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Straits Times
3 days ago
- Politics
- Straits Times
Two new town councils formed in Jalan Kayu, Punggol after GE2025, total 19 TCs
Two new town councils formed in Jalan Kayu, Punggol after GE2025, total 19 TCs SINGAPORE – Two new town councils have been formed in Jalan Kayu and Punggol after the 2025 general election. The Ministry of National Development (MND) issued an order under the Town Councils Act on May 30 to put into effect the formation of a total of 19 town councils, which were set up at the requests of the MPs. There were 17 town councils previously. The Jalan Kayu town council will comprise only the single member constituency that was won by PAP's Ng Chee Meng at the recent polls against the Workers' Party's Andre Low. Mr Ng will chair the town council. The Punggol town council covers the corresponding group member constituency. The last time a town council was formed with just one SMC was after the 2011 general election when Potong Pasir was won back by PAP candidate Sitoh Yih Pin from the Singapore People's Party. Goh Yan Han is political correspondent at The Straits Times. She writes Unpacked, a weekly newsletter on Singapore politics and policy. Join ST's WhatsApp Channel and get the latest news and must-reads.
Mint
23-05-2025
- Mint
Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge review: In pursuit of slimness
Gift this article I'm old enough to remember when the Edge series in the Samsung portfolio meant something else altogether. Previously reserved for the curved screen version of the Galaxy S series flagships, it's come to represent the pursuit of slimness above all, in the new Galaxy S25 Edge ( ₹ 1,09,999). This is a phone that's been teased and hyped right through from the Unpacked and Mobile World Congress (MWC) events in January and March… and finally sees the light of day in May. I'm old enough to remember when the Edge series in the Samsung portfolio meant something else altogether. Previously reserved for the curved screen version of the Galaxy S series flagships, it's come to represent the pursuit of slimness above all, in the new Galaxy S25 Edge ( ₹ 1,09,999). This is a phone that's been teased and hyped right through from the Unpacked and Mobile World Congress (MWC) events in January and March… and finally sees the light of day in May. Now, I've been reviewing smartphones since before they were smart, in form-factors that range from the traditional to the highly unconventional, so it's rare for a new device to downright wow me. But wow me the S25 Edge did, with just how shockingly thin and lightweight it is, much lesser than what one would expect. Mind you, this is no concept phone that's thinned down just for the record books—this is a proper flagship you can go out and buy right now—although the S25 Edge comes very close to it, at just 5.8mm and 163 grams. For context, the Edge with its 6.7-inch screen is about 20% slimmer while weighing just 1 gram more than the base S25 with its 6.2-inch screen. On the iPhone 16 and its 6.1-inch screen, the gap extends to 25% and 7 grams, and on the S25 Plus which has the same sized display, that difference stretches to 27 grams. It's hard to convey how impressively lightweight and thin it feels without trying it yourself. In the past week of using the device, I would casually hand it over to friends and acquaintances and wait for the inevitable 'wait a minute, what phone is this, is it even real or is this a dummy unit?" The reactions are that striking and visceral. It slips into the tightest of jeans pockets and disappears into the thinnest of bag pockets and is such a relief from hauling the bulkier flagships one typically ends up with, particularly after you start holding it with a modicum of confidence. I'd go so far as to say that holding anything else feels outdated—maybe Samsung is truly onto something we didn't know we needed? And yes, it's even back-pocket friendly—you're not going to turn this unintentionally into a foldable—courtesy the titanium frame, Corning Gorilla Glass Ceramic 2 on the display along with a Gorilla Glass Victus 2 on the rear. It took a few falls on hard flooring and didn't look any the worse for wear, and it can take a dip in water just like the rest of the S25 series. Place it on a table and there's no missing the elements of the S25 family in which the Edge steps in, right from the titanium frame and the 200-megapixel primary shooter from the Ultra to the 6.7-inch display from the S25 Plus and the Snapdragon 8 Elite processor you'll find across the other three S25 devices. It's gotten a raised camera module unlike the rest of the series, which I suspect would be to give the cameras some space to work with, and since it doesn't impact the ease with which it goes into my pocket, I'm tempted to give Samsung a pass on this one. Just the two colour options though—Titanium Jetblack