For those who care more about a phone’s survivability than its look, you can look to DOOGEE, Cat Phones and perhaps, Zebra. Oh, you don’t like the over-the-top rugged look? Fret not because, the new Caterpillar CAT S52 looks nothing of sort. It looks like an ordinary smartphone, but yet as tough as ever.
What’s surprising is, it is one rugged phone that touts “best in class camera.” That’s something we don’t hear very often, do we? The CAT S52 is rocking a dual pixel Sony sensor that boasts bright f1.8 aperture and large 1.4µm pixel size that promised to deliver “great low-light performance” – the best camera available to a rugged phone, yet. So, no more excuse of taking shitty oil rig images. Ya?
On contrary to its ‘non-rugged’ look, the CAT S52 is totally at ease of being dropped from a meter and a half (5 feet) onto concrete and even completely submerged in water (down to 1.5 meters or 5 feet for 35 minutes). That said, it is IP68 rated, keeping it sealed from both dust and water.
That’s not it. It is built to military spec 810G, enabling it to stand up to handle extreme temperatures of -25°C (-13°F) to 55°C (131°F) for up to 24 hours, resistant to humidity and salt mist, and resistant to category 4 vibration.
Usability, it gets a Super Bright 5.65-inch HD+ (1,440 x 720 pixels) 18:9 aspect ratio IPS display that works with both wet finger and glove.
Other details include MediaTek Helio P35 chip with 2.3 GHz octacore processor, 4 GB of RAM, 64 GB storage, microSD support, Corning Gorilla Glass 6, a 8 MP selfie camera, USB Type-C port, 3.5 mm headphone jack, dual-band WiFi and Bluetooth 5.0 and the the usual suspect of sensors, and a 3,100 mAh with fast charging support.
All in, this device measures just 158.1 x 76.6 x 9.69 mm (6.22 x 3.02 x 0.38 inches) and weighs in at 210g (7.4 ounces).
The Caterpillar CAT S52 Rugged Smartphone can be had for £449, or $559.99 (UK/EU version) or $518 (Latin version) on Amazon.
Images: Cat Phones.
