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You’ll find solid internet options in Huntsville. Here are the best providers, along with the cheapest and fastest plans available.

Los Blancos resume their quest for an automatic qualification spot as they host the Austrian team at the Bernabéu.

AT&T Fiber is the top internet provider in Frankfort, but there are several other options worth considering.

Project Astra uses your phone camera or camera-equipped glasses to see the world around it and analyze what it sees.

Samsung is already the king of folding phones – and at the first Samsung Galaxy Unpacked of 2025, the tech giant teased its potential next frontier.

During the launch, which saw the reveal of the Samsung Galaxy S25, Galaxy S25 Ultra and Galaxy S25 Plus, Samsung showed off a brief roadmap of its future products – complete with a tri-folding foldable phone.

There were no timings or dates included, and no suggestion that such a device will be with us this year, but I'd suggest such a phone is coming sooner than later, as the Galaxy Z Fold 6 seems to have reached a plateau for folding phones at Samsung.

For more from the showcase right now, check our our Samsung Galaxy Unpacked live blog.

A new frontier for foldables

While even the best foldable phones aren't exactly perfect, with chunky frames and visible creases. But even with these caveats, they are rather good productivity devices, so having another display could turn them into serious devices that can double up as Android tablets.

Samsung’s display arm has already shown off a couple of prototype tri-fold concept phones at CES 2025, so such a folding phone was definitely being considered by the South Korean company. But seeing such a phone on a roadmap is a very strong indicator that a tri-folding phone will become a legitimate consumer product.

It's over to fellow Managing Editor and TV/display specialist Matthew Bolton for his thoughts on the tri-fold concepts he got to see at CES: "I saw two versions of a tri-fold screen prototype device. One that folds in a Z-shape, just like what Samsung hinted at in its announcement, and one where left and right screens folded on top of the center screen.

"I wasn't allowed to fold these phones (no one was, it's not a reflection on my brutishness), but it showcased the potential designs of these phones, and just how much extra space this layout can give you – it really feels like these reach the promise of 'a tablet that turns into a phone', in the sense that when folded out, they're around the 10-inch size of a full tablet, instead of the mini-tablet size of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6. However, don't expect much change in the key flaw of folding screens: you're going to be looking at two creases instead of one."

We've already gone hands on with other tri-folds, most notably the Huawei Mate XT that impressed Phones Editor Axel Metz. So there's no doubt in my mind that the next step for foldable phones will be tri-folds, at least from the Android camp of the smartphone arena.

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• Check out our hands-on Samsung Galaxy S25 review
• And read our hands-on Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus review
• Best Samsung phone: top Galaxy handsets ranked

• Google has added several new features to ChromeOS
• These include Class tools, Workspace, and Classroom
• Most are aimed at both students and educators

Google has announced several brand new features for the best Chromebooks, Google Workspace, and Google Classroom in a series of official blog posts.

First of all, there are Class Tools: real-time features that educators can use with their students, such as sending and pinning educational content to students’ screens, or turning on live captions and translations.

Google Classroom has several new features, including the ability to generate vocabulary lists through Gemini in Classroom, allowing educators to create customized word lists with definitions, parts of speech, and examples tailored to various grade levels.

Figma’s FigJam lets educators assign group whiteboards for group work, discussions, and brainstorming ideas. Educators can also create distinct student groups based on their needs and assign grades at scale, as well as keep students’ guardians informed with weekly newsletters and share Classroom page links to keep them up to date with assignments.

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(Image credit: Google)

Another tool, somewhat related to education but also applicable more widely, is Face Control on Chromebooks, which is finally being released. First revealed back in 2023, it’s an incredibly useful accessibility tool that allows users to control their cursor with head movements and perform actions with facial gestures. It’s now rolling out with the ChromeOS M132 update.

There will also be a whopping 20 new Chromebook and Chromebook Plus devices launching in 2025 for students and educators. These include the Acer Chromebook Spin 511 and Lenovo Chromebook Duet EDU G2, which will come with styluses and are built with a younger audience in mind, while the Asus CR1204CTA, and HP Fortis G1i 14 Chromebook are meant for older students. There’s also the Lenovo Chromebook Plus 2-in-1 for educators.

Google is continuing its winning streak with ChromeOS

In the past I've written about how Google has done surprisingly well in its initiative to create useful AI tools meant to aid users and enhance lives, rather than simply (and poorly) perform tasks better suited to humans. In that quest, Google has been also developing useful tools in other underrepresented markets, like education. Chromebooks are especially useful for students and educators, as their simple UI, affordable pricing, and portability are ideal for those who need a laptop to carry around and use eight or more hours a day.

Now with enhancements to Class tools, Google Classroom, Face Control on Chromebooks, and a bevy of models specially designed for education, Chromebooks and ChromeOS as a whole have become even more valuable, offering features that other laptops simply don’t.

Hopefully the tech giant will continue to innovate in this regard, as this is one of the best ways it sets ChromeOS and Chromebooks apart from the competition.

• Here’s a list of all the changes coming to your Chromebook with ChromeOS 127 now rolling out
• Take note Microsoft – Google's Chromebook shows how AI in PCs should be done
• Mysterious new Chromebook with a built-in Assistant button surface

• Proof of concept sees half a MB of data compressed in a steel capsule that looks like a bullet
• As expected, you cannot read the book like a normal paperback
• DNA storage is still firmly in a futuristic concept

DNA storage offers the potential to store billions of terabytes of data in an incredibly compact form, capable of lasting hundreds of years with minimal cost. The technology is increasingly being seen as a potential way to reduce energy usage, minimize physical space requirements, and enhance data security. Although we are seeing regular breakthroughs, there’s still a long way to go before DNA storage hits the mainstream and we're still waiting for that major breakthrough.

