Samsung Galaxy Xcover 2 review: Gone fishing

Design and build quality (contd.)

The 5 megapixel camera lens is on the back, a single LED flash and the loudspeaker grill at its sides. The camera lens is slightly recessed, but it still might get damaged if it hits an edge.

The 5 megapixel camera is the star backstage

Underneath the rear cover and the battery itself are the miniSIM and microSD card slots. The battery is a 1,700mAh unit - we would have fancied a larger capacity, but our tests show that even this one does a reasonable job.

Taking a peak under the hood

We ran our array of battery tests on the Samsung Galaxy Xcover and gave it an endurance rating of 48 hours. In the individual categories, it lasted just over 10 hours when calling on a 3G network, a bit over 6 and a half hours of web browsing over Wi-Fi and 7 and a half hours for video.

You can get more details about the Xcover 2's battery performance at our blog and find out more details on how we test the phone's battery life over here.

The rounded corners make the phone comfortable to hold and we already mentioned the grip-enhancing patterned back and ribbed sides. It's not a small device by any means, nor is it lightweight, but you should have no problems pocketing the phone (especially if you're wearing a comfy pair of pants).

It's not something we'd strap on an arm band and go running though, so wireless headphones are a good idea if you want to listen to music while you jog. A wired headset is also an option, if you don't mind the wires sticking out of your pocket.

Samsung Galaxy Xcover 2 in the hand

Display

The Samsung Galaxy Xcover 2 has a 4" LCD screen of WVGA resolution. That gives it a reasonable pixel density of 233ppi (the Galaxy S II and S II Plus have 216ppi). The glass covering the screen is scratch resistant but not Gorilla Glass.

Samsung Galaxy Xcover 2 has a 4" WVGA screen

We also snapped a photo of the display with our digital microscope. It shows a standard LCD RGB matrix.

The screen has good viewing angles - colors are unaffected, while contrast suffers only at extreme angles. Unfortunately, neither colors, nor contrast are particularly good on this screen to start with. Colors aren't very saturated, which further brings down the image quality.

Display test	50% brightness			100% brightness
	Black, cd/m2	White, cd/m2	Contrast ratio	Black, cd/m2	White, cd/m2	Contrast ratio
Samsung I8730 Galaxy Express	0	201	∞	0	364	∞
HTC Butterfly	0.14	173	1200	0.45	501	1104
Sony Xperia Z	-	-	-	0.70	492	705
Sony Xperia go	0.30	282	928	0.63	541	859
Samsung Galaxy Xcover 2	0.22	212	981	0.49	439	898
Samsung I9300 Galaxy S III	0	174	∞	0	330	∞
Nokia Lumia 920	-	-	-	0.48	513	1065
Apple iPhone 5	0.13	200	1490	0.48	640	1320
Nexus 4	0.22	314	1447	0.45	608	1341
HTC One X	0.15	200	1375	0.39	550	1410

The screen is very reflective, which is a problem for outdoor use. Indoors, the contrast is not bad actually, but bright light has a negative impact on the sunlight legibility.

Sunlight contrast ratio

• Nokia 808 PureView
  4.698
• Samsung I9300 Galaxy S III
  3.419
• Samsung Omnia W
  3.301
• Samsung Galaxy S
  3.155
• Nokia N9
  3.069
• Samsung Galaxy Note
  2.970
• HTC One S
  2.901
• Samsung Galaxy Express
  2.861
• Samsung Galaxy S II
  2.832
• Samsung Galaxy S II Plus
  2.801
• Huawei Ascend P1
  2.655
• Nokia Lumia 900
  2.562
• Sony Xperia Z
  2.462
• Samsung Galaxy S III mini
  2.422
• Motorola RAZR i
  2.366
• Apple iPhone 4S
  2.269
• HTC One X
  2.158
• Nokia N8
  2.144
• Oppo Find 5
  2.088
• BlackBerry Z10
  2.051
• Apple iPhone 4
  2.016
• Sony Ericsson Xperia ray
  1.955
• Samsung Galaxy Camera
  1.938
• HTC Butterfly
  1.873
• Sony Xperia V
  1.792
• Sony Xperia U
  1.758
• LG Optimus 4X HD
  1.691
• HTC One V
  1.685
• LG Optimus Vu
  1.680
• HTC Desire V
  1.646
• Samsung Galaxy Xcover 2
  1.632
• LG Optimus 3D
  1.542
• Nokia Asha 302
  1.537
• Nokia Lumia 610
  1.432
• Gigabyte GSmart G1355
  1.361
• HTC Desire C
  1.300
• LG Optimus L7
  1.269
• LG Optimus L9
  1.227
• Meizu MX
  1.221
• Sony Xperia E dual
  1.203
• Samsung Galaxy Pocket
  1.180
• Sony Xperia tipo
  1.166
• Samsung Galaxy mini 2
  1.114