If you're looking for an ultra-luxury smartphone, Cat has a new one for you: the S42 H+ is a friendly smartphone designed for toughness, but with an anti-bacterial coating built into the phone itself.

In these times of pandemics, many of us are becoming more aware of the little things that potentially inhabit our phones, and the S42 H+'s construction itself helps to repel the bacteria that many of us carry with us.

Because silver has antimicrobial properties, Cat partnered with Addmaster to use Addmaster's Biomaster silver ion technology. This is the difference between the S42 H+ (Hygiene Plus Innovation) and the regular S42. Other than that, it is the same phone.

But forgive me if I don't know off the top of my head what the S42 is. These ultra-rugged phones are not often marketed to the general consumer, posing as "blue-collar" devices designed to withstand harsher conditions.

For example, the phone is IP68 and IP69 certified and can withstand warm soapy water. It can withstand 3,000 bleach wipe tests and can withstand commonly used chemical mixtures, such as hand sanitizers. The phone can be washed as often as needed.

The Cat S42 H+ is powered by a MediaTek Helio A20 processor, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, a 4,200mAh battery, and runs Android 10. 13MP rear camera and 5MP front camera. The display is 5.5" HD+, and the touchscreen works even when wet or with gloves; it is an LTE device, so 5G is not supported; the S42 is certainly not going to compete with the best Android phones.

The S42 H+ will be available in the UK at the end of April for €269. In the U.S., it will be available later this summer for $299. Android 11 will be released later this year (unfortunately probably after Android 12 is released).