The flir camera I would say I used most often at night for finding my dogs poop to pick up on neighbours lawns in the dark, but I used it on boats to find moisture, motorcycle engine seals to find gasket problems, found contractor fraud where they didn't bother putting insulation behind drywall, and places around windows for caulking to reduce heat loss, heat on horses legs that indicated inflammation, lack of current on wires in my basement. Mostly novelty, but handy.
The battery became too flaky to use as a regular phone, so I keep it in my toolbox and use it as a stud finder behind drywall and used to find where animals were getting into the attic of the house. Next test is for rim leaks on car tires. It has been a small time saver, and a fun conversation piece. But yeah, military thermal imaging to find dog poop at night was most common use case.
Someone explained to me it's more of a supply chain thing than planned obsolescence. Phone technology and batteries specifically have pretty short production lives - keeping a battery in production and in stock for long periods of time can be crippling to your product line when the competitors come out with 10% denser batteries every year.
Actual disposable batteries (remember those?) have improved dramatically over the decades but you can still put a brand new AA battery loaded with the latest 2022 tech into a remote control from the 50s and expect it to work.
4 years would be fine if you voluntarily upgrade because a newer model improves over what you have in an appreciable way. 4 years isn't fine if the device meets your needs and the only reason you have to replace it is because of the battery wearing out.
I agree most company's have no incentive to do that. I think those incentives should be put in place though.
Here's an amazon link to a variety of options:
https://www.amazon.com/CAT-S60-Cell-Phone-Replacement-Batter...
Cell phone attachment cameras have compatibility problems. For example, find reviews for Flir One Pro. If the cell cannot find the camera, then it's pretty useless.
The reason is simple: you always have your phone on you, or near you. It's the most easily accessible piece of electronics, and - if you're storage limited - the last one you're likely to leave behind. There is a generic social acceptance of everyone having a phone on them (even if stashed in a pocket).
A FLIR camera as a separate device? I'm unlikely to carry it with me unless I have a specific reason, and people will look at me weird if I walk around with one. A smartphone-attachable FLIR camera? It's still a hassle to carry, there's a good chance I'll leave one behind (comparable to a bluetooth headset). A FLIR camera built into smartphone? On me all the time, everywhere, and always ready to use in random, unpredictable situations.
And yes, it's the same reason why regular smartphone cameras all but killed the compact camera as a product. Having a tool always on you expands possible use cases so much it offsets for suboptimal performance/form factor.
I read the other day that compact camera sales had dropped by 98%. I guess I'm one of the 2% that actually has a need for one now.
I use a dedicated thermal camera with bit higher resolution but higher FPS. As others have written they are quite useful as you see thing (even not ET) you could have measured with an IR thermometer if you knew they were there.
i dont even get a blip when looking at airplanes with my thermal camera
I thought the move away from easily removable cases and batteries was more for waterproofing reasons?
Plus, I'm guessing the battery can be replaced, just not by the average user. I'm sure you could get it replaced if you're willing to pay a repair fee.
I really wish phone manufacturers started making flagship-like phones with a removable battery.
I wonder what other use cases previously "serious" technology will be used for.
I remember someone had a magnet of some sort embedded in their finger and could detect current fluctuations in underground electrical systems underneath a city sidewalk.
Eventually I got a new phone from work, which I grudgingly accepted since I wanted Android 12 and a better visible-light camera, but I missed the thermal cam sufficiently that I got an Infiray P2 off Ali as a plug-in substitute. The resolution and refresh rate are a lot better than the Cat, but having to carry an extra dongle (and plugging it in, starting the app, restarting the app when it crashes...) sometimes makes me consider going back. If/when Cat makes a successor, I'd be very tempted to get it.
Edit: The usb-c cam in question for those who are interested https://www.infiray.com/p2-pro-thermal-camera-for-smartphone... (available from the usual suspects)
Was inspired by this old linux.conf.au talk (that I attended in person) about a microwave with a thermal camera in the top. I would love the same above my kitchen stove: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3DADx5z-XY
I'm a die-hard iPhone user so sadly a built-in won't work for me. I currently have a first generation Lightning FLIR One.
