Caterpillar Lends Its Name to Rugged CAT B15 Smartphone

Caterpillar, best known for making heavy construction equipment, is joining the smartphone fold with the introduction of the CAT B16 Android smartphone. The company is hoping to use its construction brand to give credibility to the rugged smartphone that has an IP67 rating for being waterproof and dust-proof.

According to the company, the CAT B15 will be able to survive drops onto concrete surfaces from a height of 1.8 meters, or about roughly the size of an average man from head to toe. The device can survive temperatures down to -20 degrees Celcius, though unless the touchscreen can be operated using gloves like the technology on the Nokia Lumia 920 using the CAT B15 under extreme cold may not be so feasible.

The device has an anodized aluminum and rubber body with Gorilla Glass. The smartphone is ruggedly handsome with black and yellow accents reminiscent of the Caterpillar brand.

The device has a 4-inch WVGA touchscreen and features a dual-core 1.0 GHz processor along with 512 MB RAM. The specs are rather pedestrian and high-end users may not find much intrigue in the device other than its rugged durability. The rear-facing camera is a 5-megapixel variety and can capture 720p HD videos. However, those working in construction or enjoy the outdoors may enjoy the fact that they can take this phone anywhere and not have to worry about water damage or drops along the road.

The nice part is that the CAT B15 will come with Android 4.1 preloaded out of the box, so owners will have access to features like Google Now. The device will be available come March for a retail price of 329 Euro.

It’s unclear if the CAT B15 will be available in the U.S.