Samsung Galaxy S25 review: Everyday smarts, familiar looks

Time of India

14-05-2025

The
Samsung
S25 Series places AI at the heart of the experience, streamlining everyday tasks with ease.
As soon as you wake up, Now Brief offers a personalized overview of your day — all in a single glance. Whether it's real-time translation, instant message and email summaries or an AI-powered camera that sharpens images, fixes blurs and erases unwanted objects with a tap, the S25 is designed to make life easier. Acting like a built-in personal assistant, its AI helps keep your day organized, efficient and effortlessly smart.
The
Samsung Galaxy S25
is a compact flagship device that largely lives up to the hype. However, it lacks a wow factor in terms of design, with only minor changes from its predecessor.
Here is a review after using the device for almost 2 months
The Galaxy S25 Series is the first to launch with One UI 7 — Samsung's AI-first platform designed to offer intuitive controls and deeply personalized mobile experiences. Powered by the new
Snapdragon 8 Gen 4
(or Exynos 2500 in select regions), the device delivers outstanding performance, with smoother multitasking, faster app launches, enhanced gaming, and good thermal management. Samsung's long-term software support ensures your purchase remains relevant at least until 2032.
The smartphone has a 6.2 inch dynamic AMOLED 2X LTPO display with FHD+ resolution, HDR 10+ support and an adaptive 120 HZ refresh rate. The peak brightness is at 2,600 nits which gives good visibility outdoors under sunlight.
It has triple rear cameras - a 50MP primary sensor, a 12MP ultrawide sensor and a 10MP 3x telephoto lens with a 12 MP front camera. The photo quality is impressive, delivering sharp, vibrant images both in bright sunlight and low-light conditions. The smartphone comes with 12GB of RAM, and can be purchased in either 256GB or 512GB storage variants.
It retains its IP68 rating from last year but steps up durability with the latest Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 and an added armour aluminum frame, enhancing both protection and premium feel.
The S25 comes in seven colour variants: Blue Black, Coral Red, Pink Gold, Navy, Icy Blue, Silver and Mint.
The best in the device is AI
Samsung has introduced a range of Galaxy AI-powered features, including Now Brief and Now Bar, designed to deliver contextual information right on your home and lock screens. The Now Bar offers real-time insights like currently playing music, live sports scores and navigation details via Google Maps etc. These features run on-device, alongside the broader suite of Galaxy AI tools. However, some AI features require an active internet connection — such as generative text and image creation through Gemini AI.
The Generative Edit tool in the Photo Gallery has been upgraded, delivering more advanced and realistic results when adding or removing objects or people from photos — even preserving shadows for a more natural finish.
During calls, AI can screen spam or suggest replies and the phone even learns your habits to optimize battery life and performance. Whether it's organizing your schedule, improving your photos, or helping you communicate more easily, the S25's AI acts like a quiet assistant that simply makes life easier.
In a nutshell, Galaxy S25 puts AI to work for you.
The Samsung Galaxy S25 Series excels in many areas, but it doesn't quite hit the mark in a few key aspects — especially for a flagship device. Battery life, though decent for moderate use, can feel underwhelming with heavy tasks like gaming, camera use or AI features running in the background. Charging speed remains slower than many competitors, particularly when compared to brands offering 100W or higher fast charging. On top of that, Samsung continues its trend of excluding the charging adapter from the box, which might disappoint users expecting a complete premium package. For a device positioned at the top end of the market, these downsides stand out.