[HN Gopher] Caterpillar offers phone with built-in FLIR camera
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Caterpillar offers phone with built-in FLIR camera
        
       Author : thebetatester
       Score  : 407 points
       Date   : 2022-12-07 01:05 UTC (21 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.catphones.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.catphones.com)
        
       | teruakohatu wrote:
       | These niche phones never fail to run old versions of Android.
       | This phone runs Android 11, which was released October 4, 2021.
       | Android 13 was released 15 August 2022.
        
         | tootie wrote:
         | I did a project a while back with devices like these. Super
         | rugged shell, giant battery and, in this case, a powerful IR
         | barcode scanner. We built custom apps for warehouse workers and
         | shut access to anything remotely fun. No mobile data or calling
         | allowed, no internet except one hardwired wifi network that
         | talks to shipping systems. Having an old OS is fine because
         | they don't need to be compatible with much and security isn't a
         | big deal because they're so locked down.
        
         | throwaway5959 wrote:
        
         | toast0 wrote:
         | I mean, that was only four months ago? And someone in the
         | thread said it launched in September, you're unlikely to get
         | latest Android in the box a month later, unless the model is
         | planned as part of the OS launch.
         | 
         | If all the niche phones don't have updates, that's probably a
         | failing of the OS rather than the niche phones.
         | 
         | Somehow, Microsoft manages to get Windows updates out to
         | everywhere and computers in stores end up having the latest OS
         | on there. Google makes Chrome OS devices update. I think
         | there's two or three projects that were supposed to make
         | Android updates actually happen, but where's the pudding?
        
         | gulperxcx wrote:
         | You're getting Android 12 release date confused with 11. 11 was
         | released in Sept 2020, your point still stands however.
        
         | rootusrootus wrote:
         | I was expecting you to say it was something from 2010. By
         | comparison, 2021 doesn't seem half bad.
        
         | emusan wrote:
         | I owned the first CAT phone with a FLiR thermal imaging sensor
         | and this was by far my biggest gripe. The hardware felt like it
         | was built to last a decade or longer, but the software was
         | chock full of vulnerabilities from day 1, and I think they only
         | provided a few months of proper software updates. I have since
         | (reluctantly) moved to iPhone where I expect that (with my
         | usage) the software should outlast the hardware.
        
           | Gigachad wrote:
           | Probably easier to just wrap an iphone in one of those
           | massive cases.
        
       | FrostKiwi wrote:
       | Anyone know the resolution of the FLIR camera? Specs don't seem
       | to list the thermal camera resolution, only up-res one. The last
       | revision was kind of weak, low-res with a max of only 120degC or
       | so, if memory serves right. The improvement to : -20degC to
       | 400degC is a happy step forward.
        
         | saratogacx wrote:
         | From the tech specs section https://www.catphones.com/en-
         | us/cat-s62-pro-smartphone/cat-s...
         | 
         | Lepton 3.5 professional grade camera 1440 x 1080 HD output with
         | VividIR MSX linear overlay from visual cam Measurable range:
         | -20degC to 400degC
        
         | zejn wrote:
         | Lepton 2.5 is 80x60, Lepton 3.5 is 160x120.
         | 
         | https://www.flir.com/products/lepton/
         | 
         | Scroll down for full specifications.
         | 
         | Key property is also thermal sensitivity, which for Lepton 3.5
         | is <50mK. Better sensitivity and you will be able to see finer
         | gradients or need less temperature gradient to observe.
        
         | tshadley wrote:
         | Says "FLIR Lepton 3.5 professional-grade sensor" which lists at
         | 160x120 from
         | 
         | https://www.flir.com/news-center/camera-cores--components/fl...
        
           | zwieback wrote:
           | I've played around with both generations of the Lepton sensor
           | and the 3.5 is really nice: factory calibrated so you can
           | directly measure temp without elaborate external calibration
           | and a built-in shutter.
           | 
           | Thermal sensors of this type are huge and expensive. At work
           | I also have a Flir with 1024x768 sensor, super expensive with
           | a massive germanium (or something) lens. One of the problems
           | for handheld applications is that you always need two
           | separate optical paths since the lensing is totally
           | incompatible. So you end up having to register the two images
           | to each other, which can fail when it's darkish or the image
           | doesn't have a lot of edges.
        
           | system2 wrote:
           | They used a very crappy wordplay to hide the pixels for
           | unknown reasons.
        
         | [deleted]
        
       | vardump wrote:
       | No mention about thermal camera resolution, even in the "Full
       | Tech Specs". Although it does mention it's using FLIR Lepton 3.5
       | sensor. Seems to be 9 fps at 160x120. [0]
       | 
       | [0]: https://www.digikey.com/en/product-
       | highlight/f/flir/lepton-3...
        
         | wlesieutre wrote:
         | 9 fps is because if the framerate is any higher it would be
         | subject to ITAR export controls, that's going to be a limit you
         | find on any similar cameras
        
           | mwint wrote:
           | Does ITAR present an impediment even if it's manufactured and
           | sold in the US?
        
             | LWIRVoltage wrote:
             | You can't take it out of country without an export license-
             | Someone else will have to comment on the process of doing
             | that so they can take their camera on vacation or something
             | 
             | I've had to navigate that and make use of listed exemptions
             | to that, for sending thermal cameras i bought from israel-
             | BACK to israel for repair- because of ITAR.
             | 
             | Other than that, you can do what you want in-country with a
             | high quality thermal-and the US can import others who make
             | stuff that high quality, without issues
        
               | nmstoker wrote:
               | Seems highly unlikely anyone would stop to check the
               | camera when coming back into the US with a personal
               | phone. They would need to be checking millions of phones
               | for a tiny number of hits.
        
               | dotancohen wrote:
               | If you get caught you could lose your professional
               | license. I would assume stiff fines and would not be
               | surprised if some cases might be punishable by
               | incarceration.
        
               | SpelingBeeChamp wrote:
               | I brought a 640 x 480 ThermApp Pro with me on vacation to
               | Buenos Aires recently. This might come as a surprise to
               | you, but no one asked me about my camera's frame rate :P
               | 
               | Hey, wait... are you the person on the EEV Blog Forum who
               | wrote about your saga of trying to figure out how to
               | legally ship your camera to Israel for repair? That was
               | also a ThermApp, no?
        
             | Sporktacular wrote:
             | It only is an impediment if it is made in the US. There are
             | high frame rate sensors sold openly abroad.
        
               | numpad0 wrote:
               | Not made, but exported from the US. Nevertheless US
               | manufacturer(s) are not willing to sell restricted
               | versions of these miniature sensors.
        
           | walterbell wrote:
           | 25 fps is available on Amazon,
           | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33890299
        
           | numpad0 wrote:
           | This is rather disappointing especially there are now 25fps
           | Hikmicro cameras at similar prices.
        
           | Sporktacular wrote:
           | Only in the US. Doesn't apply to these guys for example
           | www.infiray.com
        
           | nomel wrote:
           | Buy several and place them behind a cold rotating disc, with
           | a hole in it, so each is exposed for 1/<desired fps> seconds?
           | 
           | Although I see I can save quite a bit of effort by buying a
           | 25Hz HIKMICRO thermal camera on US Amazon.
        
         | ChrisMarshallNY wrote:
         | IR cameras tend to be very low-res (or very expensive). Looks
         | like they have some kind of computational photography pipeline
         | processing, to enhance the IR image.
         | 
         | You can get FLIR modules for most smartphones (Android and
         | iOS). Not sure I'd buy a phone, just for the camera.
        
           | anigbrowl wrote:
           | I wonder if it's possible to take multiple low-res cameras
           | and combine their output in an array...mainly because I have
           | a source for affordable but very low-res (32x24) thermal
           | cameras.
        
             | nomel wrote:
             | You could make a sensor array by placing the raw sensors
             | close together, all on the same image plan of a single
             | lens. This results in gaps between that would have to be
             | dealt with.
             | 
             | Or, you could make a camera array, with multiple lenses,
             | like: https://graphics.stanford.edu/projects/array
        
               | Ao7bei3s wrote:
               | For a real-world application: the ARGUS video capture
               | system used on MQ-9 Reaper drones is 386 5-megapixel,
               | 2010's-era smartphone grade camera sensors and four
               | lenses (Source:
               | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorgon_Stare)
        
       | andrewia wrote:
       | This phone has been out since Spring 2022. Any reason for the
       | post?
       | 
       | If we want to talk about the utility of a thermal camera, I found
       | it neat. I used a $150 Seek camera to diagnose poor insulation in
       | my bedroom, and one contractor even offered free advice over
       | email since the images were clear enough. I've also used it to
       | find hot ICs on a PCB. The resolution of these lower cost modules
       | isn't great, which you can see by all the postprocessing they
       | advertise. But it's enough to see which wall is leaky, or which
       | IC needs a heatsink.
        
         | chrismorgan wrote:
         | > _Spring 2022_
         | 
         | That was last week.
         | 
         | (Seasons are a lousy way of describing times for anything other
         | than local, geographically-anchored content. They're only
         | meaningful in a comparatively narrow band, falling apart if you
         | head much towards the poles or equator--the four seasons model
         | is _useless_ in tropical areas especially--and inverting if you
         | head to the other side of the equator.)
        
           | firecall wrote:
           | Indeed.
           | 
           | Our friends in the USA often assume the people they are
           | talking to are only in the USA!
        
             | mrguyorama wrote:
             | Nonsense, plenty of places in the US completely lack spring
             | and fall as reality, including where I grew up.
             | 
             | What you should have said is that many in the USA often
             | assume the people they are talking to _experienced a life
             | identical to theirs_
        
             | system2 wrote:
             | Doesn't everyone live in the USA?
        
           | randomdata wrote:
           | _> Seasons are a lousy way of describing times_
           | 
           | Given the context, 'spring' is just another way of saying
           | second quarter. It has nothing to do with seasons beyond
           | incidental alignment between calendar quarters and observed
           | seasons in certain geographic areas where the use originated.
           | Indeed, even second quarter breaks down where the Gregorian
           | calendar isn't used, but you have to make assumptions at some
           | point in order to communicate. Context fills in the gaps.
        
             | rippercushions wrote:
             | No, it really isn't, and it's mildly obnoxious to people
             | living in the southern hemisphere (or the tropics, for that
             | matter) when people assume spring = Q2. Mildly because
             | we're used to it, but it's not hard to avoid.
             | 
             | And for better or worse, the Gregorian calendar _is_ the
             | universal civil system now, even in the countries like
             | Saudi Arabia that notionally use other calendars. Even
             | Korean Juche years, Japanese imperial eras etc are aligned
             | to Gregorian years.
        
               | fijiaarone wrote:
               | All the people who live in the southern hemisphere live
               | in the tropics or subtropics.
               | 
               | Spring has no more meaning in Melbourne than it does in
               | Mexico City.
        
               | chrismorgan wrote:
               | I can't comment on the meaning of spring in Mexico City,
               | but I assure you that it means plenty in Melbourne and
               | its surrounds, colloquially and in actual weather. Even
               | if we didn't get a lot of it this particularly wet year.
        
               | [deleted]
        
               | [deleted]
        
               | rippercushions wrote:
               | Having lived in Melbourne, those are both pretty bizarre
               | assertions, although it's a running gag for Melbourne
               | that you can easily experience all four seasons in a day.
               | In Australia, only coastal NT/FNQ qualify as tropical,
               | with a subtropical slice from Brisbane down to Sydney:
               | 
               | https://plantmaps.com/koppen-climate-classification-map-
               | aust...
        
               | smcl wrote:
               | A funny thing I've realised is that it's a running gag in
               | many places, and each one thinks it's unique to them :)
        
               | randomdata wrote:
               | Usage dictates that spring = Q2 when used in a business
               | context centred around a US-based business. It has
               | nothing to do with the seasons. It is quite common for
               | words to have multiple meanings, using context to
               | establish the exact definition in play.
               | 
               | The only thing that is actually obnoxious is silly
               | pedantry.
        
               | MBO35711 wrote:
               | Not so. I would have guessed it was either Feb,Mar,Apr
               | (astronomical) or Mar, Apr, May being the gardeners
               | calendar. But Q2 is Q2. It's not just having to flip the
               | season for the hemisphere.
        
               | randomdata wrote:
               | Quite so, even if a regional dialect. Certainly where
               | Caterpillar operates out of it is common. If we were
               | instead talking about an Australian company that produces
               | barbies then we'd know we're talking about barbecues and
               | not dolls, even where regional dialect only knows Barbie
               | as a doll. Words don't exist in a vacuum. Context is
               | significant.
        
               | chrismorgan wrote:
               | I have literally never heard this, and I'm more aware of
               | the vagaries of USA and European business and general
               | practices than most others in Australia.
               | 
               | If someone on the internet says "Spring 2022", I
               | immediately assume it's speaking of northern hemisphere
               | temperate regions' spring (because such dating is
               | uncommon in the southern hemisphere to begin with and
               | _never_ used in public /worldwide internet situations
               | because we're more aware of these things), and after
               | thinking carefully for a bit to straighten out in my mind
               | when that actually is, I assume March-May 2022 or
               | possibly a week earlier (equinoxes and such), because
               | that's what would be meant in Australia, if we ever
               | expressed things like that (apart from the whole off-by-
               | six months thing!). I would not expect June to be
               | reckoned a part of it any more than I would expect March
               | to be a part of Q2.
               | 
               | (Incidentally, a year or two back I heard suggestions
               | that "Q2" may customarily be anchored to financial rather
               | than calendar years in some places. Not sure if this is
               | true.)
               | 
               | If by "spring" you meant to convey "the second quarter of
               | the Gregorian calendar", you failed to communicate
               | accurately.
        
