Early last year (2020), Samsung launched a significantly different smartphone from your typical $700 mid range Samsung phone. This was the Samsung Galaxy Xcover Pro, a phone designed for frontline workers working in particularly challenging environments.

XCover Pro Specifications

Starting with the display, the Xcover Pro rocks a 6.3-inch panel with a 2340 x 1080 pixels resolution and is protected by Gorilla Glass 5. It has 64GB of internal storage (expandable via microSD), 4GB of RAM, and its computing power is provided by an Exynos 9611 eight-core processor from Samsung.

The device runs on Android 10 with Samsung’s One UI 2.0 as the user interface. On the rear is a dual-camera system with a 25 MP main and 8 MP ultrawide lens. The front features a single 13 MP selfie camera.

It is powered by a removable 4050 mAh battery with 15W fast charging and Pogo charging.

Features and User Experience

The first thing you’ll notice about the XCover Pro is just how not rugged it looks for a rugged phone. Samsung may have designed it for extreme work and weather conditions, but it wouldn’t look out of place in an office. This is perhaps why a lot of people considered it the best-rugged smartphone yet at the time of its release.

Overall, the Samsung Galaxy Xcover Pro looks like your standard Android device, albeit with a few tweaks here and there. At 6.30 x 3.02 x 0.39 inches, its dimensions are a bit bigger than the Galaxy S20, but it weighs almost as much as the Galaxy S20 Ultra. Ruggedized metal surrounds the phone for protection, giving it a pretty solid feel to the hand.

The 6.3-inch AMOLED screen covers up much of the front, with tolerable bezels and a front-facing camera conveniently placed on the top left corner. Given its size, using the XCover Pro is a two-handed experience for most tasks. Nonetheless, the software supports one handed mode by shrinking the display to one corner of the screen.

For reliability under extreme conditions, the Galaxy XCover Pro has the following features;

• It has an IP68 dust and water resistance rating. Therefore, it can survive for a maximum of 30 minutes in 1.5 metres of water.
• MIL-STD-810G1 military spec and has been tested for a drop height of 1.5 metres (shoulder length). However, the warranty does not cover this.
• Glove mode, which allows users to operate the device while wearing gloves in snowy, very humid, or rainy environments. 

The removable battery and the headphone are features present in the XCover Pro that you won’t see in most phones of today. Being able to change your battery is a feature many field workers will appreciate.

Samsung Galaxy XCover Pro has two programmable buttons. The left button is designed for push-to-talk applications, which turns the phone into a handy walky-talkie. The top button can be mapped to work with any application.

The cameras on the device are decent, with nothing to praise or complain about.

Accessories

As the Xcover Pro is a tough rugged device there are not as many protective cases on the market for this device. There is quite a number of holders and car cradles, some of which are lockable to securely store the phone, available for the Galaxy Xcover Pro as well as desktop stands which should help technicians and field workers as they can have their phone in the cradle and after locking the device into the cradle will have peace of mind against theft.

Takeaway

At $790, the Galaxy XCover Pro is a worthy deal for field workers in need of a rugged phone. The smartphone is a mixture of elegance and sturdiness, giving you a device unlike any other rugged phone.