Samsung Galaxy xCover (Extreme) Review

The top of the Samsung Galaxy xCover includes a single 3.5mm headphone jack complete with a cover to keep dust and water out, which is all a part of its IP67 certification.

It is tied to the phone through a plastic thread and held in place by a plastic tab. Both of which I could see being a problem over time. I only had the xCover for just under a fortnight and after that time closing this port didn’t give the satisfying click it did on day one.

The bottom of the phone holds a standard Micro-USB port used for charging and data transfer. The port itself is behind a cover which has a plastic/rubber seal to ensure water does not seep in; something the headphone port does not have.

The port itself is recessed into the phone by about 5mm which does cause problems with many cables. I had to rely on just one of my five Micro-USB cables to ensure USB connectivity. This also explains why the tip of the cable I got from Samsung is 5mm thick at its plastic shielding compared to 8mm of the other four cables I have. While all of them could charge the xCover just fine, don’t be too confident when it comes to file transfers.

From a design point of view I really quite like the covered ports; waterproof phone or not. It adds a lot of uniformity to the phone with no exposed ports taking away from the design. From a functionality point of view however they’re not as wonderful for the reasons I have already gone into.

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