A long time ago, on March 29, 2019, something extraordinary took place. Jerry Shen, the longtime CEO of Taiwanese electronics giant ASUS, held an event and product launch in Taipei named "When Einstein met Da Vinci." 
Shen announced his decision to become an entrepreneur and launch a new company, the iMotion Group. Einstein represented analytical, scientific innovation. Da Vinci creative, visionary design. A combination of the two was what Shen had in mind, and he had the resume for it. At ASUS he had overseen such landmark products as the Eee PC netbook, early Android tablets, the Transformer Book T100 tablet convertible, and the ZenFone smartphone line. Leapfrogging innovation was Shen's thing.
At the event, Shen spoke of — in essence — the evolution of IoT, the Internet of Things. An evolution where barcodes and QR codes would establish a unique identity for "things" as a foundation for connecting humans-to-things as well as things-to-things. This would include sleek, mobile intelligent industrial PCs that would play a major role in smart retail as well as connected services in general. That all sounded ambitious and somewhat conceptual, but Shen calmly outlined his design goals for a generation of newer and better industrial handhelds with much faster product development cycles, to keep pace with technological advancement.
A year later, in April 2020, iMotion introduced its first product, the TC601 rugged mobile computer. It promptly won a 2020 Red Dot Design Award, with the jury praising its combination of functionality and compact design.
So there it was, the TC601, a sleek industrial device that brought together the elements Shen had talked about: capable processor and software, the latest Gorilla Glass, a two-meter drop spec, IP67 sealing, a large, bright high-resolution screen, good sound, and more. This was not a big rugged brick. It was an industrial handheld designed with the sensibilities of a modern consumer device. Einstein had met Da Vinci. It was the future, as seen by Jerry Shen.
Zen and the art of designing a handheld
That was then, the 2019 "Einstein met Da Vinci" event, and this is now. It is 2026. AI is here. And so is the TC605, the successor to the original TC601 Shen built with his new company. Shen's vision, and the TC601, used to represent the future. And now the TC605 is the present.
So why does the TC605 not look like a rocket ship? A piece of the future. Something completely different? Where's the "i-leap" here — the consistent leaping forward with breakthrough innovation — that Shen spoke of back at that event, at a time not so long ago when few anticipated ChatGPT and the coming wave of AI-everything?
Perhaps the answer is partly that the industry caught up, or was already heading in the same direction. Thin, attractive, smartphone-style rugged handhelds are no longer unusual. And in industrial markets, where customers invest in accessories, software and deployment infrastructure, preserving a successful platform can ultimately matter more than continually reinventing it.
Or perhaps the leaping concept itself had evolved by 2023, when iMotion changed its name to iMozen, blending its core concepts of innovation, mobility and zen — a philosophy emphasizing direct experience, awareness and simplicity.
In 2025, Winmate acquired a controlling stake in iMozen, bringing iMozen’s expertise in Android handheld computers and barcode scanning into Winmate’s broader rugged computing portfolio. The product lines of the two companies are complementary, and they frequently exhibit at major industry trade shows together. At EuroShop 2026, for example, Winmate and iMozen presented a combined portfolio spanning rugged handhelds and tablets, embedded computing, panel PCs, and industrial displays for retail and warehouse applications.
As is, the TC605 has had its share of enterprise sales wins. In Taiwan, the country's largest motorcycle express company deployed the TC605 to optimize its couriers' delivery workflows. A leading convenience store chain deployed the TC605 across its retail network of more than 7,000 locations. In Japan, a bicycle management service provider selected the TC605 for its 500+ field personnel. And in U.S. automotive manufacturing, warehouse staff and line operators use the TC605 for logistics and production workflows. Winmate also stresses the TC605's suitability for defense environments.
The TC605 — a modern slim & light industrial handheld
After all of the above, let's take a closer look at the TC605. It's about as tall as a modern big-screen smartphone. In fact, put it next to an iPhone Pro Max in one of Apple's basic cases, and the two look about the same size. Measured diagonally, the iPhone has a larger screen, but with the TC605 turned off, its 6-inch screen looks bigger than it is thanks to the flush black bezel surrounding it.