Recent advancements include a credit-card-sized DNA storage device by the French firm Biomemory, which can hold one kilobyte of data, and the first specifications for storing bytes in DNA were unveiled by the DNA Data Storage Alliance in late 2024.

In the latest milestone, DNA-based digital data storage company CATALOG, founded in 2016 by MIT scientists, has delivered the first commercially available book encoded into DNA.

A bit hard to read

The book, created in collaboration with Asimov Press and available for $65, features nine essays and three science fiction works from a number of writers including Alex Telford, Richard Ngo, and Tom Ireland. Each copy comes in the form of a steel DNA capsule that holds approximately half a megabyte of data and resembles a bullet.

The Boston-based CATALOG encoded 240 pages of text, totaling 481,280 bytes, into 500,000 unique synthetic DNA molecules. These molecules are stored as a dry powder under inert gas, safeguarding them from moisture and oxygen to ensure long-term preservation. It should go without saying that you can’t actually read its contents.

"Providing 1,000 copies of this latest Asimov book encoded into DNA is a significant milestone as we commercialize our DNA Storage and Computation technology,” said Hyunjun Park, Co-Founder and CEO of CATALOG. "Our DNA Computing platform – which uses very little energy – is quickly becoming an attractive option as emerging workloads including AI require unsustainable amounts of energy to process.”

The capsule, the first commercial product encoded into DNA, is available for pre-order now, priced at $65. If you just want to read the contents of the book, you can buy a physical copy for $30.

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• DNA storage could come as cartridges by 2030
• I held the future of data storage in my hands and it couldn't look weirder

The company is also reportedly considering launching AI-powered wearables, including earbuds with built-in cameras.

Ichiro Suzuki's career was full of hitting streaks, All-Star Games and Gold Glove awards. But all that paled compared to moments with fans like his farewell at the Tokyo Dome in 2019, he said.

(Image credit: Steph Chambers)

The company’s new smartphones do not have Qi2 wireless charging built in natively. Just give me my magnetic Android phone already!

Samsung’s new S25 smartphones have just been revealed at its January 2025 Galaxy Unpacked Event, but that’s not all that it showcased: it also gave us a taste of the AI-powered tools that are set to launch alongside the new devices – and I’ve had the chance to try them out.

The star of the show was Now Brief, a feature teased ahead of the event which sees your phone offer you personalized daily briefs based on your personal schedule and habits.

Taking cues from your connected email, calendar, wallet, accessories (such as a Galaxy Ring or Galaxy Watch), and other Samsung devices (i.e. your Samsung TV), Now Brief promises to give you a quick rundown of the day ahead – such as reminding you to prepare for your trip in a few days, to take it easy because you didn’t sleep well the night before, and that you have a coupon expiring today. Throughout the day the Now Brief will shift to suit your preferences and help you achieve your targets – for example in the afternoon you’ll get a reminder to get your steps in if you’re short of your health goals for the day, with tips on how to up your count.

Now Brief (Image credit: Samsung)

Samsung says Now Brief will learn to understand you via its 'Personal Data Engine'. It’ll learn what tips it should prioritize and which elements it doesn’t need to include as those aspects of your brief aren’t relevant. Most interestingly it seems like Samsung is learning heavily into its internet of things connected devices – with its presentation focusing on the improved integrations you’ll unlock if you pair your new Samsung phone with other devices like a Samsung TV and Samsung smartwatch (a tactic Apple has been using for years to convince users to not only buy an iPhone but a whole Apple ecosystem).

Because of this reliance on understanding you, of the three features I’ve tried Now Brief is the one I got the worst look at – because the test unit knew nothing of my personal schedule or who I am, it could only tell me about the weather conditions in the area nearby (which wasn’t especially useful). I’m hopeful that the full release will be more exciting, and that’ll come to older devices like the Samsung Galaxy S24, and Galaxy Z Flip 6 and Fold 6, as Now Brief has the potential to be the best new AI feature.

I constantly forget things in my busy schedule until the last minute, so a regular update on what’s coming up and reminders to hit my daily health goals could be super handy – but it will come down to how well this is implemented. AI features promise a lot, but will Now Brief deliver?

Now Bar can give you easy access to essentials (Image credit: Samsung) Cut through the noise

For those of you who love recording video – either to share with friends, family, or your followers – the new phones can also take advantage of new on-device audio editing called Audio Eraser. We’ve seen a similar tool from the Google Pixel 8 which allows an AI to identify different types of sound in a video to be able to turn it up or down as you see fit.

In a demo I had before the Galaxy Unpacked event I was able to record a clip of a Samsung representative talking while I clapped loudly and made noise in the background. Listening back to the clip you’d struggle to make out what they were saying.

That is, until I went into the phone’s video editor to alter the sound – turning down my disruption and turning up their voice. The end result sounded really good, and while there was a little distortion to their voice it certainly sounded a lot clearer than the unedited audio. We’ll need to test it further, but I expect Audio Eraser will be perfect for making your concert recordings pop.

For those of you who prefer using AI to help you create images, Samsung’s Sketch to Image AI tool is getting an upgrade too that makes it easier to combine real and AI elements.

In the demo I was able to combine a written prompt – I went for “an icy lake in a cartoonish style” – with a preexisting image – for the demo I used a photo of a random dog to stand in as my puppy – and Galaxy AI was able to combine the two parts into one single picture – spitting out an image of a dog that looked like the one in the photo playing near a lake in the snow, all in a cartoonish style.

