7 ms·

I used the S62 as a daily driver for a couple of years and it was fairly decent. The convenience of having a thermal camera in your pocket at all times was rema

by tildef 4y ago

I used the S62 as a daily driver for a couple of years and it was fairly decent. The convenience of having a thermal camera in your pocket at all times was remarkable, and it's one of those things you kind of miss when it's gone (my daily use for it was checking if the coffee was cool enough to drink--yes, I know my tasting organs provide much of the same functionality...) However, the resolution of the thermal camera wasn't particularly great, and the 9 fps refresh rate was also a bit limiting. Still, for checking for drafts, occasional electronics repairs and a general party trick it was great. Eventually I got a new phone from work, which I grudgingly accepted since I wanted Android 12 and a better visible-light camera, but I missed the thermal cam sufficiently that I got an Infiray P2 off Ali as a plug-in substitute. The resolution and refresh rate are a lot better than the Cat, but having to carry an extra dongle (and plugging it in, starting the app, restarting the app when it crashes...) sometimes makes me consider going back. If/when Cat makes a successor, I'd be very tempted to get it. Edit: The usb-c cam in question for those who are interested https://www.infiray.com/p2-pro-thermal-camera-for-smartphone.html https://www.infiray.com/p2-pro-thermal-camera-for-smartphone... (available from the usual suspects)