               | randomdata wrote:
               | _> If by "spring" you meant to convey "the second quarter
               | of the Gregorian calendar", you failed to communicate
               | accurately._
               | 
               | How could I be more clear?
               | 
               |  _" Given the context, 'spring' is just another way of
               | saying second quarter. ... Indeed, even second quarter
               | breaks down where the Gregorian calendar isn't used, but
               | ..."_
               | 
               | I'm really not sure what is missing. Definitely
               | interested in your advice.
               | 
               | Or maybe you're referring to the person who originally
               | used Spring 2022? If that's the case then that wasn't
               | communicated very well. "You" referring to an unrelated
               | third-party is a new one for me.
               | 
               |  _> Incidentally, a year or two back I heard suggestions
               | that "Q2" may customarily be anchored to financial rather
               | than calendar years in some places. Not sure if this is
               | true._
               | 
               | Definitely true in the right context, but "spring" is
               | used more for general audiences when trying to not sound
               | business-y; particularly when the audience is children. I
               | doubt you will find this usage in a financial context,
               | but definitely with respect to product launches.
               | Something like "Coming Spring 2022" is quite common.
               | 
               | As this pertains to children, it is also not uncommon to
               | see school periods referred to by these same names. e.g.
               | "fall semester", while "summer" is the name of the
               | prolonged vacation period. Because of that, these words
               | are relatable (to those in the geographic region of
               | origin), and is likely why we started seeing them turn up
               | in business contexts, especially in advertising.
        
         | lamontcg wrote:
         | https://xkcd.com/1053/
         | 
         | I'm one of today's lucky 10,000 to find out about IR cameras
         | for smartphones.
        
         | ajsnigrutin wrote:
         | > This phone has been out since Spring 2022. Any reason for the
         | post?
         | 
         | also, they offered phones with flir cameras before, so nothing
         | new on this front either.
        
           | brailsafe wrote:
           | I didn't know about it before, and now I do. Certainly more
           | valuable than the much older hustle culture startup ceo stuff
           | that's often posted.
        
         | tildef wrote:
         | It's actually even older--August 2020 according to GSM arena
         | (https://www.gsmarena.com/cat_s62_pro-10358.php) Got mine not
         | long after. Kind of surprised to see it make the HN front page
         | in AD 2022.
        
         | theCrowing wrote:
         | Linus used it in his last video.
        
           | pimlottc wrote:
           | Linus Torvalds? He has videos?
        
             | hindsightbias wrote:
             | The other Linus
        
               | komali2 wrote:
               | van Pelt?
        
             | cerved wrote:
             | Yes. He's switched from LKML to TikTok
        
             | nickthegreek wrote:
             | Linus Tech Tips
        
         | zoklet-enjoyer wrote:
         | I purchased a phone with built in FLIR for a friend in
         | Australia. It was cheaper for me to buy it in the US, ship it,
         | and pay a bunch for insurance than for her to buy it locally.
         | 
         | You can see the phone at 4min in this video
         | https://youtu.be/BDUOtlVc4UM
        
         | emilburzo wrote:
         | you mean 2020, right?
         | 
         | > Announced 2020, June 28
         | 
         | > Status Available. Released 2020, August 17
        
       | dewfaced wrote:
       | These phones are pretty louse tbh. I bought one 6 months ago and
       | 1 month later I switched to a Pixel 6.
        
       | CyanBird wrote:
       | Saw it on LinusTechTips and had to pause the video for a moment,
       | thats a very very useful feature, not much else to add. The phone
       | is certainly being targeted towards professionals which at least
       | from me takes the shine away to a degree, as the features I would
       | love to go along with it such as AI assisted night vision or the
       | 3.5mm audio jack won't be in it
       | 
       | It is certainly on my radar wherever my current phone finally
       | kicks the bucket so to speak
        
         | defrost wrote:
         | I suspect these:
         | 
         | > Drop tested multiple times onto concrete & solid steel from
         | up to 1.8m (6ft) to prove their rugged credentials.
         | 
         | > Designed to exceed MIL-SPEC 810H protection against dust, as
         | well as shock, water, vibration and extreme temperatures.
         | 
         | > IP68 & IP69 rating system proves your phone can handle not
         | just a brief dunk in water but also complete submersion.
         | 
         | > Wash and sanitise with soaps, hand sanitisers, anti-bacterial
         | sprays, alcohol wipes and even bleach.
         | 
         | are features attractive to many who work outdoors in
         | construction, engineering, surveying, hands on dirty roles.
        
         | banana_giraffe wrote:
         | In case others are interested, here's the video:
         | 
         | https://youtu.be/QoC8R3KHk8E?t=403
        
       | andirk wrote:
       | The first time I heard that acronym, I thought it was the biggest
       | stretch to make in to a word. Forward Looking?? Yeah Im going to
       | forward looking walk to your house.
        
         | species9606 wrote:
         | The term originated in avionics, I believe with the F-16.
         | Before that, IR imaging was top-down, something mounted under
         | spy and reconnaissance planes.
        
       | TurkishPoptart wrote:
       | If only there was an alternative to Google and Apple app stores,
       | and to being a "green texter". I hate duopolies.
        
       | ShakataGaNai wrote:
       | You can get FLIR One cameras with Lightning and USB-C (for iPhone
       | and Android respectively) for $300. https://www.amazon.com/FLIR-
       | ONE-Thermal-Imaging-Camera/dp/B0...
       | 
       | It isn't as good as the FLIR on the Cat phone, but if you're one
       | of those people going "Man, having a FLIR around the house would
       | be cool" - this is the solution for you. And it will outlive your
       | phone...so long as you don't change "sides" in the OS Wars.
        
         | mc32 wrote:
         | There is also the solution from Klein Tools which may use (not
         | sure) Flir sensors...
        
       | RockRobotRock wrote:
       | I have this phone and its quite slow.
        
       | hrdwdmrbl wrote:
       | Why can't phones easily add capabilities on both sides of the
       | visible range? IR and UV. The visible range isn't special except
       | to us, right?
        
       | post_break wrote:
       | I really need to get a thermal camera. So many uses. Finding
       | insulation issues, studs in walls, the list is endless. Remember
       | when people were hacking the Flir models to have the specs of the
       | higher end ones?
       | 
       | https://hackaday.com/2013/11/04/manufacturer-crippled-flir-e...
       | 
       | You can find hacked ones on ebay too.
        
         | [deleted]
        
       | porbelm wrote:
       | Wow, it has 128 GB of ROM! Upgradable to 256 GB! I wonder what's
       | with the operating system that takes up so much space. And no
       | mention of user storage.
        
       | kman82 wrote:
       | Good luck to them. I hope they can sell more than five phones a
       | year
        
       | 51Cards wrote:
       | Oddly enough I just bought a used Blackview BV9800 Pro phone
       | today purely for the FLIR camera in it. At $140 CAD it was much
       | much cheaper than any of the off the shelf new FLIR options.
        
         | lathiat wrote:
         | That was a steal, a little better a value proposition than my
         | $100 AUD / $92 CAD / $67 USD first generation Flir One
         | (lightning port plug-in for iPhone).
         | 
         | Where did you score it for that price, marketplace, eBay?
         | 
         | Though even the $500 AUD odd going rate on eBay is pretty good
         | given the cost of any of the devices with a screen built-in.
        
           | 51Cards wrote:
           | Canadian classified site, Kijiji. I missed another a couple
           | months back so set a watch for any more ads to pop up and got
           | lucky today.
        
       | tildef wrote:
       | I used the S62 as a daily driver for a couple of years and it was
       | fairly decent. The convenience of having a thermal camera in your
       | pocket at all times was remarkable, and it's one of those things
       | you kind of miss when it's gone (my daily use for it was checking
       | if the coffee was cool enough to drink--yes, I know my tasting
       | organs provide much of the same functionality...) However, the
       | resolution of the thermal camera wasn't particularly great, and
       | the 9 fps refresh rate was also a bit limiting. Still, for
       | checking for drafts, occasional electronics repairs and a general
       | party trick it was great.
       | 
       | Eventually I got a new phone from work, which I grudgingly
       | accepted since I wanted Android 12 and a better visible-light
       | camera, but I missed the thermal cam sufficiently that I got an
       | Infiray P2 off Ali as a plug-in substitute. The resolution and
       | refresh rate are a lot better than the Cat, but having to carry
       | an extra dongle (and plugging it in, starting the app, restarting
       | the app when it crashes...) sometimes makes me consider going
       | back. If/when Cat makes a successor, I'd be very tempted to get
       | it.
       | 
       | Edit: The usb-c cam in question for those who are interested
       | https://www.infiray.com/p2-pro-thermal-camera-for-smartphone...
       | (available from the usual suspects)
        
         | lathiat wrote:
         | Using a thermal camera in the kitchen is under-rated. I
         | sometimes do the same.
         | 
         | Was inspired by this old linux.conf.au talk (that I attended in
         | person) about a microwave with a thermal camera in the top. I
         | would love the same above my kitchen stove:
         | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3DADx5z-XY
         | 
         | I'm a die-hard iPhone user so sadly a built-in won't work for
         | me. I currently have a first generation Lightning FLIR One.
         | 
         | It's pretty limited, only a single temperature measurement, no
         | min/max scale you can see (it just auto calibrates), has a
         | terrible rechargable battery and doesn't work with an iPhone
         | case.. but I got it for the bargain basement price of $100 AUD
         | ($67 USD) on Marketplace.
         | 
         | My interest is more related to home effeciency (looking at gaps
         | in insulation etc) but has been fun in the kitchen too.
         | 
         | I'd love one of the newer ones but haven't wanted to justify
         | the cost and happy with my bargain aquisiton :)
        
           | Gigachad wrote:
           | You can buy a stove that uses probes to monitor the temps and
           | hold/stick to a preset program https://www.breville.com/us/en
           | /products/commercial/cmc850.ht...
           | 
           | I can't wait for these to become more mainstream so recipes
           | start listing "Set stove to 150c" rather than "to medium"
           | which is widely different depending on what stove you use. An
           | amusing story one youtuber shared was the followed some
           | advice that said to set your stove to high and leave it for
           | 10 mins first, advice meant for a gas stove. When they tried
           | it on an electric stove, the oil ignited on contact with the
           | pan.
        
             | orbital-decay wrote:
             | Serious cooking books always focus on reproducibility and
             | actual processes happening at certain temperatures in your
             | food.
        
               | TeMPOraL wrote:
               | Any recommendations? Can't think of any such book owned
               | by anyone I know.
               | 
               | I often jest that cooking is just process chemistry, but
               | done without proper tools and without caring about
               | quality of the outcome.
        
               | zingplex wrote:
               | Modernist Cuisine is one I highly recommend.
        
             | rodgerd wrote:
             | Some induction tops have similar functionality - measuring
             | the temperature of the pan and keeping at that temperature.
             | It's not as precise as a probe, of course, but it's
             | extremely convenient and useful.
        
               | newaccount74 wrote:
               | Do you have experience with such a hob? I'd like to get
               | one, but have found little info except marketing from
               | manufacturers.
               | 
               | I would assume those would be mostly useful for
               | frying/searing meat, vegetables, and eggs with little
               | oil. As soon as you have more liquid in the pot you won't
               | be able to control the temperature by measuring the temp
               | at the bottom.
               | 
               | Do they work well with different pans?
        
               | TeMPOraL wrote:
               | > _As soon as you have more liquid in the pot you won 't
               | be able to control the temperature by measuring the temp
               | at the bottom._
               | 
               | That sounds like an interesting engineering challenge!
               | Assuming we have a stove with a fast-acting heat source
               | (e.g. induction) and high-frequency thermometer (> 1 Hz),
               | what can we learn about the contents of the pot/pan?
               | 
               | I'm thinking: dump a set amount of energy into the pan
               | (say, 0.5 seconds at "power boost" level), then watch the
               | thermometer. Do it several times, with varying pulse
               | lengths (say, 0.1 to 1 second - you don't want to burn
               | anything on the pan, nor wait too long for it to cool
               | down). This should give you a good idea of the pan's step
               | and impulse response, and - I think - you could
               | guesstimate what its contents are - particularly, if
               | there are any liquids in it, and what they are. Then,
               | continue with normal cooking, but keep a continuous
               | record of power output vs. temperature measurement, and
               | possibly occasionally pause and do a round of such pulse
               | tests again.
               | 
               | I see no obvious reason this wouldn't give a stove quite
               | good control authority even in the presence of liquids,
               | including those that are added or naturally seep out
               | during cooking. I also don't expect any of the appliance
               | companies to ever include this level of sophistication in
               | their products.
        
               | zejn wrote:
               | Actually, I have a portable induction stove that I can
               | set the temperature and it kind of works exactly the way
               | you described it.
        
               | amelius wrote:
               | Yes, I'm wondering how well these temperature
               | measurements work with metallic surfaces that are almost
               | fully reflective.
        
               | lathiat wrote:
               | Particularly useful for "fast heat-up" combined with
               | "don't fry the pan"
        
               | m463 wrote:
               | I have used a control freak (mentioned above).
               | 
               | All the induction cooktops I've used (both builtin and
               | plug-in) have been REALLY useless at temperature control.
               | Even the heat settings leave a lot to be desired, they
               | are very coarse.
               | 
               | The control freak is orders of magnitude better at
               | temperature control. I suspect it is not only the design
               | and quality of the sensors, but the algorithms used to
               | maintain the temperature (probably good PID).
               | 
               | There are two sensors:
               | 
               | a small glass covered sensor built into the center of the
               | heating element that is spring-loaded and gets the heat
               | off the bottom of the pan.
               | 
               | a second plug-in sensor with a cable, that can be
               | attached to the side of a pot using an insulator gadget
               | and suspended in the middle of whatever you're cooking.
               | 
               | Another pretty critical part is the "programs" you can
               | write.
               | 
               | For example, you could make a "hamburger" program to
               | bring the pan up to temperature, then beep to add the
               | burger, then flip it later, then remove it and do
               | another.
        
