Rugged phones remain a niche product market, and as a result, there doesn't seem to be much of an incentive for competition. Samsung has a new durable device for first responders and construction workers, but despite the $1,105 price tag, it's running software from 2017.
The Galaxy XCover FieldPro, which is now available exclusively on AT&T, is specifically designed for emergency teams. It supports AT&T's FirstNet network, complete with Push-to-Talk functionality and device-to-device communications (though the latter is supposedly coming soon). The FieldPro does come out ahead of the Galaxy S20 in a few other areas: the battery is user-replaceable, and there's a 3.5mm jack.
SPECS
|
Display |
5.1" QHD (2560 x 1440) |
|
Chipset |
Samsung Exynos 9810 |
|
Memory |
4GB + 64GB, microSD up to 512GB |
|
Camera |
12.0MP AF (Dual Aperture) + 8.0MP, Triple LED Flash |
|
Connectivity |
USB 2.0 Type C, 3.5pi Audio, Pogo Pin |
|
Sensors |
Accelerometer, Fingerprint Sensor, Gyro Sensor, Geomagnetic Sensor, Proximity Sensor, RGB Light Sensor |
|
Wireless |
BT v5.0 (LE up to 2 Mbps), NFC, Wi-Fi (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac 2.4G+5GHz, VHT80 MU-MIMO,1024-QAM), A-GPS, GLONASS, Galileo |
|
Dimensions |
158.5mm x 80.7mm x 14.2mm, 256g |
|
Battery |
4,500mAh |
|
Software |
Android 8.0 Oreo, update to Android 10 promised |
|
Durability |
MIL-STD-810G, Anti-shock, IP68 Water and Dust Resistance |
The phone seems like a decent product overall, but the choice of software is a head-scratcher. Samsung went with Android 8.0 Oreo, which is two and a half years old at this point. The company promised last year that the FieldPro would receive a software update to Android 10 at some point. If you're still interested, you can check it out at the link below.
Buy: AT&T