AI image generation isn’t for everyone, but if you like playing around with this feature and want a little more freedom to combine real and fake elements this looks like a solid improvement over what we’ve had access to on Samsung before.

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It is unclear how much impact economic penalties would have on the Russian government, since they already face various sanctions imposed by the previous administration.

(Image credit: Andrew Harnik)

• Gemini can now chain actions together to complete complex tasks
• Gemini Live is gaining multimodal abilities on the newest phones
• Gemini will evolve into a fully-powered AI assistant with Project Astra

To coincide with the launch of the Samsung S25 range of devices, at today's Galaxy Unpacked, Google has announced some impressive updates to its Gemini AI platform. Many of the improvements are specific to devices like the new Samsung S25, but some also work on the older Samsung S24 and the Pixel 9 phones.

The stand-out feature is Gemini's new ability to chain actions together. This means you can now do things like connect to Google Maps to search for nearby restaurants, then draft a text in Google Messages to send to people you’d like to invite to lunch, all through Gemini commands.

The chaining ability is being added to all devices that run Gemini, “depending on extensions”, which means that the extensions to link the particular app to Gemini will need to be written by a developer for them to be included. Naturally, all the major Google apps have extensions for Gemini already, but extensions are also available for the Samsung Reminder, Samsung Calendar, Samsung Notes, and Samsung Clock apps.

Gemini Live goes multimodal

Google’s Gemini Live, the part of Gemini that gives you the opportunity to have a natural, human-like conversation with the AI, is also getting some major multimodal upgrades. You will now be able to upload images, files, and YouTube videos to the conversation you’re having, so, for example, you could ask Gemini Live, “Hey, take a look at this picture of my school project and tell me how I could make this better”, then upload the picture, and get a response.

The Gemini multimodal improvements are not available across the board, however, and will require a Galaxy S24, S25, or Pixel 9 to work.

Project Astra

Finally, Google has announced that Project Astra capabilities will be coming in the next few months, arriving first on Galaxy S25 and Pixel phones. Project Astra is Google’s prototype AI assistant that enables you to interact with the world around you, asking questions about what you’re looking at and where you are using your phone’s camera. So, you can simply point your phone at something and ask Gemini to tell you something about it, or ask it when the next stop on your bus route will be.

Project Astra works on mobile phones, but takes your experience to the next level when combined with Google’s prototype hands-free AI glasses, so you can simply start asking Gemini questions about what you’re looking at, without having to interact with a screen at all.

While there’s still no news about a release date for this next generation of Google glasses, they will join Meta Ray-Ban glasses in the emerging market for AI wearables when they finally become available.

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Pep Guardiola's side travel to Paris for a match neither side can afford to lose.

Goodbye, all those Note vestiges, and hello to new, or at least more consistent, design language. The all-new Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra finally looks like a part of the Galaxy S Family, sharing the same flat band wrapping around its body.

For this latest flagship, Samsung has recast the Galaxy S25 Ultra in the image of its siblings while maintaining that Ultra flair with premium materials, the largest screen, and, yes, the integrated S Pen.

Like the rest of the line, the S25 Ultra now features Qualcomm’s best mobile CPU, the 3-nanometer Snapdragon Gen 8 Elite for Galaxy, which promises to be faster and more efficient than anything the Galaxy S line has run before. Samsung told us this is actually a custom version of the processor, but didn’t go into detail.

While we’ve not yet had the time to benchmark the new phone – we’ll be doing that for our full review – the company did note that the NPU could be 40% faster, the CPU is, as they measure it, 37% faster than the last Ultra, and the GPU is, they promise, 30% faster. Even ray tracing gets a boost with Samsung’s benchmarks finding it 40% better than the S24 Ultra’s Ray Tracing capabilities. Put another way, this might be a very good gaming smartphone.

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra hands-on review: Price and availability

The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra was unveiled at Galaxy Unpacked on January 22. It's available to pre-order now in a choice of four colors: Titanium Silver Blue, Titanium White Silver, Titanium Gray, and Titanium Black.

The phone ships in either 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB storage configurations, and every variant comes with 12GB RAM.

The Galaxy S25 Ultra will begin shipping on February 7 for the following prices:

Samsung Galaxy S25 series: $900 instant trade-in credit and up to $300 credit at Samsung
Looking for an unlocked device? This right here is your best option by far. The official Samsung Store is offering an excellent trade-in rebate of up to $900 and $300 of store credit on the house for both carrier and unlocked devices today. The trade-in here is superb and the $300 credit is also a significant bonus that can be used to pick up any number of cheap accessories at the Samsung Store. Overall, a superb opening deal and one that's even better than I anticipated.View Deal

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra hands-on review: Specs

Here's a look at the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra's key specs:

Goodbye, all those Note vestiges, and hello to new, or at least more consistent, design language. The all-new Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra finally looks like a part of the Galaxy S Family, sharing the same flat band wrapping around its body.

For this latest flagship, Samsung has recast the Galaxy S25 Ultra in the image of its siblings while maintaining that Ultra flair with premium materials, the largest screen, and, yes, the integrated S Pen.

Like the rest of the line, the S25 Ultra now features Qualcomm’s best mobile CPU, the 3-nanometer Snapdragon Gen 8 Elite, which promises be faster and more efficient than anything the Galaxy S line has run before. Samsung told us this is actually a custom version of the processor, but didn’t go into detail.

