Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs I’ve been using Samsung’s new Galaxy S25 Ultra for a couple of days, and I have a confession to make. For years, my absolute favorite ultrawide camera found on any phone was on Samsung Galaxy S models, and the new version on the S25 Ultra is even better. When the Galaxy S10 series dropped in 2019, I couldn’t take enough photos with Samsung’s first ultrawide camera. Was it perfect? No. But the lens had an incredible way of distorting reality to make ultrawide photos look dramatic without going full fisheye with warped edges.Over the years, Samsung has updated the lens and sensor on its ultrawide camera. And the Galaxy S25 Ultra rocks a new version with a 50-megapixel sensor — and it’s amazing. Judging from my first 48 hours with the S25 Ultra, the ultrawide seems to capture a lot of details, while having a respectable dynamic range, especially for high-contrast shots with varying light and shadowlike sunrises. Obviously I still have more testing to do, but so far I like the photos I get from the new ultrawide camera.
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The S25 Ultra’s ultrawide gives Peebles the cat a dramatic look as he moves to peer out the window. Patrick Holland/CNETTake a look at the detail the S25 Ultra’s ultrawide captured in this photo of Peebles the cat. Despite Peebles dashing to his window bed, the phone caught a ton of texture in his fur and whiskers. This image has some challenging lighting, with sunshine pouring through the window at 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 lens’ dramatic distortion make up for it.
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Though the ultrawide camera isn’t clinically perfect (and is still a step down compared with the main camera), it can produce stunning shots like this of water flowing down stone steps. Patrick Holland/CNETHere’s an early-morning shot of a water sculpture taken with the ultrawide. The flowing water looks like glass contrasted against the stone. This image is oversharpened, but I like the look of the sunburst flare in the top right corner.
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Macro photography gets a nice boost thanks to that new 50-megapixel sensor. Patrick Holland/CNETThe 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 a window sill, the monster’s plastic texture shows up quite well. Notice the details of the turquoise eyes and cream-colored teeth — Godzilla may need to see a dentist. Also the S25 Ultra balanced exposing the image of Godzilla with avoiding a blowout of the highlights of the sky and cityscape outside the window.
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This photo was taken with the S25 Ultra’s main camera. Patrick Holland/CNET
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Here’s the same scene taken with the ultrawide camera. Patrick Holland/CNETThe ultrawide is not without its flaws, and it’s still a step down in terms of overall image quality compared with the main camera. Notice in the photos above that the image from the main camera has better details in the shadows (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 those downsides, images from the ultrawide are, more often than not, striking.Here are a few more ultrawide snaps from the S25 Ultra.
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This ultrawide image was taken indoors with a mix of overhead light and daylight coming in from the windows. Patrick Holland/CNET
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I’m impressed with the dynamic range, which isn’t as wide as the main camera’s but is respectable for an ultrawide phone camera. Patrick Holland/CNET
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Maisie the cat’s downward gaze looks all the more dramatic through an ultrawide lens. Of course, as purr-fect as this photo is, it isn’t perfect, with the shadows in her coat all crunched to black. Patrick Holland/CNETAI and rounded corners The S Pen poking out of the Galaxy S25 Ultra. Notice the phone’s new rounded corners. James Martin/CNETBut wait, there’s more! While the Ultra in the phone’s name doesn’t refer to the ultrawide lens, it does symbolize this phone’s ambitions. The Galaxy S25 Ultra is ultra at everything in terms of specs: Snapdragon 8 Elite chip, 12GB of RAM, a 5,000-mAh battery, two telephoto cameras, a stylus and, the true star of the phone, that screen. But the same can be said of last year’s S24 Ultra, if you swap out the new chip for last year’s still blazing fast Snapdragon 8 Gen 3.In terms of physical design, the S25 Ultra now has rounded corners in lieu of the Galaxy Note-ish right-angled ones found on previous Ultra phones. And similar to the regular Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus, the phone’s edges 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 just scrolling social feeds feels more immersive, thanks to the screen’s thinner bezels. None of these refinements are major, but they add up to make the S25 Ultra seem more polished and less like I’m carrying a tech-dense brick around with me.Then there’s the AI. Oh, the AI. During the reveal 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 all these AI features. You need to have a Google account for the Gemini side of things and a Samsung account for the on-device and Bixby side of things. Watch this: Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra Hands-On: A Bigger Screen and More AI
07:31 As advertised, a long-press on the power button let me pull up the Gemini interface to ask things like when the next Warriors game was and to have it added to my calendar. Having a digital assistant carry out multiple steps off of a single command is nice. Unfortunately, it added the game to the Samsung calendar app and not to the Google calendar app that I’ve used for years — an assumption that meant I’d have to manually add the event to the latter calendar anyway.This might sound funny, but beyond my preference for Google apps over Samsung ones, having a digital assistant capable of more complex queries is going to take some getting used to. Like most phone owners, I’ve mastered the one step at a time reality that our current smartphones have had for years. In the short time I’ve had the phone, I keep trying to think of additional ways I can take advantage of this more sophisticated helper.My last thought for now is that I really like the idea of the Now Bar on the lock screen that shows live updates to background apps. But unlike the iPhone and its Live Activities on the lock screen, it’s very limited at the moment. I see the potential and I 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’m still feeling ultra good about the new S25 Ultra.
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