My first 48 hours with the Galaxy S25 Ultra was reality bending
I use Samsung’s New Galaxy S25 Ultra In a few days and I have a confession to make. For years, my absolute favorite Ultrawide camera found on any phone has been on the Samsung Galaxy S models, and the new version of S25 Ultra is even better. When Galaxy S10 series I dropped out in 2019, couldn’t take enough pictures with Samsung’s first camera. Was it perfect? .
Over the years, Samsung has updated the lens and sensor of its UV camera. And the Galaxy S25 Ultra is rocking a new version with a 50-megapixel sensor—and it’s amazing. Judging from my first 48 hours with the S25 Ultra, the ultravid seems to be catching on a lot of detail while still having respectable dynamic range, especially for high-contrast shots with varying light and shadow-like sunrises. Obviously I still have more testing to do, but so far I’m loving the photos I’m getting from the new Ultrawide camera.
The S25 Ultra Ultrawide gives Peebles the cat a dramatic look as he moves to peer out the window.
Check out the detail that Ultrawide’s S25 Ultra captured in this photo of Peebles the Cat. Even though Peebles threw himself against his window bed, the phone picked up a ton of texture in his fur and whiskers. This image has some challenging lighting, with the sun pouring through the window on the left into an otherwise dark room. Notice the image noise in the shadows on the right side. Perfect? No, but in my book, the detail and dramatic lens distortion make up for it.
While the Ultrawide’s camera isn’t clinically perfect (and is still a step down from the stock camera), it can produce stunning shots like this water flowing down stone steps.
Here’s an early morning shot of a water sculpture taken with ultravid. The flowing water looks like glass contrasted against the stone. This image is shaded, but I like the look of the sun burn in the upper right corner.
Macro photography gets a nice boost thanks to the new 50-megapixel sensor.
The S25 Ultra’s ultrawide doubles as a macro lens, allowing it to get very close to its subject and still keep things in focus. In this photo of a Godzilla toy on the windowsill, the plastic texture of the monster shows up quite well. Notice the details of the turquoise eyes and cream teeth—Godzilla might need to see a dentist. Also, the S25 Ultra Balanced, exposing the Godzilla image while avoiding blowing out the sky and cityscape highlights outside the window.
This photo was taken with the S25 Ultra’s main camera.
Here’s the same scene taken with the Ultrawide camera.
Ultrawide isn’t without its flaws, and it’s still a step down in terms of overall image quality compared to the main camera. Notice in the photos above that the image from the main camera has better shadow detail (the trees on the right) and a wider dynamic range, and that the main camera uses less noise reduction (look at the bricks in the buildings). But even with these drawbacks, the ultraview images are, more often than not, stunning.
Here are a few more ultra shots from the S25 Ultra.
This ultra-visible image was taken indoors with a mixture of overhead light and daylight coming from the windows.
I’m impressed with the dynamic range, which isn’t as wide as the main camera, but respectable for an ultrawide phone camera.
Maisie’s cat look looks even more dramatic through an ultra-wide lens. Of course, as perfect as she is, she’s not perfect, with the shadows in her coat all smeared to black.
AI and rounded corners
The S Pen leaks from the Galaxy S25 Ultra. Notice the new rounded corners of the phone.
But wait, there’s more! While the ultra in the phone’s name doesn’t refer to the Ultrawide lens, it does symbolize the ambitions of this phone. The Galaxy S25 Ultra is an Ultra in everything when it comes to specs: Snapdragon 8 elite chip12GB of RAM, a 5000mAh battery, two telephoto cameras, a stylus and, the real star of the phone, that screen. But the same can be said about last year S24 Ultraif you’re swapping out last year’s new chip still blazing fast Snapdragon 8 Gen 3.
In terms of physical design, the S25 Ultra now has rounded corners instead of the Galaxy Note-ish right corners found on previous ultra phones. And like the regular one Galaxy S25 and S25 plusthe edges of the phone are now flat which I find makes the phone easier to hold. The S25 Ultra weighs even less than last year’s model. Watching videos, playing games or simply scrolling through social feeds feels more immersive thanks to the screen’s thinner bezels. None of these refinements are major, but they add up to making the S25 Ultra look more polished and less like I’m carrying around a brick of chunky tech.
Then it’s AI. Oh, Ay. During the unveiling of the S25 Ultra at the Galaxy Unpacked event, Samsung highlighted its relationship and partnership with Google. And that might be the best way to think about it All these AI features. You need to have a Google account for the Gemini side of things and a Samsung account for the device and Bixby side of things.
Watch this: Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra Hands-On: Bigger Screen and More AI
As advertised, a long press of the power button allowed me to pull up the Gemini interface to ask things like when the next Warriors game was and add it to my calendar. Having a digital assistant perform multiple steps from one command is nice. Unfortunately, it added the game to the Samsung Calendar app, not the Google Calendar app I’ve used for years—a guess that meant I’d have to manually add the event to the latest calendar anyway.
This may sound funny, but beyond my preference for Google apps over Samsung, having a digital assistant capable of more complex requests will take some getting used to. Like most phone owners, I’ve been learning one step at a time that our current smartphones have had for years. In the short time I’ve had the phone, I’m still trying to think of additional ways I can take advantage of this more sophisticated assistant.
My final thought for now is that I really like the idea of ​​the now bar on the lock screen showing live updates of background apps. But unlike the iPhone and its live activities on the lock screen, it’s currently very limited. I can see the potential and hope this is something Samsung can get more third-party developers to take advantage of.
I have more testing to do, but after two days I still feel ultra good about the new S25 Ultra.
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