While we’ve not yet had the time to benchmark the new phone – we’ll be doing that for our full review – the company did note that the NPU could be 40% faster, the CPU is, as they measure it, 37% faster than the last Ultra, and the GPU is, they promise, 30% faster. Even ray tracing gets a boost with Samsung’s benchmarks finding it 40% better than the S24 Ultra’s Ray Tracing capabilities. Put another way, this might be a very good gaming smartphone.

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra hands-on review: design and display

(Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)

The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra looks and feels good, and while some might prefer the Galaxy S24 Ultra’s more rounded styling, the S25 Ultra is 15% lighter and, as a result, feels better in the hand. It’s also still rated IPX68 for water and dust resistance.

Samsung has mostly chosen to leave the screen technology as it is. Covered in more scratch-resistant Gorilla Glass Armor 2 (the previous model had the first generation of Armor glass), the display still has a sharp and pleasing QHD+ resolution, but it’s slightly larger than the S24 Ultra's at 6.9 inches instead of 6.8 inches diagonally. Samsung did this not by making the phone larger, but by shrinking the bezel by 15%.

It’s still an adaptive refresh screen, moving smoothly from 1Hz to 120Hz on an as-needed basis. New to the screen technology is ProScaler, which actually comes from Samsung's TV line and upscales lower-resolution content. This is a hardware update that will not filter down to previous models.

(Image credit: Future / Jake Krol) Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra hands-on review: cameras

(Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)

While the camera array has been redesigned, and the three rear lenses now almost float above the phone body, two of the three cameras are unchanged from the S24 Ultra: the 50MP 5x zoom and the 200MP wide main camera. New to the trio is the 50MP ultra-wide. Shooting macro images in 12MP binned format, I could already see the quality difference and was especially impressed with the level of close-up detail I could capture. The front-facing portrait camera is unchanged from the S24 Ultra. It's still 12MP, and in my brief hands-on time it did an excellent job of capturing portrait-mode photos.

(Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)

I’m a bit disappointed that Samsung didn’t bring back its optical 10x zoom from the S23 Ultra, but the 10x zoom that crops in on the higher pixel count zoom will probably satisfy most people.

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(Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff) Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra: battery and performance

(Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)

Battery size is unchanged from the S24 Ultra, but Samsung says we should expect better battery life from the Galaxy S25 Ultra thanks to the Snapdragon Gen 8 Elite’s 3-nanometer process and the new 40% larger vapor chamber that Samsung has paired with a Thermal Interface Covering (TIM). The TIM sits right on top of the CPU, and the vapor chamber is on top of that to deliver more efficient heat dissipation, which can extend better battery life. Speaking of the battery, Samsung says the phone is “Qi2 compatible”, but that support is not built into the phone; in other words, the phone will work with an external accessory that supports the updated wireless charging system.

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra: software

(Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)

Perhaps the biggest upgrade over the S24 Ultra is the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra’s impressive AI capabilities. This is more than just a Galaxy AI upgrade; Samsung has infused AI throughout the system, and given it broader capabilities that span across Samsung and Google apps. The company is calling it Cross Action Apps.

Smart select is, well, smarter now, with the ability to recognize on-screen elements and then make suggestions about what you might want to do, AI-wise, with the image. For instance, it could suggest a straight generative edit or making a GIF.

Circle to Search is now aurally capable, with the ability to identify sounds in a video. It's also adept at naming that tune. I pressed the home button, tapped the new music note icon, and began humming Hot to Go by Chappell Roan. The AI got it right, bringing up the music video from YouTube in Google search. It did similarly well with my terrible hum of Fly Me to the Moon. The recognition isn't instant; you have to know more than a few bars, and the software will prompt you to "keep going" as necessary.

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(Image credit: Future/Jacob Krol)

AI-assisted search is now more agnostic. I long-pressed the home button and asked natural language questions about travel and buying a new vacuum. In each instance, the system used Google Gemini to tap into YouTube and Samsung Notes. It found what I was looking for on Google’s service, dug into videos to find the details that mattered to me, made summaries, and saved them in Samsung Notes.

(Image credit: Future/Jacob Krol)

These Gemini Live and Bixby enhancements can access all native Samsung and Google apps. Plus, Samsung plans to release the APK so that other third-party companies can become part of the Galaxy AI ecosystem. At launch, it'll feature built-in Spotify and WhatsApp support.

Samsung has also enhanced many of its generative image tools. I took a photo, and drew a marquee to select and remove all the background people in the shot with a single tap. I could tap another icon to quickly see the original photo. The Galaxy S25 Ultra did a good job, even neatly removing shadows.

Other photography features have also been given a generative-AI sheen. Portraits can now instantly be turned into excellent pencil sketches, and the ones I generated looked as good as any sketch portrait that might appear in The Wall Street Journal. Seeing the quality made me a little sad for the soon-to-be-unemployed sketch artists around the world – although I felt a little better when I took another portrait, but in less dramatic light, and the sketch looked nothing like my subject.

There's also a powerful new AI audio cleanup tool called Audio Eraser, which I used to remove distracting background noises from an interview – I could do it on the fly in the video playback, and tone the background noises down or up to my taste. When I fully removed the background noises, though, the main audio sounded a bit artificial. This is similar to the Audio Mix tools Apple introduced with the iPhone 16 Pro, but with fewer audio presets, and I can’t say for certain yet if it has more limited capabilities until I get to spend more time with it.

Sketch to image, which I used to entertaining effect on the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 last summer, is now multi-modal, which means you can start with a photo, draw on that, and have the generative AI do its image magic. You can also use text prompts to adjust the image, although I didn't get to try this feature in my brief hands-on time.

