TrackAbout Certified Devices
Certified Device Policy
TrackAbout maintains a limited list of TrackAbout-certified and supported devices by specific manufacturers.
Decisions about which manufacturers and devices to support is carefully considered. TrackAbout cannot support all mobile devices, due to hardware incompatibilities and variance in operating system supported features.
See Smartphone Hardware Purchasing Recommendations for information about consumer-grade Android and iOS devices.
See #Rugged Android RFID Devices below.
See Certified Rugged Windows Devices (Legacy) for older TAMobile 6 and 5 certified devices.
How to get a device certified by TrackAbout
If a customer wants to use a non-certified device, TrackAbout needs to test and certify the device.
Generally, TrackAbout prefers customers to use already-certified devices whenever possible. However, we do understand that not all of our certified devices are available in all regions of the world.
Customers must provide test devices to TrackAbout for certification at customer's cost. It's best for TrackAbout to be able to keep at least one test device indefinitely to maintain compatibility and be able to offer support should the customer have device-specific issues.
The certification process:
- Research device specifications - A TrackAbout engineer will evaluate the specs and capabilities of the device as advertised by the manufacturer. A particular area of focus is determining whether the device uses custom barcode or RFID scanning hardware. Scanning hardware usually requires software work by TrackAbout. It is necessary to integrate the manufacturer's software development kit (SDK) in order to fully enable the scanning function within TrackAbout's apps. Sometimes, the manufacturer provides a "data wedge" app which can send scans to the TrackAbout app, and integration is not required. This evaluation needs to take place.
- If no custom hardware is present and no custom integration is required, TrackAbout will perform a certification. The customer will be responsible for the cost at the current labor rate. Testing takes between two and ten days and will have a minimum labor charge of 4 hours, possibly more depending on the complexity of the evaluation.
- If custom integration is required, a negotiation regarding the labor requirements and scheduling of the work must take place, taking into account TrackAbout's other development priorities, and the size of the customer opportunity. For custom integration and certification, TrackAbout will require two devices, one for development and one for the QA team. Certification for a new device can take from 40-80 hours of software development and QA time. An initial estimate will be provided and a statement of work agreed to before the work may start. The timeframe of the work will also need to be negotiated.
Why do devices sometimes require additional software development to be certified?
The TrackAbout application accepts barcode and RFID scans on many different screens and in many different ways. For maximum scanning speed and the lowest possible employee frustration, TrackAbout prefers to deeply integrate with the scanning engine of the device.
Simpler apps might show a text box on the screen to receive a scan. When the label is scanned, the scan engine fills the text box by quickly typing the characters into the field.
The TrackAbout app records whether tags are typed or scanned. TrackAbout's app treats typed tag numbers differently than scanned tag numbers. Typing a tag indicates a tag might be unscannable or damaged. An employee typing a tag may mistype it, creating exceptions on the record that are only seen later. Evidence that a tag was typed can later help someone understand why a record looks wrong.
Supporting rapid, repeated scanning requires deeper integration than the "here's a textbox and press OK" model.
In order to provide the best possible user experience, TrackAbout therefore has to talk directly to the scanning hardware (or the manufacturer's code library for the scanning hardware), and this takes custom development.
What if I want to use a non-certified device?
If a customer decides to use a non-certified device, TrackAbout Support will be limited and cannot be held responsible for any issues related to the user of the non-certified device.
How to request device certification
Contact the Support team
For how long will you support a certified device?
TrackAbout will usually support certified devices until one of the following happens:
- The device manufacturer no longer supports it
- The operating system gets too old and can no longer be supported by our application as documented on our Smartphone Hardware Purchasing Recommendations page.
Where should I procure hardware in my country?
In North America (USA, Canada and Mexico), TrackAbout recommends working with Supply Chain Services
Outside North America, please ask the Support Team.
TrackAbout recommends not buying second-hand hardware from gray markets such as eBay. Generally, used hardware has a limited lifetime remaining due to aging of the batteries and the operating system.
