Samsung Galaxy XCover7 hands-on review

Samsung unveiled the Galaxy XCover7 rugged smartphone earlier this year and launched it in a number of markets since, including India, where it marked the XCover lineup's debut. We used the Samsung Galaxy XCover7 for a few weeks, and here are our findings.

Design

The Samsung Galaxy XCover7 packs a 6.6" FullHD+ PLS LCD having 600 nits peak brightness, 60Hz refresh rate, and a V-shaped notch for the 5MP selfie camera. The display is surrounded by bezels thicker than what we see on regular smartphones, but we won't hold that against Samsung since we are talking about a rugged smartphone here.

Moving on to the back, we have a single 50 MP camera with a dual flash placed underneath. The camera has a red ring around it, which goes well with the black color of the phone and adds substance to the design. Samsung told us the Galaxy XCover7 is only available in black color because that's what most people in this category prefer.

The Samsung Galaxy XCover7's rear panel is plastic, and the primary camera sits flush with it - something we rarely see on smartphones these days. This prevents the phone from wobbling on flat surfaces, which happens often with smartphones sporting big camera islands and can sometimes be annoying.

Given its overall plastic design, the Samsung Galaxy XCover7 doesn't feel premium to hold and is also on the heavier side for prolonged one-handed usage. But it's sturdy and built well, and that's important for rugged smartphones.

The Samsung Galaxy XCover7 is MIL-STD-810H compliant and can withstand drops of up to 1.5m. It's also IP68-rated, making it water-resistant in up to 1.5m of fresh water for up to 30 minutes. Moreover, Samsung says the XCover7 is safe to clean with sanitizer but advises against using it at the beach or pool.

The Samsung Galaxy XCover7's back panel is user-removable without requiring any special tools, and thus, its battery is user-replaceable. It's impressive to see a rugged phone with a user-replaceable battery having an IP68 rating.

Samsung Galaxy XCover7's rear panel has a recess at the top, allowing users to open it without any tools

We asked Samsung how it offered an IP68 rating and a user-replaceable battery, and the brand told us that it did so by having seals at different places. The Galaxy XCover7's rear panel also has seals that align with the battery and the SIM card area to cover them.

Moreover, the area surrounding the camera is also protected, and there's space to take in water, which can be removed easily, allowing the user to use the Galaxy XCover7 just by wiping it. The Korean conglomerate also said the phone's MIL compliance ensures faster drying. We'd like to see more rugged smartphones coming with user-removable batteries.

Samsung might also want to consider launching non-rugged smartphones with user-replaceable batteries since its smartphones are some of the slowest in the industry in terms of charging speeds. Even the freshly announced $1,900 Galaxy Z Fold6, which is the most advanced Samsung smartphone, charges at an awful 25W speed.

The Samsung Galaxy XCover7 sports a programmable button with a red accent on its left-side frame. It's called the XCover Key and has nice feedback. The button also has texture, which adds to the experience. Plus, the key size should make it easier to operate when wearing gloves.

The XCover Key can be customized to open different apps and launch the Walkie Talkie feature (requires Push-To-Talk apps) quickly with a single or long-press by navigating to the phone's Settings > Advanced features > Xcover button menu. Additionally, you can use it as a shutter button in the default Camera app to take pictures, turn on/off the torch, and scan barcodes with Knox Capture.

XCover Key

The XCover Key also works when the screen is locked, but it's worth noting that the screen needs to be turned on - even if it has a screen lock - for you to be able to use the XCover Key. That's not ideal since you'd be required to double-tap on the screen or press the power button to turn on the screen, which is an additional step and defeats the purpose of having a shortcut key to open apps and access other functions quickly. We hope Samsung will fix this with an update to improve the XCover Key's experience.