Even Samsung's photo library app, Gallery, has been given a brain transplant, and now lets you search by voice. I asked it to show me pictures of "wine" and quickly got a gallery of photos of wine bottles.

One UI overhaul

One UI 7, a three-year-long project for Samsung, has had a complete makeover. I generally like One UI because it’s long been one of the least overbearing Android overlays, and based on my brief look at it, I think One UI 7 continues this trend.

There’s also a new Now Brief widget, which uses on-system AI to learn about you and give you morning and evening briefs that can help you manage your days and nights. There’s health-related info, upcoming schedules, your energy score, sleep quality, weather, reminders, and more. The connections to some of Samsung’s other devices, like the Galaxy Ring are impressive – if you own all the latest Samsung gear, the S25 Ultra could be an even more worthwhile upgrade.

(Image credit: Future/Jacob Krol)

What’s interesting here is how Samsung is managing this private data locally, using something called the Personal Data Engine. Through this the phone sends your data to an onboard core that can use AI to understand and act as AI agents on your behalf. None of your data, which is protected by Samsung's Knox security, is shared with the cloud or with apps. It’s the kind of insight Apple has been promising us with Apple Intelligence but has so far failed to deliver.

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra hands-on review: S Pen

(Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)

The S Pen is still there, but Samsung has removed Bluetooth LE support because, it told us, no one was using it. Its main function was to enable you to use the pen as a remote control for shooting photos or controlling presentations. I doubt I will miss it. Otherwise, the S Pen’s operation is unchanged – I drew with it a bit on the S25 Ultra and was impressed with the responsiveness.

Finally, the good news is that the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra costs the same as its predecessor, starting at $1,299 for 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage (you can go up to 1GB). That’s still a hefty price, but you should expect some early promotions to lower the pocket pain, and trade-in deals are typically excellent.

The Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus is a strange middle child. It's not just a bigger Galaxy S25, because it shares some technology with the Galaxy S25 Ultra. Sadly, not the best Ultra tech, like the 200MP camera sensor, the 5x zoom camera lens, or the titanium frame, let alone the S Pen. Still, the Galaxy S25 Plus isn't too hard to recommend.

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy chipset is the same in every Samsung Galaxy S25 phone, and that's a significant upgrade no matter what older phone you're using right now. It's faster than last year's Snapdragon, and if your phone is a couple of years old or more, you're going to be in for a real treat.

The Galaxy S25 Plus also uses a higher-resolution display than the smaller Galaxy S25. With a nearly-4K resolution, Samsung has endowed the Galaxy S25 Plus and S25 Ultra with its new ProScaler technology. It says this tech is borrowed from the Samsung TV group, and it uses AI to upscale lower-resolution content to look better on a 4K screen.

I'll have to compare videos side by side to see if this makes a big difference, but Samsung seems to think it will be worth the upgrade from the standard S25 to the larger Plus model.

The Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus (left) and Galaxy S25 (Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)

Because it's bigger, you also get a larger battery inside the Galaxy S25 Plus than in the Galaxy S25: 4,900mAh versus 4,000mAh. I know from my time testing other Snapdragon 8 Elite phones that this chipset can do a great job managing power and sipping battery juice, so hopeful the Galaxy S25 Plus will have winning battery life.

Otherwise, the new features on the Galaxy phones this year are all about Galaxy AI. All of the existing AI features are getting a little bit better. The photo editing is improved, and there are new AI assistant tools to help you with videos, whether you want to summarize them or cut them into GIFs.

The most interesting AI is yet to come. The Galaxy S25 Plus will include Samsung's Personal Data Engine, a secure hardware partition that will gather information about you for the AI to digest. It will read your messages, listen to your calls, see your photos, and mind your calendar.

The Galaxy S25 Plus can also use AI to talk to your Galaxy Ring and Galaxy Watch, and maybe even your Samsung TV and other SmartThings smart home devices. It will keep track of your habits, and look for patterns. Samsung suggested a few things the Galaxy AI might offer, like a better bed time schedule, but I have a feeling that it's waiting to see what sort of information and patterns its AI can put together.

That means the Galaxy S25 Plus, like the Galaxy S25, feels a bit unfinished. It feels like last year's phone with a new engine inside, which is fine, but not very exciting. The exciting Galaxy AI stuff will take a while to build, as the phone gathers more information about you. What will it do with all that info? It will store it securely, for one thing.

(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)

If you're worried about your phone learning so much about you, Samsung assures us that this personal data will be held securely on a hardware-locked partition protected by Samsung Knox. That's as good as Android protection gets, and it's so good that if you lose your Galaxy S25 Plus, you've lost the data stored in the Personal Data Engine. It doesn't exist in the cloud, and it can't be pulled off the device except during a Smart Switch to a new phone.

Great, I get a promise about what Samsung won't do with my personal data, but not a lot of detail about what it will do with all the data it harvests. Once my Galaxy S25 Plus really knows me, after a year or so of use, how will it be different? We don't exactly know, and the answer will probably change over time.

Thankfully, Samsung is giving the Galaxy S25 Plus a full seven years of Android and security updates, which means it will have plenty of room to grow. Whether it's worth buying now is a question of how much you want to invest in your own AI future.

Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus hands-on review: Price and availability

Galaxy S25 Plus in Mint, Icyblue, and Navy (Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)

The Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus was unveiled at Galaxy Unpacked on January 22. It's available to pre-order now in two storage configurations: 256GB and 512GB. Every variant comes with 12GB RAM.