Barcode Scanning Rugged Android Devices
| Make | Model | Operating System Name | OS Version | Features | Supported Scanner Symbologies | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Motorola | TC56 | Android | 6.0 (Marshmallow) | Built in Barcode Scanner and Rugged. Limited Certification. Not tested for printing. |
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| Zebra (Motorola) | TC57 | Android | 7.0 (Nougat), 8.0 (Oreo) | Built in Barcode Scanner and Rugged. |
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| Zebra (Motorola) | TC72 | Android | 7.0 (Nougat), 8.0 (Oreo) | Built in Barcode Scanner and Rugged. |
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| Zebra (Motorola) | TC77 | Android | 7.0 (Nougat), 8.0 (Oreo) | Built in Barcode Scanner and Rugged. |
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| Zebra (Motorola) | TC25 | Android | 8.0 (Oreo) | Built in Barcode Scanner and Rugged. |
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| Zebra (Motorola) | TC26 | Android | Built in Barcode Scanner and Rugged. |
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| Zebra (Motorola) | MC3300 | Android | 7.0 (Nougat), 8.0 (Oreo) | Built in Barcode Scanner and Rugged. |
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| Zebra (Motorola) | MC9300 | Android | 8.0 (Oreo) | Built in Barcode Scanner and Rugged. |
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| Honeywell | EDA 50 | Android | 7.1.1 (Nougat) | Built in Barcode Scanner and Camera Scanner. |
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| Urovo | i6310 | Android | 8.1.0 (Oreo) | Built in Barcode Scanner and Camera Scanner. |
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| ECOM | Smart-EX 02 with Ident-EX 01 with 1D Barcode module | Android | 11.0 | Built in Camera Scanner, Bluetooth 1D barcode and RFID modules available |
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RFID Scanning Rugged Android Devices
| Make | Model | Operating System Name | OS Version | Features | Supported Scanner Symbologies |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Motorola | TC20 | Android |
| ||
| Zebra | RFD8500 | Android |
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| ECOM | Smart-EX 02 with Ident-EX 01 with RFID module | Android | 11.0 | Built in Camera Scanner, Bluetooth 1D barcode and RFID modules available |
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Consumer Android and iOS Devices
For details on the hardware requirements for smartphone, please see the Android or iOS pages.
Certified Printers
Mobile Receipt Printers
Below are the TrackAbout certified mobile printers for Proof of Delivery (POD) receipt printing.
| Manufacturer | Model | Type | Supported Software |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zebra ZQ520 |  ZQ520
|
Receipt 4" Thermal Printer | TA Mobile 6 (Only Supported on Denso mobile devices)
TA Mobile 7 (Only supported on Android) |
End-of-Life Mobile Printers
The following printers are no longer in production and are not recommended.
| Manufacturer | Model | Type | Supported Software |
|---|---|---|---|
| Datamax O'Neil |  Microflash 8i
|
Receipt 8" Dot-matrix | TA Mobile 5
TA Mobile 6 |
| DataMax O'Neil |  Microflash MF4Te
|
Receipt 4" Thermal Printer | TA Mobile 5
TA Mobile 6 |
| Toshiba |  B-EP4DL
|
Receipt 4" Printer | TA Mobile 6
TA Mobile 7 This printer is currently only functional with the Denso BHT-1200 rugged handheld device. |
Label Printers
The printers listed below are used for very specific environment and should not be ordered without receiving confirmation from TrackAbout that the application will support the device.
| Manufacturer | Model | Type | Software version |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zebra | RZ400 | RF & Desktop Label Printer | TA Mobile 6 |
| Zebra |  ZT400
|
Label 4" Printer | TA Mobile 6, TA Mobile 7 2
(Handheld Compatibility)1 |
| Zebra | ZT410
|
Label 4" Printer | TA Mobile 6, TA Mobile 7 2
(Handheld Compatibility)1 |
1 This printer is currently only functional with the Denso BHT-1200 rugged handheld device.
2 Label printing requires TrackAbout Support to set up label formatting.