Samsung Galaxy S25 Review After 1 Month: Still the Best Compact Flagship?

India Today

Transcript

00:00The Galaxy S24 changed my perspective on compact flagship smartphones.

00:07While last year I came from the S24 Ultra, tested the S24 and fell in love with it, this

00:13time around I have deliberately chosen the vanilla Galaxy S25 over the Plus and Ultra

00:19models and I have to say how dearly I missed the compact form factor of the Galaxy S24.

00:25I mean after basically using the Galaxy S24 last year for about 3 months, I went back

00:31to the OnePlus 12, then the OnePlus Open and now more recently to the OnePlus 13.

00:36And while I loved the battery improvements, especially on my recently tested device, the

00:40OnePlus 13, as I said, I really missed using a compact flagship phone like the Galaxy S24.

00:47And so here's the Galaxy S25, I have some thoughts about it and this right here is without

00:52a doubt the best flagship phone money can buy right now according to me.

00:56Of course you have to live with a few shortcomings if you go with this phone and that's what we are

01:01here to talk about in this video. So what is new, what has improved and who should really

01:06buy the Galaxy S25? I tell you in the full review of this phone only on Fyber by India Today.

01:13Design wise, yes, nothing much has changed on the Galaxy S25 or the Galaxy S24 but is it a bad

01:19thing? Because honestly, this is the most comfortable compact phone to use. I mean yes,

01:24in the name of compact flagships, there is the Xiaomi 14, there's the iPhone 16, there's the 16

01:29Pro also, but none of those phones are as slim and as compact as the Galaxy S25.

01:36In fact, until the Galaxy S25 Edge comes, this will be the slimmest flagship phone around. I

01:42mean this one is even slimmer than the Galaxy S24 and it is so much better than it.

01:48I also love this year's color options too. I think the icy blue shade looks

01:52classy but that navy blue shade is something else. Now, the Galaxy S25 Edge is a little bit more

01:59colorful than the S24 but overall, this phone is light, it is slim, it is comfortable to use,

02:16the most comfortable phone to use with one hand in my opinion. Clicky buttons and IP68 rating

02:21and the trusted ultrasonic fingerprint scanner is still here of course.

02:25So, big thumbs up for the Galaxy S25 when it comes to the design and build.

02:34Now, display wise too, we still have the dynamic AMOLED 2X display with 2600 nits

02:39peak brightness along with Gorilla Glass Victus II protection. One thing I really

02:44wish Samsung could have added is the anti-reflective coating with the Gorilla Arbor

02:48Glass second generation that is also there on the S25 Ultra. But then again, something I noticed

02:54while using the S25 outdoors was that the screen is so bright. To test this, I took out my OnePlus

03:0013 which has a peak brightness of 4500 nits but side by side with the S25, the Samsung's

03:06flagship phone appeared brighter. Just see it side by side and tell me if you can also tell

03:11the difference. So, while brightness numbers look great on paper, real world performance matters

03:16and in the real world, the S25 still looks to me as one of the best and brightest mobile displays

03:21around. With the super brightness setting enabled, the brightness while watching videos

03:25looks great even under harsh sunlight. Other than this, the display has Widevine L1 support.

03:30It also supports HDR10 content and with the loud sounding stereo speakers,

03:35movies, games or even reels look great on this display.

03:39As always, the AMOLED panel of this phone is sharp, contrasty and vibrant as ever.

03:44Probably the biggest upgrade in the Galaxy S25 is the Snapdragon 880 chip which coupled with 12GB

03:50RAM and One UI 7 software delivers a seamless user experience. Samsung is also claiming that

03:55this year they have added a 15% larger vapour chamber cooling system compared to the S24,

04:00of course to fend off heating issues if any. The best part is the fact that I'm happy to report,

04:06the S25 doesn't get uncomfortably hot. The S25 Ultra has a built-in temperature sensor

04:14even when it is pushed to the limits. In fact, one of my complaints with the Galaxy S24 was that

04:19the phone used to get hot when connected to Android Auto but this one, while it does get warm,

04:24but again, it never overheats. Okay, look at some benchmark scores and clearly there's a big

04:30performance jump in terms of numbers between the S24's Exynos 2400 chip and the S25's

04:36Snapdragon 880 chip and the solid benchmark scores reflect in the real world performance as well.

04:41RAM management is also another thing where I've noticed the S25 can hold so many apps in the

04:45background and at times even games right where I left them, something that wasn't the case with

04:51the S24 and its 8GB RAM. I mean while the S24 with its 8GB RAM capacity is fine in its own right,

04:59the 12GB RAM on the S25 definitely helps here and this was a long time coming. But general stuff

05:05too from doom scrolling on Instagram to playing Call of Duty Mobile to simply juggling between

05:10apps, everything flies on the Galaxy S25. Opening apps, general animations and all of that stuff is

05:16buttery smooth. One UI 7 is clean, polished and loaded with customization options and offers a

05:22bunch of AI features which again is something you can appreciate beyond the buzzword when you use

05:27it. So One UI 7's generative edit feature is hands down the best among all other phone manufacturers

05:33AI solutions. Audio eraser is not a gimmick and it is one of the best features that lets you get

