Tag Archives: Cat® S62 Pro

Cat S62 Pro Smartphone Reveals Potential Fire Risks from Working from Home

The possible electrical dangers faced by Britain’s army of home workers are today revealed with the help of mobile thermal imaging technology.

For millions of us, our homes are now our offices, but very few of us are aware of potential electrical safety hazards in our home-office setups or how to ensure we safely accommodate the equipment we use every day.

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These images, captured with the new Cat S62 Pro thermal imaging smartphone, show the fire risks that poorly thought-through domestic office setups can cause.

Bullitt Group, the makers of the Cat S62 Pro, have partnered with Electrical Safety First to highlight the issue and offer tips and advice on how to make your home office set up safer.

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The gallery of images, captured in a home working environment, shows the varying levels of heat invisible to the naked eye that is produced by different electrical setups and devices. The images show common habits including:

  •      Charging laptops and phones on flammable surfaces
  •      Stacking equipment due to lack of space
  •      Daisy-chaining extension leads because you’ve got more to plug in than usual
  •      Overloaded sockets
  •      Routers covered with office materials / or boxed in
  •      Extension cables covered with household items

Working from home is now commonplace but little thought is given to the set-up of our temporary work desks, many just working wherever there is space.

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New research commissioned by Bullitt Group, shows electrical safety checks by employers have dropped by nearly half (a decrease of 46%) since lockdown.

The research, compiled by Censuswide using a 2k sample of people working at home due to COVID, also shows:

  •      Many home workers surveyed (41%) operate in cramped workspaces and things often get piled on top of extension units
  •      Over a third don’t have enough plug sockets (36%)
  •      Over a third say that have to daisy chain extension cables to get the length they need (35%)
  •      There is a high level of complacency around electrical safety with more than half (56%) of respondents saying they are not worried about electrical dangers
  •      When asked about where they currently work, more than a third (36%) say they often move their laptop and charger around as they work in different spots
  •      Almost a third (30%) have never considered the dangers of working in some domestic spaces
  •      23% are sharing electrical sockets for work with other domestic items
  •      21% do not have a dedicated workspace at home and 19% feel the quality of work is affected by not having a dedicated workspace

Working closely with Electrical Safety First, Bullitt Group has come up with some simple guidelines to make the home office environment safer.

Key tips include:

  •      Avoid overloading sockets
  •      Do not leave phones or laptops plugged in to charge overnight and don’t charge on a bed – always charge on a hard, flat, non-flammable  surface
  •      Don’t “daisy chain” extension leads. If your cable doesn’t reach, don’t plug it into another adaptor. Move your workspace closer to the socket or use a longer lead
  •      Regularly check electrical cords and extension cords for damage
  •      Only use extension cords on a temporary basis
  •      Do not plug a space heater or fan into an extension cord or power strip
  •      Do not run cords under rugs/carpets, doors, or windows
  •      Make sure cords do not become tripping hazards
  •      Keep papers and other potential combustibles at least 1m away from space heaters and other heat sources
  •      Make sure you use the right wattage for lamps/lighting
  •      Only use chargers provided with the product and buy any replacements from reputable retailers you know and trust
  •      Keep your work area tidy and keep drinks away from electrical items
  •      Make sure your home has smoke alarms. Test them monthly and replace the unit every 10 years or as directed by the manufacturer

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“When the country first locked down, homeworking was seen as a temporary situation. Now it’s looking more long term, it’s important that both employers and employees are fully aware of the risks and how to mitigate them,” said Nathan Vautier, CEO at Bullitt Group.

“The thermal imaging technology built into the S62 Pro is a quick and simple way to see a world that’s invisible to the naked eye and can improve safety in any working environment.  Tradesmen have used our thermal phones to spot electrical faults and issues for some years, but this is also a genuinely useful tool for anyone who wants to improve safety and monitor what’s going on with electrical equipment in their homes,” continued Vautier.

A spokesman for Electrical Safety First said: “There is simply not enough awareness out there about the possible dangers of poorly set up home office environments. Thermal technology is certainly one way to monitor electrical equipment for overheating issues and the images that Cat phones have created here show very clearly just what is going on and highlight some of the common dangers we regularly warn people against.”

