The CAT S42 Rugged Smartphone – Tough, But Is That Enough?

The jobsite can be a pretty tough place to be a smartphone. Moisture, dust, high and low temperatures, and drops on hard surfaces have been the demise of many, no matter how much you might spend on a proper case.  CAT phones has been producing rugged phones tough enough for the jobsite for several years and has recently released an economical version to fit any budget.

The CAT S42 Overview

First things first, let’s set the expectations.  This phone retails for $299 (currently $262.40 on Amazon), so it’s not competing with the newest iPhone or Samsung Galaxy device. If your top priority is performance, this phone won’t pack the performance punch you’ll want or need.

If your priority is avoid having expensive phone payments and rocking that gnarly cracked screen that you know one day will sever your finger in two pieces, than you might have found a solid match. Let’s get into the details…

Features

The headline for the CAT S42 is obviously its overall ruggedness.  The 8 oz. phone feels beefy – in a good way – and it performs like a defensive lineman. It sports an IP68 rating, making it waterproof  in up to 1.5 meters of water for 35 minutes, as well as being sand, dust, and dirt resistant.  It was also factory tested against 6 foot drops onto steel (which I had a lot of fun testing on the Cat S48c last year) on every side and corner.

To round out its toughness, it also boasts a MIL SPEC 810H rating, which is a US military standard that tests environmental stress – in this case thermal shock. The phone can handle high to low temperature differences between -22 degrees F and 167 degrees F for up to 30 minutes.

Another very useful feature is the large 4,200 mAh battery, which can give you up to 2 days of runtime, of course depending on your use. That battery size is in line with the Galaxy S20 series, but the Cat will use much less power than those phones require.

The phone has a 5.5” display and is protected by scratch resistant Gorilla Glass 5, which can also be used with wet or gloved fingers. Like most of the CAT phones, it has a programmable push-to-talk button on the side and a covered headphone jack and charging port. To round out the features, it also offers a 13MP rear-facing camera and a 5MP front facing camera.

Performance

As I mentioned in the overview, this phone isn’t going to be a world beater in speed and power – nor should you expect it to be. It is, after all, a quarter of the cost of the newest iPhone. This is, however, one of the only phones that you’d feel comfortable washing in the sink, which is a bonus during a global pandemic.

It will run most apps without any issue, but you are limited on the internal battery storage. Out of an available 32 GB of storage, the phone comes pre-loaded with over 17 GB of software, leaving just under 15 GB free. The system alone uses up 11 GB, so you’ll definitely need to invest in an external SD card, if you plan to use it for a while

While I enjoyed the volume of the speakers on the S48c I reviewed last year, I found the S42’s lacking in overall volume and depth.

I was also disappointed that the phone is equipped with a micro-SD charging port, as opposed to USB-C.  It also is not enabled with wireless charging, which is always a great option for rugged phones.

Value

Priced the lowest out of the available CAT phones in the US, it’s clear that the S42’s purchase was to provide a very rugged option at the lowest price point possible, and I think they have achieved that goal. It’s definitely tough, comes with very solid battery life, and at a reasonable cost.

For individuals looking for a no-nonsense option that they don’t have to baby, this is definitely worth a look.  For companies looking for an enterprise rollout option for their crews that are notoriously hard on their phones, it’s also worth a look.

If you need more power, but still want that ultra-ruggedness, CAT have several other options available, including the feature packed S61, which includes a thermal imaging camera and laser distance measurement.

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