Hands-on: Is Galaxy AI even better on the Samsung Galaxy S25 series?

Note: This feature was first published on 24 January 2025.

If you haven’t heard, Samsung has doubled down — hard — on the number and quality of AI features in the Samsung Galaxy S25 series. 

That means your Samsung Galaxy S25, Galaxy S25+, and Galaxy S25 Ultra will adopt many existing features from Google’s Gemini, with a tiny smattering of Samsung’s own Galaxy AI improvements and additions to round off this generation of premium flagship Samsung phones.

Note: Singapore pricing and availability article on the Samsung Galaxy S25 series can be found here.

To cohesively package its old and new AI features into one, Samsung is touting it as the One UI 7 upgrade — a firmware-based change — that offers all these breakthroughs. As you will see below, many of them have been rejigged from Google’s AI efforts to fit the Samsung aesthetic and ecosystem better. We’ll indicate if these are Google-made, Samsung-made, or a bit of both where appropriate.

We’ve experienced a gauntlet of AI demos right before Samsung’s H1 2025 Galaxy Unpacked keynote in San Jose, California, US. Samsung claims it wants to be an “AI Companion” by combining previous Galaxy AI features with the additions below. We’ll also spare some preliminary thoughts on Samsung’s implementation and what it means for users upgrading these phones.

Now Brief, Now Bar

Truly unique and new to both Samsung itself and its One UI 7 interface is the collection of “Now” features, such as Now Brief and Now Bar. Now Brief gives a personalised summary (that can be either the first thing of the day or before you close shop), while Now Bar is essentially a feature-filled version of Apple’s Live Notifications.

The clip above demonstrates how to customise Now Brief to your liking and trigger Now Bar notifications. 

While the concept of updates and self-updating notifications aren’t new, Now Bar is a bit better implemented because you can access it directly from the Lock Screen, and it’s compatible with some popular third-party apps that we’ve tried in a separate demo (they include the likes of Spotify and YouTube).

Now Bar looks simple, and ironically, it’s one of our favourite One UI 7 perks, even though it has nearly zero AI trickery.

On the other hand, Now Brief is customisable, so it’s up to the user to make it as intrusive as they want. The demo’s settings showed that it is primarily integrated with first-party apps by Samsung, so its usefulness remains to be seen.

Gemini integration into One UI

Integrating Gemini and Gemini Live is not new, not even for Samsung. After all, you can always download the Gemini app on the Google Play Store. Heck, it’s even available on Apple iPhones as well.

The actual integration is Gemini built directly into your power button and other side panel features, such as Circle To Search by Google, alongside AI Select, which you can summon from a side panel. The actual features — like humming a tune for Google Search, or asking Gemini Live to help you organise your admin or peeking into your fridge via a photo and screenshot are as “old” as Project Astra. What is different is that all these loose features are finally coming together in one congruent format, all via Samsung’s integration.

The other perk, gradually implemented into cheaper or even free Gemini usage tiers, is multimodal Gemini input. Currently, it costs nothing for a Samsung Galaxy S25 user to do everything seen in the clips we have here (Circle To Search via Audio, AI Select, asking Gemini Live for daily help).

Here’s the problem. It is in Google’s interest to have its Gemini partnership with every major Android phone maker, so there’s a high chance that Google-made features will hardly be unique to Samsung. You can see varying levels of Google-made AI integration in rivalling 2025 flagship phones like the OPPO Find X8 Pro and Honor Magic7 Pro, which are already available in Singapore. After all, nothing is really stopping you from asking the same questions to Gemini Live if you’re on a different handset.

Samsung’s true advantage here is having access to its security platform (Samsung Knox), smart home compatibility (SmartThings), and Google Gemini perks on one device. Whether that poses any value to you is highly specific and situational.

We want to add that Samsung claimed it has a Personal Data Engine on the Galaxy S25 series, which claimed that all these personalised data for AI features are handled on-device. That only applies to on-device AI experiences, like using natural language to search your Gallery app for photos or checking your Now Brief.

Audio Eraser

As many would have noticed and guessed, the Audio Eraser on One UI 7 is almost identical to Google Pixel’s Audio Magic Eraser, which debuted on the 2023 Google Pixel 8 series phones.

It’s hardly new, but it’s cool that this audio-editing tool is now available at no extra cost on a non-Google Pixel device. As seen in the clip above, it works just as well as the Pixel’s. 

From a tech enthusiast’s perspective, this isn’t something to write home about. However, bringing such a helpful feature to a major smartphone brand probably benefits many users. What's up for discussion is that Audio Eraser is a software feature, which means older Galaxy users might get it if they are willing to wait and see (and puts into question the value of getting Galaxy S25 series phones).

