Samsung Galaxy XCover Pro | Rugged (IP68 Rated) Unlocked (Verizon and AT&T) | Dual Sim | 64GB of Storage | SM-G715UZKDXAA, Black

Yada yada yada, this phone, that phone, all kinds of phones everywhere you turn - you get so bombarded with cell phone ads and commercials it becomes obnoxious. What sold me on this phone is the incredibly easy to remove / replace battery which you just can't find much of anymore. All of these new phones do not particularly serviceable batteries, so what happens after a 1000 charge cycles? If you want to keep a phone for years to come, this is it. When they say BEAST, it truly is in everyway. While it is not a slim small phone that you could forget in your pants pocket and accidentally end up in the washing machine, it is not overbearingly large or heavy. This IS definitely a commercial heavy duty grade phone. I put what I considered to be an enormous 256gb micro SD card in it, so along with the 60GB it already has built into it, it now has more space available in it than my laptop PC does. Yes, there are no particular instructions that come with this phone, but it is truly rather intuitive to learn to use. Battery life has been amazing. Reception has been amazing, even in the metal building I work in that is usually dicey for reception at best under any carrier. There is such a dramatic leap in technology with this phone that I am actually stunned - Android 10 is very well done. It is not listed as 5G, but I wouldn't be one bit surprised if it gets a software update at some point and magically meets the new mark. As it is, it downloads things and plays HD videos so quickly and smoothly that I wouldn't likely even be able to tell the difference if it switched to 5G.So I receive the phone, a little anxious about whether I can just swap in my Verizon SIM card out of my old phone and go. Ooops... Apparently SIM cards got smaller when I wasn't looking - DOH! NANO SIM cards now? Ok, so I have apparently been living under a rock. My older SIM was too big to fit. I hopped online and researched it, and what do you know, you can actually see a ton of online tutorials as to how to simply trim your older / larger SIM card down to the new NANO size - interesting. I ordered a new replacement NANO SIM from Verizon at no charge, but it will take a few days to get here. Anxious to try this bad boy phone out, I nervously trimmed my SIM card down with scissors, sanded the plastic side down a bit, and popped it right in. Not sure if I had possibly wrecked the SIM card, and also not sure if Verizon would accept the phone without a fight, I powered it up, went through the initial on screen set up prompts, and BAM - up and running perfectly (standard personal Verizon account - not commercial or prepaid). I transferred all of my data from my old phone to the new phone using the Wondershare Mobile Trans software I have installed on my PC, and everything transferred over perfectly - hooray!Now what they aren't advertising much just yet is that this phone has a dual sim card capability - wow. I haven't tested it yet, but am going to yank the SIM card out of my wife's Verizon phone and pop it into the the slot labeled "SIM 2". There was some mention that this feature is coming soon via a software update, but who knows - maybe that day has already come? I am VERY curious to see what it does with two SIM cards in it, speculating that it will act like a "Line 1 or Line 2" phone. WAAAAAAAY back in the early days, I had a Sprint phone that ran two lines. I ran a business line and also a personal line on that phone - I sure have missed that capability since then. If this works and I have two lines, I may try one of those companies like Cricket to provide a low cost second line. Again, I haven't tested this yet, but I'll bet you it works, which will tickle me silly for my business and personal usages.It has only been a few days now, but I am beyond tickled with this phone. I took a bit of a gamble on it, seeing some reviews that ranged from soup to nuts. The outcome? Tickled silly :) BIG SCREEN, ultra fast processor, more capabilities than I ever imagined (still finding more and more cool features as I continue to use it further), outstanding battery life, incredible HD audio clarity on the phone (bizarre how clear actually), phenomenal camera and video with all kinds of different possible settings, and on and on and on. Rated for being immersed in water up to five feet for thirty minutes??? Military grade drop tested with a Gorilla glass screen?Can you tell how tickled I am with this phone? And to think I was just sold on the fact that you could pop in a spare fresh battery in ten seconds flat - this is an AMAZING SUPER PHONE PEOPLE !!! I occasionally get something that under promises and over delivers - rare, but it happens. This is most definitely one of the best purchases I have made in years - SERIOUSLY :) :) :)

