CAT S62 review

What it is

A rugged 5.7-inch Android phone built to the same standard as the rest of the CAT range, with the thermal imager left out. For buyers who want a phone that survives a working day and have no use for finding hot spots in a wall, that omission is the whole point: it takes the price down substantially.

The body is 9.3 mm thick with a textured lower panel, a fingerprint reader on the back and pogo pins for dock accessories. Nothing about it is subtle.

It does not have a thermal camera, whatever the listing photos show

This needs saying first because buyers keep getting caught by it. The product photos on some listings show FLIR thermal imagery in use. The S62 does not have a FLIR camera. The S62 Pro does.

One owner describes nearly buying this model believing it had thermal imaging, and only finding out by checking the manufacturer's own site. He was happy with the purchase in the end — he wanted a rugged work phone, not a thermal camera — but the listing had almost sold him the wrong thing.

If thermal imaging is why you are here, read our S62 Pro review instead.

Mobile data works on T-Mobile and nowhere else

This is the single most important thing to understand before ordering, and it is more specific than the usual carrier warning.

The phone carries T-Mobile's LTE data bands and not AT&T's or Verizon's. An owner who tested it unlocked on AT&T reports exactly what happens: calls work, including 911. SMS works. MMS works. VoLTE works. Mobile data does not, and AT&T sends a text saying the device is unsupported.

So it is not that the phone fails on AT&T — it is that it becomes a phone without an internet connection unless you are on Wi-Fi or tethered to something else. That owner solved it with a partner's hotspot, which tells you how workable the compromise is.

On T-Mobile and its MVNOs, none of this applies.

Two listings, and they disagree about carriers

The S62 is sold under more than one listing, and the carrier claims are not the same. This is the thing to check before you order.

One listing describes the phone as T-Mobile branded and unlocked for all GSM carriers, naming T-Mobile, Metro by T-Mobile, AT&T and Cricket. The other is the T-Mobile version described above, and the owner account of testing it on AT&T is unambiguous: calls, SMS, MMS and VoLTE all work, mobile data does not.

Both cannot be right about AT&T data, and the safe reading is the owner's. If you are on T-Mobile or one of its MVNOs, either listing works and the question is only price. If you are on AT&T or Cricket and need mobile data, ask the seller to confirm in writing before ordering, and buy somewhere with an easy return.

We link to both so you can compare what is in stock.

Unlocking it: use the right app

Another trap worth knowing, because the obvious route fails.

Some units arrive factory unlocked and some do not, and the listing text about receiving unlock instructions confuses everyone including T-Mobile's own staff. If yours needs unlocking, the tool is built into Android: Settings, then About Phone, then the Unlock option. One owner reports it working smoothly from there.

What does not work is the near-identical unlock app in the Play Store. Same look, does nothing. And T-Mobile support cannot unlock a phone that was never active on their network — the handset itself is the unlock tool.

Battery, and the two places grit collects

Battery life is the standout. 4000 mAh behind a modest screen and a mid-range chip, and one owner reports the first charge lasting a week. Even allowing for light use, that is a different category from a normal smartphone.

Two practical annoyances from the same owner, both worth knowing before you buy. Sand works its way into the lip around the screen and has to be picked out. And the USB-C port is unusually wide, so lint and grit find their way in — check it is clear before plugging anything in, because forcing a cable into a port full of debris is how ports die.

The same owner also notes, fairly, that he has no intention of testing the claim about filming underwater for 35 minutes. A rating is a lab result, not a dare.

Built to be disinfected, not just rinsed

An unusual specification that matters to a specific set of buyers. The manufacturer rates the body for more than three thousand bleach wipe cycles and states it can be submerged and scrubbed with soaps and disinfectants.

The related claim is that no case is needed, because the rugged design is integrated — and a case is exactly the thing that traps and accumulates germs on a phone carried into a clinical or food-handling environment.

For healthcare, veterinary, food service and laboratory work that combination is hard to find elsewhere. For everyone else it is a curiosity.

A note on software

Ships on Android 10 with an upgrade to Android 11, and that is where it stops. Do not buy this expecting newer versions or continuing security patches.

Who it competes with

Against the S62 Pro you give up the FLIR thermal imager and save a significant amount of money. That is the entire decision, and for most buyers the S62 is the right side of it.

Against the S75 you give up satellite messaging, 5G and a much larger screen, and gain a phone actually sold for the US market rather than imported from Europe.

Against a mainstream mid-range phone in a rugged case, you gain a body rated for bleach and submersion, and give up mobile data on two of the three US networks.