If you’re shopping for a brand new rugged handset, you’re in luck because Samsung just quietly announced a brand new smartphone that everyone almost missed. The Galaxy Xcover Pro might not be as good looking as the regular Galaxy S10 or Note 10, but it still sports a modern all-screen design that quite frankly looks even better than Google’s Pixel 4 series. We’re looking at a great screen-to-body ratio on an Infinity-O phone that can take a licking and keep on ticking.
The phone will be available in Europe for around €500 ($555), WinFuture reports. That’s a great price for a handset that comes with MIL-STD-810 and IP68 certifications, a phone that should withstand quite a beating.
When it comes to specs, we’re looking at a 6.3-inch LCD screen with a hole-punch camera, Exynos 9611 chipset, 4GB of RAM, 64GB of storage, microSD support, dual-lens camera on the back (25- and 8-megapixels), 13-megapixel selfie camera, NFC, Bluetooth 5.0, and a 4,050 mAh battery. That battery supports 15W charging via USB-C and is user-replaceable, a rarity for handsets these days since most devices come with batteries that can’t be removed. Then again, that’s what you might want from a rugged phone.
The Xcover Pro also features a push-to-talk button and should include a fingerprint sensor inside the power button. Also, the device might launch with Android 10 on board, complete with Samsung’s new One UI 2.0 user interface on top.
It’s not quite the Galaxy S11 (S20) in terms of hardware, but the handset should still offer a decent experience, especially considering the relatively affordable price point. The S11 series, which is expected to launch under a brand new Galaxy S20 name, will have a higher entry price and a better design, faster chip, and brand new camera system with anywhere from three to five sensors, depending on the model. While the S20 phones will have IP68 ratings, they won’t be quite as durable as the new Xcover Pro.
