Testing the Rugged CAT S41 - Scratch, Burn, BEND Tested!

Since I started

testing

the durability of phones, the CAT name had been mentioned many times as potentially one of the most durable phones on the planet, but I hadn't had a chance to test that theory until now. I have two phones here: the S31 and the S41. The smaller S31 has slightly smaller specs, with a smaller screen and battery, but the same basic structure. Today we will focus on the S41. Let us begin. This is definitely not your sleek, pristine iPhone or Samsung phone. This is designed for a very specific group of people: a group of people who need their device to survive no matter what happens to it.

The CAT S41 is even impressively advertised to resist solar radiation. So Star Man could start using Tinder on Mars if he had this phone... and he'd probably still have better luck than the rest of us. For those of us here on earth, CAT has designed this phone to survive a 1.8 meter drop onto concrete - an impressive 6 foot drop. But as we can see here, to get that much drop protection, there has to be a thick plastic layer covering the Gorilla Glass 5, which

scratch

es at a level 3. Luckily, that laminated layer is included in the phone and is easily replaceable if it ever gets damaged. it breaks down too much.

I'm going to leave that protection intact and in place because the phone is incomplete without it. Just remember that the screen

scratch

es at level 3. There are 3 physical buttons on the bottom, all IP68 waterproof and made of plastic. But if you're outside wearing protective gloves, these big physical buttons can come in handy. There is a cutout in the screen protector for the 8-megapixel front camera. It's covered by Gorilla Glass 5 under that plastic and my shaver won't damage it. The earpiece is plastic, but it has small enough holes that metal shavings or dirt won't easily get in. The power button is made of black plastic, along with the volume buttons, of the same plastic material.

The body of this phone is where things start to get intense. A beastly layer of thick plastic covers the entire surface of the phone, with a rubber grip covering that plastic. And this isn't the cheap, flimsy plastic either. My razor blade has serious problems with these things. At the bottom of the phone we have the charging port flap that covers a micro USB port. And it's interesting, all the other waterproof phones I've

tested

so far have never been saltwater friendly because the salt in saltwater corrodes the metal faster and degrades its adhesive. But since all the metal and adhesive is covered on this phone with these airtight plastic flaps, this phone is salt water resistant up to 2 meters deep, more than 6 feet.

There's even a flap that covers the headphone jack with plenty of plastic and rubber along that edge to keep the phone damage-free. Now it's the camera where things start to get a little disappointing. The flash is plastic, which is fine, no one cares about that. But the camera lens is also made of plastic. Now I understand that plastic is more impact resistant than glass, but plastic scratches much easier than glass, so that's something to keep in mind if you have this phone. Additionally, this phone does not record 4K video, its maximum is 1080p. Apparently, the camera was not the focus or selling point of the S41.

Our astronauts on Mars Snapchat game is going to be pretty weak. On the side of the phone we have a metal button, which is programmable for any application with a short press function and a long press function. Now that's useful. And we have another flap that keeps the SIM and SD card slots sealed. The iPhone 8 is water resistant up to 1 meter, only for 30 minutes. This CAT S41 is waterproof to 2 meters deep for up to one hour. CAT doesn't mess around. Inside this phone is a massive 5,000 milliamp battery that CAT says has a talk time of 38 hours or 44 days standby.

Very impressive. I tried an art class with Jerry on the back rubber, but the resistance of the rubber closes in the cuts of my razor blade, hiding my beautiful cat that I drew on the CAT phone. He has little pointy ears and everything. The CAT logo is embedded in the rubber, but it's pretty solid and would take a lot of abuse to fall off on its own. So I'm just going to return this. Like new. And now the

burn

test. Remember, we are working with several different screen layers here. This is a 5-inch, 1080p display and I left the flame in place for about 15 seconds before the outer layer of plastic started to bubble and melt.

It was a little crunchy. And now the surprising structural

bend

ing test. I was expecting the phone to be a little stiffer than it is. There is decent flex on the front and back of the phone. Of course, this isn't a bad thing at all, as nothing was broken or broken, or even permanently disfigured. Everything straightens out after

bend

ing, but has some bounce. Simply put, the phone is incredibly durable when it comes to water resistance and drop protection, as long as you don't mind the plastic screen and plastic camera lens. It may not be the most common, but the S41 will survive basically anything.

If you had to choose one feature as the most important feature of your smartphone, what would it be? Let me know in the comments. And come hang out with me on Instagram. Thank you very much for watching and we'll see you around.