b15
Latest
Caterpillar CAT B15 rugged smartphone hands-on
Caterpillar's signature yellow and black CAT branding was definitely spinning heads and getting passerby's attention as it showed off its rugged B15. As far as tough goes the handset's corners are wrapped in rubber with the connections in between covered with anodized aluminum. The B15 is IP67 certified, which means both protected from dust and waterproof up to 3.3 feet for 30 minutes and can be dropped from about six feet and live to tell the tale -- you, however, may not. Other notables include a 4-inch WVGA display, dual-core 1GHz Cortex-A9 and a 5-megapixel camera that'll shoot 720p video and can do continuous pic shooting. Sadly, we forgot our rubber mallet at home so we couldn't try to beat it to pieces but we did appreciate the housing on the CAT phone it's surprisingly nice to hold and well put together. Sure, there's a wee bit of overkill with the tough machine branding, but we're sure this phone will garner a bit of a following. Our favorite bit? The Caterpillar phone features something called wet finger tracking, so even if you happen to fall into a deep puddle while using your B15, you can finish whatever you were up to before tumbling. The B15 ships in March for a cool $436, though, there's no word on what carrier's planning to scoop this up -- see what we did there? There's a gallery of the B15 in all its tough guy splendor after the break.
Caterpillar CAT B15 smartphone offers a taste of rugged Jelly Bean
We've seen our fair share of rugged smartphones, but there's a certain amount of attention due when a heavy equipment builder like Caterpillar gets involved. Its newest smartphone, the CAT B15, undoubtedly has the survivability you'd expect from a company that makes bulldozers: the aluminum-and-rubber shell can survive 5.9-foot drops on to hard concrete, stay immersed in 3.3 feet of water for half an hour and keep working in temperatures between -4F to 122F. Just don't expect top-flight performance elsewhere. While we're big fans of the CAT B15 shipping with Jelly Bean, its 4-inch WVGA screen, dual-core 1GHz Cortex-A9 chip, 512MB of RAM and 5-megapixel camera won't have many of us giving up our faster, more fragile devices. The phone's £299 and €329 European prices (about $437) could still lead to the more accident-prone among us picking up a CAT B15 when it ships in March.
Panasonic's DMP-B15 portable Blu-ray player: $800, ships this month
It'll definitely run you less here in America than it would if you chose to import straight from Japan, but the planet's first BD-Live-capable portable Blu-ray player still ain't cheap. Today, Panny announced that its DMP-B15 -- which originally broke cover at CES -- will be shipping later this month in the US for $799.95. That nets you an 8.9-inch WSVGA display, VIERA CAST internet accessibility, an SD card slot, 2.5 hour rechargeable battery, HDMI output and BD-Live (Profile 2.0) functionality. Oh, and quiet kids on the next road trip to Gramps' pad, which is totally priceless.
Panasonic's CES 2009 wrap-up
Panasonic just shocked us good fashion with some pretty incredibly HD-related releases at its CES 2009 press conference, and we figured we'd round 'em all up so you don't miss anything. Have a look below at the shots -- we'll be working to get more details (price, availability, that sort of stuff) as soon as it's ready.Read - Hands-on with Panasonic's 0.33-inch thick Neo PDP Eco plasmaRead - Hands-on with Panasonic's DMP-B15 portable Blu-ray player at CES 2009Read - Panasonic introduces wireless, 1-inch thick TC-P54Z1 VIERA plasmaRead - Three new Blu-ray players from Panasonic: BD60, BD80 and BD70V
