Caterpillar to launch rugged Cat B15 Android handset next month

What do you think of when you hear the name Caterpillar? Insects? Butterflies? Rugged construction vehicles, equipment and machines for the construction and mining industry? Actually, it is the company that makes the latter that we are talking about. With its construction and mining equipment and vehicles designed to work regardless of weather and terrain, it seems that making a rugged smartphone model would be a natural extension of its product line.

The rugged Cat B15

The Cat B15 is an Android smartphone that has a rugged IP67 certification which means it can survive in 1 meter of water for 30 minutes and also is resistant to dust. At the same time, the device is protected by its casing which is made of silver anodized aluminum and shock absorbent rubber. That means it can survive a drop of 1.8 meters.

The Cat B15 is equipped with a 4 inch WVGA display made of Gorilla Glass, with a dual-core 1GHz MediaTek MT6577 processor under the hood. 512MB of RAM is on board with 4GB of native storage that can be expanded by using the microSD slot on the phone. Android 4.1 is installed out of the box.

The Cat B15 is not the most high-end device around, but it can take a beating. If you're in a situation where your phone faces destruction on a daily basis due to your line of work, or if you treat your phone rather shabbily, you might want consider the Cat B15. Priced at 329 EUR ($434.71 USD) SIM free, the device will be ready next month. If your smartphones keep breaking, make 2013 the year of the Cat.