Need a Rugged Jobsite Phone or Tablet? Samsung Is Dropping Two This Spring.

Given the level of destruction I can unleash on an uncased device, people who know me like to gently remind me every so often that I don’t need to be a construction worker to consider buying the smartphones and tablets marketed toward, well, construction workers.I crushed one while mountain climbing, and I dropped another in the garage while working on an engine, and as it cartwheeled down the sidewalk, I swear it violated the laws of physics and began to gain energy as it shed bits of glass.On subsequent adventures, I got a little smarter and began using one of the more rugged cases on the market, an OtterBox Defender, for more impact protection.

My phone only stays in there during hikes, though; it’s too bulky to be my everyday case.credit: SamsungSo, what to do if you work on a jobsite every day that exposes you to drop hazards, heavy equipment, errant spritzes of water, and dust, lots and lots of dust? You could skip the case and just buy a phone that’s built to ward away all of that.Earlier today, Samsung announced the Galaxy XCover7 Pro smartphone and Galaxy Tab Active5 Pro tablet for people who, like me, tend to crack up their share of phones in device-hostile environments or worksites and who, also like me, want something a little slimmer for everyday use than a big, honking case.



brawn and brainsBoth devices are IP68-rated for dust and water resistance, which means they’re completely sealed against dust and can survive submersion in water at a depth of up to 1.5 meters for up to 30 minutes.The XCover7 Pro includes a 6.

6′′ screen with a 120Hz refresh rate, 128GB of internal storage, and 50-megapixel and 13-megapixel rear and front cameras (respectively). The Active5 Pro has a 10.1′′ screen with a 120Hz refresh rate, 128GB or 256GB of internal storage, and 12-megapixel and 8-megapixel rear and front cameras (respectively).

Both devices include 5G cellular support, face recognition, fingerprint sensor, and support for both eSIM and physical SIM cards. You can check out the full specs on both devices here.Base RAM is a bit low at 6GB on both devices, although if you spring for the Active5 Pro with 256GB of internal storage, you also get 8GB of RAM.

The Samsung Galaxy S25 and Google Pixel 9 both ship with 12GB of RAM, and while the last generation base-level iPhone 15 and 15 Plus shipped with 6GB, iOS tends to use RAM more efficiently than Android and so can get by with less RAM.The Galaxy XCover7 Pro will be available in the US on May 8, and the Galaxy Tab Active5 Pro will be available sometime in June. Although Samsung’s own press release announcing the two devices says they’ll be available “starting April 2025,” that’s a global newsroom site not specific to the US market, and so it stands to reason that the US will be getting the devices after other markets.

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