Wanna know a semi-secret? Samsung's semi-rugged Galaxy XCover Pro is more than a semi-industrial curiosity

Imagine if Samsung offered a semi-secret phone that it hardly ever allows to appear in shops, and which gets longer, stronger, support than is offered for its other devices. Imagine that phone delivers most of the experience of a premium Galaxy device but keeps a 3.5mm headphone jack and replaceable battery. It even boasts a …

[TonyJ]

Funnily enough...

...I was looking at one of these for my son just before Christmas. In the end though, I decided it just didn't look quite robust enough and went for an el-cheapo ruggedised unit at a much lower cost.

[H in The Hague]

Available in shops in NL

"Imagine if Samsung offered a semi-secret phone that it hardly ever allows to appear in shops"

I've got an older version, the plain Xcover, bought in the high street in NL. New one also available from at least one retailer, though currently out of stock.

https://www.coolblue.nl/en/search?query=xcover

Not massively robust though. A year or two somebody mentioned during a meeting that they were looking for a new phone. I commented that my Xcover was nice and robust, tried to pull it from my pocket, it got stuck, fell less than 0.5 m onto the floor and the glass screen cover promptly broke :( (Got that replaced, still use the phone every day.)

[Blackjack]

Re: Available in shops in NL

The Samsung Galaxy S4 used to be a flagship phone and quite robust. Sadly Samsung decided is better business to make stuff that breaks easily.

[Anonymous Coward]

Samsung's guarantee the phone will stay on sale for 24 months

OMG, TWENTY FOUR MONTHS! FOUR YEARS OF SUPPORT!!!! Tears of joy :(

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Samsung's guarantee the phone will stay on sale for 24 months

My S7 got a September Security update and that's over fours years since release. .

[Anonymous Coward]

nice phone

I have one, and am happy with it. I'm not one to stand in line for the latest flagship. I'd still be using my rather dated LG, but the lack of updates was a problem.

Now if AT&T will whitelist VoLTE on the Xcover Pro, I'll be in much better shape (they sell the more expensive Xcover FieldPro, but not this one, and are trying to scare people into buying direct from them).

Pros:

1/8" headphone jack

Removable battery (easy to replace when worn out)

USB-C jack

Rugged

SW updates

Cons:

Camera isn't great

Fingerprint sensor isn't as good as on my LG

Auto-brightness is wonky

AT&T isn't letting me use VoLTE

If you just have to have the latest gadget, or if you want the fastest possible processor, this isnt the phone for you.

Didn't realize it does wireless charging, that's a bonus!

[BGatez]

replaceable battery

so an extra rugged phone can have a replaceable battery but others can't? because????

[DoctorNine]

Re: replaceable battery

Because not enough people demand phones that have features such as a replaceable battery, which would make annual or semiannual replacement of the whole unit unnecessary.