برچسب: Samsung

  • Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge battery life is as bad as you think

    Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge battery life is as bad as you think


    Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge Thickness Shown on top of Books

    C. Scott Brown / Android Authority

    When we first picked up the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge, we marveled at its delicately thin frame. However, our wonder quickly turned to concern once we saw the phone’s 3,900mAh battery capacity. That’s not tiny, but it’s a pretty conservative cell for a 2025 flagship smartphone, especially one as tall and wide as the Galaxy S25 Plus.

    For comparison, the S25 Plus houses a sizable 4,900mAh cell, while even the compact Galaxy S25 nudges ahead of the Edge with 4,000mAh. But it’s also worth noting that the Edge features a larger display with a higher QHD resolution and a more demanding 200MP camera — factors that could all draw more power than those in the regular S25.

    Samsung itself claims the Edge should have battery life somewhere between the Galaxy S24 and S25, but our testing has found this to be rather optimistic. Let’s take a look at the results from our automated battery longevity tests, all conducted at a consistent display brightness of 300 nits. For comparison, we also tested both models of the S24, as well as the S25 and S25 Plus.

    Galaxy S25 Edge Battery Life Benchmarks

    Robert Triggs / Android Authority

    Unfortunately, the Galaxy S25 Edge underperforms across the board. It clocks fewer minutes than the Galaxy S25 in every test and fares worse than the Galaxy S24 series in most categories — except for our Zoom call test, where it beats the Snapdragon version of the Galaxy S24. It also matches the Exynos model in the 4K recording and Zoom tests. The only consistent result across the board is in camera capture time, where all phones performed similarly. Otherwise, the performance gap is significant and well outside the margin of error. The Edge’s battery life is clearly inferior to its siblings.

    In fact, the Edge’s real-world battery life is far worse than the seemingly minor 100mAh difference with the compact Galaxy S25 would suggest. On average, I calculate a roughly 20% reduction in video recording and playback longevity compared to the regular S25, and 27% worse performance in Zoom call duration. Web browsing fared a bit better, with only about an 8% decline, but that’s still worse than the battery size would lead you to expect.

    The Edge’s beefier specs drain the 3,900mAh battery even faster than the S25.

    Software optimization may play a role, but the Edge’s larger, sharper display undoubtedly draws more power than the regular S25. Combined with the smaller battery, this is a recipe for disappointing screen-on time.

    Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge camera hero

    Ryan Haines / Android Authority

    Setting aside the comparisons for a moment, let’s focus on screen-on time itself. Based on our tests, the Galaxy S25 Edge delivers about four and a bit hours of constant content capture, seven to eight hours of moderate use (like web browsing and video calls), and up to 17 hours of offline 4K video playback. These figures aren’t terrible in isolation, but fall an hour or two behind its siblings. And keep in mind that this is under ideal, out-of-the-box conditions. Add background tasks, heavy data use, or gaming, and things quickly deteriorate.

    Cutting it fine is an understatement, there’s no headroom for aging battery health here.

    Samsung has built the Edge with a battery capacity that clearly cuts it very fine for a full day of use. While the Galaxy S25 Edge might manage modest usage today, consider how it will perform after two or three years, especially at a price point of $1,100. A modest decline to 90% of its original battery capacity after two years could already spell trouble; a drop to 80% will have you reaching for a charger before the day is over.

    Additionally, we noticed the thin metal frame heating up frequently during use, which not only accelerates battery degradation but can also cause the battery to discharge inefficiently and increase self-discharge. This might explain why the phone seems to perform particularly poorly in demanding tests, like our Zoom call, and why Samsung has stuck to sluggish 25W charging again.

    Either way, it didn’t take a crystal ball to predict battery concerns with the Galaxy S25 Edge, but now we have the data to prove it. If you plan to keep your next phone for a few years, you might want to steer clear of Samsung’s ultra-thin flagship.



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  • Samsung Good Lock’s latest feature promised freedom, delivered chaos

    Samsung Good Lock’s latest feature promised freedom, delivered chaos


    Samsung Good Lock Galaxy Store listing

    When Samsung started overhauling Good Lock for One UI 7, Home Up was one of the modules that saw the biggest changes. Most of those changes were good, letting you modify edge panels, the taskbar (on Folds and tablets), the overview screen, and the home screen itself. As welcome as those features are, I found one of the additions harder to appreciate. DIY Home has a lot of potential, but despite the wonderfully awful home screens you can create with it, the implementation is flawed and reminds me of the worst days of Microsoft’s Windows experiments.

    Have you tried to customize your phone with Samsung’s DIY Home?

    835 votes

    DIY Home: What is it and why do I hate it?

    DIY Home removes all of the guardrails usually placed on home screen customisation. Grid, icon, and widget sizes are unrestricted, and you can put everything, everywhere, all at once. On the surface, that sounds pretty cool. Moving every element to exactly where you want it without any restrictions could lead to some cool setups and maybe a renaissance of the old custom launcher days. I initially hoped for that, but it hasn’t worked out. The way DIY Home has been implemented is almost unusable, and I can’t bring myself to use it for any longer than is needed.

    Long-press on an empty space on your home screen or pinch out, and a new DIY Home button appears in the top right of the screen. Once you’re in the DIY editor, you can move icons and widgets freely without any limitation, resize and rotate them, and add stickers, emojis, and text.

    Using DIY Home is like trying to play chess against an opponent who cheats, changes the rules, and flips the board if you start winning.

