S25 hands-on (ad-free) (Patreon)

A few weeks ago, I brushed the dust off my Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra review unit in preparation for S25 coverage. When I picked it up, my first thought was, as always with an Ultra, "Wow, this thing is huge." But to my pockets' dismay, I began carrying it everywhere.

The S24 Ultra was regarded as one of the best phones by Marques and Android Authority last year for good reason--it has great battery life, an awesome screen, and zippy performance. And within the first few days of using this device again, I, too, wanted to award it the phone of the year. Simply put, it just works so damn well. However, my favorite part of using Samsung devices is how easy they are to customize. From icon changes to lock screen rearranging, setting Samsung devices to look different from everyone else's is actually fun.

So, when I was at my hands-on briefing yesterday, I wasn't too sad to hear that not much is changing in the S25 lineup. That is actually strange to type, but these phones are just so damn good as they are. But of course, Samsung needs to sell us something, so here comes the AI.

In my video above, you'll see how I struggle through some of it, but there is one feature I think I will actually use. Samsung has brought a natural language model to the settings app. This means that you can simply ask a question in settings and be brought to, hopefully, the setting you need. It's useful and nonintrusive, and I think I will use it a lot.

Do camera setting menus next!

Anywho, this was my first hands-on at an event, and truthfully, I got lost in the sauce. I didn't go in with a plan or make a plan while I was there, and I walked out feeling really scattered. But thank god for my instinct to film absolutely everything and be able to sculpt something in the edit. 😅How are you feeling about the new S25 lineup? Is it boring??

-Becca