TThe smallest and cheapest of the new Samsung Galaxy S25 range could be the one to buy, offering higher performance and the most AI features for less and proving that smaller androids can always be great.
Unlike previous generations of smaller models from Samsung sold in the United Kingdom and Europe, the ordinary S25 has the same high-flying chip as the enormous and costly ultra model, offering a lot of performance while costing £ 799 (€ 919 / $ 800 / $ 1,399).
The rest of the S25 has not changed materially since last year. It always has an excellent 6.2 inch screen, three cameras on the back, flat aluminum sides and a front and a glass back. This makes it the most compact of high -end Android phones available, competition with Apple iPhone on the size where others, including Google, Pixel 9 9, are increasingly large.
With its small size comes a smaller battery than most modern androids, although Samsung is doing well to tighten 37 solid hours of the S25. In general, use on a mixture of 5G and wifi, and actively using the screen for more than six hours, I had to load the phone every two days. The Elite Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 chip makes S25 one of the fastest phones available and is ideal for games, but significantly playing the battery life.
IA upgrades
The big changes for S25 are all software and AI. He performs the same latest version of One UI 7 (Android 15) as the S25 Ultra, including various new AI tools that develop on writing, summary and drawing tools introduced last year.
Most of the new tools are designed to anticipate what you want to do to find information you may need in advance or to perform several complex tasks on your phone via textual or vocal commands.
Google New generation gem assistant is the biggest upgrade, capable of interacting with web information and your phone’s applications to get things done without you having to manually press buttons. Ask him to put the date in your calendar from a party invitation leaflet that was sent to you by SMS and can do so. He can find restaurant recommendations and send them to a friend as a suggestion for dinner with a simple voice command. He can also understand what is on your screen from text, photos and videos to answer questions, find more information or perform actions.
It can be almost magical when it works. But it cannot be invoked to do things well every time. Sometimes he stumbles on trivial things such as different name spelling, and she can hallucinate information with confidence that seems well at first glance but which are in fact completely false. Neither Google nor Samsung have solved these fundamental problems which afflict all the robots A at the moment.
Samsung New “now” bar at the bottom of the lock screen is more effective as a useful place where information widgets in a timely manner, timer, multimedia game checks and other practical bits appear. You can browse a battery to see what is going on or quickly change track.
Samsung will support S25 with software and security updates For seven years of exitwhich best corresponds to Google and Apple.
Features
-
Main screen: 6.2 inch FHD + Dynamics AMOLED 2X 120HZ
-
Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy
-
RAM: 12 GB
-
Storage: 128, 256 or 512 GB
-
Operating system: A UI 7 (Android 15)
-
Camera: 50MP + 12MP 0.6x + 10MP 3X; 12 MP facing forward
-
Connectivity: 5G, USB-C, WiFi 7, NFC, Bluetooth 5.4, UWB and GNSS
-
Water resistance: IP68 (1.5 m for 30 minutes)
-
Dimensions: 146.9 x 70.5 x 7.2 mm
-
Weight: 162g
Sustainability
Samsung does not provide an expected lifespan for the battery, but it should last more than 500 full load cycles with at least 80% of its original capacity.
The phone is generally repairable. Screen repairs costs £ 149 by authorized service centers and include a battery replacement. Samsung also offers a self-repair program.
The telephone contains several recycled materials, including aluminum, cobalt, copper, glass, gold, plastic, rare earth elements and steel. Samsung offers an exchange and Recycling patterns For old devices. The company publishes Annual sustainability reports and impact assessments for Some individual products.
After promoting the newsletter
Camera
The S25 has a configuration to triple camera at the rear with a main telephoto lens of 50 megapixels, ultrawide 12MP and 10MP 3X, which is a combination that has not really changed from the S22 in 2022 and is exactly the same as the model from last year.
This means that it usually takes very good photos in the three cameras. The main thing is the best and can produce superb plans, although it tends to over-brill up certain scenes, which blows up the reflections, such as the brilliant direct light washing the blows of people. The 2X zoom is improved on the S24 with a little more details, while the 3X zoom is solid, although short on the range compared to current 5x cameras on slightly more expensive rivals. Ultrawide is just as solid and completes a good revolutionary but not revolutionary package.
The S25 also runs an equally good video, excellent portraits and has a lot of modes with one exception: no macrophotography mode, which is disappointing. Overall, the S25 has a good camera system. It will not bother a Pixel 9 Pro or iPhone 16 Pro, but it is ideal for size and money.
Price
The Samsung Galaxy S25 costs £ 799 (919 € /$ 799.99/ /$ 1,399).
By way of comparison, the Galaxy S25 Ultra costs £ 1,249S25 + costs £ 999Google Pixel 9 costs £ 649OnePlus 13 costs £ 899 And the iPhone 16 costs £ 799.
Verdict
The Galaxy S25 is the last very good little Android phone. Where the competitors have become larger, the Samsung feels refreshing, light, thin and narrow in the hand without having a small screen.
As with his oversized brother, the design resembles the tip of high -end standard phones, which means that everything has changed in recent years. The transition to the new superior chip of Qualcomm makes it a significant increase in performance. But the rest is due to software introducing more advanced AI tools, which can be spectacular when they work but often cannot trust. They will also go to Samsung S phones in Samsung in the coming months, which makes the S24 more tempting last year.
But if you are looking for the smallest flagship Android which is actually good, the S25 is.
Benefits: Compact size, good 6.2 inch screen, decent camera, good software with seven years support, the first Android chip, access to the latest AI features, the flagship model of Samsung the cheapest.
Disadvantages: Iterative design, no 5x zoom, short battery life of larger models, capabilities of the over-type AI for the moment.
