I’ve spent plenty of time recently utilizing Samsung’s Galaxy S25 Extremely, the high-end model of Samsung’s latest flagship line. The telephone comes full of plenty of positives, however what stands out to me are the AI options. Not solely are they usually helpful and useful, however Samsung has managed so as to add these enhancements whereas preserving the outdated Galaxy really feel.
Like final 12 months’s Galaxy S24 Ultra, the S25 Extremely has principally each high-end characteristic you may consider, together with an S Pen stylus, a holdover from the Galaxy Note years. The display—a 6.9-inch AMOLED show (3,120 by 1,440 pixels)—is barely bigger than final 12 months’s, though the handset total is smaller. At 6.40 by 3.11 by 0.34 inches (HWD) and seven.69 ounces, the S25 Extremely remains to be a big telephone, however it’s kind of thinner and lighter than the S24 Extremely.
The brand new mannequin additionally has a titanium body and extra rounded corners, which I like greater than the very sq. corners on the sooner one. The duvet glass additionally bought a rethink: It is now Corning Gorilla Armor 2, which Samsung says is even higher at resisting fractures. The telephone can even resist a fast dip: Like different premium telephones, it has an IP68 rating, which means, in principle, it might probably deal with as much as half-hour in water as deep as about 5 toes.
(Credit score: Eric Zeman/PCMag)
Ending up our tour of the outside, the S25 Extremely offers a quantity key and an influence button on the appropriate aspect, with microphones on the highest of the telephone. The underside of the telephone has a dock for the S Pen stylus (extra on this later), together with audio system, a USB-C port for the charger, and a SIM card tray. Like most present telephones, it lacks expandable storage or a headphone jack, options I would really like however do not anticipate as of late.
Below the hood, the processor has been upgraded to Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy, the higher to assist the AI options. In PCMag’s checks, the telephone handily beat others in most benchmarks, though the iPhone 15 Pro Max did a bit of bit higher in single-core efficiency.
Transferring on to the battery, the S25 Extremely has a 5,000mAh unit able to charging at 45W through cable or 15W wirelessly, similar to the S24 Extremely. In PCMag’s checks, it lasted about so long as the one within the S24 Extremely; it was notably higher than the Pixel 9 Pro XL, however not almost nearly as good because the iPhone 16 Pro Max. Samsung continues to set the default display to FHD+ (2,340 by 1,080 pixels) to protect battery life.
As for the remainder of the {hardware}, the S25 Extremely follows its forerunner with the built-in S Pen stylus that docks into the underside of the unit. I do know individuals who have been followers of styli in telephones going again to the early days of the Galaxy Be aware, and the S25 Extremely stays the best choice on this enviornment. The brand new pen is nice for sketching or taking notes. It would not appear to have modified a lot from the earlier model, apart from one nuance: The system not helps Bluetooth, which enabled “Air Actions” duties, like distant management of the digicam. However so far as I am involved, it is a comparatively minor characteristic.
(Credit score: Eric Zeman/PCMag)
The digicam setup hasn’t modified a lot from final 12 months’s mannequin, both. The principle digicam is a 200-megapixel (MP) digicam sensor with an aperture of f/1.7, optical picture stabilization, and an 85-degree area of view. The setup additionally has what Samsung calls “adaptive pixel,” which helps a number of layers of binning. In most conditions, while you use the principle digicam, the system will mix 16 pixels into one, making a 12MP picture. Within the Professional mode, you may change to capturing 50MP pictures, the place 4 pixels are mixed into one. If you happen to obtain the Knowledgeable Uncooked management, you too can set it for 24MP and even 200MP pictures, which take up much more storage. My guess is that nearly everybody can be proud of the 12MP possibility.
Just like the S24 Extremely, the S25 Extremely features a 50-megapixel f/3.4 telephoto digicam with OIS, 5x optical zoom, and a 22-degree area of view; on the again, you will discover a 10-megapixel f/2.4 telephoto digicam with OIS, 3x optical zoom, and a 36-degree area of view. Like final 12 months, there’s a 12-megapixel f/2.2 front-facing digicam with an 80-degree area of view; that additionally labored effectively.
The ultra-wide digicam on the S25 Extremely is a 50-megapixel f/1.9 with a 120-degree area of view, a big enchancment over the S24 Extremely’s 12-megapixel ultra-wide digicam. Not solely do you get higher-resolution photographs, but additionally a high-resolution macro mode for detailed close-ups that look fairly good.
