Following the now common barrage of online leaks, Samsung has officially pulled back the curtain on a new rugged phone for enterprise users. The Galaxy XCover6 Pro is designed for reliability and flexibility in the field, coming with a user replaceable battery, the ability to act as a mini PC and 4K video recording capabilities.
Built for today's go-anywhere workforce, the Galaxy XCover6 Pro is certified to MIL-STD-810H durability standards for shaking off the kind of abuse such phones might endure in industrial or extreme locations.
It also has an IP68 rating, meaning that it can withstand a dunk in the drink at depths of up to 1.5 m (5 ft) for 30 minutes, and its screen is topped by scratch-resistant Corning Gorilla Glass Victus+. Yet despite its toughness credentials, the handset eschews the usual ugly brick design for consumer handset aesthetics, coming in at just 9.9 mm (0.38 in) thin and tipping the scales at 235 g (8.2 oz).
That screen shapes up as a 6.6-inch FHD+ (1,080 x 2,408) LCD display at 20:9 aspect and with a responsive refresh rate of 120 Hz. And the sensitivity of the touch input can be adjusted to accommodate usage in wet conditions.
On the performance front, this is no 2022 Android flagship. It is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset. Not the latest and greatest though, but a 778G with a 6-nm octa-core processor and 5G mobile networking for more productivity on the go. The Pro comes with just 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage, but optional microSD expansion can be had up to 1 TB. Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2 are also cooked in.
For the hybrid worker, Samsung has included its DeX technology to allow the smartphone to be connected to a desktop monitor, keyboard and mouse for a PC experience of sorts.
There's 13-megapixel notch selfiecam to the front for video chats with the boss while out in the field, and a dual camera array around back comprising a 50-MP F1.8 main and an 8-MP F2.2 ultra-wide. The phone is reported capable of recording 4K UHD footage at 30 frames per second or 240-fps slow-motion at Full HD resolution.
Usefully, Samsung has treated its latest rugged phone to a user-replaceable 4,050-mAh battery for up to 18 hours of surfing online or 44 hours of talk time. This is charged over USB-C, though POGO pin connectivity is included for multi-device dock charging if needed. The user could even carry a spare for continuous, around-the-clock operation potential.
Security features include facial recognition and fingerprint scanning, the handset packs Samsung's Knox platform that "works like a vault with hardware-based protections" to keep business and user data safe, while IT admins can also manage device integrity as an added level of protection.
Knox Capture allows the smartphone to be used as a barcode scanner, the device sports two programmable keys for custom business-specific functionality, and a push-to-talk feature can facilitate walkie-talkie-like operation, aided by dual microphones and "louder-than-ever" Dolby Atmos speakers.
The Galaxy XCover6 Pro runs Android 12 out of the box, with the promise of at least four operating system upgrades and five years of security updates for extended operational life.
No pricing has been revealed at this point, but Samsung reports that the rugged enterprise smartphone will head to Europe, Asia and Middle East markets from next month, followed by other regions at a later date.
Source: Samsung