It's pretty limited, only a single temperature measurement, no min/max scale you can see (it just auto calibrates), has a terrible rechargable battery and doesn't work with an iPhone case.. but I got it for the bargain basement price of $100 AUD ($67 USD) on Marketplace.
My interest is more related to home effeciency (looking at gaps in insulation etc) but has been fun in the kitchen too.
I'd love one of the newer ones but haven't wanted to justify the cost and happy with my bargain aquisiton :)
I can't wait for these to become more mainstream so recipes start listing "Set stove to 150c" rather than "to medium" which is widely different depending on what stove you use. An amusing story one youtuber shared was the followed some advice that said to set your stove to high and leave it for 10 mins first, advice meant for a gas stove. When they tried it on an electric stove, the oil ignited on contact with the pan.
My phone's battery is degraded now and I'm dreading a switch to something else. I've eyed the S62 but don't think it's an upgrade.
For tea I pretty much found the right amount of cooling time once and now I just repeat it. I boil water, steep for 5 minutes (with a timer), then when that 5 minutes is up I remove the bag and start an 18 minute timer. It's still pretty hot but slowly drinkable then, and within a couple minutes can be comfortably consumed quickly as well. I don't even try to drink before my timers are done anymore as I don't want to scald myself.
I think I also did some experimentation with a laser thermometer, but I don't recall what numbers I landed at, and this way I don't need to wonder how long it will take either. The time also lines up pretty well with eating breakfast if done all together.
My wife has the same issue with hot coffee which drives me a little nuts. She uses a normal mug most of the time. Because she isn't certified in coffee temp detection like I am; she waits and waits, gets distracted, and eventually it becomes too cold. So she reheats it in the microwave, usually to the point where it's too hot, and that cycle continues after it gets too cold again. She's probably reheated coffee in the microwave up to 4-5 times a day at times. It's hilarious and ridiculous. As an engineer, admittedly, I enjoy the hilarity so much I'm not sure if I care about it being resolved!
The issue is two-fold:
1) She lets the coffee hit the outermost parts of her lips and subjects herself to getting destroyed by the high temp lol. I don't understand why this is so difficult for people. Your outermost lips are more sensitive. Don't do that. You don't attack hot coffee like it's a fine bourbon. Also you can feel the temp and steam to know not to even attempt based on your preference and tolerance.
2) She isn't sitting at a desk consistently like most of us. She's everywhere in the house and then leaves, and her coffee intake isn't a priority like many of us.
If I put her coffee in a stainless steel mug with a lid, then it takes too long to cool to her temp. She leaves the lid off to cool and then forgets about returning to it in time. And she doesn't end up drinking the coffee because it becomes too cool. So now she would have to transfer to a microwaveable mug to reheat and start that cycle so she doesn't even bother. If I'm prepping her a roadie coffee, I must pour it, leave the lid off for a period of time and then place it back on so she will attempt drinking it in time in the car to commit to it. If it's too hot, she will more than likely just abandon it and not check back in before we reach our destination.
I got her an Ember mug so she can read the actual temp and control it. But it's not dishwasher safe of course. So she doesn't tend to use it. And from the fresh brewed carafe to the Ember still is too hot, unless the lid is off for some time like the stainless steel mug, lol.
The ideal mug for her would thus be an Ember mug that is dishwasher safe and thus have some sort of twist mechanism to disconnect the battery and status/controls portion from the core mug function. And probably have a vent mechanism on the lid (maybe a double pop on the Ember lid to vent more?) to more quickly get the temp down from initial temp, as the heated mug portion can ensure the set temp is hit anyway.
Someone please build that and save me! Or don't, and I'll enjoy the entertainment derived from the struggle. :)
Before making coffee I put a cup into the fridge so the coffee will cool faster, I have not issues with cold coffee, I just don't want to wait that long.
I also used to add ice to coffee, but that was diluting it.