whacked_new 4y ago
I've been using a BlackView 9900 Pro for over a year, and attest to the surprising usefulness of the built-in thermal camera, such as checking how well food is heated after microwaving, or even watching the heat distribution of rolling, boiled water. My phone's battery is degraded now and I'm dreading a switch to something else. I've eyed the S62 but don't think it's an upgrade.
- tildef 4y ago
  Agreed. I'd hold off a bit if I were you, unless your current battery is completely busted. Might even be worth seeing if you can replace the battery. The S62 is over 2 years old, and considering Cat hasn't updated it past Android 11, they may have something new on the horizon--unless they plan to exit the phone market entirely, of course, which I guess is also a possibility.
  - msrenee 4y ago
    Every Cat phone I've looked at was on the high end of pricing at the time it came out and on the older end of operating systems. I've been in the market for a serious rugged phone basically the whole time I've had cell phones and Cat has never been justifiable to me. I lucked out and grabbed a Galaxy Xcover pro when they first came out. It's not really advertised for the consumer market, but it was also way cheaper than things I liked less that had been out for a year longer. I'm not sure if they'll come out with a new model anytime soon. I will say this thing has a removable battery, solid construction, and is plenty fast for me (though I'm not picky on speed). I'm still on the original battery and it will play music for 10 hours through my Bluetooth headphones and still have 30% battery by the time I get home. I really have no complaints. EDIT: the Xcover does not have an IR camera. I got off on a tangent because I keep getting disappointed every time I look into Cat phones.
- anigbrowl 4y ago
  I'm confused, why not just replace the battery? They're available and if you're not good with fiddly disassembly jobs you can probably find someone to do it relatively cheaply.
  - whacked_new 4y ago
    completely fair, although the BV has a layer of anti-slip rubber on the back panel (which I also came to appreciate), so replacing the battery will probably require ripping that layer off (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zikXifsPDT0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zikXifsPDT0 if curious) that said, I've abused the phone enough that maybe I should find a replacement for the rubber too.
lathiat 4y ago
Using a thermal camera in the kitchen is under-rated. I sometimes do the same. Was inspired by this old linux.conf.au talk (that I attended in person) about a microwave with a thermal camera in the top. I would love the same above my kitchen stove: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3DADx5z-XY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3DADx5z-XY I'm a die-hard iPhone user so sadly a built-in won't work for me. I currently have a first generation Lightning FLIR One. It's pretty limited, only a single temperature measurement, no min/max scale you can see (it just auto calibrates), has a terrible rechargable battery and doesn't work with an iPhone case.. but I got it for the bargain basement price of $100 AUD ($67 USD) on Marketplace. My interest is more related to home effeciency (looking at gaps in insulation etc) but has been fun in the kitchen too. I'd love one of the newer ones but haven't wanted to justify the cost and happy with my bargain aquisiton :)
- Gigachad 4y ago
  You can buy a stove that uses probes to monitor the temps and hold/stick to a preset program https://www.breville.com/us/en/products/commercial/cmc850.html https://www.breville.com/us/en/products/commercial/cmc850.ht... I can't wait for these to become more mainstream so recipes start listing "Set stove to 150c" rather than "to medium" which is widely different depending on what stove you use. An amusing story one youtuber shared was the followed some advice that said to set your stove to high and leave it for 10 mins first, advice meant for a gas stove. When they tried it on an electric stove, the oil ignited on contact with the pan.
  - rootusrootus 4y ago
    > advice meant for a gas stove Can't imagine it would be any different result. 10 minutes preheat on any range is a lot. My cast iron pan started turning silvery blue well before the 10 minute mark with my gas range on high.
  - rodgerd 4y ago
    Some induction tops have similar functionality - measuring the temperature of the pan and keeping at that temperature. It's not as precise as a probe, of course, but it's extremely convenient and useful.
asddubs 4y ago
the 9 FPS I believe are because US manufacturers aren't allowed to export thermal cameras above 9 FPS
- userbinator 4y ago
  ITAR
- walterbell 4y ago
  Imported 25 FPS thermal cameras are sold in US.
  - asddubs 4y ago
    yes, but import is the opposite of export
    - walterbell 4y ago
      What matters for US consumers is that both 9fps and 25fps are on Amazon for similar prices, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33890299 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33890299
      - asddubs 4y ago
        I was just explaining why the cat phone has only 9 fps. It's using a FLIR sensor.
- bpye 4y ago
  Afaik higher FPS cameras can be sold to individuals but are ITAR controlled. I know at one point at least Seek had a higher rate version and anyone could buy it, but you had to provide documentation.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
exclusiv 4y ago
> my daily use for it was checking if the coffee was cool enough to drink My wife has the same issue with hot coffee which drives me a little nuts. She uses a normal mug most of the time. Because she isn't certified in coffee temp detection like I am; she waits and waits, gets distracted, and eventually it becomes too cold. So she reheats it in the microwave, usually to the point where it's too hot, and that cycle continues after it gets too cold again. She's probably reheated coffee in the microwave up to 4-5 times a day at times. It's hilarious and ridiculous. As an engineer, admittedly, I enjoy the hilarity so much I'm not sure if I care about it being resolved! The issue is two-fold: 1) She lets the coffee hit the outermost parts of her lips and subjects herself to getting destroyed by the high temp lol. I don't understand why this is so difficult for people. Your outermost lips are more sensitive. Don't do that. You don't attack hot coffee like it's a fine bourbon. Also you can feel the temp and steam to know not to even attempt based on your preference and tolerance. 2) She isn't sitting at a desk consistently like most of us. She's everywhere in the house and then leaves, and her coffee intake isn't a priority like many of us. If I put her coffee in a stainless steel mug with a lid, then it takes too long to cool to her temp. She leaves the lid off to cool and then forgets about returning to it in time. And she doesn't end up drinking the coffee because it becomes too cool. So now she would have to transfer to a microwaveable mug to reheat and start that cycle so she doesn't even bother. If I'm prepping her a roadie coffee, I must pour it, leave the lid off for a period of time and then place it back on so she will attempt drinking it in time in the car to commit to it. If it's too hot, she will more than likely just abandon it and not check back in before we reach our destination. I got her an Ember mug so she can read the actual temp and control it. But it's not dishwasher safe of course. So she doesn't tend to use it. And from the fresh brewed carafe to the Ember still is too hot, unless the lid is off for some time like the stainless steel mug, lol. The ideal mug for her would thus be an Ember mug that is dishwasher safe and thus have some sort of twist mechanism to disconnect the battery and status/controls portion from the core mug function. And probably have a vent mechanism on the lid (maybe a double pop on the Ember lid to vent more?) to more quickly get the temp down from initial temp, as the heated mug portion can ensure the set temp is hit anyway. Someone please build that and save me! Or don't, and I'll enjoy the entertainment derived from the struggle. :)
- dotancohen 4y ago
opan 4y ago
>(my daily use for it was checking if the coffee was cool enough to drink--yes, I know my tasting organs provide much of the same functionality...) For tea I pretty much found the right amount of cooling time once and now I just repeat it. I boil water, steep for 5 minutes (with a timer), then when that 5 minutes is up I remove the bag and start an 18 minute timer. It's still pretty hot but slowly drinkable then, and within a couple minutes can be comfortably consumed quickly as well. I don't even try to drink before my timers are done anymore as I don't want to scald myself. I think I also did some experimentation with a laser thermometer, but I don't recall what numbers I landed at, and this way I don't need to wonder how long it will take either. The time also lines up pretty well with eating breakfast if done all together.

