CAT S60 hands-on: A rugged phone with a thermal camera

CAT is back with a new rugged phone at Mobile World Congress, this time offering a built-in FLIR thermal camera module with the S60. FLIR's sensors have been available as add-on attachments for Android handsets for a while now, but the vendor has managed to shrink its module down to the size of a standard camera sensor with the Lepton, allowing it to be integrated into a phone.

Here's what you're getting with the CAT S60:

Category	Features
Display	4.7-inch 720p IPS LCD with Gorilla Glass 4 Max. brightness of 540 nits
CPU	1.7Ghz octa-core Snapdragon 617
GPU	Adreno 405 GPU
RAM	3GB
Internal Storage	32GB storage
Storage Expansion	microSD slot up to 128GB
Camera	13MP with dual-tone flash FLIR thermal camera (changeable heat palettes, temperature spot meter) 5MP front shooter
Connectivity	LTE, Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 4.1, GPS, GLONASS, NFC and FM radio
Battery	3800mAh
OS	Android 6.0 Marshmallow

The CAT S60 is a chunky phone, with an angular design and beveled edges. The micro-USB and 3.5mm audio ports are all covered, and the navigation buttons are similar to what we've seen on the Galaxy S6 Active. There's front-facing audio as well.

The FLIR thermal camera is where things get interesting. The sensor has a built-in thermometer that lets you measure surface temperatures in real-time, and you can also tap to set different viewpoints to view how cold or hot an object is. The thermal sensor interlaces data from the regular camera to give you a live preview mode, which offers much more detail. You can take photos and videos in the live preview mode, but the resolution is limited to VGA (640 x 480). That may not seem like a lot, but it offers a lot of value for the professional users this phone is targeted toward.

For exapmple, first responders at an accident can leverage the thermal camera to find the wounded amidst the wreckage. Home energy contractors could point the CAT S60 at a house and determine where air is leaking.

The S60 can be used with wet hands or gloves, functions underwater (up to 5 meters) for an hour, and the strengthened frame offers drop protection to 1.8 meters. The phone is designed to take a beating, and is MIL-STD-810G certified, which means that it is resistant to dust, humidity, rain, thermal shock, salt, and vibration.

The CAT S60 is surprisingly decent as a regular phone. It comes with Marshmallow out of the box, with a stock interface along with a few pre-installed apps to take full advantage of the FLIR sensor.

For now, the CAT S60 is aimed at professionals, but it will be interesting to see if a mainstream vendor can leverage the FLIR sensor in a consumer-facing device. There's no release date for the S60 yet, but it will set you back $599 once it hits store shelves.

Acer's flagship Liquid Jade 2 offers 1TB hybrid cloud storage

At Mobile World Congress, Acer has unveiled the flagship Liquid Jade 2, the successor to the Liquid Jade. The phone comes with a 5.5-inch Full HD AMOLED screen and a Snapdragon 808, but the most interesting feature on offer is the hybrid cloud storage, which sounds similar to what you get with the Nextbit Robin. Whereas the Robin offers 100GB of cloud storage, Acer is offering ten times that, with 1TB available. The vendor is saying that the hybrid storage functionality "seamlessly integrates local storage with cloud storage," and it will be interesting to see if Acer's implementation is as robust as that of the Robin.

Here's what's on offer with the Liquid Jade 2:

Category	Features
Display	5.5-inch Full HD AMOLED with 100 percent NTSC color gamut
SoC	Snapdragon 808
Memory	3GB of RAM
Storage	32GB storage, 1TB hybrid cloud storage
Camera	21MP with dual-LED flash, PDAF, 4K video recording | 8MP front camera
Connectivity	LTE Category 6, Wi-Fi ac, Bluetooth 4.1
Software	Android 6.0 Marshmallow

The vendor is also highlighting the budget Liquid Zest, which offers a 5-inch 720p screen, 8MP camera at the back, 5MP front shooter, and quad-core 1.3 GHz processor for €109. The LTE-enabled model is priced at €149, and both variants will be available from April.

Acer isn't detailing availability or pricing for the Liquid Jade 2 just yet, but with the phone being showcased at MWC, we'll bring you additional details from the ground shortly.

Sony announces Xperia Ear wireless earpiece, teases Xperia Eye, Projector and Agent concepts

This MWC Sony is launching more than just phones with the announcement of two new products, the Xperia Ear and RM-X7BT in-car Bluetooth commander. But it isn't done there — we're also getting a quick look atthree conceptual products, the Xperia Eye, Xperia Projector and Xperia Agent. Throughout all of the products, simple design and voice control are common themes.

The Xperia Ear immediately reminds us of Motorola's Moto Hint. It's a small, Bluetooth connected earpiece with more smarts than your average headset. It can keep you up to date with information like the weather and your upcoming appointments, but is also listening for voice commands so you can navigate, dictate messages, perform searches and more. The Xperia Ear hooks into an app on your phone for the processing, and is designed to be worn comfortably all day. Sony will have more information on the Xperia Ear this summer.

On a completely unrelated note, the RM-X7BT in-car Bluetooth commander is a two-part product that consists of a component you attach to your car and a corresponding smartphone app, and when combined offer wireless music streaming and entertainment options. You'll be able to send music from your phone to the car stereo, make hands-free calls and also interact with the app using your voice. You can also find the RM-X7BT starting this summer.

Stepping away from real products and into the future, Sony has three new concepts it's showing off at the show. The Xperia Eye is a small clip-on camera to be worn on your shirt or around your neck, and packs a spherical camera that offers an extremely wide field of view. With face and image recognition technology, the Xperia Eye will be able to capture images throughout your day so you never miss a moment.

The Xperia Projector is a small box designed to be a home communication and information device. When placed on a table it can project an interface onto any smooth surface, like a wall, and give you information in a heads-up interface with touch, gestures and voice controls. Sony's concept image shows a simple interface with the time, weather, upcoming appointments and missed calls.

Lastly, there's the Xperia Agent concept. This little device brings thoughts of the Amazon Echo to mind, as it will respond to voice requests and gestures for a variety of tasks. It can even project information onto surfaces and has a camera for capturing images, opening up plenty of capabilities.

Sony isn't spilling much in terms of details on the concept products, and given the vagueness of their descriptions we don't expect much in the way of release timeframes. We'll surely know more as they get closer to launching.

Source: Sony