Caterpillar have released a line of smartphones with real mine site pedigree, and what’s more, you can drive a Cat 277D over the top of them.
The B15 is a ruggedized smartphone, designed by Cat specifically for the mining and construction industries.
It boasts an aluminium casing and Gorilla Glass screen, and is about half the price of the new Samsung S5, so it makes a lot of sense to keep one these on site with you.
It can be dropped onto concrete from a height of 1.8 metres without sustaining any more than cosmetic damage, and the touchscreen works fine when wet.
The B15 also has an Ingress Protection rating of 67 (same as the S5) which means it is water proof to a depth of one metre for 30 minutes, and is 100 per cent dustproof.
What this phone makes up for in physical strength it lacks in processing power and screen size, but this is reflected in the price.
It runs Android 4.1 Jellybean, has a 5 megapixel camera and only 512 megabytes of RAM, so if you don’t know what these things are, you probably won’t care, as long as you can make calls, check your emails, take underwater photos on fishing trips, and then tag your mates on Facebook.
For workers and operators who love the Cat brand, this is probably the perfect phone.
It’s got heavy rubberised, chunky industrial styling and is about 15mm thick, so you’re bound to notice if it’s about to fall out of your pocket, although the screen is only 4 inches long.
We had a quick look online, and you can pick up an unlocked Cat B15 for around $450.
Check out the Cat promotional video to get a good look at what these phones can do.
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