My next Phone is CAT S61 / Smartphone discussion - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Tom91PIC
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 03, 2019, 08:48:13 pm
content: Gents, ladies of EEV Blog.The electronics, chipsets, power consumption and Wh rating of modern smartphones might be increasing annually, however, the quality of the product you get is just bad.As we know electronic components have a typical bathtub shape with long lasting life of up to 20 years* (depending on power consumption), what modern design of smartphones is offering regarding their outer case products is simply sub standard;I had 3 smartphones in last 6 years and I've to say they are rubbish when it comes to longevity of the design, the screen cover simply crack from a smallest damage and in 1 case made my phone useless, fee to repair was £220 which I kindly rejected...In one case (famous Galaxy S7 battery overheating) was caused by the electronics misdesign leading to battery malfunction frying up the uC responsible for power supply control.This time I will go for mechanically robust Cat S61 to see how it performs, and working as an engineer I will take it to all kind of test in next few months to see how it performs.What are your experiences with modern Smartphones?What is your experience with CAT smartphones?

author: Muttley Snickers
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 03, 2019, 09:31:16 pm
content: Quote from: Tom91PIC on September 03, 2019, 08:48:13 pmMy first and only smart phone is an LG Optimus L7II which I bought about 6 years ago for $129, I has served me well and still works perfectly except for the battery which now requires charging every other day. It uses a removable and replaceable battery but I am considering perhaps updating to a later model.Just the other day a mate gave me a two year old Sharp Z2 which is a really nice phone but it has a cracked screen and a thorough search online indicates that there are no replacement screens available. This was his sons phone and it still works perfectly but I'm hesitant to switch over because of the screen.

author: kolbep
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 03, 2019, 09:51:21 pm
content: Had Cat S60 (with Flir).Grill over Mic Came off.Had to send up for grill to be replaced under warranty.Fast forward a month or 2, the Ringing stopped working.Sent back up for warranty repair.About 1 year in. the battery only lasted 3 hours, and if you tried to use the camera, battery would cut off.Day or 2 Later, the battery started swelling.Sent back up under warranty. Mainboard and Battery Replaced..6 Months Later, put the phone under about 15cm of water (with the Waterproof switches set to 5m)Not even 30s later there was water in the phone, Camera fogged up, and 5 minutes later, the phone was dead.Sent back up under warranty. Phone was replaced.Got *the new* phone back. Lasted 5 months until the microphone grill came off.Lasted until just under 1 year, and the battery again is dying (lasts about 1 hour screentime, then gets to 32 percent, and dies).Normal Camera sucked, then they did updates to the software, which made the quality even worse.On the plus side, the Flir works well.Also, have dropped it plenty of times (even from the top of 6ft ladders), dings and scratches on the casing, but the screen never broke.Hope that helps.

author: Dubbie
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 03, 2019, 10:58:33 pm
content: I have an iPhone 6S Plus from 2015. I have never had a case or any other nonsense on it.It still looks like a new one and still performs very well. I replaced the battery once which cost $50 at an Apple service place.It gets a LOT of use.My wife has probably had about 4 iPhones in the meantime and all of them have been destroyed in some way.I think it's 100% about how careful you are with them. I have just gotten into the unconscious habit of treating mine like a $1000 piece of high technology. Doesn't mean I don't use it in my machine shop as a calculator or on a construction site to look at plans on. I just am careful with it. Once you get into the habit, I don't think to treat it well is any more inconvenient than treating it carelessly.

author: Psi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 03, 2019, 11:49:53 pm
content: Keep in mind that it was not made by CAT themselves.I wouldn't expect the robustness and reliability of a CAT Digger.They will have contracted a phone manufacturer to make it for them.And since CAT are not phone experts they wont have any much input into the internal detail of the phones construction.I would try to figure out exactly who they contracted to make it and then check reviews of other phones that company has made.Edit: It's made by Bullitt Mobile Ltdhttps://bullitt-group.com/Although i couldn't find if Bullitt Mobile contract it out again to a phone manufacture.Seems like they do make it themselves (Bullitt)

author: Raj
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 12, 2019, 04:33:34 pm
content: Quote from: Tom91PIC on September 03, 2019, 08:48:13 pmI was thinking of buying a cat. But I went with Nokia 8.1.You can buy several nokias for the cost of a single cat.Cats are simply too expensive and slow and will become useless, even as FLIR as flash memory degrades.I'd rather buy 10 phones and a flir camera than a cat.just somehow either let each of your phone survive for 2 years or carry a flip phone as main one and have an android in your car or bag, for when you absolutely need it.I never use my android, on the go anyway...it just remains in my pocket.

author: Bud
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 12, 2019, 06:25:09 pm
content: Typing this from my 7 years old iPhone 5. Replaced the battery 2 years ago, that is it.

author: SteveyG
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 12, 2019, 07:14:46 pm
content: My Samsung S6 Edge Plus is still going strong after 4 years, looks as good as the day I bought it. Battery life has just started to drop in the last two months

author: Psi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 13, 2019, 05:18:57 am
content: I'm still using an LG G3 D855I've repaired it a few times, new LCD, new MB (lots of cheap parts available on aliexpress).Rooted and running Android 9 on it (came with android 4/5 lol)Still works great and is fast enough.