Generally, I’ve discovered the high-end Galaxy telephones to take terrific pictures, and the S25 Extremely is not any exception. I bought very detailed photos with good colours, although the Samsung photos are generally extra saturated than these from different telephones.
Zooming In
Empire State Constructing photograph common, 10x zoom, and 30x (Credit score: Michael J. Miller)
Zoom is one space the place I’ve all the time appreciated the top-of-the-line Galaxy telephones, and the S25 is not any exception. When zooming in on a picture, you may simply enhance the zoom both by selecting a preset or shifting your fingers. Samsung additionally retains the 100x “Area Zoom” that mixes optical and digital zoom. At that degree, photos aren’t all the time as clear as you want to, however I have been fairly impressed with photos as much as 30x.
ESB ultrawide, 50x zoom, and 100x zoom (Credit score: Michael J. Miller)
After all, the S25 presents quite a lot of video seize choices, as much as 8K30. Typically, the video seemed fairly good, although the standard of the picture stabilization can differ, notably if you’re zooming.
Galaxy AI Options
The massive change this 12 months is the inclusion of much more AI options, grouped below the heading of Galaxy AI. The adjustments begin with the person interface: Samsung has redesigned its One UI 7 on prime of Android 15 to benefit from the AI choices. (Samsung says it’s going to present seven generations of OS updates and 7 years of safety patches, which is a pleasant enchancment.)
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As with the Google Pixel telephones, you get to Google’s Gemini AI by holding the ability button, then speaking or typing. Gemini appears to be working higher each month and does a very good job responding to requests, like altering a setting. (Samsung’s personal assistant, Bixby, remains to be included on the telephone; in apply, I not often noticed it.)
One good new characteristic is “Cross App Actions,” which lets you ask Gemini AI to deal with jobs that take a number of steps and use a number of purposes. As an example, you may ask Gemini AI to look one thing up on the net after which e mail or message the outcomes to somebody.
Amongst different duties, Gemini AI presents a Searching Help that summarizes or interprets internet pages, a Name Help that provides real-time translation throughout voice calls (although I wasn’t capable of check that), and a Be aware Help that helps you arrange your notes (in addition to transcribe and summarize voice recordings). Typically I discovered these assistants to be useful, generally much less so, however they’ve definitely come a good distance up to now 12 months.
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One other new characteristic is the “Now Temporary” widget, which seems on the house display by default and suggests issues it thinks you will need, like climate, fundamental information, and a wake-up routine. It appeared to work effectively, however I can not say I’ve discovered it that essential.
As with the S24, the S25 helps “Circle to Search,” by way of which you’ll establish textual content and pictures on the display.
For photos, a Photograph Help characteristic permits you to edit or reimagine photos by shifting or eradicating folks and objects, or by restyling your photos. Inside Samsung’s Gallery app, now you can erase issues from a picture that you do not need, simply as you’ve got been capable of with Magic Eraser in Google Images for a while, and this labored fairly effectively.
Comedian, 3D, Watercolor, and Sketch results (Credit score: Michael J. Miller)
The brand new picture choices do not finish there: It’s also possible to sketch an merchandise so as to add to a photograph, whereas a portrait studio will apply a method reminiscent of comedian, 3D picture, watercolor, or sketch (see the pictures above). The varied results are enjoyable, however I believe enterprise customers will get extra sensible use out of the enhancing instruments. And although we have all seen AI-assisted drawing instruments earlier than, Samsung has built-in these fairly properly.
For movies, along with the same old enhancing options, there is a new audio eraser that permits you to eradicate or at the least decrease distracting noises, reminiscent of crowd sounds or wind. This did not work completely for me, however on noisy movies, the outcomes had been definitely improved. I can think about these being fairly helpful in some enterprise duties, in addition to for private pictures and movies.
I nonetheless have a look at the AI options as a piece in progress, they usually include the umbrella caveat for generative AI: You must double-check the accuracy of something essential the system provides you. However total, Galaxy AI has come a good distance, and the S25 Extremely actually impressed me with the breadth and high quality of its options.
The S25 Extremely’s checklist value is $1,299.99, so it is clearly focused on the highest finish of the market. Samsung presents smaller variations with comparable options within the $799.99 S25 and the $999.99 S25+, however these fashions lack the S Pen and the 200-megapixel important digicam.
If you need an Android phone that does nearly the whole lot—an ideal digicam, S Pen capabilities, and a number of AI options—the Samsung Galaxy S25 Extremely is clearly the best choice.
About Michael J. Miller
Former Editor in Chief
