Samsung recently announced the Galaxy S25 series. Over the past month, we have extensively taken the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra in tow. How did we like it? You can read our experiences in the Galaxy S25 Ultra review.
Review of the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra
For years, Samsung has managed to score time and again with its Galaxy S series. We have now arrived at the 15th generation of this model, so where it once started with the Samsung Galaxy S i9000, it is now the Galaxy S25 Ultra. Over the past few years, things have changed and it was always a step forward. In the last few models, the real innovation is a lot less. Does that make today's smartphones bad? It certainly doesn't. The Galaxy S25 series should be all about AI and various smaller improvements. DroidApp tested the smartphone and we share our findings in the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra review.
Design and interface
The design of the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra is not terribly exciting. That does not mean it is not good. Because compared to its predecessor, the Galaxy S24 Ultra, we see a fine improvement. There is now more use of rounded corners. This also makes the device 'stick out' less when you have it in your pocket. However, the device is still quite large and not everyone will like that. One-handed operation remains a bit more difficult.
Otherwise, we see a familiar design. The buttons are in the same place where they used to be. A small change is seen in the rings around the camera, which are now black in colour. Otherwise, the smartphone feels well finished, which is exactly what you would expect from a device with this price.
S Pen
Inside the device, we still see the S Pen. The operation of this has been stripped down more than before. This is because it no longer features Bluetooth. For example, you could still use the previous generations S Pen to take a photo, but you can forget that with the Galaxy S25 Ultra. You could also use it to control the device without touching the screen. Certain options are still there, such as drawing and colouring, but the real smart functions are no longer there. This mainly begs the question; what does the S Pen really add? In recent weeks, I have therefore barely used the stylus. The reason the S Pen has been made "dumber" has not been officially confirmed. It looks like some kind of cutback. And that's a shame, because it makes the S Pen less useful. We wonder if the S Pen will have a long life. The focus with Ultra devices was always on the S Pen, and that too has been much less recently. We wouldn't be surprised if the S Pen won't be found in a successor like the S26 Ultra or S27 Ultra as a result. I also barely used the S Pen during the month of testing.
Interface
The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra naturally runs on Android 15, along with the One UI 7.1 interface. The new features we know from other devices, such as the separate window for notifications and quick settings, are also seen here. Speaking of notifications, did you know you can define endless settings with the Notification Settings on your Samsung? DroidApp previously wrote a tip article with Galaxy notification tips.
You have the choice in the menu to sort the apps in alphabetical order, or in order of when they were installed. Of course, you can also create your own order. If you choose the alphabetical order, you won't scroll through the menu of apps horizontally, but vertically. The search bar appears at the bottom of the screen, so you can also quickly search for an app.
Samsung has also added some other features we know from Samsung itself. Think Edge Lighting and the Always On Display can also be found on the Galaxy S25 Ultra.
Communication and multimedia
Samsung does good business with the call quality of the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra. Phone calls sound very clear and of high quality, exactly as you would expect from a device in this segment. Calls are made via Samsung's phone app. If you need to text, you can do so via Google's app.
Internet access is also fine with the phone. Naturally, all new technologies are present. What is noticeable is that the Galaxy S25 Ultra switches to a 4G network connection more often than to a 5G network. We can't quite put our finger on it, but it seems to come mainly when the device wakes up from standby. Very annoying it is not, by the way, but it did stand out several times.
In terms of multimedia, the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra does not disappoint. The picture quality is good, and even on sunny days the brightness is fine. We were able to test this well with the sun-drenched days we have had in recent weeks. The sound quality is also fine, but sometimes it does feel a bit 'compressed' and less spacious.
Camera
Samsung has a name to uphold with the camera quality of its phones. So should the Galaxy S25 Ultra. The smartphone features four different cameras. These are a 200-megapixel main camera, 50-megapixel wide-angle lens and twice a 50-megapixel telephoto lens, one of which is a periscope lens. The camera app is quite easy to use and gives you plenty of options. If you're more of a 'straightforward' photographer, that's no problem either.
We tested the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra's camera extensively last month. Once again, the phone manages to shoot very good photos. Clearly, more saturation is generally applied than with other brands; and whether you like that is mainly a personal taste. It happens very rarely that no usable photo rolls out of the S25 Ultra.
When you zoom in, we again see the necessary strengths emerge. Photos look good. However, if you zoom in fully, we do miss the sharpness that AI still applied in, for example, the Oppo Find X8 Pro. With the Samsung, it does then look just a little less 'smooth'. Other zoom images look really fine and usable.