    The controls are, in a way, too simple. Even on my S24 Ultra, which is realistically the biggest screen most people will try this with, there isn’t enough room to move things precisely with your finger. It needs a movement slider or arrow keys, like the widget creator in KWGT.

    Another issue is the alignment presets, which are all unlabelled, so you have to press them to figure out what they do. By then, all of the icons you’ve selected are on top of one another in some incoherent mess that looks like it belongs in John Carpenter’s The Thing. Icon manipulation is also inconsistent. Sometimes tapping on a new icon and dragging it while a different one is already selected will clear that selection and only move the new one, while other times it’ll move both or neither.

    Using DIY Home is like trying to play chess against an opponent who cheats, changes the rules, and flips the board if you start winning. It’s frustrating and confusing, and it nearly drove me to throw my phone at a wall.

    Can you make DIY home screens look good on One UI?

    A screenshot of Good Lock DIY Home

    Zac Kew-Denniss / Android Authority

    The answer to that one is maybe. I definitely can’t; the screenshot above is the best I could do after nearly an hour of messing with it. Perhaps if you’re more patient or creative, you can squeeze a nice home screen out of DIY Home, but I think that effort would be better spent on Nova Launcher or KWGT. My colleague Ryan Haines agrees, too, saying he wishes he hadn’t even tried DIY Home.

    I think Samsung’s efforts would be better spent elsewhere, too. One UI 7 introduced the vertical app drawer many of us wanted, but many users, including my wife, preferred the paginated horizontal layout. The option to revert to that, along with more blur and background color options, would be more useful than this.

    In 1995, Microsoft released Microsoft BOB, which was meant to make navigating Windows more intuitive. It didn’t. Instead, it was an incomprehensible mess, just as most DIY Home creations are, and unless Samsung can overhaul it into something more usable, it’s best forgotten.

    Do you like DIY Home, or do you think other features would be a better use of Samsung’s (and our) time? Let us know in the comments.



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  • Samsung made a two-toned Galaxy Ring, but you probably won’t be able to get one

    Samsung made a two-toned Galaxy Ring, but you probably won’t be able to get one


    Samsung Galaxy Ring 4

    Lanh Nguyen / Android Authority

    TL;DR

    • Samsung is selling a limited edition two-tone Galaxy Ring along with the Galaxy S25 Edge.
    • The two-toned smart ring is a mix of Titanium Silver and Titanium Black.
    • You can get a 20% discount on the smart ring if you buy it together with the Edge.
    • The smart ring is only available in South Korea.

    After months of waiting, Samsung has finally launched the Galaxy S25 Edge. Although this phone is an exciting new addition to the Galaxy lineup, there’s another announcement that seems to have flown under the radar. While everyone’s attention is currently on the Edge, you may have missed that Samsung quietly revealed it is selling a limited edition Galaxy Ring.

    In a press release for the Galaxy S25 Edge on its Korean website, Samsung snuck in an announcement about a new Galaxy Ring. There’s nothing different about this smart ring spec-wise, but it does feature a new finish. Although the company didn’t share any pictures, Samsung calls it “Two-Tone Titanium Black.” This ring would be a mix of the Titanium Black and the Titanium Silver colorways.

    Unfortunately, the new finish will only be available in South Korea at the Samsung Gangnam store starting on May 14 and will be sold in limited quantities. If you happen to be in the market, however, buying one along with an S25 Edge will net you 20% off the smart ring plus 100,000 won in Samsung Electronics membership points.

    Samsung does not mention this new Galaxy Ring in any of its other press releases. It’s also unknown how many of these limited edition rings were made. Hopefully, Samsung will change its mind and make this new finish available in other markets.

    Got a tip? Talk to us! Email our staff at news@androidauthority.com. You can stay anonymous or get credit for the info, it’s your choice.



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  • Deal: This Samsung 70-inch Crystal UHD 4K Smart TV is just $399!

    Deal: This Samsung 70-inch Crystal UHD 4K Smart TV is just $399!


    Samsung 70 inch Class DU7200B Crystal UHD 4K Smart TV

    This offer is available from Amazon. The price is hidden until you add the unit to your cart, so make sure to do that and check that the deal is still available first.

    Are you looking to get a large TV? No longer do you have to pay thousands for a good one. This one is pretty nice and currently only goes for $399.

    The Samsung 70-inch Class DU7200B Crystal UHD 4K Smart TV is pretty huge at 70 inches diagonally. It also has a 4K UHD resolution with a 60Hz refresh rate. Not to mention, it gets some nice enhancements like PurColor and Motion Xcelerator, to make colors more vivid and true to life, as well as avoiding lag and blur. You’ll also get HDR support, Object Tracking Sound Lite, and Q-Symphony.

    Of course, this is also a smart TV. It is powered by Tizen. You’ll get access to plenty of streaming apps. This includes Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, Disney Plus, Apple TV, and more. You’ll also get access to Samsung TV Plus, which can stream live TV channels for free.

    As if streaming both on-demand and live TV wasn’t enough, the Samsung 70-inch Class DU7200B Crystal UHD 4K Smart TV, it even gets access to Samsung’s Gaming Hub. This means you can enjoy your free time playing games without the need for a console. You can access cloud gaming services like Xbox Game Pass, NVIDIA GeForce Now, Amazon Luna, and others.

    Quite the deal, right? The Samsung 70-inch Class DU7200B Crystal UHD 4K Smart TV is huge, has a 4K resolution, and a full smart TV experience with all the bells and whistles. Catch this deal while you can!



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