14 DAY TRIAL // CAT S61 was officially presented during the Mobile World Congress 2018, and it looks like the new phone is a massive improvement over the previous generation.
When you think about high-end phones, you don’t usually think of Cat as a household name, but CAT S61 is not your regular phone. In fact, it’s not really aimed at the regular users, as it comes with a thermal camera, atmosphere sensors, and rugged body that would put any competition to shame.
Getting one of these devices is going to set you back about $1000, but that money will be getting you something useful, and not just a glass back that will shatter if you look too intensely at it. In fact, we wouldn’t mind getting some of the CAT S61 features in some of the regular devices, but that’s not going to happen anytime soon.
CAT S61 is for people that use it as a tool
For most of us, a smartphone is not actually a tool that we use in our day-to-day lives unless you count the email. CAT S61 is not a phone to keep in your back pocket, mostly because it’s really thick. It comes with an aluminum die-cast frame and a rubberized back cover. This ensures that it has enough space to fit all the cool gadgets and that it’s ready to be used in dangerous environments.
It has a 5.2-inch FHD display that is responsive even if you’re wearing gloves or you have wet hands. Also, the device has an IP68 rating for dust, and it can remain submerged in 3 meters of water (about 10 feet) for an hour. Furthermore, it can sustain being multiple drops on concrete from a height of 1.8 meters (5.9 feet).
And now we’re getting to the cool part. CAT S61 features a 16MP back camera, an 8MP frontal camera, with 4K capabilities. It also has 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage space, expandable with a MicroSD slot, and it's based on the Snapdragon 630 chipset. The cool thing is the upgraded FLIR: Lepton thermal camera that can detect temperatures between -20C and 400C, and there are multiple applications for it.
The phone also features a sensor for air quality that can identify all sorts of dangerous compounds and a laser measuring system that’s integrated with the camera.
Furthermore, CAT S61 ships with Android Oreo and it will be upgradable to Android P. Users will find a dedicated store for apps designed for this type of devices. The phone is expected to launch later this year.