by tildef 4y ago

whacked_new 4y ago

I've been using a BlackView 9900 Pro for over a year, and attest to the surprising usefulness of the built-in thermal camera, such as checking how well food is heated after microwaving, or even watching the heat distribution of rolling, boiled water. My phone's battery is degraded now and I'm dreading a switch to something else. I've eyed the S62 but don't think it's an upgrade.

tildef 4y ago
Agreed. I'd hold off a bit if I were you, unless your current battery is completely busted. Might even be worth seeing if you can replace the battery. The S62 is over 2 years old, and considering Cat hasn't updated it past Android 11, they may have something new on the horizon--unless they plan to exit the phone market entirely, of course, which I guess is also a possibility.
- msrenee 4y ago
  Every Cat phone I've looked at was on the high end of pricing at the time it came out and on the older end of operating systems. I've been in the market for a serious rugged phone basically the whole time I've had cell phones and Cat has never been justifiable to me. I lucked out and grabbed a Galaxy Xcover pro when they first came out. It's not really advertised for the consumer market, but it was also way cheaper than things I liked less that had been out for a year longer. I'm not sure if they'll come out with a new model anytime soon. I will say this thing has a removable battery, solid construction, and is plenty fast for me (though I'm not picky on speed). I'm still on the original battery and it will play music for 10 hours through my Bluetooth headphones and still have 30% battery by the time I get home. I really have no complaints. EDIT: the Xcover does not have an IR camera. I got off on a tangent because I keep getting disappointed every time I look into Cat phones.
anigbrowl 4y ago
I'm confused, why not just replace the battery? They're available and if you're not good with fiddly disassembly jobs you can probably find someone to do it relatively cheaply.
- whacked_new 4y ago
  completely fair, although the BV has a layer of anti-slip rubber on the back panel (which I also came to appreciate), so replacing the battery will probably require ripping that layer off (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zikXifsPDT0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zikXifsPDT0 if curious) that said, I've abused the phone enough that maybe I should find a replacement for the rubber too.

lathiat 4y ago

Using a thermal camera in the kitchen is under-rated. I sometimes do the same. Was inspired by this old linux.conf.au talk (that I attended in person) about a microwave with a thermal camera in the top. I would love the same above my kitchen stove: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3DADx5z-XY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3DADx5z-XY I'm a die-hard iPhone user so sadly a built-in won't work for me. I currently have a first generation Lightning FLIR One. It's pretty limited, only a single temperature measurement, no min/max scale you can see (it just auto calibrates), has a terrible rechargable battery and doesn't work with an iPhone case.. but I got it for the bargain basement price of $100 AUD ($67 USD) on Marketplace. My interest is more related to home effeciency (looking at gaps in insulation etc) but has been fun in the kitchen too. I'd love one of the newer ones but haven't wanted to justify the cost and happy with my bargain aquisiton :)

Gigachad 4y ago
You can buy a stove that uses probes to monitor the temps and hold/stick to a preset program https://www.breville.com/us/en/products/commercial/cmc850.html https://www.breville.com/us/en/products/commercial/cmc850.ht... I can't wait for these to become more mainstream so recipes start listing "Set stove to 150c" rather than "to medium" which is widely different depending on what stove you use. An amusing story one youtuber shared was the followed some advice that said to set your stove to high and leave it for 10 mins first, advice meant for a gas stove. When they tried it on an electric stove, the oil ignited on contact with the pan.
- rootusrootus 4y ago
  > advice meant for a gas stove Can't imagine it would be any different result. 10 minutes preheat on any range is a lot. My cast iron pan started turning silvery blue well before the 10 minute mark with my gas range on high.
- rodgerd 4y ago
  Some induction tops have similar functionality - measuring the temperature of the pan and keeping at that temperature. It's not as precise as a probe, of course, but it's extremely convenient and useful.

