GALAXY XCOVER PRO: CELULAR RESISTENTE com BATERIA REMOVÍVEL e hardware mediano | Análise / Review By TudoCelular

Subtitled by Paulo Montenegro - paulomontenegro@hotmail. com. br The most unusual launch of Samsung for 2020 was the Galaxy xCover Pro, a device aimed at the corporate market but which has its appeal for sportsmen. It has a robust and impact resistant body and mid-tier smartphone specs, but asks for some extra cash for the extra sturdiness. If you are the clumsy type who keeps dropping the phone, extreme sportsman or works in harsh environments and was interested in the xCover Pro, check now with TudoCelular what Samsung's novelty has to offer. This is not the first robust cell phone from Samsung in Brazil, but we haven't seen a model of this line here in a while.

With LG investing so much in military-certified cell phones, Samsung decided to do the same with the xCover Pro which, in addition to being IP68 certified, has a reinforced body that absorbs impacts of up to 1.5 M in height. Even with its protection against water, the xCover has a removable back, which is very rare to see. In fact, cell phones with removable batteries are practically extinct. The last one we tested was the Moto E6 Plus, launched in 2019. The side and rear finish looks like rubber but is just a high density plastic.

It is normal for the cover to pop out from the back when the phone falls to the ground, and it even helps to absorb the impact of the fall. The screen of the device has Gorilla Glass 5 protection to prevent the glass from breaking easily, but it is the wide edges that really make a difference. The ex cover pro has 2 buttons to be configured, one on the left side and the other on the top, near the headphone jack - you can use the one on the side to turn on the flash and have the phone as a flashlight, use as a shortcut to favorite application or even turn your phone into a kind of walkie-talkie with Microsoft teams. There is also an LED on the top to warn of low battery and notifications. The wide edges deviate from the standard that we are used to now in 2020.

Even though Samsung has adopted a hole-shaped notch, there is still an exaggerated frame around the screen, what really disappoints is the adopted panel, being a simple LCD and not the Super AMOLED technology present in intermediaries of the Galaxy A line. The screen has a good level of brightness and guarantees good visibility in very bright environments; the contrast is no longer the best and the black has a very grayish tone. For anyone who is a fan of Samsung's saturated colors, you will be disappointed with the image delivered by the xCover Pro, not to mention its limited viewing angle. Samsung reinforces that the screen of the xCover has improved sensitivity so that the device can be used with gloves, however, this feature is also present in other cell phones of the brand and is found in the Screen Settings in the Touch Sensitivity option. The device has only one sound output at the bottom, next to the usb-c port.

The sound power is decent, however, it lacks bass altogether. The audio is distorted when the volume is at maximum, which complicates using xCover to listen to music - for videos, it does the job and the voices are not muffled. The phone that comes with the phone is the same basic one that comes on the Samsung entry line. It is a simple phone that also lacks bass. At least, the audio distorts less, which is enough to listen to music until you buy a better headset.

The xCover hardware may not impress; it brings the Exynos 9611, same chip present in the Galaxy A51 and other recent Samsung intermediaries. Allied to this we have 4 GB of RAM, which should guarantee a good experience in the use in multitasking. But in our tests we saw the device reload several applications. Its benchmark performance is on average with others with similar hardware, however, it is below rivals in the same price range with Qualcomm hardware. The weight of poorly optimized software affects performance in games, which take time to open, and even social applications like Facebook take longer than usual to load.

Don't expect to run demanding games at maximum quality - xCover is not geared towards the Gamer audience and serves only for casual play in the middle of the day. Having 4050 mAh is a generous amount, taking into account that the battery of the xCover Pro is removable, but the autonomy does not excite - compared to other Samsung models with the same chipset it loses in autonomy and the difference is substantial for the Galaxy A51, that has the same battery capacity. The advantage of having a removable battery is that you can change the component and have the phone ready to use without having to wait two hours to recharge it. With medium autonomy it will be practically mandatory to buy an extra battery, especially if you spend a lot of time away from home. If you prefer to do a quick charge you will have 17% recovered with 15 minutes in the socket, reaching a 1/3 charge with half an hour of waiting.

As much as it is a device designed for the corporate public that works in civil construction or more hostile places that require more robust cell phones, the software is basically the same present in other Samsung intermediaries - the xCover Pro comes with Android 10 and One UI 2.0, and should receive version 3 after the most important Korean models. The only difference is in the configuration of the extra buttons to include some specific function or access your favorite applications, in general, you will even have a good experience with xCover Pro, as long as you don't expect fast loading when switching between multiple applications. While Samsung middlemen arrive packed with cameras, the xCover Pro has only two on the back. The main has a resolution of 25 MP and the secondary has a wide-angle lens, and that's it, no macro, telephoto or even a dedicated camera for portrait mode - the front also has a simple sensor of only 13 MP, but we will see if it records good selfies. The audience that the xCover Pro targets isn't the one looking for a cameraphone, and in that territory it does the basics.

The photos recorded by the device have a reasonable level of detail and cool colors with the main one, in addition to a slightly higher saturation with the ultra-wide. If you want to shoot at sunset, you will have dark photos with loss of detail in the shadows and there is no night mode to save them. During the night the sharpness is compromised and the noises appear frequently. The focus also gets slower in darker places. There is no dedicated camera for background blurring but the secondary sensor helps to create a depth effect and the result of the simulation via software until it pleases, unfortunately, we cannot say the same of the frontal one, which fails in this aspect and ends up devouring a part of the person's face.

You can record good selfies with xCover Pro, just avoid taking pictures with light behind you or you will have the contrast sacrificed. At night the sharpness drops a little, but you can still enjoy the images on social media; the camcorder is disappointing for the price charged - it doesn’t record in 4K, the quality is just decent, the electronic stabilization doesn’t completely eliminate the dreaded ones and the audio capture is average. The ultra-wide sins a lot at night with dark footage and the front end suffers from a lot of shaking. In short, the xCover Pro may not have cameras as the main point, but it records good photos in favorable situations. Which may be enough for ordinary users.

The xCover Pro is a niche device and has no direct rivals in Brazil. LG even bet on several models with military certification, but it is not the same proposal from Samsung to sell an indestructible device - what would be the best alternatives to xCover then? Well, you can take a Galaxy A71, which costs the same and surpasses the robust model in performance, battery, games and cameras - it would be possible to buy a rubberized protective case to give greater resistance to impacts, including, there are some brands with military certification. The same can be said of the A51, which has a chipset, a more advanced set of cameras and costs much less. As much as the battery is the same, it yielded more and recharged faster in our tests, however, it is not removable. The xCover Pro is a cell phone for those who need robustness and their focus is not on the conventional audience - if you are careless with your cell phone or looking for a device to use while playing sports it may be an interesting option, since there are few intermediaries current with protection against water and that really can take some falls.

The removable battery will be a differentiator for those who spend days away from home and do not always have an outlet nearby, but a PowerBank could supply this need very well. As seen, it is difficult to find a justification that makes us recommend the xCover Pro as a good buy in the range of R $ 2,000 - for that price there are better options and a quality cover helps to solve the problem of the fragility of ordinary cell phones. Anyway, the best offers for xCover Pro and all the other models mentioned in this review, you already know, are in the links below. And take the opportunity to comment on whether you think a device with removable battery and sturdy body is cool or if you prefer a more robust case combined with the Power Bank. I will wrap up here, a big hug and see you next time.

Source : TudoCelular