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As expected, Samsung used its first Unpacked shindig of the year to officially unveil the Galaxy S25 series. Although the Galaxy S25 and S25+ bring welcome hardware upgrades like more RAM (12GB) and a Samsung-centric flavor of Qualcomms Snapdragon 8 Elite chip, most updates revolve around new Galaxy AI features many of which are on-device and context-aware. Fortunately, you wont have to pay more: The phones cost the same as their S24 predecessors. Its no surprise that Samsung put most of its eggs in the AI basket with this years flagships. The phones run One UI 7 on top of Android 15 a combination the company describes as a new AI-integrated OS. Samsung is trying to nudge its collection of features in the direction of a more personalized AI that understands the context of your needs and preferences, acting accordingly. Like the Galaxy S24 series, the new phones Galaxy AI features will be free through 2025. That sounds like a pretty big catch: Unless Samsung decides to extend the free period, youll have to pay for at least some of the phones marketed AI features starting next year. Sam Rutherford for Engadget The long list of AI features includes what the company describes as a breakthrough in natural language understanding. For example, Samsung says you can ask the phone to find a specific photo in your gallery or adjust your displays font size saving you the time-consuming legwork of sifting through old pictures or drilling through settings. One UI 7 includes the Now Bar, which hangs out at the bottom of the lock screen (and below the digital clock when unlocked), behaving similarly to the iPhones Dynamic Island. The Now Bars standout AI feature is the context-sensitive Now Brief, which proactively makes suggestions about your day (like forecasts, playlists or flight times for upcoming trips). Fortunately, this all stays on-device in Samsungs Knox Vault, a chipset-level security feature (introduced with the Galaxy S21) that separates sensitive data from the OS. Pressing and holding the side button activates Googles Gemini now the default assistant instead of Bixby. It can handle multi-step queries and can work across apps. For example, you can ask it to find your favorite teams schedule and add their games to the Samsung Calendar app with a single command. Theres also a new AI-powered call transcript and summarizing feature (something Apple recently launched in iOS 18) and an upgraded version of Googles Circle to Search. Meanwhile, AI Select is an outgrowth of Samsungs legacy Smart Select. The AI version is a multimodal series of tools that can recommend context-sensitive actions like creating a GIF from a YouTube video youre watching. The idea is to merge multiple steps (from multiple apps) into one quick action. Sam Rutherford for Engadget The phones display specs are unchanged from the S24 lineup: The Galaxy S25 has a 6.2-inch FHD+ screen, and the S25+ uses a 6.7-inch QHD+ panel. (Both are still Dynamic AMOLED 2X panels with a 120Hz max refresh rate.) Samsung says a new real-time AI upscaling feature called ProScaler can boost the screens image quality by 40 percent on the fly. But theres some fine print: The feature is only available on the Galaxy S25+ and S25 Ultra (not the standard model), and it only works when the screens resolution is set to the more power-efficient QHD+, not the phones native WQHD+. But if the feature works as advertised, it could offer a nice balance of image quality and battery life. The Galaxy S25 and S25+ are better equipped to handle all that AI with 12GB of RAM, up from the 8GB in last years models. Storage options stand pat: 128GB or 256GB in the standard model and 256GB or 512GB in the Plus variant. The 3nm Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy powers all Galaxy S25 and S25+ versions. The company says it worked with Qualcomm for its custom flavor of the processor. Compared to the S24 Ultra, the chip boosts performance by 40 percent in the NPU (for all those on-device AI tasks), 37 percent in the CPU and 30 percent in the GPU. Sam Rutherford for Engadget The phons camera specs are the same as last years models: a 50MP wide sensor, a 12MP ultrawide one and a 10MP zoom lens. But 10-bit HDR, which can better capture details in high-contrast scenes, is enabled by default on the new phones. Samsung says the Qualcomm chip makes the phones better at reducing noise in dimly lit videos. Meanwhile, Audio Eraser sounds similar to Googles Audio Magic Eraser in the Pixel 8. The AI feature can isolate sounds in videos (like voices, music, wind, nature, crowd and general background noise) to make it easier to remove or reduce the volume of those you dont want. The Galaxy S25 and S25+ are available now for pre-order ahead of their February 7 ship date. The standard S25 starts at $800 for 128GB of storage, and the S25+ begins at $1,000 for 256GB. Colors include Navy, Icyblue, Mint, and Silver Shadow. If you order from Samsungs website, you get a few extra options: Blueblack, Coralred, and Pinkgold. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/the-galaxy-s25-and-s25-have-more-ram-and-context-sensitive-ai-180013432.html?src=rss
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Last year, none of Samsung's phones offered support for Qi2 magnetic wireless charging. However, there was hope that would change after Samsung said it would launch compatible devices in 2025. Unfortunately, it seems the world's largest phone maker still isn't fully committed as the new Galaxy S25 line is said to be "Qi2 ready" instead of fully Qi2 compliant. So what does that actually mean? Similar to previous models, the Galaxy S25, S25+ and S25 Ultra can charge wirelessly at up to 15 watts. That falls neatly within the Wireless Power Consortium's (the governing body in charge of the protocol) specifications for Qi2. But what the Galaxy S25 lacks in order to offer true compatibility are magnets inside the phone itself designed to help attach and align related peripherals. This is why Samsung says the S25 is merely "Qi2 ready" instead of 100 percent compliant. That means if you want to use Qi2 accessories with the S25, you'll need to pair the phone with a supported case that provides a built-in magnetic mounting system (like the one pictured above), with Samsung saying there will be a range of first and third-party options available at launch. For people who always put their phone in a case, this might not be a big deal. You'll just want to make sure you buy one with magnets inside designed to work with other Qi2 peripherals. However, for people who prefer their phones to be caseless or simply want something a bit less bulky, there may fewer alternatives. Some manufacturers have created skins that come with included magnets to help out older phones that also lack full Qi2 support, so it's likely we'll see some variation of that for the S25. Sadly, despite claiming that the company would release devices with Qi2 support in 2025, Samsung hasn't fully delivered on that promise with the new S25 family, which makes things a bit more complicated than they ought to be. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/the-samsung-galaxy-s25-doesnt-fully-support-qi2-on-its-own-180011574.html?src=rss
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Today may seem like its all about the Galaxy S25, but if you use an older Android phone, theres something new for you too. Starting today, Google is rolling out an enhanced version of Circle to Search to all Android devices. As a reminder, Circle to Search is an AI-powered feature Google released at the start of last year. You can access it by long-pressing your phones home button and then circling something with your finger. At its most basic, the feature is a way to use Google Search from anywhere on your phone, with no need to switch between apps. Its particularly useful if you want to conduct an image search since you dont need to take a screenshot or describe what youre looking at to Google. As for those enhancements I mentioned, Google is adding one-tap actions for phone numbers, email addresses and URLs, meaning if Circle to Search detects those, it will allow you to call, email or visit a website with a single tap. Again, theres no need to switch between apps to interact with those elements. In less exciting news, Google is bringing AI Overviews to Circle to Search. As long as your device is set to English, the companys AI-generated Search summaries will appear when relevant. Google said it was preparing to greatly expand the availability of AI Overviews when it debuted Gemini 2.0 at the end of last year, so the fact theyre now integrated with Circle to Search should not come as a surprise. As with any Google release, it may take a few days before you see todays update arrive on your device.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/circle-to-search-now-offers-one-tap-actions-for-phone-numbers-emails-and-urls-180005330.html?src=rss
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