Forget hardware – the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra’s updated OS really shines
The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra is one of the ). The only third-party apps currently supported are Whatsapp and Spotify, but this awesome time-saving feature genuinely has the potential to help get stuff done quickly.
Erring on the critical side, I think we’re being a bit liberal with what we’re appropriately calling an ‘AI feature’. For example; Google Circle to Search continues to be one of my favorite features of Android phones in 2024. It’s supposedly underpinned by AI, but it’s unclear how AI actually factors into the function of this tool. After all, it’s basically a simple-to-access spin on Google Lens with support for on-screen circling.
Similarly with Now Brief, it’s not clear just how much of it benefits from so-called AI features. A day-to-come or day-passed snapshot is simply a splash screen displaying your upcoming events, weather alerts, a smattering of content recommendations and health figures from throughout the day.
It might seem bereft to criticize AI features on the merit of being ‘AI-powered’, but I have one major concern. Since the launch of the Galaxy S24 range, Samsung has noted that it may, eventually, start to charge for its AI features. At the time of writing, the official company tagline is:
“Fees may apply for AI features at the end of 2025. Certain Galaxy AI features require [a] Samsung and Google Account. [An] internet connection may be required to use some features. AI Features will be provided free of charge until the end of 2025 on supported Samsung Galaxy devices.”
My concern is that access to some of these genuinely useful features will be paywalled alongside the AI tools that many people won’t actually get any use from.
I have no problem paying a subscription for a genuinely useful product or service if I’m actually getting value from it. Between Circle to Search and Now Brief, I now have two AI features that I like.
And I don’t think I could sensibly pay for either.
Samsung needs to steer carefully
While Samsung has spent a fair amount of time beautifying its operating system, its AI software is starting to become a different story altogether. No doubt people are using such features at their own discretion, but so far there hasn’t been a must-have AI tool built into One UI (or any phone OS for that matter).
On the bright side, One UI 7 brings with it a nice aesthetic refresh, and in a hardware lull year, it’s the best I could have wanted from Samsung.
The Samsung Galaxy S25 range is available now.
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