Unlike in the past, when most devices had distinct brand identities, that's pretty much gone by the wayside with modern phones and handhelds. They are all small, glossy black slates. The TC605 differentiates itself a bit with its slightly chamfered corners. The real difference is that there hardly is a difference. With the original TC601, Jerry Shen's i-leap vision applied that same sleek, almost smartphone-like design philosophy to the rugged industrial handheld. The TC605 continues that approach. Maybe that's the "zen" in iMozen.
And probably just because the TC605 looks less like an older-style rugged handheld and more like a modern smartphone, at first glance it didn't make much of an impression. It looked like another competent but fairly generic enterprise handheld in a market full of them. That first impression would have been quite different back in 2019, when Jerry Shen laid out his vision of what a modern industrial rugged handheld should be and look like. With his new company's first product, Shen did "i-leap" into the future.
And Shen was remarkably spot-on with the concept. The industry was already moving in that direction, but the big, clunky and overweight industrial handheld with under-powered tech and a tiny screen was clearly on its way out. The original TC601 combined the latest Gorilla Glass, a two-meter drop spec, IP67 sealing, a capable processor and current software, a large, bright high-resolution screen, good sound, and all that in a remarkably sleek package. Not all of those features were unique, but bringing them together in such a slim industrial handheld was still unusual.
Seven years later, much of what Shen envisioned has become the norm, while the TC601 itself needed only a series of refinements to become the TC605. And that may be part of the answer to our earlier question. If something is good and really works, industrial and enterprise customers often want more of it, not something different.
Built rugged from the ground up
When creating the original TC601, iMotion was facing a problem designers of industrial handhelds had been battling for years: making a device as slim and handy as possible while still keeping it strong and durable. The TC601 was going to be a tool for the job, and as such had to withstand heavy use as well as the hazards of everyday work. So iMotion had to design for ruggedness, reliability, ergonomics and functionality, while still making the leap from the big, clumsy industrial handhelds of the past to the slimmer, lighter industrial handheld Shen envisioned.
This being a brand-new design, iMotion did have the advantage of being able to start with a clean slate and create a device that was rugged from the ground up, and from the inside out. In essence, they were aiming for an iPhone-like device that, however, had to accommodate a removable battery, removable storage, hardware buttons, expansion pins, loud audio, industrial-grade scanning, as well as the kind of structural strength, sealing and damage resistance expected of a traditional industrial handheld.
And iMotion did just that. Big deal, you may say. There are plenty of slender industrial handhelds today that are barely thicker and heavier than your average smartphone. Back then there were far fewer, and combining smartphone-like design with all the functionality and ruggedness expected of a serious industrial handheld was still a considerable engineering challenge. The TC601 was a particularly ambitious example of that emerging new generation.
A major shortcoming of most consumer phones and tablets is that their integrated batteries are difficult to almost impossible for users to replace. Given that even today's smartphone batteries have a limited service life — typically designed to retain around 80% of their original capacity after hundreds of charge cycles — industrial handheld customers pretty much demand replaceable and externally accessible batteries. There can be no "range anxiety" at work. If a job takes longer than expected and the battery is running low, it must be possible to simply drop in a fully charged spare.
And that's easy with the TC605. Its polycarbonate battery compartment cover has its own precision-cut red pressure seal. The bright color makes it easy to see whether the seal is damaged or improperly seated. As long as that seal is in good working condition, it will keep liquids out. A good seal, of course, is imperative here, as the inside of the battery compartment houses the unit's card slots and is open to the interior of the device.
The battery compartment cover snaps into place and is then additionally secured by a slider lock.
The Lithium-Ion battery is a 3.87 Volt, 5,000mAh design that delivers 19.35 watt-hours, about the same as a modern premium smartphone. Winmate's spec sheet for the TC605 lists 15 hours of operating time, well more than even an extended shift. And as long as a full charge lasts at least a full shift, battery capacity really isn't much of an issue with a replaceable battery. Larger industrial deployments often have multiple batteries and charging stations available, so a depleted battery can simply be replaced with a fully charged spare.
Inside the battery compartment, located above the battery, is the TC605's SIM and microSD card carrier. Inserting cards into the delicate carrier's slots is a bit tricky. So is inserting the loaded carrier back into its slot. Make sure it's the proper side up, and don't force it.
