I went hands-on with Samsung’s Galaxy S25 Ultra, and it feels surprisingly intelligent

I spent a fewer minutes with the Galaxy S25 Ultra astatine the Samsung Unpacked event, and here’s my aboriginal acquisition with the device.

Galaxy AI steals the show

The drafting assistance diagnostic connected the Galaxy S25 Ultra has been much refined, and present it besides understands your substance oregon dependable for prompts. (Image credit: Anuj Bhatia/Indian Express)

When Samsung began integrating AI into its Galaxy smartphones past year, I felt it was ne'er cohesive. Despite the galore features rolled retired arsenic portion of Galaxy AI, the acquisition seemed disjointed, alternatively than thing profoundly integrated into the operating system. With the Galaxy S25, Samsung has made an effort to tightly integrate AI features into the interface, marking a benignant of 2nd measurement successful the Galaxy AI rollout. I anticipation that the interactions go much earthy and intuitive, alternatively than AI being simply a showcase feature.

In fact, I person been utilizing AI features crossed aggregate platforms and antithetic types of devices, but not each AI features are created equally, and I’ve travel to presumption with that. However, erstwhile it comes to smartphones, AI needs to enactment seamlessly, blending with the interface alternatively than feeling retired of place. I’m not going to download a caller app for each caller AI feature, particularly with the glut of AI models and the avalanche of caller generative AI capabilities. To me, arsenic a user, this has caused overlap and disorder astir which AI features beryllium and what problems they’re solving.

Samsung seems to person realised this, which is possibly wherefore it has taken a caller attack to found much consistency with AI features connected the Galaxy S25. Yes, determination are inactive a batch of AI features (especially considering those added successful the past fewer months), but the 2nd question of AI features is much purposefully designed. For example, deliberation of a GIF maker. Previously, I had to download apps similar Canva oregon Giphy to make GIFs. However, connected the Galaxy S25, creating a GIF from a YouTube video is conscionable 1 measurement away. By selecting a video and hovering implicit the portion you privation to capture, a GIF tin beryllium crafted successful specified seconds and past shared with friends oregon added to a presumption oregon story.

Or instrumentality adding an lawsuit to the calendar, for example. I typically person hundreds of motorboat invites a month, and they often get mislaid successful my inbox (given however galore emails I get successful a day). But connected the Galaxy S25, AI understands the discourse of the email (it scans the text), and a speedy follow-up enactment asks maine if I privation to prevention lawsuit details to my calendar. Now, that’s thing useful, and I would beryllium utilizing this diagnostic much often than paraphrasing a sentence.

During my hands-on experience, I saw a much blase usage of artificial quality with multimodal AI agents that instrumentality actions connected your behalf: moving distant from straight interacting with websites oregon apps, and alternatively interacting with a generative AI strategy that does it for you.

The caller diagnostic of the Galaxy S25 Ultra is the Audio Eraser, which cleans up unwanted sound successful the background. (Image credit: Anuj Bhatia/Indian Express)

In a demo, a Samsung enforcement showed however AI agents enactment connected the Galaxy S25 Ultra. The enforcement long-pressed the broadside fastener connected the Galaxy S25 Ultra to activate Gemini, and utilizing her voice, she asked the AI to “find maine a formation docket from Seoul to New Delhi for adjacent week and nonstop it to Tony.” In response, the AI presented a database of formation options for the adjacent week, and the AI cause asked if the summons options could beryllium sent to Tony via email oregon message. This full process could person easy taken 20 minutes, but with the assistance of AI, it took little than 5 minutes. Google’s Gemini did the dense lifting here, which was precise intelligibly visible. The enforcement said that Gemini is profoundly integrated into the Galaxy S25 Ultra.

I would similar to spot however Google and Samsung amended the capabilities of AI agents wrong the instrumentality itself, truthful these virtual agents tin go much proficient astatine tasks I dislike doing myself, specified arsenic filling retired forms oregon uncovering the champion stocks to put successful and mailing maine the database earlier the stock market opens. The possibilities are endless, I would say. However, connected mobile, if AI agents instrumentality off, they could besides alteration the hunt landscape.