             | rootusrootus wrote:
             | > advice meant for a gas stove
             | 
             | Can't imagine it would be any different result. 10 minutes
             | preheat on any range is a lot. My cast iron pan started
             | turning silvery blue well before the 10 minute mark with my
             | gas range on high.
        
         | [deleted]
        
         | exclusiv wrote:
         | > my daily use for it was checking if the coffee was cool
         | enough to drink
         | 
         | My wife has the same issue with hot coffee which drives me a
         | little nuts. She uses a normal mug most of the time. Because
         | she isn't certified in coffee temp detection like I am; she
         | waits and waits, gets distracted, and eventually it becomes too
         | cold. So she reheats it in the microwave, usually to the point
         | where it's too hot, and that cycle continues after it gets too
         | cold again. She's probably reheated coffee in the microwave up
         | to 4-5 times a day at times. It's hilarious and ridiculous. As
         | an engineer, admittedly, I enjoy the hilarity so much I'm not
         | sure if I care about it being resolved!
         | 
         | The issue is two-fold:
         | 
         | 1) She lets the coffee hit the outermost parts of her lips and
         | subjects herself to getting destroyed by the high temp lol. I
         | don't understand why this is so difficult for people. Your
         | outermost lips are more sensitive. Don't do that. You don't
         | attack hot coffee like it's a fine bourbon. Also you can feel
         | the temp and steam to know not to even attempt based on your
         | preference and tolerance.
         | 
         | 2) She isn't sitting at a desk consistently like most of us.
         | She's everywhere in the house and then leaves, and her coffee
         | intake isn't a priority like many of us.
         | 
         | If I put her coffee in a stainless steel mug with a lid, then
         | it takes too long to cool to her temp. She leaves the lid off
         | to cool and then forgets about returning to it in time. And she
         | doesn't end up drinking the coffee because it becomes too cool.
         | So now she would have to transfer to a microwaveable mug to
         | reheat and start that cycle so she doesn't even bother. If I'm
         | prepping her a roadie coffee, I must pour it, leave the lid off
         | for a period of time and then place it back on so she will
         | attempt drinking it in time in the car to commit to it. If it's
         | too hot, she will more than likely just abandon it and not
         | check back in before we reach our destination.
         | 
         | I got her an Ember mug so she can read the actual temp and
         | control it. But it's not dishwasher safe of course. So she
         | doesn't tend to use it. And from the fresh brewed carafe to the
         | Ember still is too hot, unless the lid is off for some time
         | like the stainless steel mug, lol.
         | 
         | The ideal mug for her would thus be an Ember mug that is
         | dishwasher safe and thus have some sort of twist mechanism to
         | disconnect the battery and status/controls portion from the
         | core mug function. And probably have a vent mechanism on the
         | lid (maybe a double pop on the Ember lid to vent more?) to more
         | quickly get the temp down from initial temp, as the heated mug
         | portion can ensure the set temp is hit anyway.
         | 
         | Someone please build that and save me! Or don't, and I'll enjoy
         | the entertainment derived from the struggle. :)
        
           | spuz wrote:
           | I don't think it exists but it sounds like the best option
           | for you would be a steel mug with a heated baseplate. The
           | baseplate could detect the presence of a full mug with a
           | force sensor and then start heating. When she makes her
           | coffee she could place the mug on the baseplate and then keep
           | it heated at her desired temperature. That way she could run
           | around doing whatever and always have a warm coffee to sip on
           | when she comes back to it.
        
           | alex_suzuki wrote:
           | Sounds like a good marriage!
        
           | throwthroyaboat wrote:
           | Same issue with my spouse. Solved it by buying a fancy manual
           | espresso machine, and me learning to steam the milk to the
           | correct temperature by feel. For tea we have an adjustable
           | temperature electric kettle.
        
           | jaclaz wrote:
           | Maybe something _like_ a magic mug:
           | 
           | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_mug
           | 
           | could be made with ink/paint changes that show (very
           | approximately) the temperature (I think the ones around have
           | only on/off states).
        
           | dotancohen wrote:
           | This was far more entertaining to read than you probably
           | intended. I find your ideas intr.... yeah that.
        
           | tsm wrote:
           | Hello, it's me, I have the same coffee problems as your wife.
           | A few things that really helped, used in increasing order of
           | desperation:
           | 
           | 1. Buying a temperature-adjustable kettle and making coffee
           | at 185deg or so instead of boiling. Bonus: I think the coffee
           | tastes better anyway. I recently moved and couldn't take my
           | fancy kettle with me, so now I pour cold water into the
           | boiling kettle until I guesstimate I'm at 185. I guess this
           | tip doesn't work if you're using a Mr. Coffee machine or
           | whatever.
           | 
           | 2. Giving the mug a really good blow as soon as the coffee is
           | poured.
           | 
           | 3. My wife bought me a few mugs that are much wider at the
           | top than the bottom, meaning there's more exposed surface
           | area and the coffee cools off quicker.
           | 
           | 4. Adding an ice cube.
        
             | thexa4 wrote:
             | Instead of ice cubes you can also use frozen coffee cubes,
             | it prevents dillution.
        
               | pianosaurus wrote:
               | Or rocks. I have a set of mineral cubes in my freezer. I
               | don't need them for coffee, since I like it scolding, but
               | they are handy for other drinks I don't want to dilute.
        
           | zejn wrote:
           | For the price of washing two mugs instead of one, you can
           | also pour the coffee through air from one to another a couple
           | of times. That brings the temperature down much quicker
           | comparing to just leaving it sit a while.
           | 
           | Helps to have containers that have an edge that is easy to
           | pour from. Less spilling.
        
           | krzyk wrote:
           | I also don't like hot coffee (or anything too hot, soups
           | etc.) which drives my wife mad.
           | 
           | Before making coffee I put a cup into the fridge so the
           | coffee will cool faster, I have not issues with cold coffee,
           | I just don't want to wait that long.
           | 
           | I also used to add ice to coffee, but that was diluting it.
        
         | opan wrote:
         | >(my daily use for it was checking if the coffee was cool
         | enough to drink--yes, I know my tasting organs provide much of
         | the same functionality...)
         | 
         | For tea I pretty much found the right amount of cooling time
         | once and now I just repeat it. I boil water, steep for 5
         | minutes (with a timer), then when that 5 minutes is up I remove
         | the bag and start an 18 minute timer. It's still pretty hot but
         | slowly drinkable then, and within a couple minutes can be
         | comfortably consumed quickly as well. I don't even try to drink
         | before my timers are done anymore as I don't want to scald
         | myself.
         | 
         | I think I also did some experimentation with a laser
         | thermometer, but I don't recall what numbers I landed at, and
         | this way I don't need to wonder how long it will take either.
         | The time also lines up pretty well with eating breakfast if
         | done all together.
        
         | whacked_new wrote:
         | I've been using a BlackView 9900 Pro for over a year, and
         | attest to the surprising usefulness of the built-in thermal
         | camera, such as checking how well food is heated after
         | microwaving, or even watching the heat distribution of rolling,
         | boiled water.
         | 
         | My phone's battery is degraded now and I'm dreading a switch to
         | something else. I've eyed the S62 but don't think it's an
         | upgrade.
        
           | anigbrowl wrote:
           | I'm confused, why not just replace the battery? They're
           | available and if you're not good with fiddly disassembly jobs
           | you can probably find someone to do it relatively cheaply.
        
             | whacked_new wrote:
             | completely fair, although the BV has a layer of anti-slip
             | rubber on the back panel (which I also came to appreciate),
             | so replacing the battery will probably require ripping that
             | layer off (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zikXifsPDT0
             | if curious)
             | 
             | that said, I've abused the phone enough that maybe I should
             | find a replacement for the rubber too.
        
           | tildef wrote:
           | Agreed. I'd hold off a bit if I were you, unless your current
           | battery is completely busted. Might even be worth seeing if
           | you can replace the battery. The S62 is over 2 years old, and
           | considering Cat hasn't updated it past Android 11, they may
           | have something new on the horizon--unless they plan to exit
           | the phone market entirely, of course, which I guess is also a
           | possibility.
        
             | msrenee wrote:
             | Every Cat phone I've looked at was on the high end of
             | pricing at the time it came out and on the older end of
             | operating systems. I've been in the market for a serious
             | rugged phone basically the whole time I've had cell phones
             | and Cat has never been justifiable to me.
             | 
             | I lucked out and grabbed a Galaxy Xcover pro when they
             | first came out. It's not really advertised for the consumer
             | market, but it was also way cheaper than things I liked
             | less that had been out for a year longer. I'm not sure if
             | they'll come out with a new model anytime soon. I will say
             | this thing has a removable battery, solid construction, and
             | is plenty fast for me (though I'm not picky on speed). I'm
             | still on the original battery and it will play music for 10
             | hours through my Bluetooth headphones and still have 30%
             | battery by the time I get home. I really have no
             | complaints.
             | 
             | EDIT: the Xcover does not have an IR camera. I got off on a
             | tangent because I keep getting disappointed every time I
             | look into Cat phones.
        
         | asddubs wrote:
         | the 9 FPS I believe are because US manufacturers aren't allowed
         | to export thermal cameras above 9 FPS
        
           | walterbell wrote:
           | Imported 25 FPS thermal cameras are sold in US.
        
             | asddubs wrote:
             | yes, but import is the opposite of export
        
               | walterbell wrote:
               | What matters for US consumers is that both 9fps and 25fps
               | are on Amazon for similar prices,
               | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33890299
        
               | asddubs wrote:
               | I was just explaining why the cat phone has only 9 fps.
               | It's using a FLIR sensor.
        
           | bpye wrote:
           | Afaik higher FPS cameras can be sold to individuals but are
           | ITAR controlled. I know at one point at least Seek had a
           | higher rate version and anyone could buy it, but you had to
           | provide documentation.
        
           | userbinator wrote:
           | ITAR
        
       | kejaed wrote:
       | You can also consider buying a FLIR ONE accessory for your
       | Android or iOS device
       | 
       | https://www.flir.ca/flir-one/
        
         | delijati wrote:
         | i would no recommend them. They are ok but battery is empty
         | pretty fast and the software is pure ... (why does it need GPS
         | and Bluetooth on?).
         | 
         | The nice thing is that you can run them from desktop with tool
         | https://source.dpin.de/nica/flir-gtk
        
         | Gatsky wrote:
         | How much do these go for?
        
           | jonas-w wrote:
           | The prices are on that page, from CAD$305 to CAD$689
           | depending on the model you want/need.
        
       | causi wrote:
       | Unless you need the thermal functionality a dozen times a day
       | you're better off buying a $200 IR add-on camera you'll be able
       | to use for a decade or more.
        
       | jamal-kumar wrote:
       | I'm thinking the next scientific instrument turned phone
       | accessory is going to be raman spectroscopes. It could easily
       | solve a lot of problems of things like adulterated food and drugs
       | being so common. There's also research done that shows that many
       | regular consumer phones on the market now have CCDs which are
       | even sensitive enough as-is to read the laser reflection and sort
       | out what the chemical is. There's an implementation here as an
       | add on, but I want to see them embedded in the phones themselves!
       | [1]
       | 
       | [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OOA-jwY4Dk
        
         | aclatuts wrote:
         | That video looks like sketchy vaporware. Who would need to
         | analyze liquids carefully placed in a vial with their phone?
         | Sometimes machines need to be big. Theranos setup themselves up
         | for failure by trying to miniaturize and combine equipment that
         | could never be miniaturized or interfered with each other.
        
           | jamal-kumar wrote:
           | I don't know if you realize what a problem adulterated food
           | and drugs are - So basically grocers and pharmacists in
           | places where regulatory structures are weak
           | 
           | Keep in mind airports have this technology by now
        
         | CamperBob2 wrote:
         | Note that that's not a Raman spectrometer, just a conventional
         | grating or prism-based instrument. 3 nm resolution isn't too
         | bad, though. Could be good for evaluating aquarium/houseplant
         | lighting and things like that.
         | 
         | A Raman spectrometer is still a fairly exotic piece of
         | hardware, requiring a laser, a notch filter for the laser's
         | wavelength, and a very good conventional spectrophotometer to
         | look for low-level sidebands. There have been some homebrew
         | Raman implementations -- e.g., Ben Krasnow's at
         | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRrOdKW06sk -- but nothing that
         | would fit on the back of a smartphone.
        
           | qwezxcrty wrote:
           | Raman is inherently difficult as it's so weak compared to
           | normal scattering, so careful optimization of SNR is
           | required.
           | 
           | Another DIY Raman setup (on a breadboard so expect few kg):
           | https://www.thepulsar.be/article/openraman-starter-edition/
        
             | CamperBob2 wrote:
             | That's a great site. I like how he describes experiments,
             | techniques, and components that didn't work out, along with
             | the ones that did.
        
           | jamal-kumar wrote:
           | Is there any way you could picture it fitting on the back of
           | a smartphone?
           | 
           | Because some people definitely have [1]
           | 
           | [1] https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2021/ay/d1
           | ay0...
        
             | CamperBob2 wrote:
             | Very cool, sign me up for one of those when they hit
             | Kickstarter! It's pretty big and clunky, but still the
             | smallest one I've seen.
             | 
             | Edit: already on sale at https://www.amazon.com/CloudMinds-
             | Raman-Spectrometer/dp/B081... . $24,980.00. Maybe I'll hold
             | back a bit on this one...
        