1. Buying a temperature-adjustable kettle and making coffee at 185° or so instead of boiling. Bonus: I think the coffee tastes better anyway. I recently moved and couldn't take my fancy kettle with me, so now I pour cold water into the boiling kettle until I guesstimate I'm at 185. I guess this tip doesn't work if you're using a Mr. Coffee machine or whatever.
2. Giving the mug a really good blow as soon as the coffee is poured.
3. My wife bought me a few mugs that are much wider at the top than the bottom, meaning there's more exposed surface area and the coffee cools off quicker.
4. Adding an ice cube.
Helps to have containers that have an edge that is easy to pour from. Less spilling.
You put them in a cup and it
1. Quickly cools coffee to that temperature (by increasing temperature and melting). 2. Keeps coffee at that temperature for some point (doesn't go lower until liquid inside is back solid).
I've gave it a cursory google and can't find a name.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_mug
could be made with ink/paint changes that show (very approximately) the temperature (I think the ones around have only on/off states).
A Raman spectrometer is still a fairly exotic piece of hardware, requiring a laser, a notch filter for the laser's wavelength, and a very good conventional spectrophotometer to look for low-level sidebands. There have been some homebrew Raman implementations -- e.g., Ben Krasnow's at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRrOdKW06sk -- but nothing that would fit on the back of a smartphone.
Because some people definitely have [1]
[1] https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2021/ay/d1ay0...
Another DIY Raman setup (on a breadboard so expect few kg): https://www.thepulsar.be/article/openraman-starter-edition/
Look up cell phone raman spectroscope and there's many done over the past decade
I think people's readyness to slap "fake" on everything these days is the only travesty here
https://www.pozible.com/project/zpecsen-mobile-spectrometer-...
> AU$0 of $19,800 target
> 2yrs ago
> Closed on 9th Feb 2021 at 5:00PM.
Keep in mind airports have this technology by now
[1] https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4001227941445.html
I don't love it like I did the nokia n900 but it is decent. It's an android that goes underwater, can take photos there and you can drop without being worried about breaking it including the screen - all phones should be like that.
The flir camera pics look just like that, haven't really found a use for it yet but I guess I might one day. The endoscope is also a cool idea that hasn't really worked out so well when I've wanted to use it. It works it just an endoscope frequently isn't as useful as you'd hope it could be.
Like every single android phone vendor they really need to get out of the business of providing the OS and set it up as a community project so it works the way you want and has upgrades if you want. Not that Apple, controlling everything, are better at this iphone6 now junk etc.
No, let's have some choice. You pay for the ruggedness in size, weight and aesthetics. That's not a trade-off everyone wants to make.
If we want to talk about the utility of a thermal camera, I found it neat. I used a $150 Seek camera to diagnose poor insulation in my bedroom, and one contractor even offered free advice over email since the images were clear enough. I've also used it to find hot ICs on a PCB. The resolution of these lower cost modules isn't great, which you can see by all the postprocessing they advertise. But it's enough to see which wall is leaky, or which IC needs a heatsink.
That was last week.
(Seasons are a lousy way of describing times for anything other than local, geographically-anchored content. They’re only meaningful in a comparatively narrow band, falling apart if you head much towards the poles or equator—the four seasons model is useless in tropical areas especially—and inverting if you head to the other side of the equator.)
Our friends in the USA often assume the people they are talking to are only in the USA!
Given the context, 'spring' is just another way of saying second quarter. It has nothing to do with seasons beyond incidental alignment between calendar quarters and observed seasons in certain geographic areas where the use originated. Indeed, even second quarter breaks down where the Gregorian calendar isn't used, but you have to make assumptions at some point in order to communicate. Context fills in the gaps.
also, they offered phones with flir cameras before, so nothing new on this front either.
You can see the phone at 4min in this video https://youtu.be/BDUOtlVc4UM
I'm one of today's lucky 10,000 to find out about IR cameras for smartphones.
> Announced 2020, June 28
> Status Available. Released 2020, August 17
[0]: https://www.digikey.com/en/product-highlight/f/flir/lepton-3...
Although I see I can save quite a bit of effort by buying a 25Hz HIKMICRO thermal camera on US Amazon.
You can get FLIR modules for most smartphones (Android and iOS). Not sure I'd buy a phone, just for the camera.
