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Caterpillar offers phone with built-in FLIR camera

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Re: Caterpillar offers phone with built-in FLIR camera

#191

Post by dotancohen »

andai wrote: post #133
fijiaarone wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s ok to have a camera that is not a telephone

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.

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.

Re: Caterpillar offers phone with built-in FLIR camera

#193

Post by dotancohen »

exclusiv wrote: post #179
tildef wrote: post #11

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 camer…

> 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 co…

This was far more entertaining to read than you probably intended. I find your ideas intr.... yeah that.

Re: Caterpillar offers phone with built-in FLIR camera

#194

Post by asddubs »

rlt wrote: post #188
KronisLV wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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, li…

> with a bit more lawmaking No thanks. Things like this almost always have unintended consequences.

you could say that about literally any law. should we just not have laws then, lest there be unintended consequences?

Re: Caterpillar offers phone with built-in FLIR camera

#195

Post by smcl »

rippercushions wrote: post #141
fijiaarone wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

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...

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 :)

Re: Caterpillar offers phone with built-in FLIR camera

#196

Post by TeMPOraL »

SideQuark wrote: post #89
Fatnino wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

>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 ba…

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?

Re: Caterpillar offers phone with built-in FLIR camera

#198

Post by Tams80 »

llampx wrote: post #186
mongol wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Imagine a smartphone designed to use AAA batteries. That would be something. Would be cool to see.

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?)

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.

Re: Caterpillar offers phone with built-in FLIR camera

#199

Post by bjarneh »

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...

Re: Caterpillar offers phone with built-in FLIR camera

#200

Post by Tams80 »

sllabres wrote: post #134
kvakvs wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

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.

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.

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