I’ve been using Samsung’s new Galaxy S25 Ultra for a few days now and I have a confession to make. For years, my absolute favorite ultrawide camera found on any phone was on Samsung Galaxy S models, and the new version on the S25 Ultra is even better. When the Galaxy S10 series dropped in 2019, I couldn’t get enough photos with Samsung’s first ultrawide camera. Was it perfect? No. But the lens had an incredible way of distorting reality to make ultrawide photos look dramatic without going full fisheye with warped edges.

Over the years, Samsung has updated the lens and sensor on its ultrawide camera. And the Galaxy S25 rocks a new version with a 50-megapixel sensor—and it’s great. Judging from my first 48 hours with the S25 Ultra, the ultrawide seems to be catching a lot of of detail, while having a respectable dynamic range, especially for high-contrast shots with varying light and shadow like sunrises. Obviously I have more testing to do, but so far I like the photos I get from the new ultrawide camera.

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Check out the detail that captures the S25 Ultra’s ultrawide in this photo of Peebles the cat. Even though Peebles rushed to his window bed, the phone captured a lot of texture in his fur and whiskers. This image has challenging lighting, with sunshine streaming through the window on the left into an otherwise dark room. Note the image noise in the shadows on the right. Perfect? No, but in my book the dramatic distortion of the details and the lens make up for it.

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Here is an early morning shot of a water sculpture taken with the Ultrawide. The flowing water looks like glass contrasted against the stone. This image is shadowed, but I like the look of the Sunburst flare in the top right corner.

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The S25 Ultra’s ultrawide doubles as a macro lens, allowing it to get very close to the subject and still keep things in focus. In this photo of a Godzilla toy on a windowsill, the monster’s plastic texture shows up quite well. Note the details of the turquoise eyes and cream-colored teeth—Godzilla may need to see a dentist. Also, the S25 Ultra balanced exposure of the image of Godzilla while avoiding a burst of the highlights of the sky and cityscape outside the window.

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The ultrawide isn’t without its faults, and it’s still a step down in terms of overall image quality compared to the main camera. Notice in the photos above that the main camera image has better detail in the shadows (the trees on the right) and a wider dynamic range, and the main camera uses less noise reduction (look at the bricks in the buildings). But even with those drawbacks, images from the ultrawide are more often than not striking.

Here are a few more ultrawide snaps from the S25 Ultra.

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AI and rounded corners

But wait, there’s more! Although the ultra in the name of the phone does not refer to the ultrawide lens, it symbolizes the ambitions of this phone. The Galaxy S25 Ultra is ultra in everything in terms of specs: Snapdragon 8 Elite Chip, 12GB of RAM, a 5,000mAh battery, two telephoto cameras, a stylus and the real star of the phone, that screen. But the same can be said of last year’s S24 Ultra, if you swap the new chip for last year’s still blazingly fast Snapdragon 8 Gen 3.

In terms of physical design, the S25 Ultra now has rounded corners instead of the Galaxy Note-like rectangular ones found on previous ultra phones. And similar to the regular Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus, the edges of the phone are now flat, which I find makes the phone easier to hold. The S25 Ultra weighs even less than last year’s model. Watching videos, playing games or simply scrolling social feeds feels more immersive, thanks to the screen’s thinner bezels. None of these refinements are major, but they add up to make the S25 Ultra seem more polished and less like I’m carrying a tech-dense brick.

Then there’s the AI. Oh, the AI. During the unveiling of the S25 Ultra at the Galaxy Uppacked event, Samsung emphasized its relationship and partnership with Google. And that’s perhaps the best way to think about all these AI features. You’ll need to have a Google account for the Gemini side of things and a Samsung account for the Device and Bixby side.

Check this out: Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra hands-on: a larger screen and more AI

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As advertised, a long press of the power button lets me bring up the Gemini interface to ask things like when the next Warriors game was and to let my calendar allow it. It’s nice to have a digital assistant perform multiple steps from a single command. Unfortunately, it added the game to the Samsung Calendar app and not the Google Calendar app I’ve used for years – an assumption that meant I had to manually add the event to the latest calendar anyway.

This may sound funny, but beyond my preference for Google Apps over Samsung, it has a digital assistant capable of handling more complex queries. Like most phone owners, I’ve mastered the one-touch reality that our current smartphones have had for years. In the short time I’ve had the phone, I keep trying to think of additional ways I can take advantage of this more advanced helper.

My final thought for now is that I really like the idea of ​​the now bar on the lock screen that shows live updates to background apps. But unlike the iPhone and its live lock screen activity, it is currently very limited. I see the potential and I hope this is something that Samsung can help more third-party developers take advantage of.

I need to test more, but after two days I still feel ultra good about the new S25 Ultra.