Samsung goes niche with its towering Android 11 rollout
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After essentially bringing every major 2019 and 2020 high-end smartphone up to date far ahead of the competition and doing the same for its latest and greatest tablets, as well as one of the world's best-selling mid-range handsets, Samsung is now turning its software support attention to a nichier product lineup.
Unsurprisingly, the early 2020-released Galaxy XCover Pro is the company's first rugged phone to score an official Android 11 update with One UI 3.0 on top. What's perhaps a little unexpected is the over-the-air rollout is already reportedly underway in a whole bunch of places across Europe and Asia, including Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Malaysia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, the Netherlands, the UAE, and the UK.
While we can't say the same for the US market just yet, recent history suggests the 6.3-incher's owners stateside may not have long to wait as far as both unlocked and carrier-specific variants are concerned. The XCover Pro is available on Verizon and AT&T in addition to its manufacturer's regional e-store, fetching around 500 bucks across the board with an unusually sleek and modern design in tow for a device that's primarily made to survive the harshest outdoor conditions.
This is basically the best of both worlds, combining a punch hole display with a robust construction guaranteed to withstand everything from water immersion to repeated drops onto hard surfaces, as well as extreme temperatures, vibration, low pressure, and high altitude.
Although Samsung is expected to unveil an all-new rugged handset with Android 11 out the box pretty soon, the Galaxy XCover 5 is unlikely to be as compelling as this Pro-branded 2020 model, downgrading everything from the screen size and resolution to the processing power, camera specifications, and battery capacity.
In other words, if you like rugged smartphones with silky smooth new software, you should still purchase the Samsung Galaxy XCover Pro and gear up for an OTA Android 11 and One UI 3.0 delivery.
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