One noticeable thing we do see with photos taken in the dark hours. Not always the photos come out well there. Sometimes a certain artificial layer causes photos to be 'drawn in' a bit weird.
We took the photo below with the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra. If you want to see more photos, check out the S25 Ultra' s digital photo album and see what the camera can capture!
We compared the smartphone photos with the Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max. A comparison of these can be found below. Between the iPhone and the Samsung, the differences are very minimal.
Video camera
Samsung has also provided the video camera with the necessary quality. The smartphone can zoom in quite a bit and possibly film in 8K quality. The image quality is very good and the stabilisation does a good job. We shot the video below in 4K.
Performance and battery life
No longer an Exynos chipset, but Qualcomm's powerful Snapdragon 8 Elite can be found in this smartphone. Not only in the Ultra, but now also in other S25 models. The processor has already proven itself in several smartphones, for example in the OnePlus 13, we wrote in our extensive OnePlus 13 review.
The processor performs tasks at lightning speed and here we can't catch the phone slowing down or faltering. Working memory comes out to 12GB of RAM and then you have a choice of 256GB, 512GB or 1TB of storage.
Battery life
The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra's battery life is similar to the previous model. With average usage, you'll get 1-2 days with a screen time of 5-6 hours. If you are mostly on the mobile network, then after just under 5 hours of screen-on-time, it will be time to grab the charger. For the majority of users, this will be more than enough. Fast charging is still not there with the same full power, as you see with OnePlus, for example, but with 45W. Wireless charging is also possible, at 15W. With an optional case, you can also use the magnetic ring like MagSafe on the Apple iPhone.
AI
More than the previous model, the Galaxy S25 Ultra is all about artificial intelligence. For a few months, you get Google's more luxurious version of AI tool Gemini Advanced. If you want to use that after six months, you will have to shell out for it. However, there are more AI tools. Of course AI tools for the notes app, for summarising or transcribing. You can also use various tools with the photo editor and, for example, remove distracting objects from images. Samsung has recently made several AI tools also available in Dutch. Including the Live Translate function while calling. You speak in your own language, after which a language model instantly translates it for you. It takes some getting used to making a phone call that way, but it is surprising what AI can do in this.
Now Brief
Another feature that got attention at the announcement was Now Brief. You'll find this option on the lock screen, for example. The idea is that you get a complete overview of your day at the beginning, but also a summary at the end of the day.
The idea is nice, but the implementation is really still in its infancy. Apart from the weather, calendar items and some recommendations on Spotify, the summary remains pretty empty. Occasionally, at the end of the day, we were shown a collage of photos taken that day. If you use Samsung Health, for instance with a Galaxy smartwatch, various health data and the like will also be shown. Although everything was ticked to include in our overview, I missed quite a bit. It is unfortunate that (at least for now) there is no support for third-party apps.
Update policy
On the update policy, we can be pretty brief. Samsung gives you seven Android OS updates and seven years of security updates. This means you are guaranteed updates up to and including Android 22. A neat update policy, which you should also expect for a device of this price.
Review
We hear it often; the really big differences are not really there anymore in smartphones today. And that's kind of true. The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra is made according to a familiar recipe. That doesn't have to be a bad thing, by the way. We raved about the high-end phone in our Galaxy S24 Ultra review, and the Galaxy S25 Ultra should be just that little bit better again.
After a month of reviewing it, we can't help but conclude that the Galaxy S25 Ultra is a good, fine smartphone. We can appreciate the more rounded corners. But newer is not always better, as the S25 Ultra proves. Secretly, we had hoped for -even- better battery life; like Oppo and OnePlus, for instance, manage to achieve with the new battery technology. Thereby, the S Pen is a big step backwards. It is much less versatile than previous generations.
For many consumers, the Galaxy S25 Ultra ticks many boxes; a very good update policy, good camera and neat battery life. There's no need to put a tick in the price. Although the recommended price started at 1499 euros and the price has since dropped a bit, it is still a huge chunk of money for a new phone. If you can spare that; the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra is definitely a good smartphone. If you want to spend a little less, it may not be a bad thing to look at the previous model; the Galaxy S24 Ultra. It too still gets updates for a long time.
Getting started with the Galaxy S25 yourself? You buy it directly from the following shops;
- Update policy
- Camera
- Fast device
- Beautiful screen
- Improved design
- S Pen is stripped down in terms of functionality
- Big device
- hefty price tag
