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Seek thermal camera allows heat vision on your phone

• Egon Kilin
• September 26th, 2014

There have been many improvements on the smartphone camera front, from optical image stabilization, to 50 MP shots, 40 MP sensor, dual cameras, dual LED flash, camera mounts like the GoPro and HTC’s upcoming ReCamera, but a thermal camera for smartphones is truly a novelty.

The Seek thermal camera is not one of those apps you can get on the Apple store or on the Google Play Store. It’s actually a camera mount that offers actual heat seeking features. The thermal camera isn’t as high end as those used by the military or navy, but it still does the job if you’re interested in such gadgets. The thermal camera is compatible with both Android 4.3 and higher and iOS devices.

The thermal camera has pretty poor resolution, 206*156 to be exact, but for the purpose of heat seeking, that resolution will do just find. A thermal camera that you can mount on your smartphone would be a very handy, albeit rarely used tool. You could actually use the thermal camera to detect thermal leaks in your home, detect people and animals in your environment in the dark, check temperatures of food and beverages and any other use you can think of.

The Seek Thermal Camera will set you back $200, but it might be worth the investment if you can actually use it. For instance, a thermal camera can come in handy at a workplace where you handle a lot of heat-treated material and you can detect whether cooled parts and still hot parts are put in the correct places. You can also us the thermal camera to detect overheating equipment and machinery, as well.  Even though it’s not a professional thermal camera, it will certainly do the job.

There is an alternative thermal camera in the form of an iPhone case, called the FLIR iPhone camera, but that’s even more expensive than the Seek thermal camera and will set you back roughly $350. The Seek thermal camera seems to be more practical, since it plugs in to your USB or lightning port on your phone, rather than wrap around your iPhone, turning it bulkier and a lot heavier. Can you think of at least 10 things you’d use the Seek thermal camera for?