Remember
back in the nineties when there were loads of fly-on-the-wall
documentaries about the police? Probably the most exciting part of
the show was when the inevitable night time crook chase ended in a
hovering helicopter using a thermal imagining camera to spot the
offender hiding on a garage roof. Now we can have that much fun
around the house, thanks to Seek Thermal.
What
we have here is a small device that directly plugs into your
smartphone, either iOS or Android powered (there's a version with a
micro USB an another with a Lightning connector), which then lets you
see the heat signature of people, animals, objects etc. Basically the
Seek Thermal turns your phone into a thermal imagining camera.
Awesome.
And
awesome it is. Simply download the Seek Thermal app, plug the device
straight it, and the app will automatically open and present you an
image of what it can 'see'. That means in less than a minute or two
after opening the box, Seek Thermal allows you to be the Predator.
Watch out for US Army Commandos!
But
why bother? Why would you want to be able to see the temperature of
something? Well, we discovered that, once we'd got over the initial
OH MY GOD LOOK HOW HOT MY HAND IS stage, Seek Thermal could offer a
multitude of uses around the home and office. With the gadget
attached to your phone you can see what is going on inside your
walls, from electrical wiring to water and gas pipes. If you are
drilling a hole and need to be sure where the live wires are, this
can help. It can also assist in identifying water leaks, draughty
gaps in windows and doors, and radiators that require bleeding.
A hand! And a married hand at that!
If
you are a builder or a plumber, the Seek Thermal would seem to be
quite a handy bit of kit then. Certainly it isn't something that will
be bought on a whim, as at around £250 it ain't cheap. But, as well
as the gadget's ability to see heat, the app also presents that data
in a number of nice ways. You have a choice of showing the thermal
image in several colour modes, from the bright and traditional
setting where heat is represented by the whole spectrum, to a
sinister-looking grey scale mode where people will look like black
eyed demons.
The bathroom sink; hot water flowing on the left, cold on the right.
As
the Seek Thermal app is essentially a photography app, you can of
course snap pictures or record videos. The images and footage will
capture whatever the app is currently displaying on screen, meaning
you have the choice to record the on-screen temperature gauge, which
shows how hot stuff is in either Celsius or, If you're old or
American, Fahrenheit. The Seek Thermal will also work in conjunction
with your phone's conventional camera to create a split-screen image
of an object or person.
Mama and baby. Check out the difference between glasses and real eyes. Freaky.
So
yes, the Seek Thermal is tonnes of fun... to start with. If you're
investing in one of these we'll assume it isn't just to muck around
with and make weird videos of your heat footprints. Although
smartphone accessories are often designed for fun and not to be taken
too seriously, the Seek Thermal is clearly something that will be of
infinite use to tradespeople, health and safety officers, medical
professionals, the police, and even the military. Not many gadgets
can claim that.