In terms of construction, the TC605 consists of a front and a back part. The front is black polycarbonate plastic with an inserted metal chassis that contains all of the handheld's electronics. The back is black polycarbonate plastic and contains the rear camera lens, the barcode reader window, as well as the eight pogo expansion pin contacts. Six tiny Torx T5 and four tiny Phillips-head screws tightly secure the two pieces together, with a red pressure seal between them keeping liquids out. Since these seals are essential, we like to see them in a bright, contrasting color, as is the case with the TC605.
There should hardly ever be a reason to take a TC605 apart. If the need does arise, it's made fairly easy as there are no wires or ribbon cables between the two halves. Whatever needs to connect between them is handled via pressure contacts. The 60-degree scanner version does require some care when separating the two halves. Use a plastic spudger and do not force anything. It does, however, go back together very easily.
Note: The six tiny T5 perimeter screws are a bit longer than the four Phillips-head screws located along the inside perimeter of the battery compartment, so make sure the two different types go back into their proper screw holes.
The scanner used in our TC605 review unit is the popular Zebra SE4770 1D/2D imager scan engine (see here) shown to the right. The SE4770 is a high-performance 1D/2D scanner with a 1280 x 800 pixel sensor that makes for sharp image and barcode capture.
The scanner uses Zebra's decoding technology to quickly read even poor-quality, dirty or damaged barcodes. The SE4770 was also designed to be highly motion tolerant, for high read rates even when the scanner or the barcode is moving. Scanning range depends on barcode type, size and density, ranging from very close-up to several feet for suitable symbologies.
Another productivity-enhancing feature of the SE4770 is its laser aimer. Those are especially useful when scanning at longer ranges or in bright sunlight, making it easier to see exactly where the scanner is aimed. Note that the original TC601 was available with two Honeywell scanners, the N4603 standard and the N6703 optional. The TC605 has likewise been designed to accommodate different scanner configurations; Winmate lists standard-range and optional long-range scanning, as well as 0-degree and 60-degree scan-head versions.
It is interesting that the TC605 uses a Zebra scan engine even though the device itself competes directly with Zebra's own enterprise handhelds. That's not as unusual as it may sound. Zebra has a substantial OEM scanning business, supplying scan engines for integration into other manufacturers' products. And using a well-known, widely supported scan engine can be an advantage in enterprise deployments, where scanner configuration, software integration, symbology support and long-term compatibility can matter just as much as raw scanning performance.
Overall, the insides of the TC605 reveal a clean and simple layout with nothing loose or seemingly vulnerable that might get in the way or come apart. There is also a complete absence of loose wires; everything is highly integrated, packaged and protected. iMozen did a fabulous job with this design. The TC605 is sleek and stylish on the outside, complex but excellently organized on the inside.
The technology under the hood
While over two thirds of all Windows-based PCs, tablets, workstations and servers run on Intel processors and much of the rest on AMD chips, there are more than just two strong players on the Android side of things. There, MediaTek and Qualcomm are the two largest suppliers of smartphone processors, with MediaTek traditionally especially strong in the low and mid-range and increasingly pushing into the premium end with its Dimensity chips. Qualcomm's Snapdragon processors have long had a particularly strong presence in higher-end Android devices. UNISOC, Samsung, Google and Huawei's HiSilicon are among the other significant players.
And so it's no surprise that the Winmate TC605 is powered by a Qualcomm processor, the QCM4490. In fact, Qualcomm specifically designed the QCM4490 for industrial handhelds, industrial computing devices and other IoT applications.
The big difference between PCs and Android devices is that the PC's x86 instruction set has its roots in Complex Instruction Set Computing (CISC), whereas virtually all Android devices use ARM-based Reduced Instruction Set Computing (RISC) architectures. ARM — originally a British chip designer and now an intellectual-property company — provides processor architectures and core designs that are used in chips from numerous manufacturers. Those chips generally combine various numbers and types of performance-oriented and efficiency-oriented cores, somewhat similar in concept to what Intel has been doing since the advent of its 12th generation "Alder Lake" hybrid processors.
As is, Android has long since established itself as the standard for the great majority of all smartphones that aren't iPhones. Android also holds a very strong position in handheld and tablet computers. That wasn't always so. It took Android much longer to gain a foothold in the rugged handheld and tablet market. Initially that was because Microsoft's Windows CE and Windows Embedded Handheld platforms were deeply entrenched in industrial handhelds. It also didn't help that many early vertical-market Android-powered handhelds and tablets were dreadfully slow.