The phone will begin shipping on February 7 for the following prices:

Samsung Galaxy S25 series: $900 instant trade-in credit and up to $300 credit at Samsung
Looking for an unlocked device? This right here is your best option by far. The official Samsung Store is offering an excellent trade-in rebate of up to $900 and $300 of store credit on the house for both carrier and unlocked devices today. The trade-in here is superb and the $300 credit is also a significant bonus that can be used to pick up any number of cheap accessories at the Samsung Store. Overall, a superb opening deal and one that's even better than I anticipated.View Deal

Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus hands-on review: Specs

Here's a look at the Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus's key specs:

The Galaxy S25 Plus is a respectable phone for the price, though the Galaxy S25 Ultra hangs above its head with truly superlative specs. Every Galaxy S25 model gets the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset for Galaxy, which Samsung tells us Qualcomm has overclocked. Past 'for Galaxy' chips were overclocked 5% in the largest prime core, but we don't know what this year's improvement offers.

One big hardware surprise in the Galaxy S25 Plus is a Samsung ProScaler. Samsung says it’s borrowing technology from its renowned TV group to upscale video content on your Galaxy S25 Plus using AI. This isn’t motion smoothing; it won’t artificially boost the frame rate, just the resolution.

It doesn't seem like the smaller Galaxy S25 will get this feature – it may only come to the larger Galaxy S25 Plus and Galaxy S25 Ultra with QHD+ displays – and late rumors suggested that Samsung would make this a key selling point. I’ll have to take a look at video on the phones side by side to determine if the ProScaler makes a real difference.

Besides ProScaler, the Galaxy S25 Plus has a couple of other key advantages over the standard S25. If you want to use Samsung's SmartTags, you'll need the ultra-wideband (UWB) radio inside the Galaxy S25 Plus and Ultra.

The Galaxy S25 Plus should also charge faster than the Galaxy S25 when connected to a compatible Samsung Fast Charger 2.0 wall plug. We'll test the fastest charging capabilities of each Galaxy S25 model once we get them into our testing labs.

Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus hands-on review: design and display

Galaxy S25 Plus (left) next to Galaxy S25 (right) (Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)

The Galaxy S25 Plus doesn't just give you a bigger display; it gives you a better viewing experience, and this year there looks to be a larger gap between the Galaxy S25 and the Plus model than ever before, display-wise.

The Galaxy S25 Plus has the same resolution as the Galaxy S25 Ultra, at nearly 4K QHD+. At the highest resolution you can also use the new ProScaler hardware.

I can't find any ProScaler tech on Samsung's TVs, but I know Samsung's latest sets use AI to upscale lower-resolution content to 4K. Samsung says that all video that's played through the Galaxy S25 Plus (and the S25 Ultra) will get upscaled, but don't worry – this isn't motion smoothing. The frame rate isn't affected, just the resolution, so videos should look sharp but not unnatural.

Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus hands-on review: cameras

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If you were hoping for better cameras in this year's Galaxy S25 Plus, your hopes will rest on the Galaxy AI and the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, because the camera specs have gone unchanged again. We haven't seen a big boost in cameras on the Galaxy S lineup, besides the Ultra, since the Galaxy S23.

Since then we've been stuck with the same 50MP main camera, 10MP zoom camera with 3x reach, and 12MP ultra-wide camera. The sensors haven't grown, and neither has the resolution, even though the Galaxy S25 Ultra got a 50MP ultra-wide sensor this year.

Samsung's Ultra phone has been at (or near) the top of our best camera phones list for two years, so Samsung clearly knows how to make a great camera, and it's confounding that only the Ultra gets the good stuff. It makes the other S25 phones feel like mid-range models compared to the Ultra, which is just silly. All of these phones are top-performers – it's only the cameras that are holding the two smaller phones back.

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Maybe Samsung wasn't paying attention, but other phone makers have started to respect smaller phones by giving them better camera specs. The iPhone 16 Pro and Google Pixel 9 Pro offer a smaller, less expensive option than the Pro Max and Pro XL models, without sacrificing megapixels or zoom.

I got to try Samsung's new AI Assist tools, which work great for cutting up videos in addition to editing photos. You can basically tap on any video on-screen and create a GIF, or get an AI summary, or create a wallpaper from a still frame. That's in addition to all of the improvements in Samsung's AI photo editing in the Gallery app.

Still, software seems like a poor substitute for better glass and more advanced sensors. With the cameras and in too many other ways, the Galaxy S25 and Galaxy S25 Plus feel like afterthoughts for Samsung this year.

Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus hands-on review: performance and battery

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The Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset is the genuine article, and the Galaxy S25 Plus continues Samsung's threepeat obtaining a slightly enhanced version of Qualcomm's top-tier chipset. The previous two Snapdragon for Galaxy chipsets boosted the main core's clock speed by 5%, but this year's benefits are still unclear. It's a negligible gain that primarily affects benchmark results, but someone has to claim the top spot, right?

Beyond the enhanced Snapdragon, this Galaxy includes more intriguing hardware than I expected. The Personal Data Engine is a dedicated hardware partition, managed by on-chip Samsung Knox security, a system powerful enough for many US federal agencies.

The information you let Galaxy AI gather remains on the device, and it can't be removed unless you switch to a new Galaxy phone. Transferring this personal data to a new phone is possible using Samsung Smart Switch. However, losing your phone means losing all that stored data. This is unfortunate, as some of Galaxy AI's future lies in its ability to adapt to your needs as it learns about you. It's fascinating to consider how the Galaxy S25 Plus might evolve with two, three, or even seven years' worth of personal data stored in its engine.

