Review: Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra

The new One UI 7 system that Samsung is introducing with the new S25 series is clearly refreshed and feels very successful. It showcases Samsung's main strength today, software, and how they have recently proven that we can trust the promises of updates even for slightly older phones. Choosing a new Samsung phone is thus an assurance that over the next seven years, when it comes to flagships, you will have a functioning phone that keeps pace with the times, in today's case with regard to updates, AI development, and security solutions.

On one hand, when it comes to the system, Samsung has great confidence in Google and their foundation and system apps, but they add some of their own. On the other hand, when it comes to cameras, it is clearly shown how much benefit the software provides today, and those who have complained that the purely hardware-related innovations in the S25 Ultra are few may be directing their criticism incorrectly, as the software does so much today that hardware changes may simply not be needed. Why change something that works?

Top screen, almost top performance

Much of what is in the S25 Ultra is familiar from before; it is a first-class screen with excellent brightness, color reproduction, and refresh rate. It is also treated to prevent the surroundings from reflecting too much in it and causing disturbing reflections. In short, the best screen you can get in a mobile. In terms of performance, the phone is undeniably at the top and contends; it is really fast, but it is not the fastest. We have already tested several phones with this year's top chip Snapdragon 8 Elite. Samsung has an additional slightly customized and tuned version, but despite that, it is not the fastest. Under high and prolonged load, performance is throttled, and the phone can also become noticeably warm. In this area, Samsung is thus the safer choice, while competitors like the gaming phone ROG 9 Pro and Oneplus 13 put more energy into breaking records. Samsung does not engage in such power-seeking, except possibly within AI.

Pen that is mostly just a pen

The S25 Ultra is the only phone in the S25 series that has the integrated S-Pen. As this pen, which is a legacy from the old Galaxy Note series that was discontinued in 2020, gained more and more functions, I previously referred to it as much more than a pen. It could also be a remote control and something of a magic wand, but now that's over. In the S25 Ultra, the new pen is just for taking notes, after Samsung removed Bluetooth from the new pen. The explanation is that very few used the old functions of remotely taking pictures with the camera, controlling presentations, and similar, and it's not hard to believe.

That the pen has lost a lot of functionality compared to before does not mean it has become dumb. On the contrary, the phone's smart software allows your handwriting to become editable text, it can be translated into different languages, and you can still rest the pen's tip just above the screen to get a magnification and preview of, for example, a picture in the photo gallery or see text larger somewhere in the system. It simply goes quite far. With Galaxy AI and its ability to interpret drawings and let you draw details in photos, the pen also adds extra value. It's easier to draw detailed with the pen than with just your finger on the screen, so there the pen clearly adds value. However, when it comes to writing notes with regular text, it's doubtful if most of us aren't so used to the on-screen keyboard that we do it faster there than using a pen.

AI, more AI and Swedish language support

Galaxy AI was launched a year ago in conjunction with the release of the S24, and there is no doubt about what Samsung's focus has been since then. Last fall, as promised, the Swedish language support was released, allowing you to make calls and get direct translations to and from Swedish and a range of other languages. It also allows you to get summaries of web pages in Swedish and other languages, have their texts translated, or get help with writing in any of the supported languages. Most of it works when I test it. Translations are not perfect, word order can be odd, and some details wrong, but usually, you still understand what is meant. When I try to order "an orange juice, please," the "please" is removed for some reason in the translation, and other times the phone simply hears wrong, which messes up the translation.

Samsung has invested a lot of resources this year in implementing Swedish language support, but if Galaxy AI in last year's edition was something Samsung supported themselves, what we now see in the S25 Ultra is more of a joint effort from both Google and Samsung. Google's AI assistant Gemini plays a central role in the S25 series, and it's no coincidence that Google, in connection with the S25 launch, presented a series of innovations on how Gemini can control and integrate into various apps.

For image editing, Galaxy AI focused last year on the possibilities of removing, moving, and resizing parts of the image as you wanted and allowing generative AI to fill in the empty spaces that then arise. This summer, the ability to draw simple sketches was added to get AI to generate photorealistic versions of what you just drew to complement your images. All of this remains and has been further developed. When I removed a person in the background of an image with the help of Galaxy AI a year ago, I had to do it in several steps, as the person's shadow remained in the image even after the person was edited out. Now it can be done in one smooth step.

Good and Bad

Some features have clearly improved. Others have not. Last year, I was disappointed with the function for removing reflections, for example, when taking pictures through a car window or into a glass display case at a museum.

Just like before, I am somewhat confused that some AI editing is under the AI icon, while others only appear as a shortcut when I swipe up from the bottom of the image. After clicking on the AI icon, I get generative editing (i.e., removing, resizing, sketching), and when I swipe up on an image in the gallery, other editing options appear. Like removing reflections or swapping faces in group photos. Based on the subject, AI suggests different actions. When I take group portraits, the camera saves several images so I can swap faces if someone blinks, for example. Unfortunately, it often suggests this even when it's not possible. So, I get the prompt “Choose the best face” in this image, and as soon as I agree, I just get the message that there are no better faces available.