That has changed completely. Microsoft left the mobile operating system market, and Android has fully established itself in rugged handhelds. And thanks to the massive size of the global smartphone market and consumer demand for ever faster and more powerful handhelds, performance has grown in leaps and bounds. Qualcomm, especially, makes the chips used in many rugged Android products, and its Snapdragon SoCs hold a sizable share of the global smartphone processor market.
For the TC605, iMozen picked the Qualcomm QCM4490, a system-on-chip (SoC) specifically designed for industrial and commercial IoT applications. While closely related to Qualcomm's consumer Snapdragon technology, the QCM4490 platform places particular emphasis on longevity, power efficiency, stability and long-term support — all important considerations in industrial and enterprise deployments.
The octa-core QCM4490 uses two performance-oriented ARM Cortex-A78 cores running at up to 2.4GHz and six economy-oriented Cortex-A55 cores running at up to 1.9GHz. By and large, this is a chip designed to reliably handle ongoing workloads at maximum power efficiency rather than chase flagship smartphone benchmark performance. And it also happens to be the processor of choice for a good number of rugged and industrial handhelds as well as Internet of Things (IoT) applications.
The QCM4490 also includes Qualcomm's Hexagon DSP and AI acceleration technology, allowing certain intelligent workloads to run directly on the device rather than depending entirely on cloud processing.
There are practical aspects to that. Industrial workplaces can be very loud, and the QCM4490's audio and AI processing capabilities can be used for voice isolation and noise suppression. That can improve voice-based user interface accuracy as well as push-to-talk clarity for workers in noisy environments.
Priorities in these markets are different from those in consumer markets. Long-term availability and software support matter, as do industrial capabilities such as enhanced voice processing in loud settings, reliable wireless connectivity in complex environments, accelerated OCR, document capture, machine vision, and so on. The emphasis isn't simply on maximum benchmark performance, but on the capabilities industrial and enterprise applications actually need.
Industrial handhelds aren't slow anymore
Assessing the technology and performance of Android devices is quite different from that of Windows/Intel devices. Those are fairly easily assessed. After reviewing and benchmarking Wintel devices for decades, one look at the spec sheet is usually enough to get a pretty good idea of where a device fits into the performance landscape. Android benchmarks seem to come and go, and comparing different processors and generations can be more difficult and inconsistent.
We don't have nearly as many Android device benchmark results in our database as we have for Windows devices. Though Android has been around for going on two decades and is now the world's most widely used operating system, performance just doesn't seem to be as much of an issue as it is on Windows machines, where there can be a huge performance gap between basic and high-end systems. What the results we do have clearly show is that, driven by fierce competition in the enormous worldwide smartphone market, Android device performance has increased very rapidly. In our benchmark database, performance has increased dramatically with each successive generation, and recently at an especially rapid pace. That may be another reason why iMozen believes in more rapid product life cycles even in industrial markets.
The rapid advance in smartphone performance also means customers increasingly expect no less from their work devices than they do from their personal smartphones. For rugged and industrial device manufacturers, that means more frequent technology updates than in the past. It also means staying reasonably close to the state-of-the-art to fend off premature obsolescence.
The table below shows a cross section of 6-inch class benchmark results we've run in our lab.
