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On the S25 Ultra the Now bar shows live activities on AOD
a1211e3e0e7b1fff14e7f216cc5d9cbd.jpg

excellent! I wondered if they'd do that
 
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I guess it's the android version of the SE 4. That's pretty bad hope it's 500 tops

Not sure how you come to that conclusion when it’s using the Ultra’s main camera 200MP sensor plus a 3.5x telephoto camera as well with 50MP. Those two alone will put the price up. It will also feature a Snapdragon Elite plus 12GB RAM. Most reports I’ve seen suggest it will be priced above an S25+ and just below an Ultra. It’s in no way designed to be an SE model. It’s more designed to be a cut down Ultra.

 
Kinda like the 15PM to the 16PM
That really is what this release feels like but the upgrade in SOC and display improvements are nice as well as the rounded/flat design. I wasn't going to order but for $400 with trade in of my S24U it was hard not to. Encouraged by the comments I see about the camera as well. Camera and the motion blur with kids or moving objects has always been my gripe with Samsung devices. Looks like they may have finally fixed that issue.
 
I wonder how many of the AI features are going to be available on the S24 Ultra. Morning brief for example.
 
I wonder how many of the AI features are going to be available on the S24 Ultra. Morning brief for example.
I don't see how they legitimately could not give s24u users basically everything. The 8 gen 3 is more than capable of handling most of the new features.

Samsung will most likely hold back some features and if they ever charge a subscription model then you may have to pay to unlock some of them.

Obviously the SD elite is faster, more efficient and has more AI capabilities baked into the chip so the s25u will perform better and the camera AI integration is better but beyond that I don't see any reason to hold back other than to sell a new phone.

Most likely they will just wait 6 months or so to release all features just to give the s25u a selling point.

Personally I don't really care about AI in phones beyond OS optimization and camera. Everything else is still rather basic and rough around the edges.

Plus the idea of data mining was already not great on Android and I fear it will only get worse with more AI integration.
 
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Ok so I'm struggling to follow. There's a new sold separately S-Pen with bluetooth support but here are my questions:

1. Does it fit in the phone's pen slot?
2. Does the phone charge it?

Because to me it doesn't make sense that they would retain the miniature wireless charging coil in the phone. Removing the standard bluetooth S Pen was a cost optimization in the first place.
 
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Finally! It is only a handful of mostly Google and Samsung apps that are supported as of now but hopefully many other apps will catch on! Not pre-ordering but paying attention to all of the commentary and eventual reviews.
I really hate this feature. Makes sense on Apple phones because of the huge camera cut out but on the s25 it isn't even where the camera cut out is?

Maybe it will provide more functionality than my phone currently has but I just don't see the need for this other than to copy Apple??
 
Ok so I'm struggling to follow. There's a new sold separately S-Pen with bluetooth support but here are my questions:

1. Does it fit in the phone's pen slot?
2. Does the phone charge it?

Because to me it doesn't make sense that they would retain the miniature wireless charging coil in the phone. Removing the standard bluetooth S Pen was a cost optimization in the first place.
From what I have read it is actually not compatible with Bluetooth features like camera shutter. S25u will not charge it.

It does fit in the slot. So there is that.

Since I reading articles and feedback it is hard to decipher the truth.

I think Samsung would have announced the spen ultra as a option at point of sale if it shared the same functionality as s24u and happily made a profit but they didn't so it really makes me wonder how compatible the pro spen is??

I am excited to hear feedback when these phones are in a lot of people's hands and use IRL.

The s25u looks to be a great phone but getting rid of bluetooth spen is a head scratcher for me.

It seems like Samsung is trying to make the lineup all pretty much the same like Apple with less to distinguish the ultra from the plus in design and spen. They are just making it like a Pro Max with just better internals, camera, and screen. Otherwise it is the same as the plus??
 
I really hate this feature. Makes sense on Apple phones because of the huge camera cut out but on the s25 it isn't even where the camera cut out is?

Maybe it will provide more functionality than my phone currently has but I just don't see the need for this other than to copy Apple??
Remains to be seen, not sure if you can move the now bar or not? I use the feature on a daily basis- music apps, YouTube, food delivery apps, sports, rideshare, coffee orders. Don't care who copies who, as long as the feature is functional. There's the app called DynamicSpot that is a half-baked live activities utility that works fairly well but not even close to iOS. I bet the feature will take many months for app devs to get onboard.
 
I really hate this feature. Makes sense on Apple phones because of the huge camera cut out but on the s25 it isn't even where the camera cut out is?

Maybe it will provide more functionality than my phone currently has but I just don't see the need for this other than to copy Apple??
I think your being a little short on this :)

This is not so much copying apple cut-out mask but to feed sports fans

I'm not a sports watcher but I can understand those that want to keep an eye on scores and maybe during the Olympics track events etc or maybe stock or exchange rates or count downs to some event

For sure I wont use it but in android fashion its all about having options
 
I don't see how they legitimately could not give s24u users basically everything. The 8 gen 3 is more than capable of handling most of the new features.

Samsung will most likely hold back some features and if they ever charge a subscription model then you may have to pay to unlock some of them.

Obviously the SD elite is faster, more efficient and has more AI capabilities baked into the chip so the s25u will perform better and the camera AI integration is better but beyond that I don't see any reason to hold back other than to sell a new phone.

Most likely they will just wait 6 months or so to release all features just to give the s25u a selling point.

Personally I don't really care about AI in phones beyond OS optimization and camera. Everything else is still rather basic and rough around the edges.

