If you are a paddler who dreams of heading out on your next adventure with a laptop or tablet stowed away might be interested yesterdays announcement by Panasonic of two new Android tablets under their new line, Toughpad.

Designed to be durable, waterproof and withstand a drop of up to four feet; these tables are going after utility workers, military/police staff and the general public who sees value in having a rugged product. With a price of $1,200, they are clearly not going after the average consumer.

Among the Toughbook A1’s mainstream specs: a 1.2GHz dual-core processor; Android 3.2 aka Honeycomb; a “daylight-readable,” LED-backlit, 1024×768 touchscreen display; 1GB of DDR2 memory; options for WiMax or LTE 4G wireless networking or more conventional 3G newtorking; a front-facing 2-megapixel camera and rear-facing 5-megapixel camera with an LED flash; ports for micro USB, micro SDHC, and HDMI; and a 33.9 watt-hour lithium-ion battery. It measures 10.5×8.3×0.67 inches and weighs 2.1 pounds.

Look for it to be available sometime in the New Year.