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Winmate TC605 Benchmarks and Comparisons
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Device
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Winmate
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Janam
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Juniper
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Zebra
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Model
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TC605
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XT4
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Archer 4
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TC27
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Year tested
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2026
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2025
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2025
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2025
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Display
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6.0 inches
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6.0 inches
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6.3 inches
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6.0 inches
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Weight
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280 grams
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299 grams
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325 grams
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236 grams
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Size
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168 x 79 x 16 mm
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167 x 80 x 18.6 mm
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174 x 85 x 15 mm
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165 x 76 x 12.5 mm
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Resolution
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1080 x 2160
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1080 x 2160
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1080 x 2280
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1080 x 2160
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Max luminance
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735 nits
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575 nits
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500 nits
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550 nits
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|
Processor
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Qualcomm QCM4490
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Qualcomm QCM4490
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Qualcomm QCM6490
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Qualcomm QCM5430
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|
AnTuTu
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NA
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510,091
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NA
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322,745
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PCMark Android Overall
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8,912
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9,632
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8,344
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9,066
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PCMark Android Browsing
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7,887
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6,940
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7,695
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6,759
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PCMark Data Manipulation
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8,746
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8,691
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7,453
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8,069
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PCMark Battery
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13:52 hrs on a full charge
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16:08 hrs on a full charge
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18:19 hrs on a full charge
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18:07 hrs on a full charge
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PCMark Battery whrs/hour
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1.33 watt-hrs per hour
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1.23 watt-hrs per hour
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0.93 watt-hrs per hour
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0.79 watt-hrs per hour
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PassMark Mobile
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11,027
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14,301
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11,107
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9,170
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GeekBench Single
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921
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1,121
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1,001
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798
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GeekBench Multi
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2,208
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2,944
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2,258
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1,710
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What do the benchmark results show? Primarily that the TC605 performs at about the level we'd expect from a current industrial handheld. It does very well in some tests and trails some of the competition in others. Even the Janam XT4, which uses the same Qualcomm QCM4490 processor as the TC605, produced significantly different results in several benchmarks, illustrating how much Android performance can depend on the particular implementation.
What the table unfortunately does not show is just how much faster today's industrial handhelds are than those of only a few years ago. That's because the Android benchmarks we used back then have largely disappeared, become difficult to install, or have otherwise changed, making meaningful direct comparisons impossible. Devices based on processors such as Qualcomm's once widely used Snapdragon 660 generally benchmarked far below today's models, but we no longer have enough directly comparable benchmark data to put meaningful numbers on that difference.
Excellent, bright display
Industrial handhelds have been around for a long time, much longer than, for example, smartphones. While the modern smartphone didn't arrive until 2007 when Steve Jobs unveiled the Apple iPhone, industrial handhelds have been around for nearly half a century. Industry pioneers such as Telxon — later bought by Symbol, which was bought by Motorola, whose Enterprise business was then bought by Zebra — and Norand — bought by Intermec, which was then bought by Honeywell — had specialized proprietary portable transaction terminals back in the late 1970s. HP and Psion joined in during the 1980s.
What all of those early handhelds shared were tiny, low-resolution displays. The earliest had just a line or two, and sometimes up to four, of characters. By the early 1990s there were basic bit-mapped 160 x 240 pixel screens. In the late 1990s, many industrial handhelds began switching to Windows CE. Compared to earlier technology, the 320 x 240 resolution common on 3.5-inch screens was practically high-res.
Despite the advent of the Apple Newton, the Palm Pilot, and other early PDAs, not much changed for a good number of years. Most Pocket PCs and even the first iPhone had 3.5-inch screens, and it wasn't until 2012 that Apple introduced the iPhone 5 with a larger 4.0-inch display. Even after that, most industrial handhelds continued to have relatively small screens.
Even ten years ago, many industrial handhelds still had small, low-resolution 4-inch displays. Some were larger, but not by much. Jerry Shen wanted none of that. A modern industrial handheld was going to have what he described as "a large, bright and hi-res screen." And that's exactly what iMotion gave its first product, the TC601: a large, bright, high-resolution 6-inch display.
The TC605's display measures 6 inches diagonally and has 1080 x 2160 pixel resolution, which makes for 402 pixels per inch. That's a lot bigger and sharper than the original 3.5-inch iPhone display with its 163 pixels per inch, and easily qualifies for what Apple would call "Retina" resolution — a display with pixels too small to be individually discernible at a normal viewing distance.
And an industrial display must also be bright enough for comfortable use in its intended settings. Screen brightness is measured in candelas per square meter, or cd/m2, which is usually just called "nits." In a standard indoor warehouse or a dim manufacturing floor, 300 to 500 nits is generally sufficient. In semi-outdoor spaces, bright factory floors, or areas with heavy overhead artificial lighting, more is better.
In our lab, we measured the TC605's maximum brightness at an excellent 735 nits. Sitting side-by-side with an iPhone 16 Pro Max, with Auto-Brightness disabled and both units manually set to maximum brightness, the TC605 actually appeared somewhat brighter. That's despite the iPhone 16 Pro Max being rated at 1,000 nits maximum typical brightness, 1,600 nits peak HDR brightness, and up to 2,000 nits peak outdoor brightness (the iPhone's higher peak brightness levels, however, are not necessarily available simply by moving the brightness slider to maximum; the 2,000-nit outdoor mode in particular depends on automatic response to bright ambient conditions).
