Different Samsung Telephones
{Photograph}: Julian Chokkattu
In the event you do not see a Samsung cellphone talked about on this information, that is likely to be as a result of it isn’t offered within the US and is a bit of more durable to supply for testing. That features gadgets just like the Galaxy A55 or the whole Galaxy M sequence. However listed below are a number of different Samsung telephones to contemplate.
Samsung Galaxy A25 5G for $300: That is the one Samsung cellphone within the lineup I have never examined. I did evaluation an older mannequin from a number of years in the past, the A23 5G, and had a reasonably poor expertise, however issues can change drastically 12 months over 12 months. On paper, the specs look strong, although do not count on snappy efficiency.
Samsung Galaxy A15 5G for $170: The Galaxy A15 was a little bit of a disappointment as a result of its predecessor was distinctive. Efficiency took a success on this newer mannequin, and I skilled lag and slowdowns. Not enjoyable. It does have NFC so you may make contactless funds, to not point out longer software program assist, but it surely’s exhausting to be blissful about these perks when the cellphone is annoying to make use of. Samsung has launched a successor, the Galaxy A16, and I will be reviewing it quickly.
In the event you’re wanting to avoid wasting money, I believe it is positive to purchase Samsung’s Galaxy S23 vary or the Galaxy S23 FE from 2023, so long as the costs are a superb deal decrease than the unique MSRP. These telephones will nonetheless get assist for some time, they usually’re fairly nice. I do not assume it is price shopping for something older.
Ought to You Put money into Samsung’s Ecosystem?
{Photograph}: Julian Chokkattu
Samsung is among the few smartphone producers that may match Apple in its {hardware} ecosystem. Not solely does the corporate make smartphones, however you may as well broaden your expertise by including on a Galaxy Watch7 smartwatch, Galaxy Buds3 Professional earbuds, Galaxy Ring health ring, Galaxy Tab S10+ pill, and even a Home windows-powered Galaxy laptop computer.
There are particular perks to this too, like how some options on the Galaxy Ring and Watch7 are solely accessible when paired with a Samsung cellphone, and its earbuds will routinely change between Samsung gadgets based mostly on what you are utilizing. There’s not a lot in the best way of unique options when utilizing a Galaxy cellphone with a Galaxy laptop computer however perks like Fast Share allow you to speedily ship pictures and paperwork between your gadgets.
Once more, it isn’t obligatory, and these different gadgets won’t be the proper ones for you inside their respective classes, however if you happen to’re chasing {hardware} parity, you have got that possibility with Samsung.
What Is Galaxy AI?
With the Galaxy S24 sequence, Samsung launched “Galaxy AI,” a selection of artificial intelligence features, many of which are powered by Google’s Gemini large language models. These enable smart features that may be helpful day to day, like real-time translations during phone calls, real-time transcriptions in Samsung’s Voice Recorder app, the ability to summarize long paragraphs of text in the Samsung Notes app, or change a sentence’s tone with the Samsung Keyboard. In the Galaxy S25 series, Galaxy AI expanded to include Gemini as the default voice assistant, and the ability for Gemini to work with multiple apps simultaneously. It also debuted Drawing Assist, which lets you sketch or enter a prompt and get an AI-generated image.
You can find many of these features by heading to Settings > Galaxy AI to toggle them on or off. The following phones include or have been updated to support Galaxy AI, though not all features are available on older models:
- Galaxy S25, Galaxy S24, Galaxy S23, Galaxy S22, and Galaxy S21 series
- Galaxy S24 FE, Galaxy S23 FE
- Galaxy Z Fold6, Galaxy Fold5, Galaxy Fold4, Galaxy Fold3
- Galaxy Flip6, Galaxy Flip5, Galaxy Flip4, Galaxy Flip3
What Is Samsung DeX?
Courtesy of David Nield
Samsung’s DeX (short for “desktop experience”) launched in 2017 and it is a option to plug in your Samsung cellphone to an exterior monitor and set off a desktop model of the Android OS, all fully powered by the cellphone. You’ll find an inventory of suitable Samsung telephones right here, and you may want a monitor, mouse, and keyboard, plus a cable to connect the phone to the monitor. (You can also cast DeX to select screens wirelessly.)
When in DeX mode, you can resize Android apps, and have them all open in separate windows. It’s a proper computing platform, though you probably won’t want to use this as a permanent laptop replacement or anything of the sort. It’s great if you’re visiting another office, or working out of a coffee shop or airplane (if you have a portable display). We have a whole guide to setting up and using DeX here.
How I Test Phones
I’ve been reviewing smartphones for nearly a decade, but one of my earliest smart devices was a Samsung Galaxy Captivate, which I got for “free” from my carrier at the time. After working during college, I had finally saved enough cash for a Galaxy S3, my first flagship. I’ve spent years utilizing Samsung telephones in my private life and started reviewing them for work not too lengthy after.
With every Samsung smartphone, I at all times put my private SIM card inside and spend so long as I can (a number of weeks) utilizing the cellphone as my very own. I do digital camera testing and evaluate the outcomes with equally priced gadgets, I benchmark efficiency and play graphically demanding video games to see how they fare, I check out all the brand new options, and even take calls to ensure that ol’ perform nonetheless works positive.