Prelude
I’ve used rugged phones and other rugged electronic devices since ~2009. I’ve worked in the trades as a career. I’ve worked truly Dirty Jobs. I used to write custom firmware for rugged phones including the Samsung Rugby Smart, Samsung Rugby Pro and Kyocera DuraForce. I’ve been hired to work on Android firmware for rugged phones by companies creating Android phones (OEMs).
My resume is deep and I do not fuck about when it comes to ‘rugged phones’.
This mini (ish) review is the result of my annoyance, anger and downright rage that popped up when reading reviews about the Samsung XCover6 Pro. I miss the days of facts based reporting and reviews by folk who, yannow, are experts on a topic. If nothing else: get folk who need and use rugged phones as their primary device to provide a review. FFS…
This phone is an actually usable, well built, well thought out rugged phone. One that I do not regret purchasing and absolutely bests the competition. [Editors note: this is the tldr of the whole post]
Picking Apart Existing Reviews
Before I get to my evaluation of the XCover6 Pro, I’d like to fist go through a lot of common things I’ve seen in other reviews and make some remarks. The reviews I’ve seen (to date) are absolute trash and I get the sense these reviewers have never worked an actual Dirty Job as a full time job, especially not for a meaningful length of time.
First up: the reviews seem to think features like Dex, removable battery and 5 years of updates are’t all that important and I can say for sure: they greatly underestimate these simple facts. Dex will turn this phone into a full blown light weight laptop or desktop computer, the removable battery means you can get the full 5 years of updates without worry and the 5 years of updates means you pay less over time than you would with the usual Chinese brands.
They also bitch about ‘plastic’ and as a long-time rugged phone user: they are insane. Rugged phones have always been plastic and this is nothing new. The plastic used on the XCover6 Pro is no better or worse than any other rugged phone I’ve used to date; and I’ve used over a dozen. This shouldn’t be worth mentioning in a review other than ‘is standard’.
“the back cover is flimsy and i dont trust it”
the back cover has a seal and snaps onto the device securely and wont pop off if dropped (i should know, i dropped my device onto pavers by accident). its totally fine and within parameters youd need and want in a rugged device. imo this is a ‘feelz’ thing from the reviewer and not actually applicable in the real world. you cant get a mil spec rating or ip68 rating if the back pops off ’easily’
“its only 15W usb charging and takes two hours to fill 4100mAh”
FUCK YES
it wont overheat when im in ultra hot environments or the sun. it can draw enough power from usb to prevent drain when used heavily and plugged in. it wont murder the battery capacity over time.
and its a pretty huge battery that can be swapped
(swoons)
this is not an actual issue. this is a feature
“its a bit more expensive than the never updated chinese brand offerings”
no shit? someones gotta pay the folk keeping the damn thing updated over time. its also got a far better core SoC, better gpu and a slew of features like a Dex that the other options don’t have
“the mono speaker isnt the greatest”
ffs. [facepalm] duh? its not designed for media! in shit environments mono is best. you aim it right into your ear so you can hear shit. particularly spoken words.
“the camera is good but the selfie camers is meh”
(grrrrrrr) ever worked the trades and/or in gross environments? you absolutely do not need a high megapixel selfie cam. you want one thatll let your fafial expressions be seen. any more is pure overkill. why increase cost and lower durability?
My Personal Take (Review)
The highlights reel:
- 5 years of firmware updates (from release) and current Android version is available
- IP68 water rating
- MIL810 spec for impact
- Competent cpu and gpu
- Reasonable amount of ram
- Reasonable amount of file storage
- Removable battery
- eSIM support
- Nano SIM slot
- MicroSD card slot
- Notification light
- Tap screen to wake (double tap the screen with a finger and it turns on)
- Lift to wake
- Dex (turn this into a laptop via a uPerfect Lapdock or desktop computer via standard usb-c dock)
- Works with usb-c power delivery and usb-c otg at the same time
- Supports usb-c ethernet adapters and hdmi adapters
- Has a 3.5mm TRRS headphone jack (mic and headphones in the same wire)
- Has LDAC / aptX bluetooth audio support (headphone quality bluetooth audio)
- Mono speaker that gets loud if aimed at your ear (see above two items if you care about music playback)
- Two customizable buttons with tap+hold actions (4 total custom actions)
- Competent camera (jpeg only in stock, OpenCamera enables raw photo capture)
- Quality rugged case from Spigen
- Solid cases, extended batteries, chargers and more from Koamtac
- Work Profile and Secure Folder support (aka: you can have personal and $dayJob stuff wholly separate but easily accessible)
- Multi-window support and pop-up window support
Before I get too far with my more explicit thoughts and mini review: I own a Samsung Galazy z Fold 4 as well as the XCover6 Pro. The Fold series are no-shit phones and work (for me) as a phone, tablet and laptop. The XCover6 Pro is up against some serious norms and deep requirements from a power user. I use my Fold as my phone, a drawing tablet, and a laptop. I don’t mess about and treated the XCover6 Pro the same as I do the Fold to find its limits and areas that I needed to be mindful of for daily use.
Since I’ll inevitably be asked and this is an important point to make: I’ve used quite a few Doogee and Cat devices over the years and have generally kept up on the unlocked rugged phone offerings over the years. The Doogee and other Chinese devices rarely get updates, are abandoned after a max of 2 years and, despite being inexpensive, force you to upgrade every 18-24 months if you want to stay even a little current on Android updates. Most of the Chinese devices also ship with older Android versions that quickly go unsupported. In short: despite the price tag, the Chinese phones are not cheap due to the constant struggle to keep the software even reasonably up to date. The Cat devices and similar choices don’t get 5 years of updates, ship with outdated versions of Android and have an even worse problem of ‘cost over time’ than the Chinese options. The XCover6 Pro doesn’t suffer this fate thanks to 5 years of updates from Samsung. The math, over time, favors the XCover6 Pro.