Improved Samsung Galaxy AI features

While minor, the refinements to Galaxy AI add up to a smoother AI experience on Samsung’s new devices, which ties back to Samsung’s desire to make AI worth using daily at a level where almost everyone can participate.

First, AI Portrait Studio has improved, with avatars' facial expressions now “more true-to-life.” While we don’t prefer these photos, Samsung's generative AI offers impressive speed and a wide variety of Portraits Studio effects. Perhaps we’ve low standards because we’re so used to generative AI giving humans extra limbs or nostrils. 

Play

The fascinating AI edit, however, is Filters. Confusing name aside, the feature lets you append a consistent tone to your photos in the Gallery app. It does so by taking on the colour data of an image you like, and applying it as a filter to existing photos to give them a consistent hue, tone, contrast, and other lighting intricacies. Influencers no longer need to painstakingly and manually edit every photo to get a consistent vibe for their online personas, and even if extra post-processing is necessary, the following steps would be minimal.

Finally, the Generative Edit feature that debuted on the Galaxy S24 series is more intelligent than before (the terms used were “better at contextual awareness”). For instance, if you use generative editing to remove photobombers, you wouldn’t need to tell Galaxy AI to include their shadows, too, as demonstrated in our clip above.

Overall, these Samsung-made features are a bit hit-and-miss. While the examples you’re seeing are successful, we’ve also experienced some AI failures on the demo floor (which is not unexpected for AI at this juncture, where it's still finding its footing). Also, they are refinements, so you don’t need to buy the latest to get the updated features eventually. 

Is it true that there are fewer features on the Galaxy S25 Ultra’s S Pen?

Of the many online rumblings we’ve seen since the Samsung Galaxy S25 series launch, one standout comment was that the S Pen supposedly has fewer features.

Based on the combined findings of Android Police, SamMobile, and TechRadar, the consensus is that the Galaxy S25 Ultra is 15g lighter because the S Pen no longer has a battery or Bluetooth connectivity.

Per our findings, the missing features are the entire host of Air Actions and Anywhere Actions (you can get a recap on those features in our Galaxy S20 Ultra review). In its place are just Drawing Assist, AI Select, Create Note, and Screen Write, with the option to add another shortcut when you remove the S Pen from its holster. The screen can still sense a nearby S Pen, so Air Command is still available. 

However, an essential use of the S Pen got cut because Samsung removed the battery and Bluetooth on the S Pen. You can no longer use it as a remote control shutter button for your Camera app. We felt the pain as soon as we clicked the S Pen’s button and spent several minutes in vain searching for the capability inside Samsung’s Settings app. We do not often wish this was a user problem or skill issue; the feature is well and truly gone. We’ll be more blunt than the S Pen and just say this was a huge oversight, and it severely diminishes the value of the Galaxy S25 Ultra’s S Pen.

Our first impressions

Most of Samsung’s new additions are software-based, given the company’s massive partnership with Google and its dogged pursuit of an AI-heavy approach to offering a renewed phone experience through One UI 7 and the Samsung Galaxy S25 series. Many of these features work well, assuming you care enough to use them regularly and rely on them to make a difference.

There’s no dispute that the entire mobile AI experience feels most seamless on a Samsung device. This is in addition to the assurance of Samsung Knox security and integration into other Samsung products, such as SmartThings-enabled appliances or its wearables, like the Galaxy Ring.

However, it remains to be seen how the Samsung Galaxy S25 series (especially the Ultra) truly adds value to existing Samsung flagship users. If you’re on an older Korean flagship, chances are you have already experienced many cool AI features seen there either as a download or add-on, or you’ve relied on older versions of its firmware (pre-One UI 7). 

The Ultra's value proposition is even murkier because we imagine losing a remote camera clicker being rather painful, even if users don’t care for the strange gestures conjured via Anywhere Actions. Can AI fill that gap?

However, the Samsung Galaxy S25 series makes it clear that smartphones' battleground is not limited to having some of the best components (which, to Samsung's credit, they mostly do) or taking outstanding photos (again, they do that well, too).

Its agentic AI push may look clumsy, given all the things you need to circle, highlight, and snap to take advantage of it. But does anyone else package it better for consumers, much less in a phone’s form factor? 

Stay tuned for our reviews.

The Samsung Galaxy S25 series starts at S$1,288 (256GB), and retail begins officially on 14 February 2025. It's available for pre-order from Samsung, the official Samsung store in Lazada, Shopee and KrisShop, and local telco operators (M1, Singtel, Starhub).

Check here for full Singapore pricing, availability, bonuses, and promotions.

Our articles may contain affiliate links. If you buy through these links, we may earn a small commission.