asddubs 4y ago

the 9 FPS I believe are because US manufacturers aren't allowed to export thermal cameras above 9 FPS

userbinator 4y ago
ITAR
walterbell 4y ago
Imported 25 FPS thermal cameras are sold in US.
- asddubs 4y ago
  yes, but import is the opposite of export
  - walterbell 4y ago
    What matters for US consumers is that both 9fps and 25fps are on Amazon for similar prices, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33890299 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33890299
    - asddubs 4y ago
      I was just explaining why the cat phone has only 9 fps. It's using a FLIR sensor.
bpye 4y ago
Afaik higher FPS cameras can be sold to individuals but are ITAR controlled. I know at one point at least Seek had a higher rate version and anyone could buy it, but you had to provide documentation.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

exclusiv 4y ago

> my daily use for it was checking if the coffee was cool enough to drink My wife has the same issue with hot coffee which drives me a little nuts. She uses a normal mug most of the time. Because she isn't certified in coffee temp detection like I am; she waits and waits, gets distracted, and eventually it becomes too cold. So she reheats it in the microwave, usually to the point where it's too hot, and that cycle continues after it gets too cold again. She's probably reheated coffee in the microwave up to 4-5 times a day at times. It's hilarious and ridiculous. As an engineer, admittedly, I enjoy the hilarity so much I'm not sure if I care about it being resolved! The issue is two-fold: 1) She lets the coffee hit the outermost parts of her lips and subjects herself to getting destroyed by the high temp lol. I don't understand why this is so difficult for people. Your outermost lips are more sensitive. Don't do that. You don't attack hot coffee like it's a fine bourbon. Also you can feel the temp and steam to know not to even attempt based on your preference and tolerance. 2) She isn't sitting at a desk consistently like most of us. She's everywhere in the house and then leaves, and her coffee intake isn't a priority like many of us. If I put her coffee in a stainless steel mug with a lid, then it takes too long to cool to her temp. She leaves the lid off to cool and then forgets about returning to it in time. And she doesn't end up drinking the coffee because it becomes too cool. So now she would have to transfer to a microwaveable mug to reheat and start that cycle so she doesn't even bother. If I'm prepping her a roadie coffee, I must pour it, leave the lid off for a period of time and then place it back on so she will attempt drinking it in time in the car to commit to it. If it's too hot, she will more than likely just abandon it and not check back in before we reach our destination. I got her an Ember mug so she can read the actual temp and control it. But it's not dishwasher safe of course. So she doesn't tend to use it. And from the fresh brewed carafe to the Ember still is too hot, unless the lid is off for some time like the stainless steel mug, lol. The ideal mug for her would thus be an Ember mug that is dishwasher safe and thus have some sort of twist mechanism to disconnect the battery and status/controls portion from the core mug function. And probably have a vent mechanism on the lid (maybe a double pop on the Ember lid to vent more?) to more quickly get the temp down from initial temp, as the heated mug portion can ensure the set temp is hit anyway. Someone please build that and save me! Or don't, and I'll enjoy the entertainment derived from the struggle. :)

dotancohen 4y ago

opan 4y ago

>(my daily use for it was checking if the coffee was cool enough to drink--yes, I know my tasting organs provide much of the same functionality...) For tea I pretty much found the right amount of cooling time once and now I just repeat it. I boil water, steep for 5 minutes (with a timer), then when that 5 minutes is up I remove the bag and start an 18 minute timer. It's still pretty hot but slowly drinkable then, and within a couple minutes can be comfortably consumed quickly as well. I don't even try to drink before my timers are done anymore as I don't want to scald myself. I think I also did some experimentation with a laser thermometer, but I don't recall what numbers I landed at, and this way I don't need to wonder how long it will take either. The time also lines up pretty well with eating breakfast if done all together.