The alien hunters in the 1987 film Predator helped make thermal imaging a household term. In the movie, the aptly named Predators could "see" their human prey — even in the dark — by using their thermal vision to detect the heat signatures they emitted.
Thermal cameras that allow you to see infrared light — the part of the electromagnetic spectrum that's invisible to the naked human eye — have been around for quite a while, but it's only recently that the technology has become small and affordable enough for regular folks who aren't involved with the military and professional services to consider buying one.
Last year, FLIR Systems launched the FLIR One thermal imaging camera for the iPhone 5 and 5S. The $349 two-piece case essentially turned your iPhone into a thermal camera, allowing you to see the invisible heat signatures that people and things emit. With the exception of a few small flaws, Mashable editor-at-large Lance Ulanoff loved it.
The company's back with a second-generation FLIR One camera and this time it'll work with more than just two iPhone models. It's also cheaper at $249.99.
The new FLIR One camera works with iPhones and iPads, and Android smartphones and tablets. The case-like design has been replaced by a smaller module that weighs a third as much and attaches directly to an iOS device's Lightning port or an Android device's Micro USB port. Unlike the first-gen model, the new FLIR One is more pocketable and easier to operate. It's a massive improvement, for sure.
Improved thermal scanning
The first-gen FLIR One took pretty good thermal images, but the new one takes even better ones. With the updated thermal sensor and VGA visible camera, the thermal images from the new FLIR One have four times the resolution (160 x 120) than the old model.
The new FLIR One works largely the same as the old one. With the FLIR One app loaded up and the FLIR One camera attached to your mobile device of choice (iPhone 6 in my case), you can get a thermal reading on anything it's pointed at.
It's really that simple. The warmer something is, the more yellow it will appear on the thermal image, and the cooler something is, the more blue it will appear. The temperature reader also lets you see the exact temperature of something, too.
The FLIR One app still has the same modes that let you take still thermal images, videos, time-lapses and panoramas.
And here's what a thermal panorama looks like:
The gallery even lets you slide your finger up and down on your thermal images to see the regular picture underneath it. These so-called "thermies" are fun to look at, but I wish there was a way to save them as GIFs for posting online. Right now, the gallery doesn't even let you save or send the regular pic, only the thermal one. You can save the images by screenshotting them, but then they're not at original resolution.
FLIR Paint, a fun app that lets you paint sections of a regular image with thermal heat points is super glitchy as you can see in the picture above and largely inaccurate. It clearly needs to be updated for the new FLIR One.
There are a few more such as the FLIR One thermometer, Thermal Scavenger Hunt and Thermal Compare, but none of these are particularly killer apps that would make me rush out and buy a FLIR One.
There will be more apps released later this year, I'm told, but at launch, it's slim-pickings outside of the main FLIR One app.
Military tech for peanuts
Thermal imagers are still mainly used by the military and professional security personnel, but FLIR is quickly turning the technology into something everyday people can use and afford.
The FLIR One is markedly better than the first-gen model. Not only does it work for iOS and Android, but it's also smaller, takes higher-resolution thermal images without manual tuning and is $100 cheaper.
It's still a niche product designed more for homeowners and professionals, but it won't be long before a company like Apple or Samsung figures out a way to incorporate this technology into existing smartphone cameras. And if developers run wild with the SDK, we could see some apps for things we haven't even thought of.
The FLIR One is available directly from FLIR.com starting today. Online stores including Apple.com, Amazon.com and BestBuy.com will sell the FLIR One in July and additional retail partners such as B&H Photo and Video, Home Depot, Cabelas, Scheels and West Marine will carry it by Q3. The Android version and Android SDK will both be out in July as well.
FLIR One (2nd gen)
The Good
Fast thermal imaging
Smaller size
Built-in battery
iOS and Android models
Cheaper than previous model
The Bad
10-second camera boot-up time
Limited third-party apps
The Bottom Line
The second-generation FLIR One camera is huge upgrade over the previous version and well-worth the price for affordable thermal imaging.