Samsung Galaxy Xcover 3 Review By Clove Technology

The media may have you believe we are a less active nation, but they also say we have an increasing number of people taking up more sports and activities outdoors. Whatever the ‘real’ situation, the Xcover 3 from Samsung is aimed at the later, those who need a phone for the outdoors. If English is not your native language, click the captions button below to view this in your preferred language option. The Xcover 3 boasts the hardware specifications you see on screen now. This is not an outright flagship phone, this is a practical solution to a need. A quick glance and it looks like a regular smartphone, only on paying more attention do the subtle design tweaks become apparent.

First of the key design tweaks are the three physical buttons on the front of the device. Easy to touch and interact with even when the phone is wet or muddy. The edges of the phone are made from a tough plastic that has grooves etched into it for a more grippy texture. The same goes for the rear cover. The corner protection has also been bolstered.

All of the buttons on the device are raised. On the right is the power key whilst the left if home to the volume up and down key and a programmable ‘Xcover’ key. Out of the box a short press on the key and the flash illuminates to be used as a torch and the camera activated on a long press. The only downside is you need to unlock the screen to take advantage which is a bit of a disappointment. A small and easy to miss addition is the lanyard attachment on the left side of the phone.

It is also worth noting that there is no LED notification light. Part of the whole design is the water resistance. Drop the handset in freshwater up to a depth of 1m for up to 30 minutes and it will survive. Do not worry that the headphone jack and microUSB port are exposed, they are protected against the elements. Overall, in hand it feels solid and whilst not the best feeling when dry, when wet the plastics are much better than a glass alternative might be.

At 4.5” the screen is smaller compared to many phones available now. That said, I think it is ideally sized, not too big but large enough to be practical. The resolution is a little disappointing at 480 x 800 pixels. Whilst images and other content are perhaps not as sharp and vibrant, the positive effect is on the battery life. You can change the brightness of the screen, but not automatically.

There is too an optional ‘outdoor mode’ which boosts the screens backlight for greater visibility. There is also the option for increased screen sensitivity. This means gloves and the touchscreen get along better, although still fiddly. Sony’s simple home with bigger on screen icons would work well in this instance, problem is, this is not a Sony. As is standard with Samsung Galaxy devices there is a level of customisation over and above what is known as stock Android.

This customisation is not as heavy as it is on many other devices. Add and remove different home screens, add app shortcuts and widgets. Re-organise the app drawer to your liking, download more apps and change the shortcuts available in the notification shade, all of what I would consider are basic desires of smartphone customisation are present. Minimal additions do include a file manager, Galaxy Apps and My Galaxy. The pre-installed Google services are simple to connect to and for existing Google users, a simple sign in and you can be up and running within a matter of minutes.

Easily add other accounts from different services, be it a Microsoft Exchange Server email account or your social media accounts. Download free or paid for apps from Google Play Store and much more. The Galaxy Xcover 3 does pretty well on connectivity options too. Aside from the standard 2G phone connection, you have 3G, 4G, WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, GLONASS and NFC. Use the microUSB connection for charging and connecting to a computer and the 3.5mm headphone jack for connecting up headphones or other audio products. If you need to share files take advantage of the USB hosting option which is supported.

Connect a USB memory stick (cable adapter required) and copy files to and from the phone. Inevitably with a rear mounted speaker the sound can feel a bit directional. To get any reasonable volume, I had to set the speaker volume to half power, anything below and I could barely hear it. Whack it up to full volume and the sound is much more audible but there is evidence of strain and a lot of reverberation through the back cover. At about 80-90% on the volume scale is where the sound performed best and was loud enough, but could have been louder.

Use in noisy environments may be difficult. The camera left me with mixed feelings. On the positive side, the camera app is pretty well featured with a number of different options for stills and videos. Different modes from auto, to sport to panorama. In good natural light, you can even get a depth of field to shots and be a little artistic, although there are limits.

The camera can struggle to focus on occasions and take some time to capture images, particularly noticeable in dark conditions where it can take 3-4 seconds. The resulting images? Low light images are ok with more noise, as is to be expected. Well lit shots have are better, but some colours are oversaturated and lighter colours like white and yellow can blown out and be overexposed. If I had to sum the results up it would be satisfactory. At 2200mAh the battery is neither small or large but it is perfectly functional.

I was happily getting through a day, 8am - 10pm without the absolute need to charge it. This was with light usage to be honest and more intensive applications such as GPS navigating will have a detrimental effect. A nice inclusion is the Ultra Power Saving mode which can save power by minimising the home screen layout and limiting the number of usable apps. It also provides a guide of how much time is left in the battery. All this said, I think Samsung could have afforded to increase the thickness of the phone slightly to accomodate a bit of a bigger battery for peace of mind.

This certainly has features and a performance that is perfectly adequate for what I would consider to be the average user. If you are into photography on the go though or rely on the camera, I would question if the Xcover 3 is best for this, I would be looking at Sony’s M4 Aqua. Tradespersons may want to consider the volume of background noise they generally encounter and if you use power draining features when away from power a battery bank might be a requirement. Whilst I do not think it will win any awards for innovation or value for money, nor will everyone be using one of these, you cannot really fault it considering what you get, a 24 month warranty and the peace of mind it is built by a reputable brand. Thanks for watching.

If you liked this video or found it useful, do hit that like button and for more mobile technology videos be sure to subscribe.

Source : Clove Technology