               | jamal-kumar wrote:
               | Give it three years max and it will be on the back of the
               | new iphone
        
         | programmer_dude wrote:
         | A veritable tricoder in the making! Interesting times ahead.
        
         | system2 wrote:
         | Infuriating to see such a garbage video for a very promising
         | technology. Either it is beyond fake, or they are just hiding
         | the fact the tech they are working on doesn't work.
        
           | CamperBob2 wrote:
           | It's just a simple optical spectrometer, nothing fancy or
           | unique. There actually is a Raman spectrometer that works
           | with a phone, but it costs US $25K (see other comments
           | below.)
        
           | jamal-kumar wrote:
           | Why are you so mad it's literally just a product video with
           | bad ESL English for something that's an active field of
           | serious study
           | 
           | Look up cell phone raman spectroscope and there's many done
           | over the past decade
           | 
           | I think people's readyness to slap "fake" on everything these
           | days is the only travesty here
        
             | system2 wrote:
             | In fact they act like there is a product. Not about English
             | language, just hold the product and show the features for 1
             | minute. That's it. The video is just stock videos with
             | random effects. 3rd world or not, people come up with good
             | product videos by reviewing what they have.
        
           | capableweb wrote:
           | Seems they tried to raise money but failed, so unlikely to
           | launch maybe?
           | 
           | https://www.pozible.com/project/zpecsen-mobile-
           | spectrometer-...
           | 
           | > AU$0 of $19,800 target
           | 
           | > 2yrs ago
           | 
           | > Closed on 9th Feb 2021 at 5:00PM.
        
       | incompatible wrote:
       | I don't think Caterpillar have any involvement in the design or
       | manufacturing of these phones. They just license their brand to
       | Bullitt Group.
        
       | glonq wrote:
       | We just finished a project where we spec'd catphones for a remote
       | rugged data collection system.
       | 
       | The Cat42 is based on a mediatek chipset and gave us "meh"
       | performance. BT/BLE was underwhelming compared to other phones.
       | I'd recommend something like an Cat53 or 62 with Qualcomm guts
       | instead.
        
       | thawkins wrote:
       | The Ulefone 18t just lanched with the same flir sensor, but
       | android 12, 12gb ram, 256gb flash. 9000mha battery and endoscope
       | accessory attachment, same durability specs, marginaly cheaper.
        
       | huhtenberg wrote:
       | Remember when there was a period of time when camera
       | manufacturers dabbled with adding FLIR to their consumer cameras?
       | Sony did that and some others tried to follow, but it all was
       | quickly wrapped up due to a massive amount of abuse. The cameras
       | were mainly used to film women rather than to identify thermal
       | leaks in insulation.
       | 
       | Probably _the_ reason for the subpar FLIR resolution on this
       | phone as well.
        
         | gruturo wrote:
         | > Probably the reason for the subpar FLIR resolution on this
         | phone as well.
         | 
         | Nope. You are confusing proper Far-Infrared thermal cameras
         | (which can "see" radiated heat in the e.g. -10..60c range, and
         | tell you that the top left corner of that window is poorly
         | insulated), and regular CMOS cameras lacking an IR filter,
         | which just see up to a few hundred nanometers beyond far-red
         | (up to 1000 I'd guess?), and some clothes would be transparent
         | at those wavelengths if illuminated by the right source (the
         | Sun being one). You can easily buy filter-less IR cameras for
         | scientific or astronomical purposes, or if you want to perv I
         | guess, they're readily available. Plop ~20 bucks on a Pi NOIR
         | camera for example, for the Raspberry Pi.
         | 
         | (Actually every CMOS sensor sees in that band - it's reasonably
         | easy to modify many cameras and remove the IR filter if that's
         | what you want)
         | 
         | An actual thermal camera is way more expensive and has a far
         | lower resolution unless you want to spend more than on a Tesla.
         | Not to mention, it's subject to ITAR export controls if you're
         | in the US.
        
       | SentientAtom wrote:
       | My BlackView with FLIR is good for checking electrical circuits
       | and relays.
        
       | Manuel_D wrote:
       | I wonder what the performance will be with such a small sensor
       | and aperture. Usually FLIR scopes have massive apertures to
       | collect as much light as possible. Medium wave infrared signals
       | are extremely weak compared to visual light, and so sensors
       | either have to be cryogenically cooled to allow for large gain
       | with little noise or a large aperture to collect enough light. Or
       | better yet, both.
        
         | LWIRVoltage wrote:
         | Someone else already pointed out this is LWIR, not Mid wave(I
         | look forward to the day we get cheap MWIR cameras! We'll be
         | able to see heat trails behind jets- and gasses like no
         | tomorrow- you tend to see through 95% of the with LWIR)
         | 
         | But large apertures? Are you thinking of the longer wavelength?
         | For near infrared, this is a thing- and other night
         | optics....and things like NVGs which use Near infrared
         | 
         | But, this isn't ...a thing for MWIR/LWIR, and not necessarily
         | for SWIR either
         | 
         | The reason not ALL thermals have to be cryogenically cooled- is
         | microbolometers - that's the key.
         | 
         | - I own a bunch of uncooled LWIR cameras, that i use- and NVGs
         | as well
        
         | marmetio wrote:
         | Probably works the same as every other device that uses the
         | FLIR lepton 3.5.
        
         | fisherjeff wrote:
         | This is LWIR and it's probably pretty low f-number (guessing
         | f/1) but super short FL so doesn't need all that large of an
         | aperture.
        
       | Animats wrote:
       | Yes, they do have that, but $649? My first Cat phone was $249 and
       | the current one is over $400.
        
       | yalogin wrote:
       | Wow the first of these phones were made in 2013! This is the
       | first I am hearing of this phone. These are obviously selling
       | enough to keep churning out newer versions. The FLIR camera is
       | also something I have never thought about, quite a good option to
       | have some times.
        
       | 23202586 wrote:
       | We can see it in action in the last LTT video on youtube. It is
       | pretty wild
        
       | kardianos wrote:
       | Look up the uniherz Tank. Puts it to shame.
        
       | dwighttk wrote:
       | Why did FLIR catch on instead of just IR? Is it because it sounds
       | cool to be military-like?
       | 
       | Does anyone expect the IR to look any other direction than
       | forward on a phone?
        
         | capableweb wrote:
         | The marketing distinction between FLIR and IR is that one
         | provide thermal imaging and the other one doesn't. That's
         | besides any scientific/"technically correct" definition.
        
         | qwezxcrty wrote:
         | The maker of that sensor called FLIR.
        
       | LWIRVoltage wrote:
       | I have looked at these a lot and wondered when they'll push the
       | bounds of their thermals- I have owned some Therm-App
       | cameras(384X288)(640X480), 30 hzsadly no longer sold as of
       | recently - and it's been incredible having mid and HIGH grade
       | thermal phone-based imaging- but a rugged phone is sturdier and
       | more durable, which goes a long way.
       | 
       | I want to see 320X240(or the european equiv, 384X288), 640X480,
       | and higher resolution thermals in them! Otherwise we're still
       | hanging out around FLIR One Territory, and the years are going by
       | fast and they aren't pushing the boundary really! Those Leptons
       | are cheap, but haven't changed much! (And yes, FLIR MSX is a
       | thing- but , owning thermal cameras with multiples the
       | resolution- i'd take that over MSX if i had to choose, every
       | time)
       | 
       | I see one competitor, the AGM ones like the AGM Glory Ones, (hard
       | to see differences with their top models) , and a few other
       | companies- have Night vision cameras with near-infrared
       | illumination lights, for the user, as well- not just the thermal
       | imaging- It's the dream to see as many different sensors and
       | options in a phone as one can fit.
       | 
       | Trust me, they come into use- I've saved multiple pets in the
       | dark in my neighborhood, spotted equipment that was about to
       | ignite, and done so much more with my own thermal cameras- having
       | MORE capabilities- actually goes farther than you can imagine,
       | when you have them...
        
       | kichik wrote:
       | What does it do with 128GB ROM?? /s
       | 
       | Seriously though, does ROM no longer stand for read-only memory?
        
         | userbinator wrote:
         | It didn't ever since EPROMs existed.
         | 
         | More seriously, the use of "ROM" to mean "nonvolatile storage
         | in general" probably took off when the Android community began
         | calling their firmware "ROMs".
        
       | SquareWheel wrote:
       | Caterpillar phones have had thermal sensing for years, haven't
       | they? What's different in this model?
        
       | [deleted]
        
       | WatchDog wrote:
       | When will we see high resolution (say 1080p) FLIR cameras at a
       | prosumer level price point ~$1,000?
        
         | zwieback wrote:
         | Probably not for a long time. The individual microbolometer
         | pixels are huge and use an expensive process so just the size
         | of the sensor and the effort of getting reasonable yield is
         | enormous.
        
       | shp0ngle wrote:
       | I want to warn people that Cat phones are not "good phones"
       | 
       | They are cheapo Chinese Android phones, with a gimmick. The
       | gimmick can work for some people, sure. Didn't work for me.
        
         | marginalia_nu wrote:
         | Depends what you want out of them I guess. I buy these because
         | I want a phone that doesn't break easily. And CAT phones don't.
         | It's slow, the camera is crap, the speaker is worse; but what
         | sucks more is replacing the screen every couple of months
         | because it breaks from a stiff breeze.
         | 
         | I will drop my phone. It'll fall out of my pocket. I will sit
         | on it. Sometimes it will land on a hard surface. It'll get wet.
         | It'll get muddy. It'll get unceremoniously tossed in my gym
         | bag. All these things happen. With most phones, this means I
         | have to replace the screen if not the phone. With a CAT,
         | there's no noticeable effect at all.
         | 
         | I also really like how heavy and sturdy they are. Makes them
         | easier to find. Battery life is also amazing. Mine is down to
         | needing charging every two days now after a couple of years. My
         | girlfriend's similar-aged flagship Samsung needs a filler-upper
         | in the afternoon to make a full day.
         | 
         | Anyway CAT matches what I want in a phone. This isn't for
         | everyone, but let's not pretend nobody wants a phone that is
         | sturdy and basic. Because I really do.
        
           | MerelyMortal wrote:
           | I drop my phone a lot, but only the 9H glass screen protector
           | has ever cracked, not the smartphone glass itself. I highly
           | recommend just buying a 3 pack of screen protectors for $9
           | once a year.
        
       | King-Aaron wrote:
       | Two of my mates run these phones, and while the FLIR camera is
       | cool (and extremely handy for fault finding in HV switchboards
       | and so forth), the rest of the phone is quite lacklustre.
        
       | motohagiography wrote:
       | The lack of a replacable battery is infuriating because it's
       | planned obselescence of a FLIR device. I got one of the first CAT
       | s60 phones when they came out and tolerated all the android
       | spyware on it because I really liked having a properly ruggedized
       | phone. Got about 4 years out of it.
       | 
       | The flir camera I would say I used most often at night for
       | finding my dogs poop to pick up on neighbours lawns in the dark,
       | but I used it on boats to find moisture, motorcycle engine seals
       | to find gasket problems, found contractor fraud where they didn't
       | bother putting insulation behind drywall, and places around
       | windows for caulking to reduce heat loss, heat on horses legs
       | that indicated inflammation, lack of current on wires in my
       | basement. Mostly novelty, but handy.
       | 
       | The battery became too flaky to use as a regular phone, so I keep
       | it in my toolbox and use it as a stud finder behind drywall and
       | used to find where animals were getting into the attic of the
       | house. Next test is for rim leaks on car tires. It has been a
       | small time saver, and a fun conversation piece. But yeah,
       | military thermal imaging to find dog poop at night was most
       | common use case.
        
         | graderjs wrote:
         | FLIR camera should also be able to pick up some UFO/UAP in the
         | skies as well. Yay! Now nearly everyone can see some.
        
           | sllabres wrote:
           | Nice idea, but I think for THIS application the FOV is to
           | large and the resolution (160*120?) is to low. Of course the
           | extraterrestrial knew that and therefore allowed the
           | integration of the lapton chip into the phone <8-)
           | 
           | I use a dedicated thermal camera with bit higher resolution
           | but higher FPS. As others have written they are quite useful
           | as you see thing (even not ET) you could have measured with
           | an IR thermometer if you knew they were there.
        
             | TeMPOraL wrote:
             | > _Of course the extraterrestrial knew that and therefore
             | allowed the integration of the lapton chip into the phone
             | <8-)_
             | 
             | That's silly. The real reason is that the ITAR prohibits
             | you from being able to get a higher-resolution thermal
             | camera, which is one of several laws implementing a
             | complex, global ban on technologies that would let regular
             | people spot the aliens. You can thank a secret UN
             | subcommittee for that; they've botched negotiations with
             | aliens so badly that our governments are now forced to do
             | the "hiding from people" work for them.
        
           | andai wrote:
           | Do satellites show up on infrared cameras? Or are you talking
           | about some sort of aircraft?
        
             | sllabres wrote:
             | Cant say for devices with higher resolution and stronger
             | magnification (e.g. for hunting) but i don't think so too.
             | Definitely not for the resolution and magnification we are
             | talking here.
        
           | saargrin wrote:
           | not really.. low resolution and focused in short range
           | 
           | i dont even get a blip when looking at airplanes with my
           | thermal camera
        
         | nicolas_t wrote:
         | I'm actually considering buying a IR camera for testing
         | insulation (I have a contractor working in my apartment and due
         | to various instance of clear fraud from him I have no
         | confidence or trust in him anymore). Would a HTI HT-102 be
         | enough or is it better to get a better sensor?
        