Cameras good enough for actual use on the job
Cameras have become a standard part of most computers. On desktops and laptops they're primarily used for conferencing, on tablets and smartphones for taking pictures and video, and on industrial handhelds for documenting tasks and conditions on the job. Smartphone cameras have become so very good that they all but eliminated the once booming compact point-and-shoot camera market. To a considerable extent, the traditional camera industry brought that upon itself. While there certainly was technological innovation, camera manufacturers were slow to create digital cameras that truly fit into an increasingly connected digital world. By the time smartphones combined increasingly good cameras with powerful processing, software, connectivity and effortless sharing, the point-and-shoot camera had lost much of its reason to exist.
Even though integrated cameras seem a natural for handhelds and tablets, with their powerful processors, large displays and always-connected technology, here at RuggedPCReview.com we've long been critical of the overall very mediocre quality of cameras integrated into many rugged devices. Tools for the job must excel in every way, and integrated cameras rarely did.
So we're very happy — and not surprised at all — to report that the cameras in the TC605 are better than most. No, they're still not a replacement for the state-of-the-art camera systems in today's premium smartphones. But they are good enough to get a lot of imaging and documentation jobs done right with the TC605.
The TC605's integrated documentation camera can take images with resolutions of up to 16 megapixels — and in no fewer than 19 different resolutions. It has an LED illuminator that you can turn on and off via software to add extra light. It's not a flash in terms of power, but it certainly helps when taking pictures in marginal lighting conditions. And there is, of course, a user-facing camera for video calls and meetings. That one goes up to 8 megapixels.
In rugged tablets and handhelds, one thing that has traditionally set Android devices apart from Windows-based units is the camera software. There is no obvious reason why the standard Microsoft Windows Camera app is so terrible, but it is. The camera apps we've encountered on Android rugged devices are generally light years ahead. They offer plenty of settings, configurations, shooting modes and special features, and unlike on many dedicated cameras, everything is usually simple and straightforward.
Except for the bewildering number of resolution modes, the TC605 Camera app keeps things fairly simple. There is a standard Photo mode and a Pro mode. In Pro mode there is exposure compensation, manual focus, five white balance settings, ISO settings up to 3200, and up to 8X digital zoom. In all modes there is quick autofocus, with the focus indicator turning green when the subject is in focus.
In Video mode, you can record at resolutions up to 1080p. A 16-megapixel image has more than enough pixels for 4K video, so it's somewhat surprising that 4K recording isn't available, although sensor resolution alone doesn't determine the video modes a camera system can support. There is image stabilization, noise reduction, a choice of video and audio encoders, time lapse, and more. Overall, the standard Camera app is good enough to make downloading a third-party camera app almost unnecessary. If you do need something special, the Google Play Store has plenty.
Below are some sample shots we took with the documentation camera. Click on the picture to load a full-size version.
Overall, the TC605 camera is capable of taking very good pictures, much better than what we generally see from industrial handhelds. There is very good sharpness and image detail, and almost none of the excessive compression that in the past marred pictures from many such integrated cameras.
Video, too, is much better than what you get from many rugged devices. Having solid video recording right on an industrial handheld can really add to documentation quality and detail. What this means is that TC605 users don't necessarily have to bring along a dedicated camera or use their own smartphone to take pictures and video. The TC605 itself is good enough to handle most documentation work on the job.
Ruggedness: the way things ought to be
Back in 2019, when Jerry Shen introduced his new company and the prototype of iMotion's first product, the press release included the following statement: "To ensure a resilient exterior design, we selected Corning Gorilla Glass 6 screen to endure drops from two meters and pass the IP67 certification for protection against water and dust."
In other words, Shen's vision of a perfect industrial handheld did not stop at "beautiful designs with exquisite craftsmanship enforcing the brand's reputation of incredible value and quality." Those beautiful designs were not to be just pretty faces; they had to hold up to the often harsh realities of jobs in the field. None of that was entirely new. At Pen Computing Magazine and then RuggedPCReview.com, we'd seen, encouraged and reported on that for decades. But packaging all of it together in a slim, attractive, smartphone-style industrial handheld was still relatively unusual.