The Samsung Galaxy XCover7's right-side frame has a power button and volume rocker with decent feedback. At the bottom is the USB-C port, flanked by POGO pins for charging, a speaker, and the primary microphone. Up top is the 3.5mm headphone jack with the secondary mic. The SIM/microSD card slot is accessible after removing the phone's back cover and battery; hence, these cards aren't hot-swappable. We also find the Galaxy XCover7's rear panel on the slimmer side and wonder how well it will hold up against frequent drops and battery removals. It could've been a tad thicker.

Ports and controls

Display

The Samsung Galaxy XCover7 is built around a 6.6" FullHD+ PLS LCD having 600 nits peak brightness, 60Hz refresh rate, and Gorilla Glass Victus+ protection. Samsung told us that the rationale behind choosing LCD over AMOLED is that AMOLED panels are challenging to offer at this price point and are still not ready for the environmental temperature in which the XCover7 will operate. We asked Samsung about the Galaxy XCover7's operating temperature, and the brand said it is between -70°C and 80°C.

Since the Samsung Galaxy XCover7 packs an LCD, it doesn't feature an in-display fingerprint scanner. The phone doesn't come with a side-mounted fingerprint scanner either, which is a bummer as that's something we've seen on some rugged smartphones in this price range. Samsung said that's because a fingerprint reader is not a requirement in the industry yet, and they have provided face recognition as an alternative. The Galaxy XCover6 Pro - launched in June 2022 - had a side-mounted fingerprint reader, so it seems between then and now, Samsung didn't see enough demand from its target audience to justify the inclusion of a fingerprint scanner.

Well, considering the fact the Samsung Galaxy XCover7 is a rugged smartphone and would also be used outdoors by some people who'd be wearing masks and other gear covering the face, relying only on face recognition doesn't sound like a good idea, and the brand should've offered a fingerprint scanner for biometric authentication. However, Samsung has assured that the next XCover phone will feature a fingerprint reader.

That said, the Samsung Galaxy XCover7's display is protected by Gorilla Glass Victus+ and has Widevine L1 certification, allowing 1080p video streaming in supported apps. The panel was legible enough outdoors under strong sunlight and got the job done. Just don't expect anything spectacular.

The Samsung Galaxy XCover7's display is advertised to work with hiking, surgical, industrial, or any gloves with a thickness of up to 2mm. There's a "Touch sensitivity" feature in the phone's Settings > Display menu for this, which also supports touch input when the device is wet.

While we didn't have any gloves with us thinner than 2mm to verify Samsung's claim, we were able to use the screen when it was wet. Samsung also told us that the screen will work even with salty water on hands and screen. However, the brand says that the Galaxy XCover7 cannot be used when fully submerged underwater since underwater touch is unavailable.

Software and Performance

The Samsung Galaxy XCover7 is powered by the Dimensity 6100+ SoC and comes with up to 6GB RAM and 128GB storage, expandable up to 1TB via a microSD card that has a dedicated slot (the secondary SIM is eSIM) in the phone. Ours is the top-end 6GB/128GB model, which ran Android 14-based One UI 6 out of the box but picked up the One UI 6.1 update a few weeks ago.

Samsung has promised four Android version upgrades and five years of security updates for the Galaxy XCover7. However, the security updates will be released quarterly instead of monthly, which could be a bummer for some enterprise users.

That said, the Samsung Galaxy XCover7 comes pre-loaded with third-party apps, but fortunately, most can be uninstalled. It's also worth noting that while the Galaxy XCover7 runs One UI 6.1, it doesn't come with all One UI 6.1 features. The Circle to Search feature that's a part of Galaxy AI is one example.

Also, if you didn't like One UI on other Samsung smartphones, you probably won't like it on the Galaxy XCover7 either. During the testing process, a few things about One UI 6 came off as not-so-user-friendly to this reviewer, such as the need to unlock the smartphone to enable/disable the Wi-Fi hotspot, mobile data, and Bluetooth. You also can't turn off the Wi-Fi without unlocking the smartphone. This is similar to what Apple does with iOS, which hampers the user experience.