As for charging, Samsung hasn't embraced faster wired or wireless charging speeds. The Galaxy S25 Plus is limited to 45W, which is still a bit faster than the Galaxy S25, but the OnePlus 13 supports 80W, with a 100W adapter coming soon. Samsung needs to hurry up the charging times.

Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus hands-on review: software

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The Galaxy S25 Plus will need to learn about you over time, with its most advanced Galaxy AI features awaiting your personal data. Again, this raises the question of what will the S25 do with this data. The specifics remain unclear, but the goal is to move beyond AI party tricks and create an 'agent', like a user interface, that learns your habits and preferences, and even makes new suggestions.

Galaxy AI will gather data not just from your phone, but also from your Galaxy Watch, Galaxy Ring, and SmartThings devices. Samsung suggests this could lead to personalized suggestions, such as optimizing your sleep environment or automating actions like turning off your TV when you fall asleep. This approach to AI feels potentially useful, a step beyond simple gimmicks; but like I said, it will need to gather a lot of data about you from a number of sources.

The Galaxy S25 Plus utilizes both Samsung Bixby and Google Gemini for various tasks, but Samsung wisely avoids emphasizing these names. The focus is on seamless functionality, though it's worth noting that many AI features were not yet working on the pre-production demo units I saw. I'm not sure exactly what will be working at launch, so I'll need to get hands-on with a final device to be sure.

Samsung is betting on AI to make its new Galaxy phones stand out.

AI is once again the centerpiece of Samsung's new Galaxy phones.

Samsung's new Galaxy phones look identical to the Galaxy S24 and S24 Plus, but you'll have to go beyond appearances to unlock the biggest changes.

The Samsung Galaxy S25 was left home alone this year. In all the excitement over Galaxy AI, the redesigned Galaxy S25 Ultra, and ProScaler on the bigger phones, I think Samsung forgot something important: it forgot to bring the Galaxy S25 into 2025.

The Galaxy S25 looks a lot like last year's Galaxy S24, and the Galaxy S23 from the year before that. It's a bit thinner and a tad lighter, but not much else has changed.

It uses the same cameras as the Galaxy S23. This year's model comes with 12GB of RAM instead of 8GB, but it still starts at 128GB of storage, a paltry gallery space for all the AI images you'll create, surely.

The battery hasn't grown more than 3% larger over the past two years, though I surmise based on my time testing other Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite phones (like the OnePlus 13) that the Elite chipset inside this phone should prove a boon for battery life. Still, we couldn't have had a bigger cell? Or faster charging? Nope. Same, same.

Why not just sell the Galaxy S23 with a newer processor inside and call it a day? Shhhhh, I think that's pretty much what Samsung has done.

The Galaxy S25 Plus (left) and Galaxy S25 (right) with my favorite web site (Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)

I jest, and hopefully we'll see a bigger refresh next year, but this year is all about the software inside, and the AI that is totally, assuredly coming soon.

I don't mean the improved photo-editing tools, or the audio eraser AI for videos, or the better Bixby that can find settings using natural language questions. I'm talking about next-generation AI agents, so-called agentic AI.

The Galaxy S25 is going to gather information about you from everywhere. It will use your phone, your Galaxy Ring, your Galaxy Watch, and even your smart home devices, like your lights and your TV. It will learn about you, and keep everything it learns in a secure lockbox on your phone.

It will gather that info so that it can... um, actually I'm not sure. Samsung suggested it might turn off the TV when you fall asleep, or suggest better lighting for bed time, but most of what we heard so far is promises of what's to come. Not quite a preview, just a hint.

(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)

Look at how Samsung talks about this phone. In its official press release, Samsung MX Business President TM Roh says the Galaxy S25 "opens the door to an AI-integrated OS..." and the release says "It’s the starting point of a shared vision with Google..." This isn't a finished product. It's a start, an empty vessel, and you fill it with data about you.

I like the future that Samsung is building towards. It clearly understands that AI needs to make your phone easier to use and more accessible, and I think the best improvements we'll see in the Galaxy S25 will be Bixby's ability to help parse Samsung's wealth of features.

I like that Samsung is taking personal data so seriously with its Personal Data Engine. I'm very curious about what Samsung and my Galaxy S25 will do with all of my personal data, and if Galaxy AI will truly improve as it learns more about me and my habits. There's a lot of potential, but Samsung has only demonstrated a patchwork of possibilities, not a coherent whole.

I suspect this is a phone with a long, growing tail, so we'll have to review this phone and revisit it as Samsung keeps improving and evolving Galaxy AI.

Samsung Galaxy S25 hands-on review: Price and availability

Every blue shade of Galaxy S25 (Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)

The Samsung Galaxy S25 was unveiled at Galaxy Unpacked on January 22. It's available to pre-order now in a choice of four colors: Icyblue, Navy, Mint, and Silver Shadow. In normal parlance that's light blue, dark blue, light green, and silver.

The phone ships in either 128GB, 256GB, or 512GB storage configurations, depending on your region, and every variant comes with 12GB RAM.

The Galaxy S25 will begin shipping on February 7 for the following prices:

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Samsung Galaxy S25 hands-on review: Specs

(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)

Here's a look at the Samsung Galaxy S25's key specs:

Samsung Galaxy S25 hands-on review: design and display

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I’m spending so much time talking about AI developments on the Samsung Galaxy S25 because otherwise this generation of Galaxy S is confoundingly unchanged from last year, and the year before. Except for the Galaxy S25 Ultra, which now simply looks like an even bigger version of the Galaxy S25 Plus, the basic design will be recognizable, and a bit tired.