Onto the more specific info about the XCover6 Pro…
Note: the above list of highlights as well as my comments on existing reviews include details that are not mentioned below.
I started with a ‘shower test’ (aka: put it on the floor of the shower and did my thing) without a case and it survived just fine. Well enough that I made a mental note I don’t need to worry about this device for water or dust ingress. I quickly moved on as I proved the point. I also managed to test the drop rating by accident. Not 36 hours after receiving the device I went to sit in a deck chair (the kind with the really low, angled seat) and the phone fell out of my pocket, not in a case, and landed right on some patio pavers. It’s got a pair of new scuffs that’ll be there forever but otherwise you’d never know it was dropped. This phone will survive my brand of ‘rough on electronics’ nicely.
I could probably say no end of positive things about the XCover6 Pro (in general) but the key bit for me is: this device Just Works, even coming from the Fold series of devices. I was able to get all of my personal apps setup, lightly tune the notification light, adjust the two side buttons custom functions and get Dex working such that I can do my $dayJob via a lapdock. I was floored when I thought to myself ‘huh, this could be a daily driver for me…’. I put that to the test and, yup, this can work as a daily driver instead of the Fold which is perfect for me. I can take the XCover6 Pro on my photo walks (I’m a nature/outdoor hobbyist photographer) and I can also take this to visit friends/family who live, quite literally, in the middle of nowhere. I can wander the woods or wrench on a car or go help the cat rescue non-profit that specializes in feral cats (aka: cats that are found+rescued from very dirty, gross environments).
The phone is, rightly, flagged as a ‘mid-tier’ performer but it’s on the border of ‘mid-tier’ and ‘flagship’ levels of performance in my experience to date. Yes, it can briefly stutter but I’ve found such stutters to be pretty rare and not common. I also didn’t notice any meaningful or problematic lag when using Dex on the device. Dex was clearly using more cpu/ram/etc but it was still usable enough for me to do some $dayJob work via Remote Desktop. All of Samsung’s mid-range devices lack this level of capability from what I’ve seen and heard. The addition of Dex also puts this device ahead of some flagship phones (like the Galaxy Flip series).
I was also impressed by the Work Profile and Secure Folder features. They works exactly the same as the Fold’s implementation and allow me to keep my $dayJob and $kinkyStuff separate from the main area of the phone but still allowing me ‘fast access’ as needed, including notifications from apps that are setup with either the Work Profile or Secure Folder. It’s brilliantly executed and a flagship grade implementation.
Beyond its capabilities as a daily driver caliber device (for me), I was able to get my eSIM.me card fully working (5ber is less expensive, offers the same service and is worth a look) so I can get creative with eSIMs on the device. I was also able to get 100Gb of music synced to the sd card via Symfonium for music playback (yay LDAC/aptX/headphone jack) without hassles. I also wrapped it in a Spigen rugged case (just in case) while I save up to buy a Koamtac extended battery case and charger for the device.
Something a friend asked about was ‘Always On Display’. Apparently they use it and desire it in a phone. I’ve asked for ‘why’ and they’ve yet to nail down the exact reason (which is fine). The XCover6 Pro lacks always on display support but it does have ’lift to wake’ and ‘double tap screen to turn on’. Personally I find the ’tap screen to wake’ a better option as I rarely care about the info provided by the always on display Android feature. Nevermind if I’m going to interact with my device, a double tap or lift to wake the screen is a natural set of movements for me. I also keep my phone in a rucksack / backpack, my pocket and other carrying options haphazardly and prefer it not have the screen auto-on for any reason. I’ve had terrible results with always on display that yielded weird behaviors and results that can be impossible to undo. I’m not totally against always on display but I struggle to see the value in environments where a rugged phone is wise or required. If you have a specific reason/need for always on display: I’d love to hear the why of it so I can adjust this bit of my review accordingly.
One, very minor, nit to pick with the phone is the notification light is a proper pain in the ass to tune. I had to use LED Blinker from the Play Store to make any meaningful adjustments to the notification light and even then… it can be annoyingly bright at night (my eyes are light sensitive). I still need to fiddle with this more but for now I put the phone into Do Not Disturb mode at night to prevent the notification light from firing. Thankfully the alarm app I use (Sleep as Android) can ignore Do Not Disturb mode.
Another thing I did, after some tests, was buy Silicone Port Plugs as I want to minimize the annoyance when dirt/water get into the headphone or usb ports. Thankfully the phone will raise an alert if it detects water or dirt in the usb port so you don’t plug it in and kill the port by accident. The phone itself is well sealed but the ports are not which is annoying but manageable. A good trick: use a SIM tool to scrape out the port if you get dirt/grime in it and blow on the port to get any excess water out of the port. Removing the back cover can also help with blotting some of the water that collets near the usb port to dry it faster. I strongly recommend a case with a usb port cover or the port plugs I linked above if you’re regularly dealing with water in a port or dirt/grime in a port.
I don’t have a hell of a lot more ’noteworthy items’ to articulate. There is a lot of ‘small stuff’ around this device like the fact it’s being supported the same as a flagship for updates, firmware features and the like or the inclusion of Dex or the fact you can shoot raw photos if you use a 3rd party camera app (it’s disabled in the stock camera app for some reason from what I can tell).
It’s truly competent as a rugged device. It’s got few quirks and loads of value add.
Parting Thoughts
Succinctly: I’d strongly suggest anyone looking for a phone put the XCover6 Pro at the very top of their list for purchase.
This has an amazing set of noteworthy features, some hidden gems and the accessories available from Koamtac are great and full of utility.
This is the exact rugged phone I’ve wanted for a very very long time.