I am a huge Samsung fan....but...... if I could get the Xiaomi 14 ultra through my carrier i would jump at the chance.
The camera and performance is top notch. But the OS is not as good as One UI 8 imho....
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Samsung S25/ S25 Ultra
- Thread starter Dave245
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The camera and performance is top notch. But the OS is not as good as One UI 8 imho....
In defense of Apple... One UI 8 is not some major redesign, One UI 7 was Samsung BIG update and that took longer than expected to arrive. Heck, One UI 7 hasn't completed it's rounds yet... not pushed to all compatible devices.
Yep. OneUI + GoodLock is way more user friendly than iOS.
The S25 Ultra is a fantastic smartphone. My iPhone 16 Pro Max still is my daily driver, but I like to use the S25 Ultra for a portion of the day. Still trying to get used to the Liquid Glass look of iOS 26. It’s not ugly, but the implementation of it, is very beta 1-ish. So, sometimes I get fed up and then decide to use the Samsung for a few hours.
I have been playing with Smart Launcher and Ares Lite Icons. The setting in the launcher is Mat Glass. It behaves like the iPhone: swipe up is apps, swipe down is search. I turned off the navigation bar for navigation gestures. It will make the gap between iPhone and Samsung very small. Your muscle memory will thank me.
Is OnePlus an option?
I found the OP 8T (US unlocked) phone to be a great device. Not sure what they offer in terms of OS and security updates compared to others at this point. The OS and stock launcher were quite good...
I did the Same with the 25 Ultra. All I can say is that the S25 is clearly the better device
I purchased a S25 ultra back in January this year and for one reason or another never got around to swapping it from my daily driver, 16 pro max.
Well I finally took the plunge two days ago and swapped over everything to the S25 ultra. Almost everything transferred over apart from one app/bank card that is causing issues.
First impressions, it’s an amazing phone. The screen, software etc. however, I have really struggled to get on with it as I have been a long time iPhone user and invested to the ecosystem, MacBook, Apple Watch, AirPods, Apple TV etc. the seamless integration is taken for granted when you use it all day in day out and I did struggle with the way apps work/look on the S25. The Facebook app,Amazon and WhatsApp apps just look different and I know this is due to the fact I have used iOS for so long.
Last night I finally buckled and went back to my iPhone
I hope that I can give the S25 ultra another go soon and before anyone says I need to give it longer I am just struggling to get along with the software as I guess I’m a creature of habit
Well I finally took the plunge two days ago and swapped over everything to the S25 ultra. Almost everything transferred over apart from one app/bank card that is causing issues.
First impressions, it’s an amazing phone. The screen, software etc. however, I have really struggled to get on with it as I have been a long time iPhone user and invested to the ecosystem, MacBook, Apple Watch, AirPods, Apple TV etc. the seamless integration is taken for granted when you use it all day in day out and I did struggle with the way apps work/look on the S25. The Facebook app,Amazon and WhatsApp apps just look different and I know this is due to the fact I have used iOS for so long.
Last night I finally buckled and went back to my iPhone
I hope that I can give the S25 ultra another go soon and before anyone says I need to give it longer I am just struggling to get along with the software as I guess I’m a creature of habit
You can basically do 98% of that seamless integration with an Samsung and your mac for example too. For Airdrop you can use Neardrop on the Mac and Quickshare on the Samsung. Every big Earbuds brand has multipoint, so you can connect the Buds to the Phone, Ipad and Mac and they work just like airpods.
But yeah, emojis and apps are looking different.
I am going to dip my toes back in the Samsung pool. I traded my Pixel 9 Pro XL and Pixel Buds Pro 2 to a coworker for their S25 Ultra. We both just wanted to try something different and I figured if I want to go back to Pixel, the 10-series is just two months away. I think it's going to take me a few days to dial in settings and play with Good Lock and other launchers before I decide what I think. Any recommendations or hints?
Ok, so one more that joins the S25 party.
Yesterday I sold my S24+ 512GB and bought a S25 256GB. Main reason was I was really, really tired of the size and weight of the S24+, even though it is one of the lightest and thinnest phablets out there. Had it for around a year and a half, and at first I was ok with the size and weight, but recently I found it very annoying and was not enjoying using the phone so much.
I looked at different "small" flagships, like the iPhone 16 Pro (200gr), Xiaomi 15, Pixel 9 & 9 Pro, but decided to go with the S25 because I love OneUI 7 so much and I can customize so much settings and features to my liking. Also, iOS 26 looks kind of bad for readability, but I cannot know until I see it in the fall. Nevertheless, the iPhone 16 Pro or 17 (if it gets 120Hz), at 256GB, would have cost me much more than what I finally paid for the S25 256GB.
So far I'm REALLY liking the new small form factor. It's so delightful to use in hand. It's funny, because the screen is still very big and usable. I think I will stay away from biggers screens for some time. The S25 Edge was another option, but I still found it very big in hand and not much of a difference versus my S24+ other than weight.
Battery life so far seems very good and not as terrible as I would have thought. In time, if it gets bad, I shall replace the battery and keep going for as long as possible. I don't really want to change phones this often, but I was getting really tired of the big phone in my pockets, hands, etc.
