As the US Army prepares to bring Android phones into battle, Russia is working on its own military tablet based on Google's mobile operating system. While a consumer version of the tablet is on the way, the main customer for the device — dubbed RoMOS — is expected to be the Russian Ministry of Defense. According to researcher Andrei Starikovsky, who recently presented the new design to Russian vice premier Dmitry Rogozin, the tablet's OS will have all of the functionality of Android, but without the associated privacy concerns created by Google's user data collection.

"We excluded the Google market from assembly for security reasons," Starikovsky told the ITAR-TASS news agency. The device will be built in Russia — though with many foreign components — and will reportedly sell for 15,000 rubles (about US$465). Users will be able to install apps from a RoMOS-specific market, and the military version will be differentiated from its consumer counterpart by being both shock and waterproof. The tablet is expected to launch in Russia by the end of the year.