A bit the same thing with removing reflections in images. Many times I get the prompt to remove reflections, I agree, the phone happily announces "Reflections have been removed" but I see no difference in the image whatsoever.

The AI tools can be helpful sometimes but they are far from a flawless savior in all situations.

Camera and Image Processing

During the presentation of the S25, I am particularly interested in the ability to seamlessly adjust the depth of field, as it is presented "like on a system camera." I search for a long time to find the feature and finally realize that it is in the separate app Expert RAW, so I have to download it first. Then I have to activate the experimental Lab mode for the feature to become available, and then it mostly feels like it adds random patchy fog in my first attempts. I don't give up, and when I try more and on several other subjects, I get better results. Still, it's nothing that directly surpasses other good camera phones like the iPhone 16 Pro or the Xiaomi 14 series.

When I compare the cameras in the S25 Ultra with the sharpest competitors, it is clear that software does a lot for the images today. There is often a big difference between what I see directly on the screen and how the image looks when I then view it in the gallery app. This applies to all phones, a few seconds after I take the picture, I see how the phone actually wants it to look in the gallery app. A few pictures at the beginning, for example, look overexposed when I take them with the S25 Ultra, but look good when I look afterwards and the camera's image processing has done its job. Samsung had its major upgrade of the cameras in the S20 with space zoom and many megapixels. Since then, smaller upgrades have happened. In the S25 Ultra, I can take advantage of extreme zoom, good night photos, but new is especially more professional video with good night vision and smooth, seamless zoom that makes it easier to make film that looks professional. Video is, however, an area where Apple has a slight lead (Samsung is catching up now) and has shown its strengths, and when it comes to portrait photos, both the iPhone 16 Pro and Xiaomi 14 Ultra, which I compare with, provide better color reproduction and depth in the image, while the portraits from the S25 Ultra lack clearer depth and contrasts that give the image life.

Looking at the development in photo and video, Samsung is broadening more than sharpening the features. In large parts, the camera's hardware, sensors, and lenses are the same as in the previous model, which in turn were similar to models from previous years. The truly big change was introduced by Samsung with the S20 series five years ago. Since then, they have mostly stood still and refined more than renewed and clearly strived forward.

A bit more AI

We wouldn't live in an AI-focused world if the possibilities with the image ended when you took the picture. Of course, Samsung's AI suggests "Remastering" the image as soon as it is taken, and I can adjust the portrait image afterward with virtual studio lighting and then choose where the light should come from. It makes a difference. There are also possibilities to use color tones in an image you have already taken as a "filter" to apply to the next image you take, but this filter effect is not available when I take new portrait images, only in the regular Photo mode.

One of the new features in the new interface is what is called the “Now bar”, “Now view” and its reports. You can get brief information on the lock screen and you always have a current summary of the most important things that have happened or are going to happen. The longer I use the phone, the more information is gathered here. Initially, it's just the weather, but after a day, in the evening, I get to see a summary of my best pictures taken that day. However, in the following days, it's just the weather again, despite having taken many pictures. It is noticeable that Samsung has become better at gathering information from the entire ecosystem, in the sense that, for example, Samsung Health and Smartthings are integrated, so if you have a smartwatch or Samsung's smart home gadgets, you get an overview of the most current things there, making it easily accessible in the interface.

The overall impression is that One UI 7 unifies the experience into something truly special, which bodes well not only for those buying the new S25 series but also for all those who will soon receive the system and its features on their older Samsung phones, giving them new life.

Questions and Answers

How fast does the phone charge?

45 W, so not as fast as many competitors. When I test, this means the phone charges 30 percent in ten minutes, 48 percent in 20 minutes, 70 percent in half an hour, and fully, 100 percent in exactly one hour.

What distinguishes Google Gemini here from Google Gemini in another Android?

Basically, it's the same and they can do a lot. Samsung's AI and Google overlap significantly. Samsung has worked on Swedish language support and ensured that apps like Samsung Notes and Samsung's own calendar work with Gemini. For example, I can talk to Gemini in the S25, ask it for a carbonara recipe, interrupt it, give new instructions, disagree, and ask it to add Brynäs' next match to my calendar, and it works just as well in the S25 as in, for example, a Oneplus, Motorola, or Xiaomi phone.

Will the software-based news also come to the S24 series and earlier?

Yes, One UI 7 has been beta tested on the S24 series in several countries and is expected to come to the Galaxy S21 series, Galaxy Flip and Fold 3, and later flagships, as well as many newer phones in the A series, according to information in Samsung's own support forum. However, there are no dates for when.

An alternative

With a significantly lower price, camera focus, and fast performance with Snapdragon 8 Elite, the Oneplus 13 is a cost-effective alternative.

Camera example

The S25 Ultra has versatile cameras with particularly good performance when you zoom, and they work well in daylight as well as in more challenging conditions when it's not as bright.