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The Galaxy Xcover 3 is Samsung’s rugged smartphone on the cheap

Williams Pelegrin
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Even though Samsung currently offers the Galaxy S6 Active for those of us who are a little more unforgiving with our smartphones, it’s just shy of $700 off contract. As a way to offer similar ruggedness in a cheaper package, Samsung now offers the sequel to last year’s Galaxy Xcover 2, the Samsung Galaxy Xcover 3.

The Galaxy Xcover 3 is powered by a quad-core Marvell Armada PXA1908 processor coupled with 1.5GB of RAM. The front reveals a 4.5-inch, PLS TFT 800-by-480 display, which looks to disappoint in both the resolution and off-angle viewing departments, even though the latter is helped by the PLS, or Plane Line Switching, technology. By itself, PLS allows a display to have improved viewing angles and image quality with higher brightness, even though the TFT nature of the display will prevent it from looking great when looking from the sides.

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Turning the phone around reveals a 5-megapixel camera capable of 720p video recording, and while the 8GB of internal storage is pretty meager if you record video and take pictures, the MicroSD card slot allows up to 128GB of extra storage.

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Where the Galaxy Xcover 3 begins to separate itself from other low-end smartphones is its IP67 certification, which protects it from dust while surviving in 1 meter of fresh water for 30 minutes. In addition, the Galaxy Xcover 3 is MIL-STD 810G certified. In other words, the handset is resistant to salt, humidity, rain, vibration, solar radiation, transport, and thermal shock.

If the Galaxy Xcover 3 looks like it might be up your alley, it’s now available for purchase through Amazon for $300. That much money might be hard to swallow, considering the specifications, but for those who don’t want to treat their smartphones as if they will break in the next few minutes, it might be a solid purchase, especially if specifications are secondary to your needs.

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Williams Pelegrin
Williams Pelegrin
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Williams is an avid New York Yankees fan, speaks Spanish, resides in Colorado, and has an affinity for Frosted Flakes. Send…
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