Rugged smartphones are not upgraded, refreshed, or replaced by their manufacturers with new models anywhere near as often as “conventional” mobile devices, so when a product like the Galaxy XCover 6 Pro does go official, it’s certainly a little disappointing to have to wait several more months for an actual commercial debut on your US carrier of choice.
Of course, all’s well when ends well, and for AT&T customers passionate about outdoor-friendly Android handsets capable of taking a few punches while supporting 5G, the wait that began all the way back in June and then got particularly painful in October is over at last.
That’s right, Samsung’s rugged Galaxy XCover 6 Pro with built-in 5G connectivity and a user-replaceable battery is now available directly from not one, not two and not three but four different US mobile network operators, the latter of which is charging… exactly the same for the muscular 6.6-incher as its competition.
While US Cellular made it (relatively) easy to score this bad boy for free straight off the bat and Verizon can lower your monthly payment to just 10 bucks right now with a new line of service, AT&T is joining T-Mobile in offering no discount whatsoever on the $599.99 list price, at least for the time being.
You can obviously pay that in full upfront or split it into 36 monthly installments of $16.67, but at the end of the day (or your three-year carrier commitment), you’re looking at a fairly high price by “normal” rugged phone standards.
Then again, 5G-enabled rugged devices are still pretty rare, and this one has an unusually high-quality LCD screen with 120Hz refresh rate technology going for it in addition to a respectable Snapdragon 778 processor, 6 gigs of RAM, 128GB internal storage space, microSD support, a good old fashioned headphone jack, and a nice 50MP primary rear-facing shooter paired with an 8-megapixel ultra-wide-angle sensor.
The extreme resistance to everything from water, dust, dirt, and sand to freezing temperatures, vibration, shock, and even drops on hard surfaces, as well as the large 4,050mAh removable battery with 25W fast charging capabilities, are however without a doubt the XCover 6 Pro’s top two key selling points.
Last but not least, AT&T is claiming bragging rights over One Touch, aka advanced push-to-talk, which is a very handy feature allowing field workers to “stay connected at a push of a button” with the help of this “new” 5G Samsung phone.
