CAT S60 review: Rugged however not for each person

CAT or Caterpillar is a well known name. But it is well known for making engines and heavy machinery for mining, construction or moving heavy objects around. It is not known for making phones. But it does make them and recently launched its latest smartphone -- the CAT S60 -- in India.

Though the CAT 60 runs on Android 6.0 Marshmallow operating system, it is not like any other Android phone you buy from the market, especially at a price of Rs 64,999. From the very looks of it, the phone screams a rugged build, but the CAT S60 is not first such smartphone from the company, though it is the first to launch in the country. The CAT S60 not only takes ruggedness to a new extreme it also packs in a thermal camera. But it is not meant for everyone.

Design

CAT S60 is one of the most indestructible smartphone you will find in the market, but it is surely not the best looking. Compared to a regular smartphone, it is twice as thick and considerably heavy for its size at 223g.

The display at the front is a 4.7-inch screen which makes the phone easy to use with one hand. But pickup a usual Android phone, maybe one with a bigger screen and you know you have been holding a brick all along.

CAT S60 is a rugged device and it surely looks the part. You will manage to turn more heads with an iPhone 7 maybe, but if you are using the CAT S60 be ready for people asking you "what is that thing in your hands, is it a phone?"

But yes, CAT S60 is the most invincible Android phones you will find in the market right now. The phone survived our drop test on concrete floor -- face first, side first and every angle possible. It is water resistant for up to 5m or 16 feet. That is a lot of depth for a phone, you could easily dive with it (and yes the camera works in water).

There are shutters to lock-down the speaker and earpiece before you plan to take it deeper than 2m. But that can't always be the case. Not every splash in water is planned, so CAT has put an app on-board that will dry up the speakers. Pretty interesting now, isn't it?  The Speaker Dry app has 2, 6 and 10 minute cycles that vibrate the phone and plays some weird music to speed up the drying process.

All ports are covered with small flaps -- the micro-USB charging port, the 3.5mm headphone jack and the SOS button. If they are opened for use, the phone flashes a reminder after they are used so that you can close them back.

When pressed, the SOS button fires an app that can send location coordinates to preset contacts via SMS. Since it doesn't require internet, you can use it in emergency situation to alert your people. Of course, it can be done by an app only but the dedicated button is a cherry on top.

All buttons on the phone are physical keys. Apart from the usual ones for navigation and volume, there is power key on the left and an extra programmable button just below it. If you are right handed, this can be a little confusing as the volume rocker is generally on the left and power button on the right. With not one but two buttons on the left you need to get used to the fact that they aren't the volume controls before you get comfortable.

 CAT S60 is a rugged device and it surely looks the part. You will manage to turn more heads with an iPhone 7 maybe, but if you are using the CAT S60 be ready for people asking you "what is that thing in your hands, is it a phone?"

SIM and micro SD cards of the phone go under a flap on the back, beside the thermal camera, only in a much cooler way. There is a mini-door that kicks open with a switch and a nice provision to eject SIM cards with ease.

Software and performance

To keep things simple on the software front, CAT S60 runs the stock Android 6.0 Marshmallow interface, which not only adds to the simplicity of the usage but helps the phone run seamlessly with hardware that isn't top-notch.

We didn't really test the hardware performance to extreme for the phone that is neither meant for gaming nor has the kind of specs that extreme gamers will like. Under its rugged hood, the phone houses a Snapdragon 617 octa-core processor with 3GB of RAM and 32GB internal storage. This is nowhere close to what smartphones at this price range pack. But if we talk about running the Android 6.0, the phone manages the task well.

There are applications on-board that are quite useful. Apart from speaker dry and Location Alert app, there is Hike that gives you some geographical information like cardinal direction, coordinates, azimuth, pressure and estimated altitude. A suite of FLIR tools can be downloaded from the play store but more importantly, the phone has an App Toolbox app that lists apps related to rugged work and tools, farming, construction, sports and outdoors, among others.

Camera

CAT S60 has a 13MP rear and 5MP front camera. But those are just average shooters, no better than that on a sub-10k smartphone. The rear camera clicks black-and-white pictures by default and you need to turn-on the HDR mode to switch to color. This, coupled with a slow autofocus makes clicking pictures a slow process on the rugged phone.

But its thermal camera takes is something that is unique. Caterpillar says the S60 is the only phone that comes with a thermal imaging sensor.

This thermal camera comes from FLIR, which makes night vision and IR cameras for professional security and defense systems. What the camera on CAT S60 can do is detect hot objects. We tested it in for good 200m in the night and it works surprisingly well.

The FLIR camera app features changeable heat palettes, temperature spot meter and minimum, maximum and average temperature data. You can record still images, video, time lapse and panoramic shots from the thermal camera.

Should you buy?

Certainly, if you require a thermal camera on your phone and rugged features, the S60 is made for you. After all the testing, we can say CAT S60 is an amazingly tough smartphone and lives up to its rugged tag without hiccups. More importantly it doesn't feel like the phone is made for special purposes as the interface is seamless for daily use and there is no extra protective glass on the display that could hamper the touchscreen experience.

But, it is so rugged that it is not meant for a usual smartphone user who would seldom require a thermal-imaging camera or dunk the phone in 5 meters of water. In bargain for extreme ruggedness, you miss out on high-end performance hardware, a sharp display and great camera on front and rear that many smartphones offer for much less. In fact, some are even tough like the LG V20, and the Moot X Force, which is unbreakable, solving the 'fragility' problem of normal smartphones.

Share on Google Plus