell on its press release.

The Latitude 7285 features a 12.3-inch touchscreen display with a screen resolution of 2,880 x 1,920. Inside this tablet is a 34 Wh battery, an Intel Core i5 Kaby Lake processor, 8GB of RAM and 128GB of SSD storage. It can also be configured to come with a Core i7 chip with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage, but that would bump the price up significantly.

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The Dell Latitude 7285 is also equipped with a rear 8-megapixel camera and a 720p HD front camera for video chatting. The front facing camera is also equipped with an infrared sensor so it can be used for Windows Hello. For ports, there are two USB Type-C ports with Thunderbolt 3 support.

The tablet itself is only 0.28 inches thick, and weighs 1.5 pounds. There’s an optional Productivity Keyboard which costs $249, so people will be able to use it like a traditional laptop.

What actually sets this Windows 10 tablet apart from other Surface Pro competitors is that technology that it’s packing inside. The Dell Latitude 7285 comes with WiTricity’s magnetic resonance wireless charging technology.

In order to take advantage of this feature, users will have to purchase the $379 Wireless Charging Keyboard and the $199 Charging Mat. Both of these can also be purchased in a bundle for $549.

The Charging Mat will be the one that’s plugged into the wall. All the user has to do is attach the Latitude 7285 tablet to the Wireless Charging Keyboard and place the laptop on top of the Charging Mat to start charging the device wirelessly.

The keyboard and the tablet each have their own batteries. The Charging Mat will fully charge the tablet portion first before charging the battery of the keyboard. The idea here is to have a workstation that’s not cluttered with wires. This makes the Dell Latitude 7285 the world’s first 2-in-1 tablet computer to come with this type of wireless charging technology.

“It's our mission to drive workforce transformation by providing user experiences that increase productivity as the world becomes more dependent on mobile devices. Our vision of a no wires workspace is foundational to that mission because it enables the freedom and flexibility today's employees demand,” Dell’s senior VP of commercial client solutions, Kirk Schell said. The Dell Latitude 7285 is now available from Dell’s website.

Of course, this is an optional feature and users will be able to charge the Latitude 7285 with the included 45-watt USB-C charging adapter, as pointed out by Liliputing.

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In addition to the tablet, Dell also launched the Latitude 5289 12-inch convertible 2-in-1. This laptop comes with a 360-degree hinge that allows users to prop it up into different viewing modes.

This is also available now from Dell’s website and starts at $899. The Latitude 5289’s basic configuration comes with an Intel Core i3 processor with 4GB of RAM and 128GB of SSD storage.