Samsung launches ‘X Cover Pro’, a $499 rugged enterprise phone targeted at industrial businesses

Right towards the end of CES 2020, Samsung made a rather uninformed announcement. The company announced the launch of ‘X Cover Pro’, a rugged phone targeted primarily at industrial businesses. These businesses would generally be ones like construction, industrial production etc., which deploy field staff in large numbers and require those workers to be digitally connected.

By the first looks of it, the phone, as rightly put by Samsung, “re-imagines the enterprise-ready smartphone, delivering a rugged, yet stylish device for both field and customer-facing settings”. While you would see most industry focused phones cladded with hard and thick rubber from sides, the X Cover Pro is surprisingly slimmer. And even though it is targeted towards frontline industrial workers, individual customers too can buy the same. The phone is a mid-range device, priced at $499.

The highlight of the phone is its ability to stay fit and sound, when dropped from upto a height of 1.5m. Additionally, the phone is IP68 water and dust resistant, and has military level 810G certification for reliable protection against extreme altitude, humidity, and other severe environmental conditions.

Interestingly, the phone comes with a slew of hefty old-school features, which we would want from our flagships as well. It has swapable battery, which lets you replace as and when it becomes non functional in nature. Samsung will supply the battery as well. The phone also has Pogo pin charging support and compatibility with third-party charging docks.

The phone packs an edge-to-edge 6.3” FHD+ Infinity Display with an enhanced touchscreen able to work in any condition, including rain or snow. And even if it may not be the best in class, it will be more than enough for the use cases the phone is built for. For users in the field, glove mode allows for gloves-on use and the new voice to text message feature provides real-time dictation and messaging.

Samsung will also provide you with its ‘Partner ecosystem’ solution, custom built for the phone. Top among them is Microsoft. Samsung says that it has worked closely with Microsoft to introduce Microsoft Teams, its new walkie talkie capability on the Galaxy XCover Pro, making it the first partner solution to leverage the push-to-talk feature. The Galaxy XCover Pro is push-to-talk ready with its two programmable keys. Other partners include Infinite Peripherals, KOAMTAC, Scandit and Visa. Retail associates can track inventory and process payments, with barcode scanning available. They can take advantage of ready-to-use mobile point of sale (mPOS) whose payment modules are available based on SDK for mPOS solution vendors. Galaxy XCover Pro will also have Samsung POS, a mobile-based point of sale (POS) solution that has been approved by Visa’s Tap to Phone pilot program.

Detailed phone specifications are mentioned below: