I've spent a week with the Galaxy S25 Ultra and I'm torn

When heading up to NYC to check out the Galaxy S25 series ahead of its launch, I went in without any expectations. As evidenced by the 3,000+ words from my Galaxy S25 Ultra hands-on, I clearly came out on the other side with more than a few thoughts. Fast forward to now, and I've been using the Galaxy S25 Ultra for about a week, but for some reason, I'm kind of at an impasse.

I can't help but feel as though I was looking at the Galaxy S25 Ultra through Samsung's rose-tinted (or blue) glasses. Everything that was announced and demoed sounded wonderful, and in that initial two-ish hours, it was. I was excited about the chance to try out the obvious front-runner for the best Android phone of the year. And I was even more excited about the various Gemini and Galaxy AI-powered improvements that were promised.

Over the past week, there have been quite a few things that I've noticed and a few things that I would have forgotten about if it weren't for my RSS feeds and social media.

The good

Maybe it's just because I'm used to the iPhone's design, but I actually rather like what Samsung has done with the S25 Ultra. I don't know if I like it more than the S24 Ultra, but at the very least, it's kind of refreshing to see Samsung largely use the same design language across all of its flagship phones. That includes the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Flip 6.

I've always been a sucker for a good metal and glass sandwich, and the S25 Ultra easily checks the box. Using a phone that matches the price tag isn't always a foregone conclusion, but I still have to give credit where it's due.

Something else that I've thoroughly enjoyed is re-entering the Samsung ecosystem. Before the S25 Ultra landed on my doorstep, I managed to snag the Galaxy Watch Ultra for around $200 thanks to a random trade-in promotion. And seeing as I was already getting the itch for some new earbuds, the Galaxy Buds 3 Pro were quickly added to my cart.

A few years ago, I probably would've been one of the first to mock Samsung's attempts at imitating Apple. Now, I'm actually just grateful that the ecosystem pretty much just works. There are a few hiccups that aren't related to the S25 Ultra specifically, but I'll have thoughts on that in an upcoming article. If anything, it proved just how important having an ecosystem of products that seamlessly work together can be.

If you read my initial impressions, then you probably noticed that I couldn't shut up about AI. I'm going to save most of my opinions for the final review, but I have to point out how much I've actually enjoyed having the Now Brief widget on my home screen. It's become part of my daily routine, as I tap the widget, and it updates throughout the day just to see what will show up.

Having certain bits of information presented to me is really nice, especially for someone who slightly obsesses over how much sleep they get. Amplifying this "issue" is the Energy Score from the Watch Ultra, but that's not actually a bad thing. It just feeds into my obsession as I look forward to seeing what kind of suggestions for improvements are made.

The annoying

For as quickly as Now Brief has quickly become part of my daily routine, it also didn't take long to realize one of its pitfalls. Near the bottom of the page, you're occasionally presented with news that "you might be interested in." However, no matter what I've tried to do, it only ever recommends news that I couldn't care less about.

I thought that it might be something to do with the Samsung News app despite never actually using it. So I went through and tried to prune the topics, but that doesn't seem to have done anything. Instead, my Now Brief dashboard still manages to show me the "wrong" news.

Before you ask, yes, I double-checked the Now Brief settings, as there's a "Content to include" section. Unfortunately, you can't change any of the topics from here and can only enable or disable the "News" from showing up.

As far as design goes, I appreciate the Galaxy S25 Ultra's redesign, but there's one nagging issue. See, for the first couple of days after getting the S25 Ultra, I didn't have a case for it. I'm not much of a case guy anyway, with the exception of using either a Fiberborne (formerly Thinborne) case or a Dbrand skin.

However, the Galaxy S25 Ultra is so slippery that I was constantly worried that the phone was going to slip out of my hands. Between that and seeing that a few of Samsung's first-party cases are 50% off at Best Buy, I ended up grabbing a couple of them. Unfortunately, none of my local Best Buy stores had the "Ultra Clear Magnet Case," so I opted for the Silicone, Kindsuit, and Standing Grip cases.

This leads me to another annoyance, as I really wish Samsung would have adopted the magnetic portion of the Qi2 protocol. It's cool and all that the S25 series is the first to support the Qi 2.1 standard, but I don't actually care about the charging speeds aspect. What I do care about is being able to use one of the myriad of MagSafe accessories that I've accrued over the years, and not being able to is just disappointing.

