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The rugged, waterproof, droppable CAT S50 (pictures)

The CAT S50 is a 4.7-inch Android phone with a rough-and-tumble body that's waterproof, dustproof and droppable.

Andrew Lanxon
Andrew is CNET's go-to guy for product coverage and lead photographer for Europe. When not testing the latest phones, he can normally be found with his camera in hand, behind his drums or eating his stash of home-cooked food. Sometimes all at once.
Andrew Lanxon
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If you're into extreme sports and need a phone that won't shatter the first time it pops off your mountain bike's handlebars, check out the CAT S50.

This 4.7-inch Android phone is built with toughness in mind. It's shockproof, waterproof, dustproof and can survive in temperatures as low as -25C and as high as 55C (-13 to 131F).

This rough and tumble mobile will be available later this year for around $499 or €499 (£300 or AU$700, based on a direct conversion).

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Just check out that back panel -- it looks like the tyres from some colossal mining vehicle.

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It's 12.7mm thick, which is far chunkier than the skinny iPhone 5S, but Apple's device won't come off nearly as well if it gets accidentally hurled to the floor.

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The 4.7-inch display has a 720p resolution, which isn't brilliant, but it seemed reasonably crisp in my hands-on time.

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Android KitKat is on board.

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There's an 8-megapixel camera on the back, surrounded, of course, by a burly-looking screw head.

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The buttons on the edge are all rubberised to help keep the water out and seemed easy enough to press -- although how easy they are to find when you have gloves on may be another matter entirely.

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The major ports are covered by flaps to remain watertight.

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The corners of the phone are rubberised to help protect it when it inevitably falls to the ground.

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Exposed screw heads are something of a style faux pas on most phones, but on a rugged CAT, it looks good.

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There's a speaker tucked into the back.

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You may remember the CAT name from the sides of massive excavators and mining machines.

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The headphone jack has been covered by a port too, which will likely be annoying if you regularly swap your headphones in and out. Recent waterproof phones such as the Sony Xperia Z2 have made use of waterproof jacks that don't need covering, so it's a shame to not see that here.

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The phone has 4G LTE and built-in wireless charging.

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CAT has developed its own app store too, which picks out apps it thinks will be relevant to its adventurous users.

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