I love my LG G5 so much I bought more than 15 of it for my family and relatives, and 1 as a back up for myself, but unfortunately both died... one wouldn't turn on again one day and the other takes too much effort to repair. I have been eyeing this phone from Samsung since May 2020, but the only reason why I did not get it sooner was because the spare battery was nowhere to be found in the states. WTH Samsung? I was ready to upgrade the whole family to this phone, but you've let us down - you've let a lot of folks down.So why then the 5 stars? Read on....Going from the LG G5 to this phone was smooth. Only a few things that bothered me. So lets go over the cons first:- No spare battery available in th US. Enough said.- Volume is lower than any other phone I've used. I've disabled the volume limiter, but the volume on max settings for this phone including for its loudspeaker is still too low. For a phone marketed for industrial use, the audio quality should atleast be up to par with other phones. Microphone is clear and crisp, but what good is it if you can't really hear the other person on the line while being in an industrial environment? Regular users should be okay with the volume.- The fingerprint reader/power button is on the right near the volume buttons and is flushed with the side making hard to feel for whereas the G5 has it slightly raised and it is the only button on the back...so it was easier to feel for. Would really rather have the "XCover" button as the power/fingerprint button.- Default button and screen page layout for this phone is messy and frustrating to navigate. It will require some fiddling to get a better end result. Can be much easier to use than the G5. My suggestion...download a button remapper app. It will make your life much easier. Let's just hope Samsung doesn't decide to disable the 3rd party button remapper as their button remapper is extremely limited, junk.- No IR blaster. Who uses it these days? I do, and quite often. Really miss this option...but then again...it's just me.Pros:- Long battery life. I use my phone heavily... to give you an idea...I go through at least 3 to 4 G5 batteries a day. With this phone from morning until night ...I still have about 20% left to go. This is the reason why I am not knocking off a star for the spare battery issue - there's really no need to change battery. However, like all batteries, their charge cycles diminishes, and also because there will be time when I am out for days without a charger. Therefore, I still would like to see Samsung live up to its promises.- Feels good on the hand. Feels solid... not slipper...no fingerprints all over the phone. Looks clean - all the time.- Top button by default is a flashlight on/off. You can change the settings to even have it accessible even when the phone is locked. This is definitely one of my favorite feature for this phone. Ofcourse you can also remap it to other things too if you so choose. Same with the left "Xcover" button.- Removable battery and is waterproof? As long as you dont drop it deep into a lake...I was already sold on the removable battery.- Better cameras. The cameras setup is similar to what you get with the G5: Main camera, wide camera, and selfie...just better quality.- Charges quickly. For a battery this size...it completes its charge almost at the same time as the LG G5.Other things to consider:- May be on the heavier side. I don't mind this at all, but it is heavier than the G5. Just something you might want to note.Conclusion: it is an upgrade from the LG G5. And for the price, it definitely deserves a 4.5 five star rating. However, I can't give half a star, so I'll give it a 5 star and hope that Samsung will finally make available the spare battery plus charging cradle.

I liked this phone, for the most part. (After I turned off as much tracking and background apps as I could).Battery life has been great. Wifi calling works, and I use Verizon.The side/top buttons could be layed out better and configuring their functions could be better, but I liked it.HOWEVER, a couple weeks ago, the screen started flickering and not coming on. Currently, if I put it into my pocket, and then take it out, I will have to press around the middle of the screen a few dozen times to get it to power the screen. I have to handle it vary carefully to keep the screen functional. I have not dropped it in any serious way, and the screen is not cracked at all.10/22/20:I'm still waiting on Samsung to "approve" my warranty information so I can open a support ticket....10/23/20: warranty approved.3/04/21: finally got around to sending for warranty repair. 3/11/21: Facility received the phone.3/16/21: got an email that repair wasn't covered. Called support to pay ~$82 charge. Was told the tech's system wasn't working and they would call me back.No missed calls from 800 numbers, or samsung.3/23/21: ticket marked cancelled in website, no notification.3/24/21: contacted support again, used chat since call said 30 minute wait time. Chat person to 16 minutes to look up ticket number. took 10-15 minutes to respond to each of my simple questions. Support claims they tried to call me 3 times and closed the ticket. During the chat session, I received an email about the ticket being cancelled.When I receive my phone again, I will start the whole support process again from the beginning. So far I am 3-4 hours in to troubleshooting and getting the phone repaired, and have made no progress. Downgraded to 1 star.