           | m463 wrote:
           | I remember a few years back you could buy the cheapest FLIR
           | camera and upgrade it to the expensive model with a firmware
           | hack.
        
           | budzes wrote:
           | 32x32 sensor is useless. You need at least 160x120px.
           | 
           | Cell phone attachment cameras have compatibility problems.
           | For example, find reviews for Flir One Pro. If the cell
           | cannot find the camera, then it's pretty useless.
        
         | matthewaveryusa wrote:
         | I have a flir as well and I've used it a lot while insulating
         | my house, but the coolest thing I've done was find the exact
         | location of a wasp nest between my walls and annihilating it by
         | injecting a pesticide directly in the middle of the nest with a
         | tiny drill hole. It seems gimmicky at first but it's been a
         | real money-saver.
        
           | jstrong wrote:
           | I love stories about smiting wasps
        
             | hnbad wrote:
             | Fun fact: in most of Germany this would have been a crime
             | with a penalty of up to tens of thousands in EUR depending
             | on the exact species.
        
               | m463 wrote:
               | in comparison, when I bought a live-catch mousetrap
               | recently, the guy at the store said it was illegal to
               | release the mouse in the county. (implying you should buy
               | the catch-and-kill trap variety)
        
               | throwaway85858 wrote:
               | This is not true.
               | 
               | "in the last 5 years in NordRhein-Westfalen only once was
               | someone fined 45 euros for destroying a wasps nest"
               | https://correctiv.org/faktencheck/2018/07/24/nein-wer-
               | eine-e...
               | 
               | The fines for thousands of euros are the maximum possible
               | fines, which massively differs to how fines are handed
               | out in practice.
        
               | mustyoshi wrote:
               | So they have a law on the books that isn't really
               | enforced?
               | 
               | That's almost worse imo.
        
               | donatj wrote:
               | Most laws are poorly enforced and only get invoked when
               | you have otherwise pissed the right person off and
               | they're looking for something to get you on.
        
               | wlll wrote:
               | It was though, a fine was levied. There's flexibility in
               | the punishments that are dished out in a lot of justice
               | systems and I suspect it's to take into account that the
               | law is not really nuanced. It's hard to write down /all/
               | possible motives, reasons or contexts in which a law or
               | rule has been broken, and allowing the punishment to be
               | scaled based on judgement seems like a reasonable thing
               | to allow. I guess that's what judges are for.
               | 
               | Of course this raises questions around who is making
               | these judgements, and there's sometimes unfairness in how
               | they are applied (eg. police in the US, broken tail
               | lights and the colour of skin of the person stopped), but
               | it doesn't mean that the underlying goal isn't sound,
               | just the implementation.
               | 
               | Personally I've had experience of this. My car tax (UK)
               | lapsed and I didn't renew it. An oversight during a busy
               | time of my life (moving house), and one that I noticed
               | and fixed independently once I noticed, it must have been
               | after a month or two.
               | 
               | However, during the period when my car wasn't taxed the
               | police noticed and reported it (to the authorities, not
               | to me) who issued a fine (~PS90) that was sent to me by
               | post. Unfortunately though I'd told the authorities that
               | I'd moved house, twice, they sent the fine and all
               | followup correspondence to my old address and I ended up
               | with a choice, pay debt collectors (they managed to find
               | my new house /just fine/) for the now increased fine +
               | expenses (in the region of ~PS800) or go to court. Worst
               | case either way was I'd have to pay the increased amount.
               | 
               | I went to court and the three justices deliberated my
               | case (I could hear them) and though they decided that I
               | could afford the increased amount, it wouldn't be in
               | anyone's interest to levy it as the circumstances in
               | which this happened mitigated my lack of attention to the
               | increasing fines. I wasn't a deliberate law breaker and
               | ultimately a large fine wasn't going to change my on
               | consideration generally good behaviour, and they made me
               | pay the original ~PS90 rather than the substantially
               | increased amount.
               | 
               | As the saying goes, the law is an ass.
        
               | JPLeRouzic wrote:
               | In France there are a lot of new laws every year (~100)
               | but at least on third of them will not be enforced,
               | mostly because there is no budget to implement them, or
               | it is political gesticulation to please some electors
               | [0].
               | 
               | For example over the year 2009/2010, 59 laws, which
               | provided for 670 implementing decrees, were promulgated.
               | 
               | According to a Senate report, as of September 30, 2010,
               | only 3 laws had received all of their implementing
               | decrees. And only 20% of these decrees had seen the light
               | of day. However, a law without an implementing decree is
               | useless: it is not applicable.
               | 
               | [0] https://www.bfmtv.com/politique/parlement/faute-de-
               | decret-d-...
        
               | nils-m-holm wrote:
               | Wasps have such a bad reputation. We have had nests of
               | yellow jackets (vespula germanica), paper wasps (polistes
               | dominula), and hornets (vespa crabro) directly on our
               | terrace, and I have been stung once in ten years and that
               | was my fault.
               | 
               | There once was a nest of vespula germanica above the
               | window of my study, a rather big nest that grew to a size
               | of about 3000 or 4000 animals. The only thing I did about
               | it was to close a hole in the wall, because a few of them
               | kept coming inside. I sometimes went outside to watch the
               | traffic at the entrance of the nest.
               | 
               | More fun facts: wasps eat mosquitos. Lots of them! And
               | they pollinate plants. Adult wasps are vegetarians, when
               | they hunt or steal a piece of your steak (I have seen
               | that happen!), then they collect food for their larvae.
               | 
               | If you really want to get rid of wasps, use an essential
               | oil (peppermint, lemon grass). Wasps communicate using
               | pheromones and do not tolerate strong odor. Do not spray
               | the nest, spray the area around the nest. You do not have
               | to kill them.
        
               | yafbum wrote:
               | When eating outdoor in the summer requires you to swat
               | away the same wasps from your plate over and over again,
               | it's definitely annoying. I was stung as a kid for no
               | reason, it was a pain for me and my parents to deal with.
               | My wife and kid were stung also by wasps they could not
               | see.
               | 
               | We get rid of termites and insects by fumigating entire
               | buildings. I don't see anything wrong with doing that to
               | wasps as well. After all, in all likelihood, wasps will
               | vastly outlive the human species...
        
               | TeMPOraL wrote:
               | Just reading this makes me sweat. Aren't hornets - and
               | wasps, to a lesser degree - extremely territorial? How do
               | you deal with one when it find its way inside you house?
               | Not to mention, aren't hornets and wasps natural enemies?
               | I imagine you didn't have the two set their nests near
               | your terrace _simultaneously_?
               | 
               | I can intellectually process all the facts you wrote, but
               | in my dealing with wasps and hornets, I find it hard to
               | see them as anything than fast-moving balls of pain,
               | always ready to strike at you out of nowhere, when you
               | least expect them. Also, as a relatively fresh parent, as
               | a threat to my children. I tend to prefer dealing with
               | them by installing mosquito nets in all windows, but if a
               | hornet gets in and doesn't politely leave, it's makeshift
               | flamethrower time.
        
               | nils-m-holm wrote:
               | Yes, wasps are territorial, but this just means that they
               | will defend their nests at all cost. As long as you do
               | not rock their nest (or otherwise cause strong vibration)
               | or stand directly in their flight path, you are safe.
               | 
               | Different nests can be as close as a few meters and their
               | inhabitants will mostly ignore each other. The hornets
               | were about 7 or 8 meters away from the yellow jackets,
               | and I have never seen them fight. If you put some fruit
               | or honey somewhere, they will (mostly) peacefully share
               | it.
               | 
               | European hornets are not aggressive at all, they are just
               | big and loud. When one gets into the house, I usually
               | wait for it to settle down somewhere and then carefully
               | catch it with a glass and a piece of cardboard. We also
               | have mosquito nets on all windows and doors.
               | 
               | Another fun fact: wasps will not spend much time around
               | their nests. They usually leave the nest at high speed
               | (do not stand there!) and then roam an area of multiple
               | square kilometers. When they come back they immediately
               | go back into the nest. Sometimes a single animal may
               | inspect the closer area, but this is rare.
               | 
               | Once you understand wasps, there is not much to fear. I
               | understand your concerns regarding you child/children,
               | and it is probably a good idea to keep wasps at a
               | distance for some time. When children grow up, there is
               | little danger, though. The sting of a single wasp or
               | hornet will not harm a human being unless you are
               | allergic. (European!) hornets use almost the same venom
               | as yellow jackets, only more of it. (In Asia or South
               | America, be more careful!)
               | 
               | Finally, wasps do not _want_ to sting you. Most of the
               | time they are just investigating. When a flying wasp
               | bothers you, slowly and carefully push it away with your
               | hand. Most of the time it will just go away. On the net
               | there are videos of some guy who _tries_ to get stung by
               | various wasps. It is educating to see how much he had to
               | bother them before they did.
        
               | eimrine wrote:
               | > European hornets are not aggressive at all, they are
               | just big and loud.
               | 
               | Seems like you are talking about bombus, not vespa. The
               | worst thing about hornets is that if one insect has bit
               | you somewhere near their nest than you better run as fast
               | as possible from that place because of pheromone mark.
        
               | nils-m-holm wrote:
               | I am talking about vespa crabro, the European hornet. All
               | social wasps use pheromones to mark intruders. If you are
               | being stung while close to a nest, yes, do walk away.
               | That being said, I have been stung once (own mistake)
               | while standing 2 meters away from a nest and nothing
               | happened.
        
               | rascul wrote:
               | > Another fun fact: wasps will not spend much time around
               | their nests. They usually leave the nest at high speed
               | (do not stand there!) and then roam an area of multiple
               | square kilometers. When they come back they immediately
               | go back into the nest. Sometimes a single animal may
               | inspect the closer area, but this is rare.
               | 
               | Not the wasps here. There's always a few wasps flying
               | around the nests when I find them.
               | 
               | It also doesn't take much to aggravate them.
        
               | nils-m-holm wrote:
               | If you mean _directly_ in front of the entrance, yes,
               | there will always be a bunch of wasps waiting for their
               | turn to get in. And, yes, do not get too close to that
               | spot unless you know what you are doing. In particular:
               | know their flight paths and do not stand there.
        
               | lostapathy wrote:
               | So when they built a nest near my back door, I'm just
               | supposed to surrender my back patio so them so I can stay
               | out of their flight paths?
        
               | nils-m-holm wrote:
               | As I wrote before, if you want to get rid of them, there
               | are ways to do so (and keep them away) without killing
               | them.
               | 
               | But to answer your question more directly: We have
               | happily surrendered part of our terrace to wasps. Their
               | right to live tops our desire for convenience. A nest
               | lives for one year. If we do not want them to use the
               | same spot next year, there are ways to make sure they do
               | not.
        
               | lostapathy wrote:
               | I'm not surrendering "part of my terrace" to wasps - I'm
               | talking about the rest of my family being unwilling to
               | open the back door because there are always wasps flying
               | near it. I'm not willing to surrender my back door to
               | wasps for a year in hopes they find new flight patterns
               | next year.
        
               | winReInstall wrote:
               | Nonsense, hornets eat yellow jackets as snacks.
        
               | nils-m-holm wrote:
               | Larger wasps prey on smaller wasps, but they can still
               | coexist in close proximity. They do not spend the entire
               | day with hunting.
        
               | winReInstall wrote:
               | It depends on the dietary needs of the hive, but beneath
               | the pear tree of my fathers farm, they most definitly
               | did. Swoop, crack open, slurp. Was a evening background
               | noise..
        
               | HeyLaughingBoy wrote:
               | > stand directly in their flight path, you are safe
               | 
               | Having been chased by wasps while on a riding lawnmower,
               | I'm calling bullshit! And those suckers are _fast_!
        
               | wlll wrote:
               | > directly in their flight path
               | 
               | My experience of sitting outside in the summer (modulo NW
               | England) is that their flight path covers getting close
               | to 100% of the airspace in my garden.
               | 
               | Though I'm sure there are other varieties I've only ever
               | seen one type of wasp in the UK, and that's this one
               | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellowjacket, and my
               | experience of them is that they are irritating and
               | aggressive bastards. I don't doubt that wasps are an
               | integral part of the ecosystem, but I'd prefer it if they
               | integrated into a geographically distinct part of the
               | ecosystem from me and my lunch.
        
               | jstrong wrote:
               | sounds more like a repugnant fact to me
        
               | [deleted]
        
               | lm28469 wrote:
               | Average human in the middle of a massive, probably
               | partially man made, extinction: "lmao I don't like them
               | let's kill them"
        
               | throw827474737 wrote:
               | Very ignorant! One can avoid wasps initially, or also
               | later move them more peacefully. They are very important
               | pollinators (we lack more&more) and even have more cool
               | duties. Not sure about your wasps over there, the
               | annoyance factor of the wasps in Germany is usually
               | heavily overdramatized and human arrogance at its best.
        
               | jstrong wrote:
               | "yeah, what did wasps ever do to you?" attack the shit
               | out of me for no good reason!
        
               | aidenn0 wrote:
               | In the US, it's yellowjackets (vespinae, minus the
               | hornets) that are rather annoying. They are attracted to
               | sugar and meat, and sting rather aggressively, which
               | makes outdoor barbecues unpleasant (to put it mildly);
               | paper-wasps (Polistinae) are indeed rather easy to live
               | alongside, but they look quite similar so inherit the
               | bad-rap that yellowjackets have.
        