Drop specs weren't new. People drop equipment all the time. But Shen wanted two meters, almost seven feet, from a device designed to remain slim and light. IP67, likewise, wasn't new. IP67 means complete protection against dust as well as protection against temporary immersion in water. So if something were accidentally dropped into a puddle or a sink or tub, or even a brook, it'd be fine within the limits of the specification. That, too, can happen. Smartphone manufacturers, by and large, know that ‐ many premium phones today are IP68 sealed. On the drop side, however, rugged handhelds are generally designed and tested to standards that consumer smartphones aren't. And "semi-rugged" gear still often provides considerably less protection.
So Shen's categorical statement that the modern industrial handheld had to handle drops from two meters and pass IP67 certification AND look great AND have state-of-the-art technology was very much part of his "i-leap" philosophy. None of those things individually was new, and even the combination wasn't entirely unprecedented. What was unusual was how matter-of-factly Shen treated all of them as requirements of a modern industrial handheld. And he didn't make a particularly big deal of the ruggedness part. Even today, the ruggedness section in the TC605 specifications isn't any more detailed than it is elsewhere. The tumble and operating temperature specs aren't extreme.
Interestingly, iMozen's own TC605 specifications don't make broad, sweeping statements such as "MIL-STD compliant" and similar. Winmate's current specifications, however, do list MIL-STD-810H testing, including Method 516.8 Procedure I for shock and Method 514.8 Procedure I for vibration. It's almost as if ruggedness is simply assumed. As if Jerry Shen had felt that, of course, our handhelds are tough! Why would they NOT be? Maybe that was a mistake. "Tough" sells, in words and in look and feel. Interesting here is the discrepancy between the relatively modest emphasis on ruggedness on the one side, and the VERY detailed list of network connectivity specs and supported standards on the other.
All that said, the TC605 specs have been adjusted a bit. The standard drop spec is still an extraordinary 1.8 meters, or just about six feet, and increases to 2.1 meters, almost seven feet, with the optional protective boot. Ingress protection is now listed as IP65 and IP68. That sounds confusing and ambiguous. I mean, how can it be both less and more?
Well, it isn't really. The "6" in both ratings means the TC605 is dust-tight. The "5" means it can handle water jets from all directions. The "8" means it can handle continuous immersion under conditions specified by the manufacturer. An IP68 rating does not automatically include protection against water jets, so listing both IP65 and IP68 actually makes sense. What's less satisfactory is that IP68 by itself doesn't tell you how deep or for how long. A better standard — or at least always stating the actual test conditions — would be helpful, but that's beside the point.
The real point is that Shen felt that handhelds can be beautiful AND tough. Not just beautiful alone.
Summary: the Winmate/iMozen TC605 rugged mobile computer
The iMozen TC605 rugged handheld computer, which is also sold and marketed by partner Winmate, may at first look like just another contemporary industrial/enterprise handheld. In many respects it is. But there is more to the TC605 than meets the eye. Its design goes back to Jerry Shen's 2019 vision of an industrial handheld that combined the slim, sleek form and advanced technology of a modern consumer smartphone with the functionality, durability and ruggedness required on the job. That concept has since become the new norm.
And the TC605 is a very good implementation of that concept. With its integrated industrial-grade Zebra scanner, available with either a 0-degree or 60-degree scan angle, as well as an optional snap-on pistol grip, the TC605 can handle even extended data collection, addressing the needs of mobile workers in logistics, warehousing, utilities, field service, public transportation, security and public safety.
The bright, very high-resolution 6-inch display is what should be expected today. Why should the screen of a handheld used at work be smaller or less sharp than everyone's smartphone? The TC605 has an industrial-grade scanner because scanning is crucial for work in retail, warehousing, logistics and many other fields. And it has a replaceable, rechargeable battery because work shouldn't have to stop just because a handheld needs recharging.
A reversible USB Type-C port handles wired I/O, and there are pogo contacts for docks and expansion. The TC605 can accommodate two SIMs as well as a microSD card for additional storage. Its front and rear cameras are good enough for video calls, image capture and documentation on the job ‐ something that cannot always be said of cameras integrated into rugged computing devices.