As a result, I opted to slap a MagSafe adapter ring to the back of the Silicone case, just so I could use a PopSocket. Maybe this is what Samsung is hoping for because if the S25 Ultra had the appropriate magnets, I probably wouldn't have bothered to buy a case. I mean, why would I consider that using a PopSocket would have given me some peace of mind to use the phone without a case?

Lastly, I've been a bit frustrated when it comes to trying to use emulators on the S25 Ultra. Samsung isn't to blame for part of my frustration, as the Snapdragon 8 Elite just hasn't been out long enough for higher-end emulators to be properly optimized. For the most part, Switch and Winlator emulation is at the mercy of the stock drivers, which are frankly lackluster.

I'm working on something a bit more in-depth surrounding emulation on Android, but again, that's not Samsung's problem.

Something that has been gnawing away at me is that Samsung went on stage and talked about how the S25 Ultra has a "40% larger" vapor chamber for cooling. That's truly wonderful for mobile gaming in general, but the whole time I'm just thinking about the Apple-like storage constraints.

Having 256GB as the base configuration is great and all, but the only way to get more is by shelling out more cash to Samsung. It's also great that Samsung is basically giving you a storage upgrade for free during the pre-order phase. But that doesn't do anything for those who missed the window or just can't upgrade right now.

So, for someone who has an ever-growing library of ROMs and DRM-free games for Winlator, 256GB just isn't enough. For example, at this moment, I have less than 40GB of space left on the S25 Ultra. That might seem like a lot, but in reality, that will be gone in no time as I take more pictures with my son's first birthday around the corner.

I guess what I want to see is for Samsung to release an "Ultra" that spares no expense. The Galaxy S25 Ultra gets about 95% of the way there, but what's holding it back from releasing a "Special Edition" model that brings back the BLE S Pen and includes a microSD card slot?

The ugly

Without a shadow of a doubt, the S Pen "debacle" has made me just want to avoid social media and my RSS feeds more than anything else. It's been a week and there's already so much "outrage" that it's simply pathetic. Samsung removed BLE from the Galaxy S25 Ultra's S Pen, and based on the response, you might've thought Samsung took away the headphone jack again.

Don't get me wrong, I understand the potential arguments. Samsung shouldn't be removing any features from a phone that starts at $1,200. And if you were one of the few that did use Air Commands, then it probably feels like some sort of betrayal.

Samsung didn't do itself any favors either. While the reasons were explained in my hands-on session, there was no mention of it during Galaxy Unpacked. Then, we watched as conflicting reports suggested the S25 Ultra would work with some unannounced BLE-enabled S Pen, only for others to suggest they wouldn't.

I spent more than an hour messing around with the multitude of S Pens that I could find, trying to figure out an answer. Only to come to a rather weird, yet semi-helpful, conclusion — technically you can use other S Pens with the S25 Ultra, but you can't use Air Actions, and they first have to be paired with another Galaxy device that is signed into the same Samsung account as your S25 Ultra.

Adding more fuel to the fire is that it took Samsung several days to even provide some official guidance. In that time, there have been numerous articles, and apparently, there's even a petition going around to bring BLE back to the S Pen. It's just been mind-numbing and I fear that it will only pick up once the S25 Ultra is in the hands of more people than just reviewers and influencers.

Where do I currently stand with the Galaxy S25 Ultra?

After seeing how I felt following my hands-on session, I actually thought that the S25 Ultra might be able to replace my iPhone 16 Pro Max. And since coming into my possession, it's actually been able to do that for everything besides phone calls and text messages.

The design is fantastic and just looks stunning, even with how slippery it is. Emulation woes aside, performance has been exactly what I hoped it would be, and I'm able to make it through an entire day (and then some) before even thinking about battery life. I'm also excited to see what kind of changes and improvements Samsung will bring to the on-device AI and Now Brief features.

Perhaps more surprising than anything is that I'm contemplating jumping in on the pre-order bonanza and snagging a 1TB model. Mainly because I want to see what it's like to go back to the "one phone" lifestyle, which would mean moving my SIM card out of the iPhone and into the S25 Ultra. And this is the first non-foldable phone that has managed to really move that needle at all for me.