               | distances wrote:
               | The Central European wasp is a yellowjacket, Vespula
               | germanica. It is very attracted to sweets and foods
               | especially in the autumn. However, it does not usually
               | sting unless there's a reason, such as you're trying to
               | sit on it.
               | 
               | I myself have had zero stings of any bee or wasp in my
               | life so I prefer to gently coax them away from my plate.
               | Some people are absolutely terrified about them though so
               | "just let them be" rarely seems to be good advice.
               | 
               | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vespula_germanica
               | 
               | Edit: actually I don't know which one is more common,
               | Vespula germanica or Vespula vulgaris. I wouldn't be able
               | to differentiate between them.
        
               | ambicapter wrote:
               | > I prefer to gently coax them away from my plate
               | 
               | In my experience your hand is a minor annoyance that
               | they'll fly around and continue eating. Only way to have
               | peace is to lay traps around your eating area.
        
               | dmix wrote:
               | > so I prefer to gently coax them away from my plate
               | 
               | I've found wasps extremely persistent and confident in
               | ways most insects never are.
               | 
               | It's one thing to gentle swat them but when they come
               | back for 5-10min straight it's understandable why people
               | don't like them.
               | 
               | I also got bit on the mouth as a child when I drank a can
               | of coke that had a wasp inside so I'm not exactly
               | unbiased.
        
               | deelowe wrote:
               | Where I live paper wasps are aggressive and multiply
               | quite rapidly. We went from one next to dozens in just a
               | couple of years. I probably get stung at least once a
               | year.
        
               | amalcon wrote:
               | Avoid your own house or yard? Annoyance? Tell that to my
               | wife, my brother in law, my uncle, my cousin, or my good
               | friend. They all could _literally die_ if stung, and have
               | all been to the hospital at least once after a sting.
        
               | petre wrote:
               | I suppose it's legal to pack it and ship it to the
               | Bundestag or whichever authority came up with that law
               | then.
        
               | romanovcode wrote:
               | Why are wasps protected in Germany? I understand bees,
               | but what good are wasps for?
        
               | linmob wrote:
               | See https://www.thoughtco.com/what-good-are-wasps-1968081
        
               | biztos wrote:
               | Without the wasps crawling into the sugar dispensers at
               | every single outdoor cafe in Germany all summer long,
               | people would eat the sugar and create a diabetes
               | epidemic.
               | 
               | At least that was my impression in Berlin; wasps got all
               | the sugar, Berliners stayed pretty thin for the most
               | part.
        
               | type0 wrote:
               | Ah, this explains the bitterness of Berliners
        
               | constGard wrote:
               | I'll add my own annecdote to this article. We had a wasp
               | nest under the eaves of the house and I managed to
               | successfully move them into a little hutch I built near
               | the garden. I can't say I directly observed them saving
               | the tomatoes, but we did have fewer tomato hornworms than
               | in previous years.
               | 
               | They were also really docile and tolerated a good deal of
               | me fumbling around with the nest. I waited until it was
               | cold out and covered up pretty thouroghly, but they were
               | mostly content to let me flop them around with a set of
               | long BBQ tongs.
        
               | hoseja wrote:
               | I've come around on wasps. They just do their thing. You
               | got stung? Don't tread on them.
        
               | yetihehe wrote:
               | Sometimes wasps have other ideas about "treading on them"
               | like "You are near and made a sudden move, you are
               | threat". It gets worse when you are allergic to wasps.
               | I've worked near a place where transport company cleaned
               | their syrup and milk carrying trailers, so we sometimes
               | had a lot of wasps and one of coworkers had to constantly
               | have adrenaline with him. If he got stung and couldn't do
               | it himself, we were trained on how to jab him and call
               | ambulance.
        
               | InitialLastName wrote:
               | > one of coworkers had to constantly have adrenaline with
               | him. If he got stung and couldn't do it himself, we were
               | trained on how to jab him and call ambulance.
               | 
               | FWIW, this bit is true of everyone I've known who was
               | aware of an anaphylactic allergy, independent of their
               | likelihood of exposure to the allergen. "Carry an EpiPen,
               | know how to use it, make sure some of the people around
               | you are aware of your allergy and know how to handle a
               | reaction" is a _very_ light-weight and reliable solution
               | to  "something relatively common could easily kill me".
        
               | nibbleshifter wrote:
               | Germany has some very silly laws.
               | 
               | The wasp protection one gets broken all the time for
               | obvious reasons.
        
               | KMnO4 wrote:
               | Despite their aggression and desire for sugar, wasps are
               | useful and important pollinators the same way that bees
               | are.
        
               | type0 wrote:
               | They also annihilate the bees which are much better
               | pollinators
        
             | ljf wrote:
             | I dislike wasps - BUT the good thing if you find a nest, is
             | the knowledge that they will never return to a nest the
             | following year - so the next actually becomes something
             | that will help prevent future wasp infestations.
             | 
             | When we bought our last house I changed a light fitting and
             | live wasps poured out - I was freaked out, and put the
             | fitting straight back.
             | 
             | A few days later I went into the attic to put some boxes up
             | there and found a HUGE nest near the light fitting. I put
             | my hand on it and could feel and warmth and buzz of the
             | wasps. It was already mid summer so I just left it (there
             | were not loose wasps in the attic - their entrance/exit was
             | into the eves of the house).
             | 
             | By autumn they were gone, and we never again had a wasp
             | issue in our house in the 10 years we lived there. I
             | changed the light fitting the following spring.
        
               | m463 wrote:
               | I've found that a wasp nest is still a hint that wasps
               | will make nests nearby.
               | 
               | I had a shed (and a car) that had empty nests and then
               | got nests nearby later.
        
         | fijiaarone wrote:
         | It's ok to have a camera that is not a telephone
        
           | TeMPOraL wrote:
           | It's ok, but it does _drastically_ reduce its utility.
           | Conversely, anything that can be put into smartphone becomes
           | much more useful. It often makes a difference between just
           | having a tool for some odd job vs. gaining a _capability_.
           | 
           | The reason is simple: you always have your phone on you, or
           | near you. It's the most easily accessible piece of
           | electronics, and - if you're storage limited - the last one
           | you're likely to leave behind. There is a generic social
           | acceptance of everyone having a phone on them (even if
           | stashed in a pocket).
           | 
           | A FLIR camera as a separate device? I'm unlikely to carry it
           | with me unless I have a specific reason, and people will look
           | at me weird if I walk around with one. A smartphone-
           | attachable FLIR camera? It's still a hassle to carry, there's
           | a good chance I'll leave one behind (comparable to a
           | bluetooth headset). A FLIR camera built _into_ smartphone? On
           | me all the time, everywhere, and always ready to use in
           | random, unpredictable situations.
           | 
           | And yes, it's the same reason why regular smartphone cameras
           | all but killed the compact camera as a product. Having a tool
           | always on you expands possible use cases so much it offsets
           | for suboptimal performance/form factor.
        
           | andai wrote:
           | I recently found myself avoiding my phone for various
           | reasons. At home I'd rather get work done (wfh) and I prefer
           | to leave it at home when I go for walks. But my phone is also
           | my camera, so now whenever I see something beautiful, I am
           | unable to photograph it.
           | 
           | I read the other day that compact camera sales had dropped by
           | 98%. I guess I'm one of the 2% that actually has a need for
           | one now.
        
             | milsorgen wrote:
             | Grab something used with enough megapixels. I used an old
             | Canon A590IS for years, even after I had a slew of Nikon
             | dSLRs. I've found random compacts over 10MP for less than
             | 20 dollars while thrifting. Completely competent images in
             | day light tbqh. Low light and video capabilities are what
             | really lags when compared to more recent camera tech but
             | I've always limitation breeds creativity.
        
             | dotancohen wrote:
             | Just use airplane mode. I use it all the time, for this
             | purpose exactly. Sometimes I am just not available - people
             | have to accept that.
        
         | legitster wrote:
         | All things considered, 4 years is pretty good!
         | 
         | Someone explained to me it's more of a supply chain thing than
         | planned obsolescence. Phone technology and batteries
         | specifically have pretty short production lives - keeping a
         | battery in production and in stock for long periods of time can
         | be crippling to your product line when the competitors come out
         | with 10% denser batteries every year.
        
           | Sakos wrote:
           | > All things considered, 4 years is pretty good!
           | 
           | 4 years would be fine if you voluntarily upgrade because a
           | newer model improves over what you have in an appreciable
           | way. 4 years isn't fine if the device meets your needs and
           | the only reason you have to replace it is because of the
           | battery wearing out.
        
           | Fatnino wrote:
           | So sell compatible size higher density batteries.
           | 
           | Actual disposable batteries (remember those?) have improved
           | dramatically over the decades but you can still put a brand
           | new AA battery loaded with the latest 2022 tech into a remote
           | control from the 50s and expect it to work.
        
             | SideQuark wrote:
             | >Actual disposable batteries
             | 
             | they have the same form factor, and they have not changed
             | much over decades in capability and certainly not size.
             | 
             | Phone batteries do not do this - they are designed to fit
             | in a certain (few) phones, and market change on phone sizes
             | mean there is no standard size.
             | 
             | When phone batteries get higher density, then it's likely a
             | readeoff between adding more other features and keeping the
             | same battery size - and as other features change, so do
             | battery needs. The rapid evolution of phone tech, in every
             | aspect, makes it cheaper (and wiser) to re-eval each piece
             | quickly, or you get beat in the market place.
             | 
             | Maybe in decades this will settle down, like it took for
             | the disposable batteries to standardize over decades...
        
               | lm28469 wrote:
               | It's a choice we make, not a God given rule that we have
               | to abid to or perish in fire
        
               | KronisLV wrote:
               | > Phone batteries do not do this - they are designed to
               | fit in a certain (few) phones, and market change on phone
               | sizes mean there is no standard size.
               | 
               | It would be nice if that wasn't the case.
               | 
               | I've seen power tools from certain companies adopt the
               | same battery type across multiple of their tools, so that
               | they are interchangeable. I can imagine something like
               | that happening industry-wide with a bit more lawmaking,
               | like happened with USB types.
               | 
               | Actually, it would be even better if we had a few common
               | phone battery standards and every manufacturer had to use
               | those (ideally with removable batteries). This might mean
               | that phones would have to be built with the batteries in
               | mind, not vice versa, which doesn't seem like a bad thing
               | to me.
               | 
               | Then again, personally I wouldn't even mind if there were
               | like 10-20 common phone form factors in the first place.
        
               | rlt wrote:
               | > with a bit more lawmaking
               | 
               | No thanks. Things like this almost always have unintended
               | consequences.
        
               | asddubs wrote:
               | you could say that about literally any law. should we
               | just not have laws then, lest there be unintended
               | consequences?
        
               | lm28469 wrote:
               | Because the opposite doesn't have unintended consequences
               | ? Do you know what we do with e waste ? ship them to
               | Africa/China for """recycling"""
        
               | unwind wrote:
               | Have you seen AMPShare Alliance [1]? It's a common
               | 18-volt battery tool platform with many partners.
               | 
               | Mostly industrial/professional tools so far but I hope it
               | will continue to grow. Yes, I have Bosch stuff. :)
               | 
               | [1]: https://www.ampshare.com/ng/en/
        
               | radicalbyte wrote:
               | > I've seen power tools from certain companies adopt the
               | same battery type across multiple of their tools
               | 
               | That's because electric power tools are sold as a
               | platform: you choose a brand and buy in to their
               | platform. For example I mainly use a driver + drill so
               | bought in to Milwaukee. Ended up buying a lot of other
               | kit from them too.
        
               | TeMPOraL wrote:
               | A silly question then: why there are no AA/AAA
               | rechargeable batteries that are Li-Ion/Li-Poly/whatever
               | chemistry is used in smartphone batteries? Seems like a
               | no-brainer to me: use the apparently better, more
               | advanced, more energy-dense chemistry, but in a standard
               | AA/AAA format. Pack whatever control electronics you need
               | for safety too. Not only my remote controls would have
               | half a decade of battery life, an iPhone could be powered
               | off 2 such AAs, instead of 8-10 regular ones like other
               | commenters here calculated.
               | 
               | Why isn't it done? Where's the catch?
        
               | Zanfa wrote:
               | Regular single-use alkaline AA batteries are more energy
               | dense than comparable rechargeable lithium based ones (up
               | to 3000mAh for a single AA vs 3200mAh for iPhone 14 Pro).
               | They're also safer and have lower self-discharge.
        
               | TeMPOraL wrote:
               | That's 3000 mAh @1.5V vs. 3200mAh @...3.7V? That would
               | give those alkaline AAs _half_ of the energy density of a
               | lithium one. And, that 's single-use, which I'm not a fan
               | of, because all the energy _embodied_ in a heavy metal
               | cylinder goes to waste.
        
               | pajko wrote:
               | High capacity rechargeable NiMH and lithium batteries are
               | 1.2V.
        
               | Panzer04 wrote:
               | The phone battery is bigger. For perspective, an 18650
               | battery is substantially bigger than a AA, but the best
               | they can do is ~3500mAh. Iirc AA lithium batteries are
               | barely more dense than alkaline or nickel, and are
               | awkwardly high voltage so require a buck corcuit, further
               | harming performance.
        
               | mrguyorama wrote:
               | Lithium chemistry in a AA form factor, with integrated
               | downconversion and even charging port and circuitry in
               | each individual battery, are cheaply available on Amazon,
               | eBay, newegg etc. Depending on how much you want to
               | spend, they range from no-name companies lying about huge
               | capacities, to real brands advertising (unfortunately in
               | mWh!) genuinely useful capacities, and they are CHEAP.
               | They handily beat Ni-mh batteries in pretty much every
               | way; capacity, self discharge, useful voltage until they
               | die (this actually has a downside in that device battery
               | indicators can't tell that the batteries are running
               | low), cycle lifetime, no annoying management like having
               | to be careful when and how you charge your batteries etc.
        