05:39rid of background disturbances in videos shot in noisy environments. Circle to search is still

05:44one of my most used features and it can now recognize music tracks too. AI select is another

05:50handy feature that I've been using a lot to translate text from different languages on the

05:55screen to English and Hindi. Now the Snapdragon 8 Elite chip not only contributes to superb software

06:01performance or say the gaming performance or say the overall smoothness of the device, it also

06:06contributes to superior camera performance. Okay hardware wise we are pretty much looking at what

06:15we had with the S24. So a 50 megapixel primary sensor, a 12 megapixel ultrawide sensor, a 10

06:21megapixel telephoto sensor with a 3x optical zoom and a 12 megapixel selfie camera. But courtesy of

06:27the new chip you get an improved ISP and also some new features with S25's camera such as a

06:32smoother lens switching while recording videos and the new zoom slider thanks to the next

06:37generation pro visual engine. The expert raw mode also gets a few settings that may appeal to

06:42professionals including two exposure monitoring controls, a couple of ND filter strengths and a

06:47virtual aperture meter to adjust the depth of blur in real time. But coming to photos and if you have

06:53generally liked Samsung's approach to color science you will be quite impressed here. Of course photos

06:58captured in daylight are nice and vibrant have good dynamic range and the HDR performance is

07:03great but also something that I noticed over the S24's camera performance is that photos shot on

07:08the S25 appear more detailed and the color tone especially the human skin tones is also closer to

07:14accurate. Portrait mode is another area where Samsung flagships continue to impress and the S25

07:18is no different in this regard. The ultrawide lens and telephoto lenses also perform well in most

07:24conditions and the best part is that color consistency across the three lenses is pretty

07:28good. There's very little disparity between the lenses. The S25's camera also performs admirably

07:34well during low light. It does a fine job of brightening up the scene without making it look

07:39artificial. Now sometimes I did notice a halo sort of effect around bright lights which sort of looks

07:44like the light is beaming out of the subject. In this case look at the omax text but apart from

07:50the slight issue the night photos overall look quite good. Similarly selfies look great as well

07:55with sharp details and close to accurate human skin tones be it for portrait or general selfies.

08:00Granted 12 megapixel resolution doesn't sound huge compared to say 32 megapixel resolution or

08:06one of the 13 selfie shooters but rest assured the S25 is one of the best high-end phones for

08:12clicking selfies. This right here is the rear facing video sample being shot on the Galaxy

08:17S25 in 4k 60fps. By the way this phone can also shoot HDR videos from both the front and rear

08:23camera but this is not the HDR video because that video is meant to be seen on HDR screens

08:28but this right here is the general video sample 4k 60fps. What do you think about the quality?

08:33Because to me the colors look great, HDR performance is on point, stabilization is on point. In fact

08:39lens switching is also very smooth. Bhavesh if you can please just show an example so 1x to 3x

08:46there is also the option of 0.6x so I think so the S25 does a very good job with the video

08:53stabilization with the overall video quality but what do you think about it let me know in the

08:57comments and next up is the selfie video. This right here is the front facing video sample being

09:02shot on the Galaxy S25 in 4k 60fps. As you can see the phone is doing a pretty good job as you can

09:09see the HDR performance is quite good right against the sun and my face is properly exposed

09:15but overall also the colors look quite vibrant, stabilization is on point, details are also quite

09:22good but most importantly what do you think about the overall quality let me know in the comments.

09:32Quickly before the verdict summing up the endurance bit and yes the S25 has the same

09:364000 mAh battery capacity as the S24 but this time around I can at least say that I can use

09:42this phone for a full day before it discharges which was not the case with the S24 I mean I had

09:47to constantly charge the S24 twice a day on most days which is not the case with the S25.

09:53Of course a bigger battery overall or maybe a silicon carbon battery would have provided better

09:58endurance but for now the chipset's efficiency and optimization are definitely doing the work here.

10:03In my use case scenarios I have even managed to hit 7 hours plus in many instances while other

10:09days where I moderately use the phone I've consistently hit 4 to 5 hours of screen on time

10:14which easily gets the phone's battery through a day.

10:22So my decision to outright choose the Galaxy S25 as my daily phone over the likes of say the OnePlus

10:2813 and the S25 Ultra has been a pleasant experience. Granted it doesn't have the S25 Ultra's S Pen or

10:36the size and the battery life of the OnePlus 13 but if you have ever heard of the term they say

10:41in Hindi Chota Packet Bada Dhamaka well this phone is that Chota Packet Bada Dhamaka. So over the

10:47Galaxy S24 it improves in key areas such as raw performance, better RAM management, improved

10:53thermals, better camera, better endurance all in a package that is sleek, light and familiar. Had a

10:58new design made it better yes maybe a bigger battery in favor of increased thickness maybe yes

11:04but for what it's worth if you're someone who wants a compact phone an out-and-out flagship

11:09device this small high-end device would definitely appeal to you. Write down in the comments what

11:15you think about the Galaxy S25. Fiber rates it a solid 8 out of 10. For now it is me signing off

11:22I'll catch you all in the next one. Thank you for watching.

Category

Transcript

Recommended