Cat Phones Announces the Cat S50, A Ruggedized Phone Built for Harsh Environments

Ruggedized smartphones may fill a niche, but apparently a rather profitable one. That’s why Cat Phones is following up the B15 with the Cat S50, a smartphone designed to survive the harshest and most unforgiving of environments (i.e., very hard rocks and a lot of water).

The S50 is IP67 certified dustproof and waterproof, and can be used with wet fingers. It also features scratch-resistant Gorilla Glass 3 shielding a 4.7-inch display (resolution unspecified), a 1.2 GHz quad-core processor, an 8-megapixel camera, and front-facing speakers. It’s 4G LTE compatible, as you’d hope.

The Cat S50 will ship running Android 4.4., and the software adornments seem minimal. It will, however, come preloaded with the Cat Phones app store a curated selection of 1,000 applications. Presumably, all will install via the Play Store.

The Cat S50 will be available in “a range of colors,” including Forest and Slate, when it launches this year. It’ll be priced at 499 USD.

4th September 2014 — Cat Phones today announces the launch of the Cat® S50, a rugged, high-end 4G smartphone designed specifically to be used outdoors and in challenging environments, making it the perfect partner for extreme sports and outdoor working.

The S50 is waterproof and the screen can be used even with wet fingers. It’s scratch-resistant, dustproof and can withstand more than just a few bumps and scrapes. It also has a quad core (1.2Ghz) processor running the latest version of Android (KitKat) with access to Google Play meaning there is no compromise between performance and protection.

“Choosing a mobile phone suitable for outdoor pursuits has often meant making a compromise on either the functionality or the level of protection,” says Oliver Schulte, CEO of Cat Phones. “Not so with the S50, which offers all of the features of a high-end smartphone with the level of protection and durability that you’d expect from the Cat brand.”

Whether it’s being used on the slopes, on a bike, up a mountain or on a building site, the S50 copes with anything that’s thrown at it. No matter if it’s wet, cold, dusty or dirty, nothing compromises the S50’s high-end smartphone performance…not even a drop onto concrete.

The S50 is also the first Cat phone to be launched pre-loaded with the Cat Phones App Store of over 1000 hand picked apps. The curated collection – which includes both well known and widely used apps such as Skype and Endomondo to smaller niche but equally useful ones like CHECD – means Cat phone users don’t need to trawl through the 1.2 million apps on Google Play to find the one they want. The 1000 apps most relevant to their work and play are now one click away in the Cat Phones App Store.

Adds Schulte: “An active or outdoor lifestyle requires phones to be taken into environments that they’re not designed for. At Cat Phones we recognized the need for a mobile that was built to be a true companion to these activities and environments rather than being hidden away in a bag or wrapped up in a rucksack. The S50 is a phone that can always be at the centre of the action.”

Complementing the durable design features, the S50 boasts performance enhancing audio technology for unparalleled sound performance developed by Waves, a recipient of a Technical GRAMMY Award®. This provides a better listening experienceeven outdoors,for everything from playing games, watching movies, listening to music or using online voice communication.

Following on from the best-selling Cat B15Q rugged handset, the S50 boasts a faster processor, bigger screen, improved standby-time and improved imaging and connectivity capabilities including an 8MP camera and 4G compatibility. It is available in a range of colors including Forest and Slate, each one encased in shock absorbent rubber and will be priced at 499 USD / 479 Euros.

S50 Specs

Android™ (4.4) KitKat
Waterproof with wet-finger tracking
IP67 certified dustproof
Mil Spec 810G
Scratch resistant
4.7″ Shatter resistant Gorilla® glass 3
8MP camera with flash and HD video
4G LTE
16Hrs of talk-time
8GB storage. Micro SD card support up to 64GB
For further information please visit www.catphones.com

Attendees at IFA are invited to visit the Cat phones booth 109, Hall 4.2 for a hands on experience with the new S50 device ahead of it hitting the shops.