There are two versions of the Samsung Galaxy XCover7 - Standard and Enterprise. Both are the same phones, but the former comes with a one-year warranty, while the latter comes with a two-year warranty and a 12-month Knox Suite subscription.

In terms of performance, there's nothing to write home about the Samsung Galaxy XCover7 since the phone isn't the snappiest around and did stutter at times. It's definitely not for power users and gets the basic tasks done without much hassle. The Dimensity 6100+ at the helm should be enough for most business users to serve the purpose the phone is advertised for.

We played some games on the Samsung Galaxy XCover7, and the phone handled most of them quite well at medium settings. We also played Call of Duty Mobile for over an hour at "Medium" Graphic Quality and "High" Frame Rate, which is the best setting available for the XCover7, and the smartphone handled it without any stuttering and getting hot.

We tested the Samsung Galaxy XCover7 in India, and the one thing it did that impressed us a lot was remaining latched to Reliance Jio's 5G network. We have used several flagships in the same network area, and they often switched from Jio's 5G to 4G network automatically, but that didn't happen even once with the Galaxy XCover7 during our usage, which is commendable.

We haven't reviewed any rugged smartphones lately, so we've included some phones that fall in the Galaxy XCover7's price range (except the Motorola ThinkPhone aimed at business users) just for the sake of comparison. You can check their scores below.

Camera

The Samsung Galaxy XCover7 features two cameras - one on each side. The selfie unit on the front uses a 5 MP sensor with an f/2.0 aperture and can record videos in 1080p resolution at 30 fps.

The primary unit on the rear uses a 50 MP sensor, which has an f/1.8 aperture and can record 1080p videos at 30FPS and slow-motion 120 fps in HD resolution. However, Samsung doesn't reveal the exact imagers used by the XCover7 and it only reveals the primary camera was sourced from Namuga, and the selfie camera comes from CammSys.

Samsung mostly advertises the Galaxy XCover7's cameras as fit for business uses - the unimpressive hardware is all enterprise customers need, the company claims. So Samsung claims the Galaxy XCover7's cameras are optimized for eKYC, document scanning, barcode scanning, and similar purposes.

We clicked some daylight and nighttime photos with the Samsung Galaxy XCover7's primary camera so you can examine them yourself.

Daylight Photos

Let's look at the daylight photos first, captured with the 50 MP primary camera having an output of 12.5MP in the Photo mode.

Primary camera, 12.5MP.

Primary camera, 12.5 MP

The detail level is alright, if not quite impressive, while dynamic range is wide and the colors are well rendered. The images do have a bit of an overprocessed look at pixel level, the chip working extra hard to make up for the relatively limited light gathering of the sensor.

We then tried the 50 MP high resolution mode, but as could be expected there's little to gain by switching to that.

Primary camera, 50MP (High resolution)

The camera module's limitations mean you don't really get anything in terms of extra details and you just end up with larger files. On the upside, colors and dynamic range aren't affected negatively.

Nighttime Photos

Now, let's take a look at some nighttime photos.

Primary camera, 12.5 MP.

Primary camera, 12.5MP

Low-light images are hardly impressive - while their colors are alright, they are decidedly soft and shadows come out underdeveloped.

Primary camera, 50 MP (High resolution).

Primary camera, 50 MP (High resolution)

The high resolution mode makes little sense in good light, but is outright damaging the image quality in the dark. The extra resolution means the usual processing would take too long so some steps have to be skipped and the result is underexposed extra-soft photos.

Battery

The Samsung Galaxy XCover7 comes with a 4,050 mAh user-replaceable battery, which is placed separately in the retail box. We couldn't run our standard battery tests on the Samsung Galaxy XCover7 since the phone wasn't tested at our HQ. But anecdotally speaking, the Samsung Galaxy XCover7 got us through the day easily on a single charge with 5G mobile data and Wi-Fi hotspot enabled the whole time.

