FLIR announces new thermal cameras for USB Type-C devices

Our phones can do some pretty amazing things nowadays. With each passing day, it seems like these devices are replacing more and more dedicated hardware on the market, and there is less and less of a reason to carry anything else on your person. Thermal cameras have been out for a bit now for mobile devices, but FLIR just announced an update to their lineup to add compatibility with USB Type-C devices and introduce a brand new app.

There are two new units available for purchase, the FLIR One and FLIR One Pro. Both use USB Type-C connectivity, meaning you can connect them facing towards or away from you, depending on what it is you want to read the heat of. The previous generation used MicroUSB, which caused quite a few issues because of the non-reversible nature of the port. Some phones left the camera facing away from the user, while some pointed towards them. Now you can flip it whichever way you like.

The new units have a special wheel which let you extend the male USB connector, allowing users to use the cameras even while rocking a case on their device. With a dedicated battery built right into the module, you’ll be able to use the cameras for about an hour without using any extra energy from your phone.

If you’re trying to figure out the difference between the two models, the FLIR One uses a sensor resolution of 80×60, where the FLIR One Pro doubles that for a resolution of 160×120. In addition, the base model can only read up to 120C while the Pro can read up to 400C.

The FLIR One will set you back $199.99 while the Pro model is going to cost double that, at $399.99. Both are available to pre-order now, and will be making their way to customers later this summer.

Would you buy a thermal camera for your phone? Let us know in the comments below.