and Titanium Silver—for something this chic, a rose gold wouldn't have been missed. The reduced bulk brings even more attention to the 6.7-inch, 1440p resolution OLED display, and it has all the hallmarks of a good Samsung display—fluid 120Hz refresh rate, a maximum peak brightness of 2400 nits coupled with a 1 nit minimum for bed time use, and punchy colors that are a joy for content consumption and gaming… though I do miss the Ultra's anti-reflective coating, which does a better job of reducing glare in brightly lit environs. What's surprising, shocking even, is how good the audio output is, given what one was expecting from such a slim chassis. As for biometrics, you get an ultrasonic fingerprint scanner and face recognition, and I preferred the former for just how snappy it was in daily use. Equally snappy was the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy chip found across the range—yes, with no cores disabled to favor thermal management over performance—and the 12GB with either 256GB or 512GB of memory (if you're preordering, you're paying the same 1,09,999 for either variant). Samsung has made a larger vapor chamber to handle the physics of packing a highly performant chip into a rather constrained space, and it does well to stay close to the more spacious S25 Plus in terms of benchmarks, between 5-12% depending on what test (CPU/GPU performance) is run. What that translates to is that you're going to have a perfectly acceptable flagship experience on the S25 Edge, with no caveats needed around extended duration use. And while I enjoyed light gaming on this phone, it's capable of handling the latest games though I wouldn't exactly pick this as my gaming phone of choice. What it does do is run the latest One UI 7 on Android 15 really well—it's one of the most refined skins out there and will be supported seven years down the line… if you're holding on to the phone for that long. For now, there's little to fault it on software, and the duo of Samsung's and Google's AI smarts are among the best AI implementations on smartphones around. The cameras do not surprise as such, since the phone uses the same 200MP main camera sensor as the pricier Ultra, plus the 12MP ultrawide from the Plus. There's no telephoto camera, which doesn't come as a surprise at all, though you can use all the extra detail from the high-resolution main sensor to punch in 2x lossless and 4x digitally and still get a decent shot. Images shot on the primary sensor are detailed and rich in colors, with a respectable dynamic range under good light. Low light images are softer but still color accurate. The ultrawide turns out good images, although they suffer from distortion around the edges and see some amount of color science parity issues when compared to the primary sensor. Video at 4K video at 60fps across all sensors (8K 30fps as well) is consistent with the rest of the S25 series. There's this old adage about pain being an integral part of fashion, and the somewhat painful compromise of the sleek dimensions is the 3,900mAh battery, a smaller battery than the base S25 model. Even as it is optimized for efficiency, you're only going to get anywhere between 4 to 5 hours of screen-on-time, which translates into a full day of use if you don't use the camera too much or game a lot. Reminds me of the line from the HBO Chernobyl series—'3.6 roentgen, not great, not terrible". Of course, there are going to be days when you're going to head out for an unusually long day or out on a weekend trip, taking photos and staying away from the charger longer than usual—then, you're going to want to carry a power bank along. Yes, the irony is all too evident—slim a phone down to exceptional levels, then go the bog-standard route of having to lug along a power bank. If there was a device for Samsung to experiment with the denser-yet-thinner silicon carbon batteries, this would have been it. What doesn't help is that charging speeds are at 25W wired and 15W wireless, relatively slow by any standards. Verdict At ₹ 1,09,999, the S25 Edge lands bang in the middle of the portfolio—pricier than the S25 Plus but about twenty grand less than the S25 Ultra. I don't blame Samsung one bit for testing the waters with the S25 Edge, and the result is a phone that genuinely feels different in the hand…in a good, almost 'airy' way, without losing out on features and capabilities you'd expect in a phone that's north of a lakh. It's easy to like the S25 Edge, but one has to be careful who one recommends this phone. If you buy this phone, you're prioritizing form factor over everything else, and as long as you are aware of its longevity limitations and factor them into your lifestyle, this featherweight will delight you in more ways than one. Topics You May Be Interested In
Phone Arena
17-05-2025
- Phone Arena
Galaxy S25 Edge: a 5.8mm bullet to the heart of what the Edge used to stand for