Samsung executives took maine done a clump of AI features, and portion it’s a task to notation each of them, 1 AI diagnostic that caught my oculus was Audio Eraser, which works with videos. You tin unfastened a video connected the Galaxy S25 that you deliberation mightiness person excessively overmuch ambient sound successful the background, and the AI volition analyse six antithetic types of sounds depending connected the video. In a demo, the enforcement picked a video of a antheral playing the soft successful a restaurant, and the AI detected antithetic sounds. You tin wholly artifact ambient sound, mute music, mute voices, oregon mute crowds. I would accidental the diagnostic is precise thoughtful, arsenic I grounds a batch of specified videos and often conflict with ambient noises successful the background.

After concisely trying retired the Galaxy S25 Ultra, I realised that Samsung is trying to see caller features that usage voice, making mundane interactions quicker. In the demo, the enforcement utilized his dependable to find a photograph successful the gallery. Whether it’s AI agents oregon the usage of voice, I judge determination has been an effort to marque the smartphone smarter. At the aforesaid time, I tin besides spot however searching for accusation wrong the telephone is changing.

Sleeker phone, bigger display

Samsung’s One7 UI cleans up the interface, arsenic it brings AI close into the halfway experience. (Image credit: Anuj Bhatia/Indian Express)

The caller Galaxy S25 Ultra features a bigger show with thinner bezels, revamped cameras, amended artillery life, a almighty processor, an S Pen, and One UI 7, built atop Android 15. Holding the telephone for a fewer minutes, the S25 Ultra felt somewhat thinner and lighter (down from the Galaxy S24 Ultra’s 233 gram), though it has a bigger 6.9-inch screen. It inactive has a unsocial assemblage design, but with flatter edges and much salient rings astir the camera lenses.

Inside, the Galaxy S25 Ultra is powered by Qualcomm’s flagship Snapdragon 8 Elite processor, which Samsung claims offers a 40 per cent boost successful NPU, 37 per cent successful CPU, and 30 per cent successful GPU show compared to the erstwhile generation. I americium peculiarly looking guardant to the caller Galaxy AI features that Samsung demoed during the Unpacked lawsuit for the S25 Ultra. The larger show and much almighty processor (up to 12 GB RAM and 1 TB retention connected the top-end model) mean that galore tasks I typically bash connected a machine tin present beryllium handled straight connected the phone.

The camera strategy connected the Galaxy S25 Ultra has been upgraded arsenic well. (Image credit: Anuj Bhatia/Indian Express)

The Galaxy S25 Ultra besides features improved cameras, including a caller 50-megapixel ultrawide camera with a brighter f/1.9 aperture lens. This upgrade is simply a important betterment implicit the 12-megapixel mentation recovered connected the Galaxy S24 Ultra and should dramatically summation item successful ultrawide photos, particularly successful close-up macro shots. Additionally, there’s a 200-megapixel wide camera and a 50-megapixel telephoto lens. The camera setup looks promising, but it’s hard to afloat measure successful a speedy hands-on session. I tin spot wherefore Samsung is trying to nonstop retired a connection that its cameras connected the S25 Ultra are to beat.

With the Galaxy S25 Ultra, I person a feeling that Samsung has changed its messaging astir however it wants its top-end, pro-grade smartphones to beryllium perceived. Yes, the Galaxy S25 Ultra is simply a pro-centric smartphone, with best-in-class hardware and specs to beat. However, the added furniture of Galaxy AI makes the smartphone much intelligent, designed for a earthy and personalised mobile experience. Perhaps the Galaxy S25 Ultra is the opening of a caller benignant of smartphone — the app-less, voice-driven, AI-heavy interface. I americium definite Samsung is inactive figuring retired however to marque that a reality.