SEEK THERMAL unveils $199 thermal camera for android phones

[jeff5may]

Seek Thermal has begun shipping these units at $199, and they actually work.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbbkvwJRwxs

Buy one here:

Seek Thermal Camera Android

Check out the seek:

Hands-On With The $199 Seek Thermal Smartphone Infrared Camera (Yes, Really Actually): This Is Amazing

This product has put to death a good amount of start-up companies attempting to realize the same type of product. They are just too doggone cheap for others to compete with.

To wit: a recent post by John McGrath, the man behind the mu-optics camera:

"Hello everyone,

Our apologies for the silence of late. Most of you have heard about Seek Thermal's entry into the market. Needless to say, it's quite the game changer. We've been working towards a response to this new market reality.

The arrival into the market of a camera with higher resolution than the sensors available to us and a sell price well below our cost of goods, with thirty million in the bank as a result of a patent settlement with FLIR and backed by companies such as Raytheon and Freescale Semiconductor has left us very challenged in bringing our camera to market. While it is true that Mu Optics has a number of residual advantages; with WiFi and transferring all the thermal data with the stills and videos being the main ones: it is still a Herculean task for us to get to market given this well-funded competitor.

Regretfully, just as our camera was ready for production, we're now finding it impossible to obtain financing for production. Financing for production has effectively vaporized as venture capital looks at the new competitive landscape and question wether we can be profitable and competitive. I understand their concerns; despite all recent efforts to redesign the camera utilizing more cost effective components (the most difficult item has been in further in reducing our costs has been the microbolometer), we still can't get our cost to manufacture a camera below $210. At that cost we believe that we would be competitive with FLIR's offerings. However, with mark-up, we're well above the retail cost of Seek Thermal's camera. Their strategy; that of minimal feature-set/ minimal cost/ high volume which has sent shockwaves through the industry.

I can't confirm when, or if, we'll make it to production. It would only be fair to say that, baring a miracle, that we are shutting down operations.

Despite the opinion of a handful of naysayers, our intent has always been earnest. We just didn't see Seek Thermal waiting in the wings, operating in stealth mode right up till their market entry. Our lack of communications was simply my paranoid belief that others were coming and I refused to share information about our camera that I believed to be detrimental to our timing into the market and the proprietary design of our camera. I never anticipated someone so deeply funded entering the market. I admit to mistakes along the way, without which we may have gotten to market quicker, and grab some market share before having to deal with Seek. "

If you've got to have one to play with, I would hurry up and get one in my hands now. Seek has seemed to have cornered the bottom end of the market with this product, so who knows what will happen after they sell out? As with most bleeding-edge products, they may up the price if people like them. Then again, the products may not perform well over the long term. But for a product priced so low, it may very well be worth the risk.

Either way, I'd sure love to get one for Christmas this year!

[Daox]

Very cool. I didn't know these are actually out yet. Thanks for posting!

[pinballlooking]

FLIR ONE™ Personal Thermal Imager by FLIR® - See the Heat°
This one is $50 more but does not support android yet but it looks better.


A strange use for it.
http://youtu.be/8Vc-69M-UWk?list=PL45865A763BAB32CA

[AC_Hacker]

Originally Posted by jeff5may

Seek Thermal has begun shipping these units at $199, and they actually work...

Don't forget... each manufacturer will have a "requirements" section that specifies which iphone or android device is compatible.

-AC

[Mikesolar]

I want it for BB but no one seems to care about making things for this platform.

Why doesn't someone make an app for BB so that iphone and android stuff will work on it.

[jeff5may]

Originally Posted by Mikesolar

I want it for BB but no one seems to care about making things for this platform.

Why doesn't someone make an app for BB so that iphone and android stuff will work on it.

BlackBerry has been drowning in a sea of android for a few years now. I had bb phones and loved them for years. But since around 2008, their devices have not kept up with the functionality of either apple or android - OS devices.

The release of the Iphone and its "smart" functionality set a series of events into motion. The cell phone that included more than PDA functionality became real. But when Google entered the mobile market, the landscape changed. BB and moto both held onto their old ways of life for a short while to see if the new OS was a passing fad. Neither one believed a cell phone could (or should) have functionality rivaling that of a PC.

Whenever moto changed their path and let Google into the circle, a new reality quickly emerged. Many other OEMs fell into formation behind the android OS, and the assemblage reached critical mass. Blackberry was in denial of the potential, and clung to its old business model. The resulting market explosion has driven BB and their OS to the fringe of extinction. I'm not confident they will ever recover.

[AC_Hacker]

Originally Posted by jeff5may

BlackBerry... I'm not confident they will ever recover.

I'm surprised that they're still in business.

I've been seeing them pouring into the thrift stores for the last couple of years.

-AC

[bennelson]

I have an iPhone, and that Flir One looks REALLY interesting. I'm sure I would have TONS of uses for it.

Doax, want to go in on one with me? We could have joint custody.

[Mikesolar]

BB is not a dead company by any means, they are just figuring out where their market is and fighting with Apple obviously isn't it. Their BBM, enterprise server security beats the others hands down and they have a lot going on behind the scenes that we don't see.

Now that the classic phone will be available with the BB10 system, I will be upgrading from my Torch. What someone needs to do is create an app for the BB so that it can use Apple/Android apps. That would be great.

About the SEEK product, I may have to get an old iphone just to have the camera and keep it off line. The thing that bugs me is that there are no specs available so that I can compare SEEK to FLIR or others, and I have no idea if I can switch to degC either.

If I knew that, I would be inclined to buy one.

[jeff5may]

The flir one uses a lepton imager, which boasts a resolution of 80 x 60 pixels. It detects wavelengths of 8 to 14 uM. The seek has their proprietary imager, which is a 206 x 156 array. It sees wavelengths of 7.3 to 13 uM.

Other specs:

Angle of View
Seek 36deg (assuming diagonal)
FLIR 63.5

Temperature range
Seek -40C to 330C
FLIR -273C to >127C (0K to >400K) (inflated claim, no doubt)

Temperature Resolution
Seek no data
FLIR .1C/.18F

Flir has been in business for quite some time building thermal imagers, so even though their detector has less pixel resolution, their software image processing is more advanced than the newer Seek device. As a result (noted in side by side comparisons), the flir unit resolves finer temperature gradients. Flir also has various widgets built in to display the on-screen data in different color schemes, making it easier to match the display with the environment being viewed.

Considering that until these two devices hit the market, a working thermal imager cost $1000 or more to own. These two devices are sure to knock the bottom out of the market, bringing entry-level devices into the reach of the masses.