As you probably know, the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge wasn't dropped on us entirely by surprise. Yes, the phone is 'officially' coming out this month, but it was teased way back in January, at the very end of the Unpacked event for the mainline Galaxy S25 popped up for a few seconds like a Marvel post-credits scene. One could also say it was reminiscent of an Apple 'One more thing…' moment that we haven't gotten in quite a while. All-around, it was a nostalgia-inducing event. And perhaps, it was the nostalgia that made me think about the whole 'Edge' branding and where it might have some of you youngins may not remember, but Edge used to stand for something completely different from 'slightly thinner than a Galaxy S25+'. So, let's take a look at the pink-colored past, for a second: Similar to the current Galaxy S25 Edge , the OG Samsung Galaxy Note Edge dropped out of nowhere at a Samsung Unpacked event way back in September of 2014. Galaxy Note Edge vs Galaxy Note 4 — this is what the future looked like! See, the event itself was about the Galaxy Note 4. And while we had heard very faint rumors about Samsung experimenting with a curved screen, the rumor mill did not prepare us for what came after — the Galaxy Note Edge, which was a Note 4, but with the right side of its screen curving deep into the frame of the phone. Still have no idea how Samsung managed to keep it a it was our first look at the futuristic smartphone design with a screen that curves towards the edges. Though, nowadays, I might as well call it 'retro-futuristic', as the market has apparently rejected the curved screens. Samsung moved away from them, and anyone still doing them is making sure the curve is super-tight, at the very end of the I do think that was a huge missed opportunity. Every curved phone after the Galaxy Note Edge did the curved screen 'the wrong way'. It was mostly done for looks, and not really for enhanced user experience. The Galaxy S6 Edge was the prettiest Samsung phone ever. But the Edge Panel wasn't useful — note that it blurs the entire screen See, the way the Note Edge did it is, its curve was so prominent and so deep towards the frame of the phone, that it had enough room there to fit an extra taskbar with icons. Yes, we had a sort-of-taskbar experience well before the folding phones of today made it a thing. It was my first experience of true multitasking on a smartphone, because you could call up any app from the side taskbar. You didn't need to go into an apps carousel or even see your homescreen. Curved with purpose It could also house specialized stripe-sized widgets, like a ruler, popular tweets, email notifications, or stock the edge panel persists today — it's on Samsung phones, and it has been copied by some manufacturers for their own phones. It's typically a small, semi-transparent handle at the edge of the screen, which you can 'pull' inwards to expand into an app drawer or it's not the same. Imagine those widgets living permanently on the side of your screen instead of having to be called up every time — that's what the Galaxy Note Edge of developing that 'geeky aspect' of the curved screen design, Samsung chose to go more 'mainstream' next, with the dual-curved Galaxy S6 Edge, which had shallower arches and no room for specialized widgets. It was all for looks. Peak… Samsung… design Edge screens look cool, I think everyone agrees, but their impracticality was their downfall. For one, a big arch starts cutting into on-screen content, and nobody wants to watch a semi-curved video or play a game that warps towards the phone frame, right?So, Samsung pushed the curve out closer towards the bezels. That resulted in color distortions at the very end of the image, as you were technically looking at the OLED pixels 'at an angle' — since the screen is angling away from you to make the there's the fact that it was pretty tough to find and install a proper screen protector on any of these. So, the users kept complaining, and Samsung kept pushing the curve away, until it vanished from the Galaxy S24 Ultra completely. When I first heard the Galaxy S25 Edge branding, I truly thought 'Wait, are they making a separate curved screen variant just for us geeks? Oh no, it's just a thin phone'. That would've been cool — trying to pick up from where the Galaxy Note Edge once left off, develop the side widgets and interactions further, right? But no. Instead, Samsung is taking the Edge name and putting it on something unrelated — now it means 'thin'. Yuppie, I kind of reminds me of how Apple's iPad Air is anything but thin nowadays — it's the iPad Pro that should be named Air, but I digress. I think that the 'Air' branding is a bit too tainted now, and the rumored 'super-thin' iPhone may be named something else. #NotMyEdge gang, where are you at? Do you want Samsung to take a proper stab at this concept it once abandoned?