Wireless connectivity is crucial for work, and the TC605 covers that with Wi-Fi 6E, 5G mobile broadband, Bluetooth, GNSS and NFC. On the software side, iMozen offers its Software Extension Kit as well as device management, remote device management, firmware updating, OCR and customized solutions for enterprise deployments.
The TC605 isn't revolutionary, and seven years after Jerry Shen presented his "i-leap" vision, perhaps it doesn't have to be. Much of what seemed ambitious then ‐ a slim smartphone-like design, a large high-resolution display, strong performance, advanced connectivity and serious ruggedness ‐ has become expected in a modern industrial handheld. The TC605 delivers all of that in a mature, well-designed package.
The TC605 may not be as well known as it deserves. That's too bad, because it has what it takes to be a first-rate competitor. -- Conrad H. Blickenstorfer, September 2026
Winmate TC605 Rugged Handheld Specifications:
| Status |
Full review 09/2026
|
| Type |
Rugged Android handheld computer
|
| Processor |
Octa-core Qualcomm QCM4490
|
| Processor speed |
up to 2.40GHz |
| OS |
Android 14 with GMS (per iMozen upgradeable to Android 18); Android Enterprise AER certified |
| RAM/ROM |
6GB RAM/128GB Flash |
| Display type |
Optically-bonded sunlight-viewable IPS TFT with protective Corning Gorilla Glass 7 |
| Display size and resolution |
6.0"/1080 x 2160 pixel 18:9 aspect ratio (402 ppi)
|
| Display luminance |
Exceeds 600 nits (we measured 735 nits)
|
| Digitizer/Pens |
Projected capacitive multi-touch |
| Keys and buttons |
3 x virtual keys
2 x scan keys
2 x volume keys
1 x power key
1 x programmable function key
|
| Expansion |
1 x microSD card slot (up to 1TB)
2 x Nano SIM slots
1 x USB 3.1 Type-C, with USB OTG support, PD3.0 / QC3.0 / QC4.0 compliant
8 x pogo pins for expansion, and 2 x pogo pins for charging
|
| Housing |
Polycarbonate plastic reinforced with 10% glass fiber; internal metal chassis |
| Operating temperature |
-20°C to 50°C (-4°F to 122°F)
|
| Shock |
1.8 meter drop; MIL-STD-810H Method 516.8 Procedure I shock
|
| Tumble |
0.5m tumbles for 500 cycles / 1,000 drops
|
| Enclosure Class |
IP65 and IP68 |
| Humidity Class |
5% ~ 95% (non-condensing) |
| Altitude |
not specified
|
| Hazardous materials |
not specified |
| Certifications |
CE, FCC, NCC, BSMI, TELEC, VCCI, JATE, BQB, RCM
|
| Size |
6.61 x 3.11 x 0.63 inches (168 x 79 x 16 mm)
|
| Weight |
9.88 ounces (280 grams)
|
| Power |
3.87V, 5,000mAh, 19.35Wh Li-Ion, field-replaceable; optional hot-swap support
|
| Camera |
Front camera: 8MP CMOS color camera
Rear camera: 16MP CMOS color camera with auto focus; LED auxiliary light
|
| Scanning |
1D/2D imager with laser aimer (Zebra SE4770 in review unit)
|
| Sensors |
Gyroscope, Light sensor, e-Compass, Proximity, Acceleration
|
| ESD |
±8kV contact discharge, ±15kV air discharge
|
| Interface |
USB Type-C OTG, docking connector
|
| Communications |
802.11a/b/g/n/d/h/i/k/r/ac/ax/v/mc Wi-Fi 6E
Bluetooth 5.2
WWAN (2G, 3G, 4G LTE, 5G)
NFC ISO14443-4 (Type A, Type B), ISO15693; MIFARE, FeliCa (ISO/IEC18092)
Positioning: GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS, SBAS (5G SKU)
|
| Price |
Inquire
|
| Product brochure |
 Winmate TC605 |
| Web page |
Winmate TC605 web page |
| Contact |
Winmate Headquarters
No. 18, Zhongxing South Street
Sanchong District, New Taipei City 241017
Taiwan (R.O.C.)
|
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(copyright 2026 RuggedPCReview.com)
