My first 48 hours of Galaxy S25 Ultra has been reality bending

On January 27, 2025By Littum

I have used Samsung’s new Galaxy S25 Ultra for a few days and I have a confession to do. For years, my absolute favorite ultrawide camera found on any phone was on the Samsung Galaxy S models, and the new version on the S25 Ultra is even better. When the Galaxy S10 series fell 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 to distort reality to make ultrawide photos look dramatic without going full fishing with crooked 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 great. To judge out from my first 48 hours with the S25 Ultra looks ultrawide to catch very of details while having a respectable dynamic interval, especially for high -contrast images with different lights and shady sunrises. Obviously, I still have more testing to do, but so far I like the photos I get from the new Ultrawide camera.

This story is part of Samsung eventCNET’s collection of news, tips and advice on Samsung’s most popular products.

A photo of a cat looking out of a window — The S25 Ultra’s Ultrawide gives the cat the cat a dramatic look as he moves to look out the window.

Patrick Holland/Cnet

Look at the details S25 Ultra’s Ultrawide caught on this photo of Ceebles the cat. Despite Peebles standing for his window bed, the phone caught plenty of texture in his fur and whiskers. This image has some challenging lighting, with sunshine that pours through the window to the left in an otherwise dark room. Note image noise in the shadows on the right side. Perfect? No, but in my book the details and lens’ dramatic distortion make it.

Water that flows down stone in early morning sunlight — Although the Ultrawide camera is not clinically perfect (and is still a step down compared to the main camera), it can produce amazing shoots like this of water flowing down stone.

Patrick Holland/Cnet

Here is an early morning image of a water sculpture taken with ultrawide. The liquid water looks like glass contrasted against the stone. This image is oversharpened, but I like the look of the Sunburst blouse in the upper right corner.

A window sill with a Godzilla -toy on that — Macro photography gets a nice boost thanks to the new 50-megapixel sensor.

Patrick Holland/Cnet

The S25 Ultra’s Ultrawide acts as a macrolin, which allows 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 structure appears quite well. Note the details of the turquoise eyes and cream-colored teeth-godzilla may need to see a dentist. Also the S25 Ultra Balanced, which exposes the image of Godzilla to avoid a blowout of the highlights of the sky and the cityscape outside the window.

A photo of a street at night — This photo was taken with the S25 Ultra’s main camera.

Patrick Holland/Cnet

Ultrawide is not without its shortcomings, and it is still a step down with regard to the overall image quality compared to the main camera. Note in the pictures above that the image from the main camera has better details in the shadows (the trees to the right) and a wider dynamic interval and that the main camera uses less noise reduction (look at the bricks in the buildings). But even with these disadvantages, images from Ultrawide are more often than not striking.

Here are a few more ultrawide snaps from the S25 Ultra.

A large open public space with wood paneled walls and ceiling — This ultrawide image was taken indoors with a mix of overhead lights and daylight coming in from the windows.

Patrick Holland/Cnet

The interior of a car looking from the back seat to the front — I am impressed with the dynamic range, which is not as wide as the main camera, but is respectable for an ultrawide phone camera.

Patrick Holland/Cnet

A small black cat on top of a cat tree that looks down on the world — Maisie the cat’s downward gaze looks more dramatic through an ultrawide lens. Of course, so purr effect like this photo is, it’s not perfect, with the shadows in her coat, all crushed to black.

Patrick Holland/Cnet

AI and rounded corners

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra — S Pen sticks out of the Galaxy S25 Ultra. Note the phone’s new rounded corners.

James Martin/Cnet

But wait, there’s more! While Ultra in the phone’s name does not refer to the Ultrawide lens, it symbolizes this phone’s ambitions. Galaxy S25 Ultra is Ultra on everything with regard to specifications: Snapdragon 8 Elite Chip, 12 GB RAM, a 5,000 mAh battery, two tele cameras, a stylus and, the true star on the phone, the screen. But the same can be said of last year’s S24 Ultra if you replace the new chip for last year’s still flaming fast Snapdragon 8 Gen 3.

In terms of physical design, the S25 Ultra has now rounded corners instead of Galaxy Note-ish right-wing 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 that the phone is easier to hold. The S25 Ultra weighs even less than last year’s model. Watching videos, playing games or just rolling social feeds feels more immersive thanks to the screen’s thinner frames. None of these improvements are bigger, but they add to making the S25-ULTRA appear more polished and less like I wear a technically dense brick with me.

Then there is ai. Oh, ai. During the unveiling of the S25 Ultra at the Galaxy -packed event, Samsung highlighted his relationship and partnership with Google. And that is perhaps the best way to think about all these AI features. You need to have a Google Account for the Gemini page of things and a Samsung account for the On-Device and the Bixby page of things.

See this: Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra Hands-On: A larger screen and more AI

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As advertised, a Langpress on the Power button let me pull the gemini-interface up to ask things like when the next warriors game was and to get it added to my calendar. Having a digital assistant perform multiple steps from a single command is nice. Unfortunately, it added the game to the Samsung Calendar app and not to the Google Calendar app that I have used for years -an assumption that meant I had to add the event manually to the latter calendar.

This may sound fun, but in addition to my preference for Google apps rather than Samsung, having a digital assistant who is capable of more complex queries will take some to get used to. Like most phone owners, I have mastered one step at a time that our current smartphones have had for years. In the short time I’ve had the phone, I continue to think about further ways I can benefit from this more sophisticated helper.

My last thought so far is that I really like the idea of the now bar on the lock screen showing live updates for background apps. But unlike the iPhone and its live activities on the lock screen, it is very limited at the moment. I see the potential and I hope this is something Samsung can get several third -party developers to take advantage of.

I have more tests to do, but after two days I still feel ultra good for the new S25 Ultra.

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