Indian Express
15-05-2025
- Indian Express
Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge hands-on: Wow… that's really thin
The title may have given it all away—or at least a hint—about the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge. It's a new Galaxy smartphone, and while it may share the same form factor as other phones, something felt different when I first got a sneak peek at the Galaxy S25 Edge in San Jose during the Unpacked event earlier this year. I still remember how we journalists rushed into the demo zone to get a first look at the device, only to be disappointed by the no-touch policy. The S25 Edge is bizarrely different; it looks and feels incredibly sleek in the hand, yet it's familiar. It's a high-concept smartphone, if I may say so. Now, the Galaxy S25 Edge is official, has a price (starts at Rs. 1,09,999), and it's coming to India soon. I have had the S25 Edge for less than 24 hours, and here are my first impressions. I have seen consumers wanting thinner laptops, tablets, and hybrid 2-in-1 computers — but never smartphones. It's a bit surprising that smartphones, the most personal devices we carry in our pockets, have only gotten bigger and thicker over time. And I wonder why no one has ever complained about it. Maybe that's exactly what Samsung, with the Galaxy S25 Edge, wants to draw attention to. Nobody asked for it, but I am glad Samsung wanted to explore what it's like to have a truly thin smartphone — one that isn't drastically different from what you already have, yet still feels subtly different when you hold and start using it. The thinness of the phone is its biggest USP: a sleek 5.8mm profile weighing just 163 grams. My iPhone 16 Pro (review) looks noticeably thicker (8.5mm) next to the Galaxy S25 Edge. But I must say, at first glance, the Galaxy S25 Edge doesn't look particularly special — it has a traditional slab phone form factor with a 6.7-inch display and looks just as premium as the Galaxy S25 Ultra, Samsung's highest-end Galaxy smartphone on the market. The titanium frame, premium construction, and sleek design give it the feel of an expensive smartphone, exactly what you would expect at this price. It's all there, just in a thinner body. Truth be told, the razor-thin design of the Galaxy S25 Edge does make a psychological impact. You notice how light and slim the device feels every time you pick it up and use it. The phone feels great to hold, has a nice balance, and offers a secure grip. Its thin form factor makes the biggest difference in two key scenarios: when holding the phone horizontally to use the camera, and when reading eBooks or browsing the web. These things may not immediately stand out (and I bet you've never really thought about them), but as someone who spends a lot of time on their phone and does things most people typically do on a computer, I definitely notice. Using the Galaxy S25 Edge makes you appreciate the small details you may have been ignoring for a long time. But over time, that extra thinness starts to fade into the background, and you forget that it was ever a particularly skinny phone. Ultimately, it depends on how you perceive it — whether that's a good thing or a bad thing is up to you. It's still early days with the Galaxy S25 Edge, and my outlook may change over time. So far, the phone feels quite sturdy, and I haven't encountered any issues related to bendability, which is a positive sign. This might just be the biggest test the Galaxy S25 Edge has to pass, because no one wants a phone that folds in half just from being kept in a back pocket. The Galaxy S25 Edge has been designed to be a premium phone from day one, and although it's super thin, the specs are on par with other high-end smartphones. The 6.7-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X screen has a resolution of 3,120 by 1,440 pixels and a 120Hz refresh rate. The Edge's screen looks sharp, vibrant, and just as impressive as the Galaxy S25 Ultra's display. The phone is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy, paired with 12GB of RAM — the same as the other Galaxy S models. Samsung offers two storage options: 256GB or 512GB. However, the biggest trade-off with the Galaxy S25 Edge (at least on paper, as I am yet to test it) is the battery capacity. The device has a 3,900 mAh battery, which is smaller than the base S25 (4,000 mAh), the S25 Plus (4,900 mAh), and the S25 Ultra (5,000 mAh). Samsung hasn't shared exactly how many hours the Edge's battery can last, only stating that it will get you through a full day. The Edge supports fast charging up to 25W (compared to the S25 Plus' 45W wired charging), along with 15W wireless charging and reverse wireless charging. Beyond the smaller battery capacity, Samsung has tried to make up for it with the camera hardware. The phone has fewer sensors but more megapixels. On the rear of the device, you will find a 200-megapixel wide camera and a 12-megapixel ultra wide camera — the telephoto lens is missing. I couldn't test the camera yet, but I hope the Edge's camera delivers the same level of photographs and is comparable to other Galaxy S smartphones. But like other smartphones in the Galaxy S25 range, the Edge also has Galaxy AI built in, and there are plenty of features I am already familiar with, like Circle to Search, Audio Easier, Image-to-Sketch, and Gemini Live. After spending a day