Will Motorola&39's rugged tablet be a hit with the enterprise crowd

Motorola could be in the early stages of developing a new, rugged Android tablet. According to information passed to Engadget, the company has begun work on a new 7-inch tablet that looks to feature a dual-core 1GHz processor, 1GB RAM, and 8GB internal storage. Other preliminary specifications peg this unnamed tablet with an 8-megapixel camera on the back, a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera, HDMI output, and a USB port for "snap-in" peripherals.

The presentation slide alludes to a "rugged" tablet that would be able to withstand extreme temperatures and drops from 4 feet. Motorola has already released a few Android devices with similar hardware features in the Defy and push-to-talk i1.

Very little is known about the software, save for its enterprise features. Motorola claims that this tablet will be the "first physical embodiment defining Android for the Enterprise" and lists a few specific features, including security and scanning utilities.

This device is expect to enter a beta-testing phase in October of this year, with a presumed 2012 launch. Considering the amount of time that will pass before the table hits the market, Motorola has plenty of opportunity to install Honeycomb or the latest version of a platform-optimized Android. As it stands, however, this tablet will run Android 2.3 "Gingerbread." Given we are possibly a year away from seeing this tablet arrive in stores, much could change.