- Analysis by KJ David
Cat's 2018 B35 model is a rugged candybar phone designed for shoppers looking for a compact and sturdy device to carry with them to field assignments or outdoor adventures. It packs a bunch of pros and cons that are reminiscent of those of some leading rugged phones on the market.
Kicking off with its least-appealing specs, this feature phone comes with a tiny 2.4-inch display sitting on an archaic QVGA resolution of only 320 x 240 
. It also does not go beyond 512MB of RAM , although this setback is not a very depressing one, coming from a bar phone of its kind.
Also, the B35 won't beat most other basic and senior-friendly phones when it comes to physique, measuring 13.9mm thick , whereas most non-rugged phones measure less than 10mm thick. A highly-welcome trade-off for that con, though, is its ruggedized shell. For one, it passes IP68 standards, making it dust-tight and waterproof to up to 1.2 meters for a maximum of 35 minutes 
. Furthermore, it is MIL-STD-810G-certified, which means that it withstands accidental drops onto concrete from up to 1.8 meters and can survive things like temperature extremes as well as salt fogs.
Another thing that makes a big difference for this Cat phone is that it comes with a 4G LTE (Bands 1, 3, 7, 8, and 20) network adapter , putting it on a higher level than a lot of other rugged feature phones outright in terms of connectivity. Remember to check out Phonerated's list of the newest 4G phones here. Going alongside its aforementioned network reach is a 2300mAh battery that reaches up to 720 hours (30 days) on standby and promises a 12-hour (720 minutes) continuous talk time.
Its remaining under-the-hood pros and cons include a dual-core 1.3GHz Qualcomm 8905 processor , which, as of this review, was a surefire pro, at least insofar as the basic and feature phone category is concerned. It also comes with 4GB of native memory that can be expanded using the microSD card slot sitting right beside its nano SIM card tray -- it is offered in a dual-SIM variant as well.
The B35 also claims to be way easier to use than most tantamount phones, since it comes preloaded with essential Google applications, such as Google Assistant, Google Maps, and YouTube. Also, it touts a basic 2-megapixel camera capable of capturing basic 480p videos at 30fps.
Initially priced at around 126 dollars, the Cat B35 makes for a solid purchase for non-techies eying a simple, rugged, 4G-enabled feature phone.
On-paper Review score: 
We're delighted that the Cat B35 can record fancy 800 x 480 videos, but we're surprised we didn't find any sign of the B35 sporting an HDMI port (which comes in handy to watch HD videos on your shiny HDTV without having to move them first to your computer).
- Recommended alternative: The latest HDMI phone models
This is only a basic phone
A 2-megapixel camera is kind of weak these days. If you intend to shoot pictures with your phone, you might want to consider other cell phones with a higher-resolution camera.
- Recommended alternative: How to spot a great camera phone: 42 questions answered
Not too long ago, this smartphone's processing specs would have appeared nice, but compared to recent smartphones, this 1.3GHz Qualcomm 8905 processor with only 512MB of RAM looks a little pale.
It's disappointing that we were not able to find information about its weight.
It is promoted as more resistant to water, dust and shocks.
- More on this: Photo gallery of the latest rugged phones
Video can be recorded at 30 frames per second, which is a high-enough frames per second rate by today's video phone standards.
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