Bought the Navy color, which is really nice.
Yesterday I sold my S24+ 512GB and bought a S25 256GB. Main reason was I was really, really tired of the size and weight of the S24+, even though it is one of the lightest and thinnest phablets out there. Had it for around a year and a half, and at first I was ok with the size and weight, but recently I found it very annoying and was not enjoying using the phone so much.
I looked at different "small" flagships, like the iPhone 16 Pro (200gr), Xiaomi 15, Pixel 9 & 9 Pro, but decided to go with the S25 because I love OneUI 7 so much and I can customize so much settings and features to my liking. Also, iOS 26 looks kind of bad for readability, but I cannot know until I see it in the fall. Nevertheless, the iPhone 16 Pro or 17 (if it gets 120Hz), at 256GB, would have cost me much more than what I finally paid for the S25 256GB.
So far I'm REALLY liking the new small form factor. It's so delightful to use in hand. It's funny, because the screen is still very big and usable. I think I will stay away from biggers screens for some time. The S25 Edge was another option, but I still found it very big in hand and not much of a difference versus my S24+ other than weight.
Battery life so far seems very good and not as terrible as I would have thought. In time, if it gets bad, I shall replace the battery and keep going for as long as possible. I don't really want to change phones this often, but I was getting really tired of the big phone in my pockets, hands, etc.
Bought the Navy color, which is really nice.
One UI 8 will very much be a refined one UI 7. Likely improved animations and more added to now bar.
That sucks
I haven't had excessive battery utilization issues though after applying the June update, my hike/bike tracking app GPS accuracy has gone off the rails (similar to what happened with S24+).
The way I resolved it was to backup all my data to USB storage using SmartSwitch (as a precaution) and then go to Settings -> General management -> Reset -> Reset All Settings.
There was no data loss... other than having to reenter Wifi passwords.
@mjschabow - this may be worth a try before you go through the pain of a factory reset.
Thanks! Yeah I'm not sure if there's something happening in the background but detected by my battery stats or what. So my thought was that maybe starting over could do the trick. Even my good days are only about 6 hours SOT.That sucks
I haven't had excessive battery utilization issues though after applying the June update, my hike/bike tracking app GPS accuracy has gone off the rails (similar to what happened with S24+).
The way I resolved it was to backup all my data to USB storage using SmartSwitch (as a precaution) and then go to Settings -> General management -> Reset -> Reset All Settings.
There was no data loss... other than having to reenter Wifi passwords.
@mjschabow - this may be worth a try before you go through the pain of a factory reset.
Based on iPhone friends who've also been grousing about diminished battery capacity and mobile phones running hot lately (until the most recent patches and updates), I'm still laying money down on a Google dev SNAFU (Maps and Play Store too?) as opposed to Apple, Samsung and other hardware manufacturers all making oddly independent yet simultaneous big software platform boo boo's
Do you have good or bad signal? This affects battery life a lot, it seems.
I have a routine established to turn on 3G at home, where I'm at wifi at signal is bad, to preserve battery life, and when I'm out it defaults back to 5G.
Welp, of course after I posted this, things have improved. Definitely interesting commentary above too that this kind of stuff is happening on all phones, so I'm holding off on resetting anything for now.
Glad to hear it.
There are a lot of interdependencies between mobile manufacturers, Google and app providers too these days.
Over the years the two development shops that have given me the most enterprise headaches are Adobe and Google! (Microsoft is a somewhat distant 3rd then probably Cisco 4th).
Good day for battery usage today on WiFi only...
GPS is still hosed on S25u since I applied the June update.
Just reset settings
Have to nuke the idiotic bar (gesture nav, Yes!)
Redefine ringtone, txt notification and other items.
ZzZzZzZz...
I'm going to wait until tomorrow to see if a 10 min walk looks better than this pathetic ghost-posession floating angular caca
Edit: Settings -> General management -> Reset -> Reset All Settings resolved my massive GPS drift issue.
Still have no idea why this occurred out of nowhere since I got the S25u in January. Now I've got another thing to test after applying an update to see if it plays nice or screws the pooch LOL
Just reset settings
Have to nuke the idiotic bar (gesture nav, Yes!)
Redefine ringtone, txt notification and other items.
ZzZzZzZz...
I'm going to wait until tomorrow to see if a 10 min walk looks better than this pathetic ghost-posession floating angular caca
Edit: Settings -> General management -> Reset -> Reset All Settings resolved my massive GPS drift issue.
Still have no idea why this occurred out of nowhere since I got the S25u in January. Now I've got another thing to test after applying an update to see if it plays nice or screws the pooch LOL
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Are you using the light profile? I've never gotten anywhere close to that but I've been using Standard since I got this phone.Good day for battery usage today on WiFi only...
I do prefer the light profile. That day was a great battery day. I worked from home that day. All on WiFi with cellular turned off. I usually get about 7-8 SOT on a normal basis though.
So you are saying you get better battery life when the OS is in Light Mode instead of Dark Mode?