CAT, a company that produces huge machines mainly for construction works and other heavy works, has developed a phone with a rigid and sturdy build, as expected from such a company, which has an integrated FLIR thermal camera. Running on Android 6.0 Marshmallow, the CAT S60 offers other feature like water resistant and the ability to withstand a few drops.
The built of the phone is purely rugged and bulky. The S60 has strengthened die cast metal frame and carbon fiber look-alike toughened plastic on the rear. According to the manufacturers, the handset can hold out against drops onto concrete from up to 1.8 meters. In addition to that, the phone is dust-proof and waterproof. The S60 can be used up to 5m of depth underwater for an hour with all of the switches closed for speakers and microphones. Without the switches closed, the phone can only withstand 2m of depth underwater.
Well, we have already seen add-on thermal camera modules for iPhones and Android but this is the first phone that has FLIR thermal camera built in. so, there are basically two rear cameras; one normal 13MP camera and the other very special thermal camera. The thermal camera records the heat data and with the help of the app, a simple tap on the screen gives the approximate temperature of the object.
Looking at the physique and features of the C60, it looks like it’s made to be used by a construction worker, plumber, electrician or someone who has to work under harsh environment. Normal users would like to stay away from its midrange processor and its bulky built. The physical aspect isn’t that appealing as well. But the dustproof and waterproof feature would certainly attract people who have to work around lakes, ponds, or places where there are too much of dust. The phone’s thermal camera could certainly be a plus point for an electrician to find the heat dissipation in circuits and other circuit elements. Also, people who work with fires like in factories, and people who constantly need to check the temperature of certain objects and machines can benefit from the thermal camera on this phone for easy measurement and convenience. The camera can see through smoke with the help of its thermal sensors, and this can be useful for a person who needs to deal with smoke in their work or for any case of that matter. And this can be used in search and rescue missions where bodies might be hidden by smoke. Again, the thermal camera would not be that much beneficial for normal users but they certainly can win the bragging rights among friends by showing off the awesome feature.
Other specs of the phone include:
- 4.7-inch 720p display with wet finger and glove support
- Screen is shielded with 1mm gorilla glass 4
- 13MP main camera with dual-LED flash and 5MP front-facing camera
- Snapdragon 617 octacore processor (1.5 GHz) coupled with Adreno 405
- 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage, expandable using microSD
- Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 4G LTE connectivity
- Large battery of 3,800mAh capacity
So, CAT S60 was announced at MWC 2016 and it will be made available later this year for $599 in the U.S. People might be overwhelmed with the pricing for the smartphone with such midrange specs but keep in mind, it features the ruggedness from CAT and a built in FLIR thermal camera.
