Free of Bloatware
The Cat S60 ships with Android 6.0.1. And is left more or less free of any real customizations or unnecessary pre-installed apps. This unlocked device is free of bloatware outside a few Cat Flir-specific apps. Overall performance isn’t the fastest I’ve tested, but that’s expected, thanks to Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 617 processor. Each Cat S60 comes with 32 GB of storage, 3 GB of memory, and a massive 3,800 mAh battery. I squeezed nearly two days of use out of the S60’s battery, a rare occurrence. The stellar battery life combines processor, battery size, and the smallish 4.7-inch 720p display, not requiring much power.
I Can See in the Dark, Can You?
Forgoing the Cat S60’s ability to survive under five meters of water or a 1.8-meter drop onto concrete. The headlining feature of the S60 is its Flir camera. For those unfamiliar, this camera captures light in the infrared spectrum. So it can detect the temperatures of objects around you. It’s the same tech police helicopters use to find bad guys at night. The company sells a snap-on camera for Android phones and iPhones that cost a whopping $250. The Cat S60 has it built-in. A Flir camera app is preinstalled on the S60 and works similarly to the stock camera app. After opening the Flir app, you wait a second for the camera to start. Your surroundings are a fascinating mixture of blue, green, red, orange, and white colors. Each represents a temperature. The display has a chart of the temperature range on the right side.
The FLIR Camera
As for the standard cameras, the S60 has a 13-megapixel shooter on the back and a 5-megapixel front-facing camera. Either camera takes okay photos, but nothing you’re going to be super impressed with. There’s a good amount of lag after pressing the shutter button. While the camera tries to focus and then take a picture. For a still object in bright outdoor light, it’s not a big deal. But you can imagine the headaches it causes when taking photos of a pet or kids.
Should You Buy It?
Likely, you’re not the person this phone was designed and built for. But odds are, you know, one or two people who fit the Cat mold. Two family members immediately came to mind after I started testing it. They’re both hard on phones, and would use the Flir camera daily. Also couldn’t care less about camera quality or processor speed. At the end of the day, they want a phone that lasts and won’t easily break. And in that regard, the Cat S60 delivers. At a $600 price, there are more affordable phones available. Although, if you were to tack on a waterproof case to most of the $400 phones flooding the market. You’ll come close to the Cat S60’s price tag, and they won’t have a Flir camera to show for it.
