CAT B15 vs Galaxy S 4 Active, Kyocera Torque, & more | Pocketnow By Pocketnow

Caterpillars first smartphone is one of the beefiest we've laid hands on, but just how durable is it when stacked up against some of its rugged competitors? Let's find out I'm Michael Fisher. This is Pocket, and this is the cat b15. Let's put it to the test. Our cat b15 demo unit comes to us from our friends at clove code UK, which means two things one. You should pay them a visit. If you want to be fifteen of your very own and two, we can't test this phone to destruction because we do have to return it.

That's right, there's going to be no drop test from two hundred feet or a blowtorch taken to this phone. So if that's what you were tuning in for we're sorry, what we will do instead is put the b15 up against some other rugged devices in the pocket now labs to see what it's rated to take and, yes, we'll give it a bath as well, though, the b15 is officially on the market. It's not being sold through any carriers in the US buyers will spend $349 for an unlocked unit capable of running on AT&T or T-Mobile USA, though it's limited to 3G, with no LTE support onboard as such. It's likely to do some battle from mind share with Samsung's galaxy, s4, active and AT&T exclusive, which Trump's the b15 in almost every standard smartphone category. If you watched our full review of the active you'll, recall that it's essentially a galaxy s4 in a beefed up shell with most of the hallmark features of that flagship.

So this is no surprise if you're looking for a top-of-the-line Android phone that can handle some abuse, the galaxy s4 active is the hands-down winner, especially considering the subsidized price on contract, but hold on specs. Aren't everything what if you need an Android smartphone, but you're more worried about the durability than the feature set? The b15 actually brings some heat here and caterpillar's webpage for the phone makes that plain. If this were home improvement in the mid-90s, Tim Allen would call this a man's phone. Both it and the galaxy s4 active are rated to the ip67 standard for dust proving and immersion and water up to a meter deep for up to 30 minutes. Neither one offers any additional safeguards against impacts like mil spec durability rating, but the b15 offer something pretty sweet that the active doesn't wet finger tracking on the display.

That means when it's soaked, it should still respond to touch inputs in a reasonably accurate fashion, something we definitely can't say about the s4 active before we move on. It needs to be said. The B 15 s added bulk over the active it paired with its slightly recessed screen and aluminum side rails, makes it less pocketable and less attractive. Yes, but it also makes us less apprehensive about dropping it again. There's no mil spec rating of any sort to back that up, but the B 15 just feels hearty err that all changes when we come around to the Kyocera torque sprints bear grills endorsed android phone that we reviewed a few months back.

In addition to the ip67 immersion and dust resistance rating, the torque is rated to military standard 810g for shock vibration, temperature extremes, blowing rain, low pressure, solar radiation, salt fog and humidity, as the spiritual successor to Sprint's older Next phones, the torque ain't playing around now the B fifteens wet finger tracking means it's screen should work a little better when covered in water, but overall, the torque schools, the cat phone in durability as a mid-range phone. It's also more directly comparable to the feature set of the B 15. Each has a dual-core processor and each runs a fairly skinless build of Android. The displays are the same size and the camera is bear the same 5 megapixel resolution. It's mainly the torques mil spec durability rating LTE radio and fancy transducer earpiece that works through hearing protection that set it apart.

We took a look at the Samsung rugby pro back in December in the context of a tour of a TTS push-to-talk service. We've since returned our demo units to AT&T, but as the rugby is the carrier's closest analogue to the B 15, we thought it worth a mention at $449 off contract. The rugby pro is still $100 more expensive than the B 15, but there's a reason for that, like all the others, the rugby pro offers LTE and like the torque, it's certified to mil spec, in this case, standard 810, F for dust, humidity, rain and shock and, like all the others waterproof based on the ip67 rating. The rugby pro also obviously offers out of box support for 18 tees push-to-talk service, which is worth mentioning for you, walkie-talkie users out there. Finally, we come to the most fragile rugged phone around the Xperia Z from Sony.

In fairness, we need to make the point that Sony doesn't market the Z as a quote-unquote rugged device, because it isn't like its tablet, sibling. It's just waterproof. Those ratings are ip57 and IP 5x, with the ZI protected against low pressure, Jets of water, from all practicable directions and against immersion in once again, one meter of fresh water for up to 30 minutes that moisture resistance is an excellent thing to have, but the Z's, all glass construction means it's nowhere near as resistant to impact as the b15 or really any of the other devices. On this list, we just included here, for the sake of completeness and given that T-Mobile USA has just started, offering the Xperia Z for sale. There are many more rugged devices on the US market, including some Verizon branded Casio handsets we'll be taking a look at soon.

This is by no means a comprehensive look at how the b15 fits into the landscape or even how well it performs remember. This is not a review, but at just under $350 unlocked bearing a brand recognized and respected the world over. The B 15 is significant enough to consider for those who need a rugged smartphone on either AT&T or T-Mobile, and don't need to fancy, features, 4G or constraining contracts. If that sounds like you, the cat b15 is at least worth a look, even if it's just to gawk at the novelty of a smartphone carrying the brand of an industrial equipment manufacturer, that's gonna, do it for now folks hope you enjoyed the quick look if you have something to say, drop it in the comments, but before you do that like us, if you enjoyed the video after you're done with all that visit us at pocketnow. com for more durable device, reviews check out our YouTube channel page here for video versions of the same and follow us on social media.

So you don't miss any part of the conversation sincerely. Thank you very much for watching, and we'll see you next time. You.

Source : Pocketnow