Fujitsu STYLISTIC M532 Review: Android for Business and Pleasure

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The Fujitsu STYLISTIC M532 Android tablet is a business tablet with a military tough design doesn’t take away from a thin and light design.

The smooth user interface owes its thanks to an NVIDIA Tegra 3 chip that runs Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich very well.

Unfortunately the Fujitsu STYLISTIC M532 doesn’t run Android 4.1 or Android 4.2, newer versions with enhanced features and the tablet costs more than most Android tablets.

Video Review

Here’s a hands on look at the Fujitsu first foray into Android tablets with the Fujitsu STYLISTIC M532 Android Tablet. The video focuses on a quick look at the build of the tablet and the reasons it scores high as a business class tablet.

Design

Fujitsu gives the STYLISTIC M532 a thin and light build. It feels really sturdy and is built to military-grade MIL-STD-810G standards. It’s not a rugged tablet for extreme environments, but it will withstand more than just average use.

While holding the M532 in landscape mode the top right corner is home to the power button and stereo jack. The microphone sits in the middle of the device.

The volume buttons rest on the upper right edge along with a micro-USB port for hooking up to a computer, but it won’t charge the tablet. There’s nothing on the left edge of the tablet.

The charging port rests along the bottom. Fujitsu made the mistake of giving it a proprietary charging connector instead of using Micro-USB.

On the back, users get a textured back that adds grip. The 8MP camera and flash sit at the top middle on the back. There’s a 2MP front camera for video chat.

Fujitsu STYLISTIC M532 Display

The widescreen 16×9 form factor makes the M532 great for viewing movies and reading long documents at work. A 1280×800 16×9 resolution is suited for 720p HD video and it looks good thanks to the IPS display. Fujitsu built the tablet with a rugged glass with many of the properties that come with Gorilla Glass.

The STYLISTIC M532 doesn’t offer a wide range of brightness levels. The display is bright enough to use indoors, but it doesn’t do well outdoors or in bright light. The screen shows fingerprints more than competing tablets.

The display looks good with faithful colors and crisp text, but it doesn’t match the Retina Display on the iPad.

Fujitsu STYLISTIC M532 Performance & Software

Thanks to the Tegra 3 processor this tablet performs great with no lag, jittering or tearing while playing games and watching fast action films. The user interface responds immediately to taps, launching and switching apps quickly.

Fujitsu offers no word on when the STYLISTIC M532 will get Jelly Bean, but business users will still be able to get work done while using Android 4.0. With a focus on the business world, a Jelly Bean update may not arrive soon.

Since Fujitsu didn’t skin the operating system, users get close to a vanilla Android user interface which is easy to use and doesn’t slow the system down.

Fujitsu STYLISTIC M532 Battery Life

The M532 offers battery life close to ten hours for normal use. A nine to fiver will get a full day’s work out of it easily. Fujitsu only promises 8.4 hours for video viewing. On standby the tablet lasts a couple of days.

Fujitsu STYLISTIC M532 Multimedia

A widescreen display with 1280×800 display makes watching HD movies a pleasure with the M532. The built-in speakers sit behind the backplate and sound muddled like most such speakers so listening to those movies isn’t as nice. Plug headphones into the device to get good sound.

Business users will enjoy using the M532 as an entertainment device in their down time. Thanks to 32GB of storage, it has room for enough movies, apps and games to get through a long flight as well as business data like presentations, product videos and PDF files.

Fujitsu STYLISTIC M532 Cameras

Thanks to an 8MP camera users can even take decent looking pictures and video. It won’t replace someone’s DSLR or high-end compact camera, but for a quick snap the M532 does well. The sample shot below shows nice color and exposure without any editing.

Here’s another with a deep blue sky. Click here to open the full size image and see how soft it really is.

Here’s a shot that shows the depth of field for the camera. The focus on the bricks further away gives a softer focus up close.

Here’s a video shot using the M532 camera. The first part of the sample shows the front facing camera, used for video chat. The rear facing camera shows an indoor and an outdoor sample.

The colors and exposure look decent for a tablet camera.

Is the Fujitsu STYLISTIC M532 Worth It?

For people who just want a basic Android tablet, the Fujitsu STYLISTIC M532 might be overkill. It’s a great tablet for both business use and pleasure, but Fujitsu designed the M532 with a harsh environment in mind. The tablet is designed to stand up to more abuse, and that earns a higher price. Most high-end Android tablets cost close to $500 and this one checks in at $549, slightly higher than average.

A tablet like this is a good fit for truckers who could really use a well-made piece of hardware for using as they load and unload. For workers in the field or users folks who habitually break their tablets, that extra $50 is a bargain compared to buying a replacement tablet.

This isn’t a Mobile Demand rugged tablet that the user can run over with their delivery van or chuck off a third story balcony, but it should withstand a little more punishment than most tablets. For that purpose it’s a real value even at the higher price.

Fujitsu STYLISTIC M532 Gallery

Fujitsu STYLISTIC M532 Specs