So I know I’m not going to win any tech awards for my take for the Samsung 25 Ultra, but spoiler alert, I think this is yet another unbeatable delivery by Samsung! There I said it. Now, before I go further I think I need to first explain what happened to me and previous Google Pixel 9 XL to help you get a cleaner picture.
The honeymoon ended pretty fast once I discovered that my pick was wearing makeup to hide her true face:). The Pixel is beautiful and simple. The OS is powerful and thoughtful and when you add the gimmicks, you fall in love with the idea of the possibilities. This is where things fooled me. While I was looking at the obvious I assumed if the complicated was there, the simple would just fit right there easily. Why wouldn’t it? All other phones do the simple things without thinking so why not this? But what I found out was that the top thing that meant the most to me was a huge disappointment, Sound. The Bluetooth department of this phone was absolutely horrible. If it wasn’t the problem connecting to the software for earphones, it was huge latency problems with high-end Bluetooth devices that used higher codecs. Everything from YouTube to Fandago movies played out or sync with at least 4 of my 7 Bluetooth earphones and headphones. It was absolutely horrible. And that was only before they randomly stopped connecting. So needless to say the Google Pixel was returned after I rebooting the phone 3x, deleted the Bluetooth devices and software, went through the developers settings, and finally restoring the phone back to factory status multiple times. I tried everything before I gave up.
Hence the Ultra 25! On top of the fact that I could not use all of my Bluetooth devices nor could almost all of them not remain in sync but the Pixel buds, the sound volume was horrible no matter what I did to the sound options. So once I got back to Samsung, all, and I mean all of this was like the difference between Heaven and Hell. Every single thing I did was effortless, every item connected like they were suppose to. All the sound was powerful and spacious. All the codecs actively took advantage of each earphone and headphone I had. All movies, all videos, all music played like a Master Jedi moving water waves with the force. No matter where I went in the settings, there were worlds of options that just made my experience even more beautiful. Customizations took on life and the phone felt like a extension of me and not a frustrating piece of tech that was compromised.
I spent more time trying to find a way to keep the Pixel and fix it’s short comings than I did using the phone for what it was intended to be used for. I even celebrated with the new xm6 to further my experience and boy that’s exactly what happened. It was like I missed this so much but didn’t remember what it felt for things to just work like this. Every single phone I have had since my Samsung 24 were phones that I had to compromise with. If it wasn’t the pixels issues with sound and Bluetooth, it was the Sony Xperia VII issues with video it was its lack of difference from the hype of Snap Dragon Sound
(something Samsung 25 Ultra still has no access to but doesn’t need it now that I’ve heard what the snap dragon sounds like). The Sony Xperia screen was gorgeous but it’s software steps were over complicated with a failure to live up to the hype(you basically had to decide if you wanted your videos to sound good or your music but not both). But the Samsung lives up to the hype of its superior design, complicated features when you want them, and performance consistency, while being able to do the simple things masterfully.
Sure you can compare it to the 24 Ultra and feel like you don’t need to buy the 25. But this doesn’t mean that the 25 Ultra isn’t great or doesn’t do what it claims. It does, but it needs to fit your needs and life. If it doesn’t, don’t buy it.
But for me, I just know Samsung is unbeatable to me especially for my needs. Looks, sound, battery life, and camera abilities are the 4 pillars for smartphones for me. And speaking of camera, OMG. It’s still the best picture taking images and abilities in the world of smartphones, maybe only challenged by the iPhone but nothing else.
Look I get it if you believe the phones these days don’t need the price tag they have on them these days. But let’s remember, the iPhone only cost Apple $10 to make and they charge $1000 for the product. This type of thing has been the pillars of business and money for ever. Why are acting like we haven’t seen this before? At the end of the day you decide what you bring home. So do it.
Tech-N-Things 