Samsung Galaxy XCover7 review: a true-blue workhorse

It carries the Samsung Galaxy name and runs OneUI, and yet, is drastically different from other Samsung smartphones we’ve reviewed thus far. The Galaxy XCover7 is a strange beast, and doesn’t conform to the conventional price vs spec ratios. But then again, it’s not a conventional phone. Instead of focusing on the usual aspects like performance, camera quality etc, it goes after durability, reliability, longevity and manageability.

As an enterprise-grade phone, and a rugged one at that, the Galaxy XCover7 shouldn’t be judged by its cover… so to speak. Let’s dive a little deeper and get inside its rugged exterior.

Verdict

The Samsung Galaxy XCover7 is a handset designed for enterprise usage and focuses on aspects meant to cater to businesses. It can’t be compared with consumer smartphones, at least in terms of the usual specs, but that said, stands out in terms of durability and manageability, offering a bunch of features that should come in handy in specific scenarios and use cases.

Enterprise features

Before I get to the usual aspects of the phone, it’s important to get a gist of the enterprise-oriented features on offer here:

• For one, the XCover7 is designed to withstand rough use – thanks to features like military-grade ruggedness, a tough outer shell, IP68 rating, Gorilla Glass Victus layer on the screen.
  
  
• There’s a programmable key on the side, which can configured to run any app of your choice. Not just that, it can even be used for walkie-talkie communications (by say workers in restaurants or large warehouses), scan barcodes (useful for those working in logistics) etc.
• Loud volume output at max levels can be useful in noisy environments such as factories and construction sites.
• The phone has a couple of pogo-pin connectors at the bottom. Using the 5-slot POGO charger accessory (sold separately), multiple handsets can be charged together conveniently in one go.
  
  
• Thanks to the removable battery, phone usage can continue unhindered across multiple shifts. Furthermore, if the phone is connected to a charger, it can stay on for a few seconds even when the battery is removed, allowing you to pop-in another battery without interrupting usage.
• The Samsung Knox Vault promises to protect critical info in separate tamper-resistant hardware. Plus. Samsung also promises consistent OS and security updates for the XCover7, giving device admins peace of mind regarding security and manageability.
• Samsung includes a 1-year subscription to its Knox Suite for free along with the phone and offers a 50 percent discount for the second year.

Design and display

While I’m sure that’s not where the “cover” in its moniker comes from, the handset looks like it’s inside a cover as soon as you pull it out of its box. I’m told the phone can be had in any colour, as long as it’s black. In all seriousness though, black is quite apt for a phone like this. Seemingly built like a tank, it features a thick outer shell with a pattern on the back, lending it a good grip, as well as making it look reasonably interesting. The sides have appropriately-placed ridges for added grip too. The orange-accented camera ring stands out… and do note, there’s just a solitary snapper on offer here.

The same bright orange accent can also be found on a large key placed on the left spine, and this is a programmable button that can basically do what you want it do. The placement of ports and controls is fairly typical otherwise, with a 3.5mm headset socket marking its presence on the top. The feathers in the XCover7’s richly adorned cap include an IP68 rating, tested to withstand drops up to 1.5m, Gorilla Glass Victus layer on the display, and adherence to MIL-STD-810H standards for some military-grade peace of mind. And wonder of wonders, the rear panel can actually be pried open to reveal the SIM slots and removable battery. Now I don’t recall the last time I wrote the words “removable” and “battery” together in a sentence, there’s a method to the madness, and I’ll get to that in a bit.

The 6.6-inch, FHD+ display is actually of the TFT variety and can go up to 600 nits in terms of peak brightness. While it can’t match consumer-grade devices (it bears 60Hz refresh rate and has thick bezels), it does the job and features a toggle that increases the touch sensitivity so you can use it with work gloves, and when the screen is wet. The water drop-style notch for the front camera feels a tad dated, but do keep in mind that this phone isn’t really meant for the general masses.

Cameras

On offer is a solitary 50MP snapper at the rear, while a 5MP camera is placed in the waterdrop notch at the front. Let’s just say that the XCover7’s cameras won’t win any photography awards, but you should keep in mind that they serve a bigger purpose than just capturing memories. Given the phone’s intended target audience, the XCover7’s primary camera is more likely to be used for barcode scanning than shooting sunsets (for example), while the front camera could be more apt for user authentication than selfies.

The shooting modes on offer include standard ones like slow mo, hyperlapse, panorama, pro, night, and portrait etc. There’s also a fun mode that offers Snapchat-style face filters, though to tell you the truth, usage might be limited (except for some lunchtime shenanigans) given the target audience.

Image quality is reasonably good, especially in daylight. Shots captured in low light are also quite usable and show ample detail, though I think light flares could have been handled better. Selfies show a fair bit of skin smoothening, but that apart, offer decent image quality. More than requiring improvement in image quality, I think the Galaxy XCover7 could do with some versatility, such as what an additional ultrawide sensor can provide, for example. But then again, something like that might not be super useful in enterprise usage.

Software, performance and battery

Software-wise, the XCover7 runs One UI 6 over Android 14. There’s the usual assortment of apps from Google, Samsung and Microsoft. Most of them can be uninstalled if you don’t have any use for them though. Ecosystem features like the ones enabled by signing into your Samsung account (including cloud-based features, app continuity etc) are all there.

A MediaTek Dimensity 6100+ SoC handles performance, along with 6GB RAM and 128GB storage. These are modest specs and won’t set any performance charts on fire. However, the XCover7 works smoothly and doesn’t show signs of lag, with regular, day-to-day usage at least. You should keep your expectations in check while running heavy apps though.

The 4,050mAh battery feels a tad underwhelming too, but delivers good battery life overall. It logged a run time of almost 14 hours on the PC Mark battery test. The 15W charging speeds are quite slow though, and Samsung has left out the charger from the box as usual. On the positive side, you do get an option to limit the charge levels to 85 percent for better battery health.

In keeping with the overall businessy theme of the handset, a few frills we’re usually accustomed to have been done away with. For instance, the phone misses out on stereo speakers and relies on a single speaker for audio output. The lack of a fingerprint scanner does feel a bit odd though, since security is supposed to be an important aspect for a smartphone, and even more so in this case as it’s an enterprise phone.

Final verdict

The Galaxy XCover7 is priced around Rs 27,500 and is available to enterprises and via employee purchase programs. Worth pointing out that the rating here is merely indicative since the handset can’t be compared directly with other smartphones. If you consider it just for its price and specs, it can hardly match up to consumer phones. However, it’s not meant for everyone and is a niche device. For the niche it’s supposed to cater to though, it seems to tick most boxes, standing out in aspects like build quality, manageability and features like the customisable key. 

Editor’s rating: 7.5 / 10

Reasons to buy:

• The military-grade ruggedness, IP68 rating and Gorilla Glass Victus add to the solid build.
• The enterprise and manageability features look highly useful.
• The performance is decent and so is the battery life.

Reasons not to buy:

• The display is restricted to 60Hz and has wide bezels.
• The charging speeds are slow.
• There’s no fingerprint scanner.