A Sixth Sense

Cat S60 Smartphone

By Anca Gagiuc on Mar 25, 2016 in Technology

Did you know that Cat^® sells phones and smartphones? A new version of smartphone was introduced at the  Mobile World Congress in Barcelona last month.

The Cat S60 is the company’s new flagship product, the world’s first smartphone with integrated thermal camera, once a very expensive tool used only by law enforcement and the military. Initially, the FLIR ONE thermal camera begun life as a cumbersome case for the iPhone 5, then turned into a dongle that connected to the microUSB or Apple Lightning port. In the new smartphone though, the Lepton sensor that enable FLIR cameras to see in darkness has been integrated into the device itself, next to its standard rear camera.

“To stand out from the crowd in today’s smartphone market requires true innovation and we are proud to partner with FLIR to announce what is truly a world’s first,” said Peter Stephens, CEO Bullitt Group, global mobile device licensee for Caterpillar. “The Cat S60 represents a milestone for smartphones. We are excited for thermal technology to be in the hands of Cat phones customers and to discover the myriad of daily time and efficiency use cases it will present for them.”

A sixth sense

“We are delighted to work on the latest Cat phone with Bullitt Group, to integrate our thermal camera into their proven, industrialized smartphone to create a truly innovative and groundbreaking mobile product,” said Andy Teich, President and CEO of FLIR. “The CAT S60 presents mobile users around the world with new capabilities – a ‘sixth sense’ experience that only thermal imaging can offer.”

Cat S60 is also waterproof to depths of up to 5 meters for one hour, during which time it can be used as an underwater camera, pushing the boundaries of mobile technology. The device is not a slim smartphone, but considering it’s one of Caterpillar’s babies, the yellow entity that creates monstrous construction machines, the Cat S60 is designed for people who work with big tools all day long.

The smartphone can be used for a multitude of scenarios such as detecting heat loss around windows and doors, spotting moisture and missing insulation, identifying over-heating electrical appliances and circuitry, and seeing in complete darkness. The thermal camera sees heat invisible to the naked eye, highlighting temperature contrasts. It can pick up heat and measure surface temperatures from a distance of up to 100 feet and see through smoke, making it the ideal smartphone for building professionals, engineers, utility workers, outdoor sports enthusiasts, and emergency first responders.

The pocket device bearing the Caterpillar name features a strengthened die cast steel frame inside, designed to exceed the military’s 810G drop test specifications. This means that the device’s housing complemented by the Gorilla Glass 4 display can easily survive a drop onto hard concrete from a height of 5 ½ feet.

Tech specs feature 32GB of on-board storage, 3GB of RAM, a Snapdragon octa-core processor powering Android Marshmallow. The 4.7-inch Gorilla Glass touchscreen can be used with both wet fingers and while wearing gloves. The resolution stops at 1280 x 720, a bit hard on the eyes, but this is not the device’s focus feature. The S60 supports location tracking using GPS, assisted-GPS, Glonass, and the Chinese Beidou satellite network. Furthermore, S60 includes Bluetooth, NFC, an FM radio tuner, as well as barometer and altimeter sensors.

There are two cameras on the Cat S60: the front camera maxes out at five megapixels, and the rear camera handles 13. The apposition of the thermal imaging Lepton sensor next to the rear camera, enables the two to work together and create a type of enhanced hybrid image. This is, in fact, one of the most important innovations FLIR introduces on the FLIR ONE, helping those unfamiliar with thermal imaging to be able to easily decipher what they were looking at.

This fascinating feature can be yours later this year for $599, and even though the Cat S60 might not look as pretty as the iPhone 6 or Galaxy S6 Edge, you will have a tool that no one else does.