               | butterknife wrote:
               | The Li chemistry produces much higher voltages and so
               | would require step down circuitry to function as a direct
               | replacement for AA/AAA. If you are talking about form
               | factor, then there are a lot of similar size or smaller
               | cells available.
        
               | TeMPOraL wrote:
               | I'm talking about having rechargeable AA/AAAs with higher
               | power density, possibly using the same chemistry as in
               | phones, laptops, drones, etc., so the industry could cut
               | down on the amount of variation in sizes and connector
               | types (which could possibly make the batteries somewhat
               | cheaper thanks to less variation in manufacturing -
               | though I suppose the price driver is still the
               | chemistry).
               | 
               | What's the minimum voltage we could get without
               | intervention? I'm not well-versed in batteries, but I do
               | recall that a typical Li-Ion cell has 3.7V on output,
               | which might be tricky to fit into _one_ AA /AAA, but
               | isn't that far from _two_ AA /AAAs.
               | 
               | While there's no standard way for devices to accept
               | multiple AA/AAAs, to a first approximation, a Li-Ion cell
               | reformatted into a shape of two AAs with ~1-2mm "space"
               | between them, would fit all my remotes and a third of my
               | children's toys - so I could see a "Li-Ion double AA"
               | working as a product, provided it could shed that 0.7V
               | somewhere. The biggest problem would be devices accepting
               | odd number of batteries.
        
               | butterknife wrote:
               | There might be some market but anecdotally, AA/AAA as a
               | widely accepted platform, and for that matter replaceable
               | batteries in general, seem to be a thing of past.
               | 
               | I do have devices where the 2xAAs are in a column
               | configuration.
               | 
               | Edit: Replaced remote with devices (it's a keyboard not a
               | remote)
        
               | detaro wrote:
               | There are standard formats for cells in Lithium-based
               | chemistries, but they are different sizes then the Ni-
               | based ones because of the entirely different voltages.
               | How (not) commonly they are used tells you something how
               | much industry cares about avoiding many different sizes.
               | (part of it is probably also that round cells are space-
               | inefficient in devices that aren't tube-shaped - most
               | common consumer use cases where the consumer handles
               | individual cells are flashlights and vape devices, and
               | some markets do have proprietary designs as de-facto
               | standards)
               | 
               | Some manufacturers also make Li-Ion replacements for
               | multi-AA devices, but thats then specific to manufacturer
               | and device and the exact placement it expects.
        
               | nicoburns wrote:
               | I think the issue is that li-ion isn't that much better
               | than NiMH as to be worth it. It's also worth noting that
               | there are already standard sized Li-ion batteries. 18650
               | batteries (so called because they are 18mm diameter by
               | 650mm long) are the most common, but there are a bunch of
               | other standard sizes. These are commonly used in things
               | torches (flashlights) and headlamps.
        
               | rjmunro wrote:
               | They sell double-AA sized rechargeable batteries for XBox
               | controllers. https://www.xbox.com/en-
               | GB/accessories/batteries-chargers/pl...
               | 
               | This specific battery is unlikely to work for other
               | devices because the controller has an extra connector,
               | presumably to detect it and control charging (which
               | happens over a USB cable). You'd at least need an XBox
               | controller to charge it.
        
               | agapon wrote:
               | There are such batteries, I saw them on Aliexpress. They
               | are not cheap, though.
        
               | reisse wrote:
               | The catch is that Li-Ion rechargeable batteries have much
               | higher self-discharge rate than alkaline AA/AAAs, so you
               | could not use them in remote controls anyway.
               | 
               | For powering iPhones, you can buy a few 18650 with a
               | type-C/lightning case from AliExpress, but most people
               | will prefer just buying a powerbank.
        
               | TeMPOraL wrote:
               | > _The catch is that Li-Ion rechargeable batteries have
               | much higher self-discharge rate than alkaline AA /AAAs,
               | so you could not use them in remote controls anyway._
               | 
               | How does that compare with NiMh, or whichever is the
               | current standard chemistry for rechargeable AA/AAAs? I
               | may be misguided here, but I generally avoid regular
               | single-use AA/AAAs, as it feels like a complete waste of
               | energy - even if properly disposed of, I don't imagine
               | they get recharged by some factory and put back on the
               | market, so all the _embodied_ energy that went into
               | making them is lost.
               | 
               | > _For powering iPhones, you can buy a few 18650 with a
               | type-C /lightning case from AliExpress, but most people
               | will prefer just buying a powerbank._
               | 
               | At least some of the power banks I've disassembled in the
               | past were just 18650s with a case, USB port and charging
               | circuitry, so I can't blame people for buying it already
               | pre-assembled.
        
               | deelowe wrote:
               | NiMh is better but alkaline still lasts longer. For low
               | drain devices like remotes where shelf life is a bigger
               | concern than power draw, I've heard zinc is better still.
               | These are often labeled "heavy duty."
        
               | Panzer04 wrote:
               | You'd need a buck converter for discharging the battery,
               | and they aren't much better than NiMH batteries at it. So
               | it's cheaper to just buy Eneloops if you want AA/AAA
               | batteries
        
               | mnw21cam wrote:
               | I have some such AAA batteries. Not for the extra
               | capacity - I'm not convinced they actually have any
               | better capacity than the NiMH I was using before, but
               | because they hold 1.5V for the duration of their charge,
               | and for some reason my headphone can't cope with less
               | than 1.5V.
        
               | dotancohen wrote:
               | > Phone batteries do not do this - they are designed to
               | fit in a certain (few) phones, and market change on phone
               | sizes mean there is no standard size.
               | 
               | But the voltage remains the same: 3.7 discharged and 4.2
               | volts fully charged.
               | 
               | I really don't care if the outer dimensions of the
               | battery are sloppy by 5 mm or if the capacity is smaller
               | (or larger) by a few hundred or even a thousand mAh - so
               | long as I can replace the _absolutely dead_ battery
               | already in the device. I'll pad out the rest with
               | styrofoam or even just squeeze some tacky clay in there
               | to prevent it from rattling.
        
             | mongol wrote:
             | Imagine a smartphone designed to use AAA batteries. That
             | would be something. Would be cool to see.
        
               | llampx wrote:
               | It would be easier to have a new standard of Li-Ion or
               | Li-poly batteries optimized for newer devices, with flat
               | rectangular (stackable?) packs. They would also be
               | suitable for the current demands of current devices. (see
               | what I did there?)
        
               | Tams80 wrote:
               | We absolutely could.
               | 
               | But we won't as manufacturers want to use batteries in
               | shapes they want. In the case of laptops of bigger this
               | also often ends up with there still being space despite
               | them using a custom size.
               | 
               | We were pretty close to a couple of standards of Li-Ion
               | flat battery in the mid to late 00s, at least in Europe,
               | due to proliferation of Nokia and Sony Ericsson. Nokia
               | especially had some batteries that they used across
               | several models. And the voltage and current being the
               | same, you could also use smaller batteries in some
               | models.
               | 
               | The latter has been useful for the 808 PureView I have.
               | Getting the specific battery that it used is now
               | impossible. But it can take a very common Nokia battery
               | with a slightly lower capacity.
        
               | masklinn wrote:
               | > Would be cool to see.
               | 
               | Probably not the word I'd have used. You'd need what, 6
               | high-capacity AAAs to get standard battery size/life?
               | Maybe 8? Possibly 10 with recent phones?
        
               | Nition wrote:
               | An iPhone 14 Pro has a 3,200mAh battery.
               | 
               | The Energiser rechargeable AAA I happen to have here is
               | 800mAh.
               | 
               | So exactly four standard rechargeable AAAs. Not bad
               | really.
               | 
               | Edit: As explained below, this is incorrect, as I didn't
               | take voltage into account.
        
               | coder543 wrote:
               | "mAh" is a useless measurement that should be banned from
               | marketing to the public, period. It does not actually
               | represent the energy stored in the batteries, and it can
               | easily mislead people. I also get annoyed that _no one_
               | uses Ah, when  "thousands of thousandths" is a really
               | annoying way to communicate. 3200mAh -> 3.2Ah. Why do no
               | manufacturers understand this? And why don't
               | manufacturers just use a proper unit that measures the
               | energy stored in the battery?
               | 
               | You _must_ compare watt-hours (or use joules, if you
               | like) for it to be meaningful. AAA voltage is 1.5V,
               | lithium ion voltage is 3.7V or 4.2V or something, which
               | means that each  "mAh" is worth several times as much as
               | one from a AAA battery.
               | 
               | The iPhone 14 Pro battery is about 12Wh. A single AAA
               | battery has about 1.9Wh, according to google. So, 6 AAA
               | batteries, optimistically, excluding other factors that
               | could raise the count. Using your number of
               | 800mAh*1.5V=1.2Wh, which would mean 10 AAA batteries.
        
               | dotancohen wrote:
               | mAh is perfectly fine for a first-order comparison of two
               | competing batteries, because those two batteries will
               | only compete for a specific workload if they have the
               | same voltage. If I need a phone with a large battery, and
               | all phones are 3.8 volts (yes, I do mean 3.7-4.2) then
               | comparing mAh is useful, (assuming background battery
               | usage of the two devices is similar, which actually isn't
               | often true, but that's a different issue).
        
               | masklinn wrote:
               | > mAh is perfectly fine for a first-order comparison of
               | two competing batteries
               | 
               | And yet it's still dumb, because the actual energy
               | density would let you make the exact same comparison
               | anyway, _and_ it would allow for easier comparison with
               | other battery types or contexts.
               | 
               | > If I need a phone with a large battery, and all phones
               | are 3.8 volts (yes, I do mean 3.7-4.2) then comparing mAh
               | is useful
               | 
               | It's not, there's a >10% difference between the top and
               | the bottom of the range.
               | 
               | Just give actual energy values, it's _strictly more
               | useful_.
        
               | dwighttk wrote:
               | Advertisers don't care about useful. Many customers see
               | mWh and mAh and think "that's probably the same... and
               | look! this one has thousands of em!"
        
               | masklinn wrote:
               | Weirdly this doesn't even hold, every battery is more
               | than 1V so the Wh is always larger than the Ah. Makes no
               | sense.
        
               | consp wrote:
               | The load characteristics also matter. Under certain load
               | profiles those AAAs won't come even close to their rated
               | capacity (no matter what misleading unit used). I also
               | find the 1.9wh very optimistic, I guess you took the
               | average AA capacity, in which case the battery would
               | almost become bigger than the phone.
        
               | coder543 wrote:
               | Load characteristics do complicate things as well, but I
               | figured even the optimistic case involved enough
               | batteries to dissuade anyone from this idea.
               | 
               | There are other non-rechargeable chemistries that are far
               | more energy dense than AAA batteries, and those might be
               | interesting to discuss.
        
               | masklinn wrote:
               | 1.9 seems like a typo as 12/1.9 is 6.3, nowhere near 10.
               | 800mAh seems to be a pretty available capacity and yields
               | 1200mWh which tracks with the factor.
               | 
               | Though I think I've seen up to 1200.
        
               | coder543 wrote:
               | 1.9Wh was the number I saw on Google. 10 was just me not
               | thinking clearly late at night. I updated my comment.
        
               | rjmunro wrote:
               | I think the mAh stays more or less constant no matter how
               | fast you discharge the battery, but as current increases,
               | the voltage drops so the total watt-hours is lower.
        
               | masklinn wrote:
               | Preach brother.
               | 
               | I guess it kinda worked when everything was 1.5V but even
               | then it was pretty stupid, and it's been a while.
               | 
               | And I feel like we've regressed somehow? Didn't every
               | smartphone use to advertise battery capacity in (m)Wh,
               | like laptops? I feel like just a few years ago that was
               | the prominent measure, and you'd get voltage and Ah as
               | side-notes, e.g. the iPhone 12 wiki page states
               | 
               | > 3.83 V 10.78 Wh (2,815 mAh)
        
               | linmob wrote:
               | My Newton MessagePad 2100 used 4 AA batteries, the Palm
               | m105 used 2 AAA batteries, so this used to be possible
               | with monochrome displays.
               | 
               | But: Watt hours (Wh) are quite low for these NiMH
               | rechargebles. I think what would be preferable would be a
               | standardised size of phone-fitting Li-Ion batteries that
               | manufacturers are required to use.
               | 
               | (I highly doubt that this will ever happen, though.)
        
               | 867-5309 wrote:
               | pretty sure >10 years ago I had an array of aftermarket
               | Li-Ion batteries for the Samsung Galaxy S2, which were
               | able to be quickly swapped in and out when needed. there
               | were same sized ones with slightly higher capacity than
               | the one the phone came with, then there were double
               | thickness ones with double the capacity that came with
               | their own replacement battery cover. think they went up
               | to 5000mAh. there were the usual Chinese 'gold' and
               | 'fire' brands, but you could also pay a bit more for
               | Japanese. they all worked and never swelled or exploded.
               | perhaps I was just lucky. those were the days..
        
               | jaclaz wrote:
               | Years before, the typical (at the time very common at
               | least here) Motorola MicroTac and later models:
               | 
               | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_MicroTAC
               | 
               | had a battery which was the actual "back cover" (it was
               | connected to the phone via sliding), and everyone had at
               | least two batteries, there were all kind of slim to
               | bulkier sizes.
               | 
               | Some of them (medium sized) simply contained 5 (Ni-Cd or
               | Ni-Mh) AAA batteries.
        
               | yawniek wrote:
               | I have one. But is a nokia from the 80ies
        
               | TEP_Kim_Il_Sung wrote:
               | Loved those. You could get an extended battery, nearly
               | doubling the thickness of the phone.
        
