Rugged Android phones aren't something we see a ton of, but for folks that like the tough devices, Cat has a new model that you'll likely be interested in.
The Cat S61 is now official. It's got some pretty unique features, like an integrated FLIR thermal imaging camera with expanded temperature range to 400 degrees Celsius. Also included is a MyFlir app with features like live streaming of thermal imaging.
Cat has also thrown in an indoor air quality sensor and a laser assisted distance measurement tool that can measure distances up to 10 meters, calculate the area, and switch between Metric and Imperial measurements.
The body of the Cat S61 is very rugged, offering IP68 water and dust resistance and meeting the MIL-SPEC 810G standard for resistance to drops, vibration, sand, salt mist, pressure, and thermal shock. The phone's body also features an aluminum reinforced die-cast frame.
When it comes to raw specs, the Cat S61 offers a 5.2-inch 1920x1080 display with Gorilla Glass 5 and wet finger and glove technology. Also included is a 16MP rear camera with phase detection autofocus and dual LED flash and an 8MP front-facing camera.
Inside the Cat S61's rugged body is a 2.2GHz octa-core Snapdragon 630 processor, 4GB of RAM, 64GB of storage, and a microSD card slot. The Cat S61 is powered by a 4,500mAh battery with Quick Charge 4.0 support. Other notable features of the device include NFC, FM radio, a 3.5mm headphone jack, USB-C, and Bluetooth 5.0.
On the software side, the Cat S61 runs Android Oreo and is upgradeable to Android P.
The Cat S61 will launch in Q2 2018 at a price of €899 / £799 / $999. That price will likely deter some consumers from the device, but the Cat S61 is aimed more at professionals who need a rugged device that also has features like a thermal imaging camera and indoor air quality sensor. For those people, the Cat S61 looks like a solid phone with a rugged body, plenty of RAM, and Android Oreo with a future update to Android P.