with the Galaxy S25 Edge, I am still getting used to the device. Maybe for some, the shockingly thin design of the Galaxy S25 Edge won't wow them, but as someone who has been part of the tech industry for a long time, I can understand why a phone like this exists now. The timing feels just right. I can't comment on the commercial prospects of the Galaxy S25 Edge or how well it will be received by consumers, but as a tech journalist, I can sense the beginning of a new smartphone tier — and the Galaxy S25 Edge might just be the one to kick things off. At a time when there's a sense of mundaneness in the smartphone segment, the Galaxy S25 Edge's slim and lightweight design, combined with flagship-grade features, is refreshing to see. The phone's smaller battery is a concern, but I hope Samsung and others learn from this and come up with solutions to improve battery life on ultra-slim devices like these, which I believe will flood the market in the coming months. For me, however, the Galaxy S25 Edge feels like a test device paving the way for ridiculously sleek foldables that are yet to hit the market. What do you think about the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge and its super-thin form factor? Share your thoughts with us on our social media pages via Facebook and X. Anuj Bhatia is a personal technology writer at who has been covering smartphones, personal computers, gaming, apps, and lifestyle tech actively since 2011. He specialises in writing longer-form feature articles and explainers on trending tech topics. His unique interests encompass delving into vintage tech, retro gaming and composing in-depth narratives on the intersection of history, technology, and popular culture. He covers major international tech conferences and product launches from the world's biggest and most valuable tech brands including Apple, Google and others. At the same time, he also extensively covers indie, home-grown tech startups. Prior to joining The Indian Express in late 2016, he served as a senior tech writer at My Mobile magazine and previously held roles as a reviewer and tech writer at Gizbot. Anuj holds a postgraduate degree from Banaras Hindu University. You can find Anuj on Linkedin. Email: ... Read More
Engadget
13-05-2025
- Engadget
How to pre-order the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge
The super slim Galaxy S25 Edge, which Samsung teased at the tail end of its January Unpacked event, has been officially revealed. During tonight's Unpacked, we got full specs, pricing and shipping dates for Samsung's latest phone, as well as a chance to put our hands on the new handset. Pricing is set at $1,100 for 256GB of storage or $1,220 for the 512GB model and the phones ship May 30. Pre-orders are open at Amazon, Best Buy and directly from Samsung, which is offering a $50 pre-order store credit and a no-charge upgrade to the 512GB model. The Edge's headline features include its thin build and AI-supported photography chops — both of which we'd suspected from various leaks, only to have the rumors confirmed by Samsung's own press release last week. And indeed, when Engadget's Mat Smith got his hands on an Edge, he immediately felt how much lighter the device was — yet, he noted, it still felt premium. We now know for sure that the Galaxy S25 Edge has a 6.7-inch screen but measures just 5.8mm (0.22 inches) thick. That's slightly less surface area than the 6.9-inch Ultra, but a full 2.4mm thinner. It weighs 163 grams, nearly the same as the standard Galaxy S25, but the Edge measures more than 10mm taller and 5mm wider than its base-model sibling. To shave off the grams and trim the width, Samsung developed a broader yet slimmer vapor chamber and a new Thermal Interface Material (TIM) for better heat dissipation. It uses Corning Gorilla Glass Ceramic 2 on the front display. It's the first phone to use the material, which Corning says offers "enhanced drop performance on rough surfaces," allowing for a thinner glass layer. The frame is made from titanium, like the Ultra model, a material many phone manufactures have put in higher-end models for its lightweight strength. As for camera power, the Edge has the same 200MP sensor as the S25 Ultra, which Samsung claims captures 40 percent brighter images in low light situations compared with the standard S25. There's also a 12MP ultra-wide lens and a 12MP selfie cam up front. Those two rear cameras do protrude noticeably from the thin frame of the phone, but Mat was impressed how well-balanced the phone felt — it's not lopsided at all. Of course, the phone also packs plenty of AI-powered tricks, including Pro Scaler, Audio Eraser and Drawing Assist. To support all the AI, Samsung is using the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chip as the other S25 phones and comes with 12GB of memory and either 256 or 512GB of storage. It packs a 3,900mAh battery, which is smaller than both the 4,000mAh one found in the standard S25 and the 5,000mAH power supply in the Ultra. Though Samsung claims the Edge can run for 24 hours on a charge. You can get the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge in three color options: Titanium Silver, Titanium Jet Black, and Titanium Icy Blue. Samsung is promising seven years of security and software updates. We only spent a short time with the phone so far, but our full review will be out shortly.
