Cat is not just known for its heavy machinery but also its apparels and smartphones that stick to the same rugged theme. Cat S60 has been making rounds as one of the first smartphones with the integrated Thermal Camera and is also amongst the few phones that can withstand up to depths of 5 meters (via a unique lockdown switch). The Cat S60 will be available across both online (Amazon.in) and offline retail channels priced at Rs 64,999.

Cat has literally packed the Flir’s standalone thermal camera in the S60 and the sensor will still offer the same functionalities as its standalone counterpart. Apart from producing a live thermal image, it also measures the surface temperature and has the ability to record both stills and video, albeit in VGA resolution. The thermal camera can be extensively used in rescue missions and the overall ruggedness of the phone is also expected to find appeal with a certain niche of buyers. It’s also worth mentioning that the device offers an SOS button which will send out your location coordinates message to a preprogrammed contacts and apps like Zello ensure that the phone can be used as a walkie talky. The MIL-SPEC 810G makes the phone well suited for the toughest of environments.

Linda Summers, Chief Marketing Officer, Bullitt Group, device licensee was quoted as follows, “CAT is not just known for its heavy machinery but also its apparels and smartphones that stick to the same rugged theme. Cat S60 has been making rounds as one of the first smartphones with an Integrated Thermal Camera and is also amongst the few phones that can withstand up to depths of 5 meters.”

In a nutshell, the Cat S60 is pretty much well equipped with the 4.7-inch HD display at 720p, Snapdragon 617 paired with 3GB of RAM, and 32GB of onboard storage along with microSD card slot. On the imaging front, the S60 offers a 13-Megapixel primary sensor and a 5-Megapixel secondary sensor. Just like the other waterproof phones, the Cat S60 comes with rubber lids for the mic and earphone openings, which once closed the phone can be taken at depths of up to 5-metres, way beyond the 1.5-metres water proofing other devices come with. The S60 comes backed with a 3,800mAh battery pack and it will run on Android Lollipop 5.1.

CAT S60 Specifications

• Strengthened Die Cast Frame
• Drop-proof to 1.8m, MIL Spec 810G
• Super bright display (540 nits), Gorilla Glass 4
• 4.7” HD capacitive multi-touch with auto wet finger & glove support
• Optimized battery performance (3800 mAh)
• High-quality audio experience (>105dB)
• Underwater 13MP main camera with dual flash, 5MP front facing camera
• Dual SIM 4G LTE
• Snapdragon 617 octa-core processor
• 32GB ROM, 3GB RAM
• Android™ Marshmallow
• Dedicated FLIR thermal camera app with MSX technology; still image, panorama and video capture; changeable heat palettes; temperature spot meter; and min, max, and average temperature data

The ruggedness of the phone we were talking about till now is brought upon by the Gorilla Glass 4 which has been further thickened to 1 mm and the chassis is made up of a toughened plastic composite. The phone seems to have already survived drop tests of 1.8 meters multiple times, thus ensuring that the phone can withstand the impact on different natural angles. That said, the Cat S60 was indeed a compelling buy for folks on a lookout for rugged phones a year ago, but with brands like AGM prepping a rugged smartphone powered by Snapdragon 835, the Cat S60 feels a bit dated.