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Accessories Extended battery for Xcover Pro anywhere?

codezer0

Android Expert
Jan 23, 2013
859
291
Arizona
Preface: After seeing how horrendously Samsung handled the situation with the Note 7, and the fact that they seemed to obstinately insist on making sealed phones even when a removable battery would have turned that fiasco into barely an issue, implied to me, that Samsung would basically rather literally kill its users before sell a good phone again.

Imagine my surprise, when I first hear of the Xcover Pro.

So yeah, a phone that retains headphone jack, has a removable battery? Hard to ignore it. Definitely can't even think about picking it up immediately (gee, thanks Covid), but, it's the first time since the Note 7 that I've even had Samsung on the Radar. But first thing that has to be done, is replace that factory explosi-- er, battery. And history has taught me that the only time I'm ever really happy with a phone's battery life, is when I'm able to install an extended battery. Problem is, I'm not seeing any as of yet. And that's troubling. Simply put, if there were such available readily, it would basically go immediately from idle curiosity to a must-buy, given everything else that's positive about the phone.

tl;dr version - Galaxy Xcover Pro looks good, appears to be compatible, but I don't trust Samsung for its battery. If there's an extended upgrade available, it would actually be worth buying the phone (and upgrading immediately). Don't even @ me about anything with a sealed battery unless it's 10k mAh and/or greater.
 
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yeah the note 7 was a fiasco, but damn did they get the note 10+ right. i get great battery life and it is amazingly fast and smooth. i'm waiting to see what the note 20 will officially look like then i'll wait for the note 21 to come out. i was fortunate enough to wait for the note 8 to come out which i was very happy with until i purchased the note 10+.

i have not seen any reviews for this phone.
 
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Like I said, won't touch a sealed battery phone, ever again. Doubly true from Samsung. Even at the best case scenario, I've only gotten maybe a third of the advertised battery life on any factory battery. And far worse with a sealed battery, regardless of maker. Don't need to throw in the fact that it's designed to literally end my life when it comes to Samsung.
 
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Like I said, won't touch a sealed battery phone, ever again. Doubly true from Samsung. Even at the best case scenario, I've only gotten maybe a third of the advertised battery life on any factory battery. And far worse with a sealed battery, regardless of maker. Don't need to throw in the fact that it's designed to literally end my life when it comes to Samsung.

I am in total agreement.

As far as 'extended capacity', I gave up on all that after 'The Brick' I had weighed about as much as my sidearm.

So, now I use tiny little auxillary batteries.

My ollady and I camp all summer long, so I bought us 5 small extra batteries that will each put a decent charge into a phone in a few minutes.

I also bought a larger one with a solar charger built in.
This one I use to charge the small ones.

The little ones only cost about $6 each, and I paid $15 for the larger one.

Sure, I could have spent some more, and gotten a monster with tremendous capacity, but I dont want the size or the wait.

The tiny ones fit in a pocket, and recharge fast.

All of the batteries can charge from a phone charger, or I can charge them from the solar cell, which can also charge from a phone charger.

Everything, including a wall charger and a cigarette lighter charger, and all needed cords, fits into a 5" x 6" bag.
 
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For me, those external bricks don't really work out. Even with a generously sized one, the reality is then I'd have to dedicate 3 separate pockets on my person for the phone, the charging cable, and the brick itself. First and most common point of failure there is the cable, because it would invariably need to be long enough to go from the pocket with the brick, to the pocket with the phone basically all day. If I'm not asleep, any down time on a phone is a problem.

An extended battery upgrade, even if it makes the phone bigger, I can at least pare it down to *one* pocket, and no need to worry about cables getting ruined.

The last phone I tried to settle with on a sealed battery was an MXPE... never, ever again. My note 3's micro USB3 connector was still cherry because I had an extended battery from the beginning, and its capacity meant I didn't have to charge anywhere near as frequently.
 
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The externals I use are very small, generally about the size of a large magic marker.

I use a flat 3ft cord (flat cords dont tangle) while it is on me, and the cord stays plugged into the battery, and is in the same pocket.

My phone is in its belt holster or pocket on my other side.

The cord reaches just fine, and can even go around my back.
(3ft flat cords are available even at dollar stores.)

It actually is quite nice that I have found a jacket and a coat that have deep internal pockets on both sides.

In the warm months, a set of cargo style shorts works well enough, or a pair of carpenters shorts.

Plently of pocket options between those.

I guess if I had to wear a suit and tie (yuck, not even at a funeral, lol) then I would need to be more picky as to how to do this.

To be honest, the little batteries that I am speaking of are only 3350mAh, so they wont give afull charge to a dead battery.

But they do have built in circuitry that makes them dump their energy very rapidly.

So, for a battery that has not been run dead, maybe to about 33% or so, one of these can give a substantial boost in a rather short time.

These things are only about the size of a roll of quarters.
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Again, wouldn't work for me. I tried, with the MXPE. All I ended up doing was spending nearly $100 in replacement cables within the first year of ownership. And when the cable breaks, I'm then with a dead battery and a useless brick.

I don't want to go through that purgatory again.

Were you using braided cables?
I fell into that trap before.

The cables are heavy, with cloth covering and thick insulation.

The problem is that these heavy futy cables come with the same run of the mill ends on them.

The cable could be used to pull a car out of a ditch, but the end gets bent when you sit on your phone, and now the cable wont work.

I have actually reattached the end of a USB B cable before.

I have had so many different cables, it makes me sick.
I even have a genuine leather wrapped cord from Y-Max that is 6ft long and (luckilly) cost $10, on sale.
It was great for just about a year and a half.
It still works, but the end has been boogered up a bit, and some devices dont like it so well anymore.

But, I learned not to spend more than a dollar per foot, and to get cables with good ends. A cable like the one in the photos above is literally $1 at the local dollar store.

And yes, I will still be PO'ed if (when) it dies, but that is a ton more acceptable than A. a dead battery, or B. spending $20 on a 'super cable' that has the same ends on it.

Currently, the cables I use at home are 10 ft long and cost $8 each, from Big Lots.
 
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I made this thread with the express purpose of being able to replace the battery for one from somebody that's not Samsung.

Samsung has more than proved that they would rather make terrorist enabler devices, than make a quality phone. That they thought they could re-package the Note 7 and re-sell it in India after it was basically banned in the rest of the planet from travel, proves that the Samsung that made legends like the S3 and Note 4 is long gone.

I wouldn't touch an Xcover unless I can explicitly get an extended battery upgrade, preferably not from Samsung. I don't like the thought of even replacing a phone every two years. The only reason that I finally retired my still functioning Note 3 from being used even as a glorified tablet, is because not even YouTube works on it without dropping frames.

The only reason I'm even halfway thinking about the xcover, is because of the potential to replace the battery for something that's made by people who aren't actively trying to kill me to make a buck.

Bricks don't work for me because every single time, the failure point is the cable I also have to bring. Wireless charging is horrendously inefficient and just burns up the phone, and demands that i treat it like a glorified Christmas ornament.
 
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I hear you.
I wouldn't want a Samsung device myself.
I don't like anything about any of them that I have seen.

Actually, the Galaxy Prevail had a good sounding, loud, built in speaker.

There. I said something good about Samsung.
About a Samsung device made in 2012.

The new stuff is more like Samdung.

What is scary is that they also produce bombs- I mean 'batteries' for other manufacturers as well.

I did try to find an extended battery for your device and came up with nothing.

As much as we don't like Samsung, it is probably best that we stay away from them.
 
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