Plus the idea of data mining was already not great on Android and I fear it will only get worse with more AI integration.
I know a few seem to want to place the S25 in the same nothing burger upgrade as the Iphone 16P is, but I don't subscribe to that

In a tough market on prices I think Samsung have done well to plug many points and criticisms when typically comparing the 2 market leaders, without significant price increase

You really have to be splitting hairs between them now outside of personal preferences and AI :)

Because of some these new enhances are linked to the new elite chip some features are likely not to come to the S24/Fold6 simply due to the possibility of slowing down devices

It remains to be seen but I would not be surprised if the S24/Fold 6 does not have the up-scaling and extra camera optimisations as an example.

I can see why many feel the AI features offered by all OEM's are generally not appealing, but that's simply because you haven't found one that is significant for your needs.

Personally I could care less for all of them other than live chat a call translations, for those of us that travel or live overseas it is a killer feature, my Iphone 16P is almost useless in Thailand by comparison and even for Europeans this feature is so handy for flipping between countries and holidays.
 
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I really hate this feature. Makes sense on Apple phones because of the huge camera cut out but on the s25 it isn't even where the camera cut out is?

Maybe it will provide more functionality than my phone currently has but I just don't see the need for this other than to copy Apple??

Well I'll reserve judgement until we see how it plays out. Certainly it needs third party developer support or it'll just be a sports thing which I don't care about.

...but on the iphone it's incredibly useful in Disneyworld so you can see when your food is ready etc., meater it tells me how long left to cook.

I'm sure you won't need to use it if you hate it but if they implement it well and make it easy for 3rd party devs, it'll be a really useful enhancement imho.
 
I know a few seem to want to place the S25 in the same nothing burger upgrade as the Iphone 16P is, but I don't subscribe to that

In a tough market on prices I think Samsung have done well to plug many points and criticisms when typically comparing the 2 market leaders, without significant price increase

You really have to be splitting hairs between them now outside of personal preferences and AI :)

Because of some these new enhances are linked to the new elite chip some features are likely not to come to the S24/Fold6 simply due to the possibility of slowing down devices

It remains to be seen but I would not be surprised if the S24/Fold 6 does not have the up-scaling and extra camera optimisations as an example.

I can see why many feel the AI features offered by all OEM's are generally not appealing, but that's simply because you haven't found one that is significant for your needs.

Personally I could care less for all of them other than live chat a call translations, for those of us that travel or live overseas it is a killer feature, my Iphone 16P is almost useless in Thailand by comparison and even for Europeans this feature is so handy for flipping between countries and holidays.
Please don't get me wrong. The s25u is a really nice phone.

I love Samsung and have been using their phones from the s4.

What I was saying is AI in general is not mature enough and smart enough yet. It will probably take much better hardware than is now available and better AI itself before it is a real benefit to most consumers.

And I agree that I haven't found anything in AI that is significant to my needs which is why I would like to see better hardware upgrades across the board.

I don't excuse Samsung for getting rid of Bluetooth S Pen in order to not raise the price on a phone with an MSRP of $1300 US. I think they could still upgrade the hardware and include the Bluetooth spen and still make a profit.

You can get a nice MacBook for the cost of an Ultra which seems crazy to me?
 
Finally! It is only a handful of mostly Google and Samsung apps that are supported as of now but hopefully many other apps will catch on! Not pre-ordering but paying attention to all of the commentary and eventual reviews.
Yeah! I wanna know when AVGO, NVDA, ... stocks crap the bed, among other things! ;)

(bought the latter at nearly 18% "discount" today)
 
You can get a nice MacBook for the cost of an Ultra which seems crazy to me?

You can get a MacBook Air, at least here in the UK for the same price as the S25 Ultra. Not forgetting that you can also get the iPhone 16 Pro Max for £50 cheaper than the S25 Ultra. However it depends on ecosystem and which OS is the persons preferred one. Android has a lot of different brands (Samsung, Google, One Plus, Nothing and so on) all under one umbrella, where as Apple controls both the hardware and the software.

Me personally as my main daily phone, I have iPhone simply because of IOS. Apple simply didn't do enough with the iPhone 16 too warrant me upgrading from my 15 Pro Max. Depending on what upgrades they make with the 17 Pro Max, will also depend if I stick with my 15 Pro Max for yet another year. Neither Apple nor Samsung have done enough and that's why I personally haven't upgraded either my iPhone or my Samsung.
 
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Me personally as my main daily phone, I have iPhone simply because of IOS. Apple simply didn't do enough with the iPhone 16 too warrant me upgrading from my 15 Pro Max. Depending on what upgrades they make with the 17 Pro Max, will also depend if I stick with my 15 Pro Max for yet another year. Neither Apple nor Samsung have done enough and that's why I personally haven't upgraded either my iPhone or my Samsung.
I’m curious… what could Apple possibly do for you to upgrade the 15 Pro Max?

I’m not into an iPhones, but if I had a 15 Pro Max… I probably would had upgraded to the 16 Pro Max. That camera button seemed well-thought out… upgraded one of the camera lens (ultra wide I believe). And you get 4k 120fps along with fast charging.

In my case, I had the Fold 2… skipped the Fold 3 because Samsung didn’t address the cover display nor cameras, then when the Fold 4 arrived. Although slightly… the cover display was widen and they upgraded the main camera, so I updated. Fold 5 came along, Samsung didn’t do much to the cover display or cameras.

Fold 6… received no camera upgrades, but it brought a moderately widen cover display. So, I upgraded.
 
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