If all the niche phones don't have updates, that's probably a failing of the OS rather than the niche phones.
Somehow, Microsoft manages to get Windows updates out to everywhere and computers in stores end up having the latest OS on there. Google makes Chrome OS devices update. I think there's two or three projects that were supposed to make Android updates actually happen, but where's the pudding?
For starters it had a mediocre Snapdragon SoC - better than the average cheapophone, but lacking in a product that was in the premium tier regarding price. The FLIR camera was neat, but inferior to the add-on camera I was using at the time, yet still decent. The cherry on top came when the "ruggedised" phone couldn't cope with normal wear and tear and the plastic started to separate from the case, in a manner similar to the grips in an Xbox Controller Elite game pad that I also owned during that time.
At that point I just desisted from having the CAT phone as my mainly driver and mostly relegated it to the role of auxiliary tool just to have it die suddenly on me. I tried to follow CAT's convoluted RMA process (or perhaps their Bullitt licensee who actually make their phones, I can't remember), chock-full of awful chats and sending non-stop repeated information prompts in order to process a return until I realised I bought it from Amazon and just obtained a refund.
As I said, I really tried to like the product but my experience was so horrible that I gave up on "working phones" altogether.
why bother when Chinese are manufacturing ~$200 _25hz_ 256×192 standard USB3 microbolometers? Look up INFIRAY P2 Pro/T2S+, SNDWAY SW-8256 etc
mikeselectricstuff: Infiray P2 Pro smartphone thermal camera review & teardown https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMQeXq1ujn0
STS Telecom: Infiray T2S+ Thermal Camera Review https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qt1JBA4W6n8
The 25hz part is important because microbolometers are under ITAR restrictions meaning no US/allied manufacturer offers anything over 9Hz to ordinary consumers.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005004950256049.html
So which effing company makes this, and why are we allowing this stupid white labeling to occur.
Funny aside. Maybe Elon should buy Amazon and kick off all drop shippers, white label resellers, chinese sellers and all duplicate items by enforcing unique codes for every unique product. Make Amazon Great Again.
I want to see 320X240(or the european equiv, 384X288), 640X480, and higher resolution thermals in them! Otherwise we're still hanging out around FLIR One Territory, and the years are going by fast and they aren't pushing the boundary really! Those Leptons are cheap, but haven't changed much! (And yes, FLIR MSX is a thing- but , owning thermal cameras with multiples the resolution- i'd take that over MSX if i had to choose, every time)
I see one competitor, the AGM ones like the AGM Glory Ones, (hard to see differences with their top models) , and a few other companies- have Night vision cameras with near-infrared illumination lights, for the user, as well- not just the thermal imaging- It's the dream to see as many different sensors and options in a phone as one can fit.
Trust me, they come into use- I've saved multiple pets in the dark in my neighborhood, spotted equipment that was about to ignite, and done so much more with my own thermal cameras- having MORE capabilities- actually goes farther than you can imagine, when you have them...
https://hackaday.com/2013/11/04/manufacturer-crippled-flir-e...
You can find hacked ones on ebay too.
This time I actually kept the plastic cover on my phone - at least the back and sides are covered, and it sticks out about 1mm above the screen, so it has some protection from cracking the screen; but I still managed to crack it on my first attempt...
The nice thing is that you can run them from desktop with tool https://source.dpin.de/nica/flir-gtk
You're getting a crummy phone nowhere near as good as flagships from Apple, Google, and Samsung, just because you can get a FLIR camera integrated.
Why not just buy one of these? https://industrial-reviews.com/smartphone-thermal-camera/
They are cheapo Chinese Android phones, with a gimmick. The gimmick can work for some people, sure. Didn’t work for me.
I will drop my phone. It'll fall out of my pocket. I will sit on it. Sometimes it will land on a hard surface. It'll get wet. It'll get muddy. It'll get unceremoniously tossed in my gym bag. All these things happen. With most phones, this means I have to replace the screen if not the phone. With a CAT, there's no noticeable effect at all.