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Other survey results:

  • Before lockdown, 40% of respondents’ companies had a procedure in place to regularly check electrical items. This has now dropped to just 22% since working from home began
  • Almost a third (31%) feel their employer should be doing more to provide safety and other guidance about home working
  • Only 19% have received safety advice/guidance from their employer concerning their home working set up
  • Almost half (45%) don’t know when work specific electrical items were last safety checked

The Cat S62 Pro smartphone has an MSRP of £599 and is available to buy from  Rugged Mobiles

Gadget Man – Episode 170 – Cat S62 Pro with Thermal Imaging, Humax Aura 4K Freeview Box and problems with Ring

Welcome to Gadget Man Episode 170, here I talk to James Hazell at BBC Radio Suffolk about the CAT S62 Pro mobile phone with FLIR thermal imaging camera, the Humax Aura Android TV 4K Freeview Play Recorder, and the issues that some owners of Ring doorbells have been experiencing due to incorrect installation.

Cat S62 Pro FLIR Lepton Thermal Imaging Camera
Cat S62 Pro FLIR Lepton Thermal Imaging Camera

I will be adding full reviews of the CAT S62 Pro and Humax Aura over the coming days.

The Humax Aura 4K Freeview  can be purchased through Amazon here

The CAT S62 Pro can also be purchased from Rugged Mobiles

We earn a commission from Amazon for sales made through our links.


Stay well
Matt

New Cat® S62 Pro Smartphone featuring FLIR Lepton Advanced Integrated Thermal Camera – Reviewing Soon!

The launch of the Cat® S62 Pro is the pinnacle of innovation, functional design and rugged durability. It incorporates the highest resolution FLIR Lepton® thermal imaging, which is a game-changer for more demanding work environments, such as engineering, mining, manufacture, agriculture and wildlife. Compared with its predecessor, it is 12% more compact, with a 10% bigger screen. It is faster, more powerful and incredibly tough, making it the ultimate work phone.

Cat S62 Pro Dirtproof
Cat S62 Pro Dirtproof

With isotherm alarming, you can monitor a custom temperature range (anything between -20 degrees Celsius to +400 degrees Celsius) and add alarms to alert you when something falls within that range. This is hugely useful and time-saving when watching for machinery to reach a specified temperature, screening for unusually elevated temperatures, finding game or livestock at night, or even checking if the braai is at the right temperature. 

Cat S62 Pro FLIR Lepton Thermal Imaging Camera
Cat S62 Pro FLIR Lepton Thermal Imaging Camera

Powered by the FLIR Lepton 3.5 and the new MyFLIR™ Pro app, the S62 Pro offers a four-fold increase in the number of thermal pixels and an unmatched feature set within the included application. For the first time, professionals and consumers can access FLIR Systems’ VividIR™ image processing, enhanced MSX® (Multi-Spectral Dynamic Imaging), and visible-to-thermal blending technologies integrated into their smartphone. 

Users can now vary the intensity of MSX®, which overlays visual outline detail from the scene onto the thermal image or use the new alpha blending feature to combine thermal detail with the visual image from the Sony dual-pixel camera. Together these upgrades deliver dramatically enhanced image quality, sharper images and higher thermal resolution to provide greater context and understanding of the thermal image you are seeing.

Cat S62 Pro Waterproof Smartphone
Cat S62 Pro Waterproof Smartphone

Tested to Cat® phones’ demanding, market-leading rugged standards, the S62 Pro is incredibly tough. It achieves and surpasses an ingress protection rating of IP68 and US military standard, Mil-Spec 810H. It has undergone rigorous testing including repeated drop tests from 1.8m onto steel, with multiple drops onto every side and corner, as well as extensive waterproof, dirt and dustproof, temperature extreme survivability, and vibration and tumble tests. 

It is hygienic too – it can be fully submerged and easily washed with soaps and disinfectants or cleaned with alcohol wipes, which makes it ideal for hygiene-conscious consumers, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic. The IP69 rating has recently been added, which includes the ability to withstand washing with high-pressure washers. 

The S62 Pro’s display has been upgraded to 5.7” FHD+ (18 x 9), and memory is now 6GB RAM and 128GB ROM. It also features a faster Qualcomm chipset, Android™ 10, and a large, optimised long-life battery. The Cat® S62 Pro is fully enterprise-ready. It supports Android Enterprise features, including Zero-touch, and has undergone a series of enrolment and policy provisioning tests with leading EMM solutions. Manage all the Android devices in your organisation simply. It is built for business, is rugged and ready to go anywhere – work or play.

We will be reviewing this product very soon!

Key Specifications:

• Picks up heat and measures surface temperatures from a distance of up to 30m.
• Scalable and movable regions of interest with ‘hottest’ and ‘coldest’ indicators.
• Horizontal field of vision is expanded to 57 degrees to capture more of the scene.
• 9 thermal colour palettes to choose from depending on the situation.
• PDF reporting.
• Powerful 4,000mAh battery.
• 12MP Sony dual pixel rear camera and 8MP front camera.
• Hardwearing, non-slip rubberised TPU back.
• Bluetooth 5.0, NFC.