The market for normal outdoorsy smartphones (as in not overly rugged and bulky) seems to have grown a bit lately, so it was only a matter of time until Samsung looked to capitalize on this with a brand new dust and water proof device. And while Sammy is yet to announce something official, our go-to source of rumors relating to the Android king, Sam Mobile, tells us that a Galaxy Xcover 2 is very close to launch. This will follow on the footsteps of the 2011 Xcover (also known as the Galaxy Xtreme), but will take the specs up a few notches. For starters, the Xcover 2 will bump up the screen size from 3.65 to 4 inches and the resolution from 480 x 320 pixels to 800 x 480. The second major upgrade will concern the software – while the first Xcover still runs Android 2.3, the next one will come with either 4.1 or 4.2. That of course will see the on-board storage also taken up, from a laughable 150 MB to a much more comfortable 4 GB. The 3.15 MP rear-facing snapper will be replaced with a 5 MP, there’ll be a brand new front-facing 0.3 MP cam, while the 1,500 mAh battery will be ever so slightly bumped to 1,700 mAh. Other known features of the phone codenamed “Skomer” include microSD support, Bluetooth 4.0, USB 2.0, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n and A-GPS, while the processor and RAM remain the two biggest mysteries. As far as looks go, we only have a (very) blurry leaked pic of the Xcover 2, but we know the phone will weigh in at 148 grams, measure 11.9 mm in thickness and be available in “Titan Gray” and a black-and-red color combo. All in all, while this is no Xperia Z challenger, Samsung might have something here provided it can hit that pricing sweet spot. We shall see about that soon, but not before MWC 2013, where the Xcover 2 is expected to debut. NEXT: Jelly Bean coming to Samsung Galaxy S3 in Canada on December 3 Rumor: Samsung Galaxy S4 to be announced at MWC 2013 with a 5″ screen Rumor: No ICS update for Galaxy Ace 2 and Galaxy S Advance, it’s Jelly Bean all the way Jelly Bean is coming for all UK-based Samsung Galaxy S3 users “in the coming weeks”