I also really like how heavy and sturdy they are. Makes them easier to find. Battery life is also amazing. Mine is down to needing charging every two days now after a couple of years. My girlfriend's similar-aged flagship Samsung needs a filler-upper in the afternoon to make a full day.
Anyway CAT matches what I want in a phone. This isn't for everyone, but let's not pretend nobody wants a phone that is sturdy and basic. Because I really do.
In my efforts to find the perfect rugged phone, I honestly feeling like I am chasing butterflies.
It is certainly on my radar wherever my current phone finally kicks the bucket so to speak
> Drop tested multiple times onto concrete & solid steel from up to 1.8m (6ft) to prove their rugged credentials.
> Designed to exceed MIL-SPEC 810H protection against dust, as well as shock, water, vibration and extreme temperatures.
> IP68 & IP69 rating system proves your phone can handle not just a brief dunk in water but also complete submersion.
> Wash and sanitise with soaps, hand sanitisers, anti-bacterial sprays, alcohol wipes and even bleach.
are features attractive to many who work outdoors in construction, engineering, surveying, hands on dirty roles.
Probably the reason for the subpar FLIR resolution on this phone as well.
Nope. You are confusing proper Far-Infrared thermal cameras (which can "see" radiated heat in the e.g. -10..60c range, and tell you that the top left corner of that window is poorly insulated), and regular CMOS cameras lacking an IR filter, which just see up to a few hundred nanometers beyond far-red (up to 1000 I'd guess?), and some clothes would be transparent at those wavelengths if illuminated by the right source (the Sun being one). You can easily buy filter-less IR cameras for scientific or astronomical purposes, or if you want to perv I guess, they're readily available. Plop ~20 bucks on a Pi NOIR camera for example, for the Raspberry Pi.
(Actually every CMOS sensor sees in that band - it's reasonably easy to modify many cameras and remove the IR filter if that's what you want)
An actual thermal camera is way more expensive and has a far lower resolution unless you want to spend more than on a Tesla. Not to mention, it's subject to ITAR export controls if you're in the US.
But large apertures? Are you thinking of the longer wavelength? For near infrared, this is a thing- and other night optics....and things like NVGs which use Near infrared
But, this isn't ...a thing for MWIR/LWIR, and not necessarily for SWIR either
The reason not ALL thermals have to be cryogenically cooled- is microbolometers - that's the key.
- I own a bunch of uncooled LWIR cameras, that i use- and NVGs as well
The Cat42 is based on a mediatek chipset and gave us "meh" performance. BT/BLE was underwhelming compared to other phones. I'd recommend something like an Cat53 or 62 with Qualcomm guts instead.
https://fossbytes.com/sony-accidentally-launched-camcorders-...
https://www.flir.com/news-center/camera-cores--components/fl...
Thermal sensors of this type are huge and expensive. At work I also have a Flir with 1024x768 sensor, super expensive with a massive germanium (or something) lens. One of the problems for handheld applications is that you always need two separate optical paths since the lensing is totally incompatible. So you end up having to register the two images to each other, which can fail when it's darkish or the image doesn't have a lot of edges.
https://www.flir.com/products/lepton/
Scroll down for full specifications.
Key property is also thermal sensitivity, which for Lepton 3.5 is <50mK. Better sensitivity and you will be able to see finer gradients or need less temperature gradient to observe.
Lepton 3.5 professional grade camera 1440 x 1080 HD output with VividIR MSX linear overlay from visual cam Measurable range: -20°C to 400°C
Where did you score it for that price, marketplace, eBay?
Though even the $500 AUD odd going rate on eBay is pretty good given the cost of any of the devices with a screen built-in.
It isn't as good as the FLIR on the Cat phone, but if you're one of those people going "Man, having a FLIR around the house would be cool" - this is the solution for you. And it will outlive your phone...so long as you don't change "sides" in the OS Wars.
Does anyone expect the IR to look any other direction than forward on a phone?
Seriously though, does ROM no longer stand for read-only memory?
More seriously, the use of "ROM" to mean "nonvolatile storage in general" probably took off when the Android community began calling their firmware "ROMs".
