You can hot swap the battery on Samsung’s new rugged tablet
Samsung has announced new versions of its rugged tablets and smartphones designed for use in environments where they’re going to get dirty, wet, and knocked around. Both the Galaxy XCover7 Pro and Galaxy Tab Active5 Pro feature improved battery life, but the tablet goes one step further with a “dual hot-swap” feature allowing the battery to be swapped out without having to first completely power down the device.
The Galaxy XCover7 Pro smartphone will be available starting on May 8th, 2025, while the Galaxy Tab Active5 Pro tablet will launch a bit later sometime in June 2025. Samsung hasn’t announced pricing for either device.
Powered by a Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 mobile processor paired with either 6GB or 8GB of RAM and 128GB or 256GB of storage, the Galaxy Tab Active5 Pro tablet sports a 10.1-inch 120Hz LCD touchscreen display with increased sensitivity so it can be used with gloves.
The previous version of Samsung’s rugged tablet featured a removable battery and could be instead plugged into a USB-C power source and used in warm environments where there was a risk of the battery overheating and expanding. That feature has been carried over to the new Galaxy Tab Active5 Pro but expanded with the dual hot-swap capabilities so the tablet can be powered indefinitely as long as fully charged batteries are available.
But while the tablet doesn’t have to be completely powered down to install a fresh battery, Samsung notes that it will be mostly unusable during a swap. “Battery replacements are limited to one battery at a time. If a battery is removed while the device is turned on, the screen will be turned off, and certain features may be limited. After the battery is replaced, the screen will turn back on and all features will be reactivated.”
The Active5 Pro also sports a robust IP68 dust and water resistance rating. The tablet can survive being submerged in water to a depth of 1.5 meters for up to 30 minutes. It runs Android 15, and includes a 12-megapixel rear camera and an eight-megapixel front-facing camera.
The Galaxy XCover7 Pro smartphone also runs Android 15 and is powered by the same Snapdragon processor with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage that’s expandable to up to 2TB using a microSD card. Its 6.6-inch, 120 Hz LCD touchscreen display features increased touch sensitivity so it can also be used with gloves, while a “Vision Booster” mode makes the screen easier to see outdoors in bright conditions.
Other features include an upgraded stereo speaker system with anti-feedback technology to reduce echoes when using the XCover7 Pro as a speakerphone, a larger 4,350mAh battery, and in addition to an IP68 water and dust rating, it has been tested for use with workplace sanitizers making it useful in environments like hospitals.