I don’t fault Samsung for not making huge changes this year. There are expensive new components inside, so a massive redesign would have driven the price higher. Samsung has laudably managed to keep the price stable with last year’s Galaxy S24 launch, which is a feat in itself, considering the rumors I've heard about sky-high prices for Qualcomm’s coveted Snapdragon 8 Elite chips.

More on those later; first the Galaxy S25’s design. To borrow a car analogy, the Galaxy S25 is like the Toyota Camry of the smartphone world, versus Apple’s Honda Accord. In other words, these phones look the same every year, and if you squint they kind of look like each other.

We’re long past the point of expecting a new look every year. We get minor changes, some flourishes and improvements, but most of the improvements happen under the hood.

Samsung Galaxy S25 hands-on review: cameras

(Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)

Nothing to see here so far, at least on paper. I suspect we'll see actual improvements once we've had time to test the new Galaxy S24 cameras, thanks to the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, which includes a new image processing pathway that has shown great results on competing Snapdragon phones.

The specs seem to be exactly the same as we've seen on Galaxy S phones for the last two years, at least the not-Ultra models. While the Ultra this year got a new 50MP camera to replace its old 12MP ultra-wide, the Galaxy S24 and Galaxy S24 Plus both retain the same 50MP main camera, 10MP 3x zoom, and 12MP ultra-wide lens.

Maybe Samsung wasn't paying attention, but phone makers have started to respect smaller phones by giving them better camera specs. The Apple iPhone 16 Pro and Google Pixel 9 Pro offer a smaller, less expensive option than the Pro Max and Pro XL models, without sacrificing megapixels or zoom.

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I wish we got the same on a smaller or less expensive Galaxy S25, but instead we get the mighty Ultra, and then the rest. Instead, Samsung has focused on improving photos through AI, both before and after you take the shot.

I got to try Samsung's improved photo-editing tools with generative AI, and they were very impressive. When the Gallery app removed someone from a photo, the wood floor beneath their feet was left unbroken, with clean wood plank lines.

Still, software seems like a poor substitute for better glass and more advanced sensors. With the cameras and in too many other ways, the Galaxy S25 and Galaxy S25 Plus seem like afterthoughts for Samsung this year.

Samsung Galaxy S25 hands-on review: performance and battery

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The Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset is the real deal, and the Galaxy S25 continues Samsung’s three-year tradition of getting a slightly overclocked version of Qualcomm’s best chip. We’re not sure exactly what that means, but the last two 'Snapdragon for Galaxy' chipsets overclocked the big primary core by 5%. It's a minimal advantage that only matters in benchmarks, but somebody has to be #1, right? So Samsung gets the bragging rights.

Besides the overclocked Snapdragon for Galaxy, there’s more interesting hardware in this Galaxy than I expected to find. The Personal Data Engine is an actual hardware partition, governed by the on-chip Samsung Knox security that is good enough for most three-letter US Government agencies. The info that you feed your Galaxy AI will stay on the phone, keeping your data secure.

If you get a new phone, you can use Samsung Smart Switch to transfer that personal data, but if you lose your phone, all of the data you stored will be lost.

That’s kind of sad, because the promise of AI will be how much it can adapt to your needs as it gets to know you. I wonder if the Galaxy S25 will seem like a whole different animal once it has two, three, or even seven years of my personal data stored within its engine.

For charging, Samsung hasn't stepped into the modern age with faster wired or wireless charging, and the Galaxy S25 is stuck at around 45W while the OnePlus 13 can push 80W, with a 100W adapter on the way. The difference means missing out because you were waiting for your phone to wake up.

Samsung Galaxy S25 hands-on review: software

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The Galaxy S25 is a phone that will get to know you… eventually. Samsung’s new flagship phone could be one of the best phones of 2025, but it’s hard to get too excited about it… yet. That’s because Samsung is handing us tabla rasa, a blank slate, waiting to be filled with our personal data.

If asking your smartphone to learn everything – from your sleep habits to your photo gallery to your entire messaging history – sounds frightening, Samsung is well aware of that, which is why the most interesting part of the Galaxy S25 is the so-called ‘personal data engine,’ a secure container for all of the personal data that the Galaxy S25 gathers about you.

What will it do with all of that information? It’s hard to say, because we haven't gotten that far. If the last generation of AI features seemed like party tricks, the next generation is going to work hard to get to know you, and then… yada yada, we’ve got AI!

Galaxy AI will gather information from more than just your phone. It will get info from your Galaxy Watch and Galaxy Ring, and it will compare that with data collected from your Samsung SmartThings smart-home devices.

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Samsung says, for example, that Galaxy AI might notice if you fall asleep better with certain lights turned on or off, and make suggestions. Your Galaxy Ring will notice that you're asleep, and it will tell your phone to tell your Samsung TV to shut down.

We’re still learning about everything that Galaxy AI might do, but this feels like the next step for mobile AI. This isn’t sleight-of-hand; it feels useful.

The Galaxy S25 uses Bixby to control Galaxy apps and smartphone settings, and Google’s Gemini for things like generating text in Messages, and Circle to Search, but Samsung is wisely keeping the names to itself. Users don’t need to know if they're engaging with Bixby or Gemini or Galaxy AI; it will just work, at least according to Samsung.

Unfortunately it doesn’t just work just yet, at least not in my brief hands-on time with the Galaxy S25. Many of the new AI features were not working on the pre-production demo units I got to try. Samsung reps had phones with more features, but I don’t think everything will be ready at launch.

Most of it will need a lot more data from you and me, after all.