               | strogonoff wrote:
               | I've recently started using active noise cancellation
               | headphones that are powered by a single AAA battery, and
               | this significantly lightened my battery life anxiety[0].
               | It's a completely different feeling when a device that's
               | with you every day is not "disposable" anymore and
               | liberating to not be hostage to battery condition. It'll
               | probably last for as long as I maintain it, and if charge
               | runs out at an inconvenient moment I can simply pop in a
               | spare.
               | 
               | In case of smartphones it could work if we go through a
               | fundamental shift: switch to e-ink or similar, reduce
               | expectations of hardware performance, be much more
               | efficient as app developers and have reliable ways of
               | testing that efficiency. I'd welcome this personally, but
               | I doubt even Apple with its marketing prowess could make
               | it desirable for mainstream audiences after years of
               | stressing CPU, GPU, RAM numbers and gaming capabilities.
               | 
               | I suspect it's probably less of a possibility with
               | laptops. Keeping battery designs proprietary, being free
               | from regulatory friction, being able to charge for
               | replacement is probably part of the incentives that got
               | them where they are in terms of capacity and size. If we
               | mandated using standardized easily replaceable batteries
               | a la AA/AAA, we would have bulkier laptops that can't
               | last a day (let alone on any demanding task), and spares
               | would be too bulky to carry for those who want to walk
               | light.
               | 
               | [0] Stressing over battery charge and battery health of
               | our devices. A situation where battery runs out just as
               | we _vitally_ need the device is enough to be in once, so
               | we charge defensively. We also know that battery health
               | decreases over time (the device is gradually "used up"),
               | and we try to prolong it: we experience stress every time
               | the battery is too low since this runs it down _and_
               | every time we leave it connected for too long because
               | constantly topping up the charge to 100% _also_ runs it
               | down. So we subconsciously track short-term battery
               | charge and long-term battery health, and we are painfully
               | aware that they deteriorate with every second--and unlike
               | external wear, this deterioration concerns not aesthetics
               | but device's ability to be more than a brick. (It is
               | probably less concerning to those who drive a fossil fuel
               | car everywhere, those who spend most of their time home
               | or at work, or those who feel financially and ethically
               | OK just getting a new device whenever it seems as if the
               | battery doesn't hold or a new model comes out.)
        
           | ThemalSpan wrote:
           | I think we can all agree that maximizing profit is a cause,
           | while also acknowledging that the situation is not ideal.
           | There are many solutions to this self-imposed problem, like
           | standardizing the battery interfaces.
           | 
           | I agree most company's have no incentive to do that. I think
           | those incentives should be put in place though.
        
         | kypro wrote:
         | > The lack of a replacable battery is infuriating because it's
         | planned obselescence of a FLIR device.
         | 
         | I thought the move away from easily removable cases and
         | batteries was more for waterproofing reasons?
         | 
         | Plus, I'm guessing the battery can be replaced, just not by the
         | average user. I'm sure you could get it replaced if you're
         | willing to pay a repair fee.
        
           | almog wrote:
           | It doesn't have to prevent it from being waterproof, see for
           | example Samsung Galaxy XCover 6 Pro which has removable
           | battery and IP68 rating.
           | 
           | I really wish phone manufacturers started making flagship-
           | like phones with a removable battery.
        
         | akita-ken wrote:
         | All those use-cases you've described actually seem really
         | practical, especially the fraud detection. Being able to detect
         | things that would otherwise be invisible or require physical
         | contact to ascertain already makes it a worthwhile EDC tool in
         | my opinion.
        
           | jcims wrote:
           | I've got a Seek Thermal attachment from my iPhone I got on
           | cyber Monday a few years ago. Once you have one you find all
           | sorts of uses for them.
        
         | m463 wrote:
         | I'm sort of reminded of how cellphone cameras became used for
         | selfies.
         | 
         | I wonder what other use cases previously "serious" technology
         | will be used for.
         | 
         | I remember someone had a magnet of some sort embedded in their
         | finger and could detect current fluctuations in underground
         | electrical systems underneath a city sidewalk.
        
         | coder543 wrote:
         | I don't understand why everyone is acting like replacement
         | batteries are unavailable.
         | 
         | Here's an amazon link to a variety of options:
         | 
         | https://www.amazon.com/CAT-S60-Cell-Phone-Replacement-Batter...
        
           | kvakvs wrote:
           | The statement about battery not being replaceable is false.
           | They are replaceable. But the phone body is sealed to deliver
           | the water and dust resistance rating from its technical
           | specs, so opening it is an entire new adventure in itself.
        
             | sllabres wrote:
             | Water resistant (e.g. 30 min / 1 m) mobile phones with
             | exchangeable batteries were quite common. They had easy to
             | procure LiIon batteries which could replaced even by a
             | clumsy person in minutes.
             | 
             | Would prefer that to a watertight phone with non
             | replaceable batteries as aging or dying batteries are more
             | common in my experience than my desire to go on a dive with
             | my phone.
        
               | minhazm wrote:
               | > Water resistant (e.g. 30 min / 1 m) mobile phones with
               | exchangeable batteries were quite common
               | 
               | I wouldn't say they were common, at least not for android
               | smartphones. The first water resistant android phone was
               | the Motorola Defy[1] in 2010. For Samsung they had the S4
               | Active and then the S5 had some water resistance. But
               | then the S6 removed support for replaceable batteries. So
               | the only Samsung phones with easily replaceable batteries
               | and any water resistance were the S4 Active, S5 Active
               | and the S5.
               | 
               | I think you're right that IP67 (30min / 1 meter) is
               | probably achievable but I think most people prefer the
               | better water resistance and by the time their phone
               | battery degrades sufficiently they usually want a new
               | phone. Additionally it's already possible to get your
               | battery replaced. At least Apple will replace your phone
               | battery going back to the 5S for $49 up to $99 for
               | current models. I prefer this model where I have a
               | trustworthy place to get the battery serviced that will
               | preserve the water resistance for a somewhat reasonable
               | price. I tried to look at the battery replacement cost
               | for Samsung phones but couldn't find it, so maybe that's
               | not a service they offer directly or it's just difficult
               | to find.
               | 
               | [1] https://www.androidauthority.com/first-water-
               | resistant-andro...
        
               | sllabres wrote:
               | Agree. With common I was thinking of "not specialized
               | rugged phones" but more consumer class. (As you have
               | written Samsung S5, S5 mini, ...)
        
               | Tams80 wrote:
               | Yes, but the point is that they are now only available on
               | very niche devices.
               | 
               | There was a brief period where common devices had ingress
               | resistance and easily removeable batteries. The most
               | notable being the Samsung Galaxy S5.
        
             | ZiiS wrote:
             | If the manufactures wanted to they could easily make a
             | sealed phone and a sealed battery and just clip them
             | together. The extra thickness of two layers of
             | waterproofing between them is arguable on a fashion phone
             | but irrelevant on a product like this.
        
               | Izkata wrote:
               | My last flip phone had a replaceable battery and was
               | waterproof: the cover had a rubber gasket and you had to
               | use a coin or key to pry it open.
        
       | harry8 wrote:
       | I've had the competition's ruggedized android phone with a flir
       | camera for a couple of years now? [1]
       | 
       | [1] https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4001227941445.html
       | 
       | I don't love it like I did the nokia n900 but it is decent. It's
       | an android that goes underwater, can take photos there and you
       | can drop without being worried about breaking it including the
       | screen - all phones should be like that.
       | 
       | The flir camera pics look just like that, haven't really found a
       | use for it yet but I guess I might one day. The endoscope is also
       | a cool idea that hasn't really worked out so well when I've
       | wanted to use it. It works it just an endoscope frequently isn't
       | as useful as you'd hope it could be.
       | 
       | Like every single android phone vendor they really need to get
       | out of the business of providing the OS and set it up as a
       | community project so it works the way you want and has upgrades
       | if you want. Not that Apple, controlling everything, are better
       | at this iphone6 now junk etc.
        
         | Denvercoder9 wrote:
         | > all phones should be like that.
         | 
         | No, let's have some choice. You pay for the ruggedness in size,
         | weight and aesthetics. That's not a trade-off everyone wants to
         | make.
        
           | harry8 wrote:
           | I think maybe you're confusing the expression of an ideal
           | with making a particular implentation toward it mandatory?
        
       | dangus wrote:
       | Specialized devices based on general purpose devices like these
       | are almost always a poor value proposition.
       | 
       | You're getting a crummy phone nowhere near as good as flagships
       | from Apple, Google, and Samsung, just because you can get a FLIR
       | camera integrated.
       | 
       | Why not just buy one of these? https://industrial-
       | reviews.com/smartphone-thermal-camera/
        
       | rasz wrote:
       | $650 160x120 9Hz thermal imager
       | 
       | why bother when Chinese are manufacturing ~$200 _25hz_ 256x192
       | standard USB3 microbolometers? Look up INFIRAY P2 Pro/T2S+,
       | SNDWAY SW-8256 etc
       | 
       | mikeselectricstuff: Infiray P2 Pro smartphone thermal camera
       | review & teardown https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMQeXq1ujn0
       | 
       | STS Telecom: Infiray T2S+ Thermal Camera Review
       | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qt1JBA4W6n8
       | 
       | The 25hz part is important because microbolometers are under ITAR
       | restrictions meaning no US/allied manufacturer offers anything
       | over 9Hz to ordinary consumers.
        
         | FeistySkink wrote:
         | What does the frequency you mention affect?
        
           | rasz wrote:
           | Refresh rate. The idea was its harder to aim at 9Hz.
        
         | mrguyorama wrote:
         | Does importing an ITAR restricted device cause legal issues?
        
       | Daub wrote:
       | Since Apple started making phones out of freekin glass, I have
       | only bought rugged phones. One problem I had with my Cat was that
       | the compass did not work properly (inaccurate and erratic). This
       | made using Google maps almost impossible. I had the same problem
       | with my rugged Doogeee. My rugged Nokia is a lot better, but is
       | woefully under powered.
       | 
       | In my efforts to find the perfect rugged phone, I honestly
       | feeling like I am chasing butterflies.
        
         | aembleton wrote:
         | Just get a good protective case for the phone of your choice.
        
       | Villodre wrote:
       | I had an S60 some 4 years ago, also equipped with a FLIR camera
       | and although I tried to love the phone, I simply couldn't.
       | 
       | For starters it had a mediocre Snapdragon SoC - better than the
       | average cheapophone, but lacking in a product that was in the
       | premium tier regarding price. The FLIR camera was neat, but
       | inferior to the add-on camera I was using at the time, yet still
       | decent. The cherry on top came when the "ruggedised" phone
       | couldn't cope with normal wear and tear and the plastic started
       | to separate from the case, in a manner similar to the grips in an
       | Xbox Controller Elite game pad that I also owned during that
       | time.
       | 
       | At that point I just desisted from having the CAT phone as my
       | mainly driver and mostly relegated it to the role of auxiliary
       | tool just to have it die suddenly on me. I tried to follow CAT's
       | convoluted RMA process (or perhaps their Bullitt licensee who
       | actually make their phones, I can't remember), chock-full of
       | awful chats and sending non-stop repeated information prompts in
       | order to process a return until I realised I bought it from
       | Amazon and just obtained a refund.
       | 
       | As I said, I really tried to like the product but my experience
       | was so horrible that I gave up on "working phones" altogether.
        
       | bjarneh wrote:
       | Every time I crack my screen I swear that next time I'll get one
       | of those "rugged" phones. My last phone purchase (Asus Zenfone
       | 8); lasted exactly 2 weeks before I cracked the screen on my
       | bathroom floor. I was worried about having "only" 128Gb of
       | storage; guess I should have been more concerned about that
       | screen. Nice device though...
        
       | fomine3 wrote:
       | I want a second phone with FLIR for fun and profit, but I don't
       | want a heavy duty like existing Ulefone one. Maybe it's better to
       | buy a external USB FLIR.
        
       | c_o_n_v_e_x wrote:
       | This would almost be better off being marketed as a thermal
       | camera with a cellular connection. This would have been handy
       | during my commissioning days, removing the tedious steps of
       | getting the files from the camera to a computer to the cloud or
       | sending someone a live view.
        
       | walterbell wrote:
       | UNI-T UTi260M for Android: USB-C thermal camera with 25hz 256x192
       | sensor for $400, https://www.amazon.com/UNI-T-Resolution-
       | Handheld-Durability-...
        
         | rasz wrote:
         | repackaged $200 INFIRAY P2 Pro/T2S+, SNDWAY SW-8256
        
         | zo1 wrote:
         | So annoyed at the market right now. Here is the same "UNI-T"
         | camera from AliExpress under the name "InfiRay P2":
         | 
         | https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005004950256049.html
         | 
         | So which effing company makes this, and why are we allowing
         | this stupid white labeling to occur.
         | 
         | Funny aside. Maybe Elon should buy Amazon and kick off all drop
         | shippers, white label resellers, chinese sellers and all
         | duplicate items by enforcing unique codes for every unique
         | product. Make Amazon Great Again.
        
           | walterbell wrote:
           | Looks like Infiray makes thermal sensors _and_ consumer
           | products, perhaps they have a similar business model as FLIR,
           | https://www.infiray.com/products/tiny1-b-micro-lwir-
           | thermal-... & https://www.infiray.com/products/thermal-
           | camera-for-smartpho...
        
           | asddubs wrote:
           | you can tell by the shape alone that it's not the exact same
           | product. although obviously a lot of these cameras are based
           | on the same sensor, though obviously that is really most of
           | the product for these little phone adapters
        
         | bufferoverflow wrote:
         | $334 + tax, not bad at all
        
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