We got an average of about 6.5 hours of screen-on time, with the usage consisting of over an hour of video watching, social media browsing, and gaming. The Samsung Galaxy XCover7's battery life is pretty good, and that's hardly a surprise considering the chipset and 60Hz display used for the phone.

Once the Samsung Galaxy XCover7's battery is drained, you can fill it with a 15W power adapter because that's the maximum supported charging speed through USB-C and POGO pins.

The Galaxy XCover7 doesn't come bundled with a power adapter, but we had a Samsung 15W adapter with us, which charged the smartphone from 1% to 19% in 15 minutes, 35% in 30 minutes, 50% in 45 minutes, 63% in 1 hour, 99% in 1 hour and 52 minutes, and 100% in 2 hours and 3 minutes with 5G mobile data enabled, and the Wi-Fi hotspot turned off.

With the Wi-Fi hotspot turned on, the Samsung Galaxy XCover7 charged from 1% to 15% in 15 minutes, 26% in 30 minutes, 35% in 45 minutes, 46% in 1 hour, 50% in 1 hour and 6 minutes, 99% in 2 hours and 22 minutes, and 100% in 2 hours and 33 minutes.

Note that we have presented the best results here from our charging tests, and your mileage will likely vary depending on your usage and ambient temperature when charging the phone.

Also, while two hours is quite a long time for a 4,050 mAh battery to charge in 2024, the upside is you have the option to swap the battery with a fully charged one since it's user-replaceable, and the entire process didn't take us more than two minutes. A user-replaceable battery is the fastest charging option right now if you are willing to see it that way.

As mentioned in the design section, we'd really like to see more smartphones with user-replaceable batteries, especially from Samsung, since its phones have some of the slowest charging speeds in the industry across all price ranges.

Conclusion

The Samsung Galaxy XCover7's Standard version is priced at INR27,208 ($325/€300) in India, while the Enterprise model costs INR27,530 ($330/€300). The difference is that the Standard model has a 1-year warranty, while the Enterprise version comes with a 2-year warranty and a 12-month Knox Suite subscription.

The Enterprise model makes a more logical purchase since separately buying an additional 1-year warranty costs INR1,800 ($21/€20), and a 12-month Knox Suite subscription costs INR3,500 ($42/€38).

The Samsung Galaxy XCover7 won't impress you if you are someone whose idea of a rugged smartphone is something that features night vision or infrared cameras and looks chunky due to massive batteries, with some even charging faster than the Galaxy XCover7, because the XCover7 doesn't offer any of that. And we do have some rugged smartphones in this price range offering all of that along with higher refresh rate screens, higher-res cameras, and side-mounted fingerprint scanners.

However, most of these rugged smartphones are sold by Chinese brands, and that's where Samsung has an advantage because brand perception is still a thing. Samsung also has a better presence than many Chinese brands worldwide, with the robust distribution and service network being a bonus. In markets like India, with no direct competition in the rugged phones category, Samsung is positioned even better. Additionally, the software support for the Galaxy XCover7 is something most Chinese brands can't match yet.

It would also be unfair to compare the Samsung Galaxy XCover7 with regular smartphones, which have better specs and features for a similar price, since the Galaxy XCover7 is targeted at enterprise users.

The Samsung Galaxy XCover7 has a rugged build, comes with an IP68 rating, and you can also operate it with wet hands or when wearing gloves, provided they aren't thicker than 2mm. Besides, the XCover7 has good battery life, and while its 15W charging speed is unimpressive, it does come with a user-replaceable battery, allowing you to quickly swap it with a fully charged one.

The XCover7's 60Hz screen and the lack of a fingerprint scanner could also be a downer for many, and we hope the brand will consider a higher refresh rate screen and a fingerprint reader for the next model.

While the Samsung Galaxy XCover7 is aimed at business users, it also makes a great option for regular consumers who want a smartphone with a nice build, that survives splashes and spills, can handle basic tasks without much hassle, and has good battery life. Oh, and there's also a 3.5mm headphone jack for those who prefer listening to music through wired earphones.