The Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge is an enormous cellphone with small cellphone vitality

Oh shit. Did I depart my cellphone at residence?

I skilled that second repeatedly whereas testing the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge. I’d look into my bag, or observe the shortage of weight in my jacket pocket, and my abdomen would drop. The cellphone isn’t there. However lo and behold, after one other second of digging by my purse, or by reaching into my pocket, I’d discover it. These moments don’t normally occur after I’m carrying an enormous cellphone — however the Galaxy S25 Edge isn’t your common huge cellphone.

On paper it may not sound so spectacular. The Edge is 1.5 millimeters thinner than the Galaxy S25 Plus and about an oz. lighter. That’s what all this fuss is about? I used to be skeptical, too. And I haven’t been utterly slim-phone-pilled by the S25 Edge, both. However after residing with it for a few weeks, I’ve come round to the thought as a nice various to chunky telephones I can barely wedge into a night bag. Particularly since I’ve been ready to attract one necessary conclusion: the battery life is ok.

It looks like a cop-out to say that you simply actually have to carry the S25 Edge to know it, however I’ll say it anyway. Perhaps after a decade holding telephones which might be roughly the identical measurement and weight we’ve change into hyperaware of even slight weight variations — no less than that’s the speculation one in all my colleagues put forth after I handed the cellphone to him. I feel he’s proper.

There are a number of situations the place the marginally slimmer dimensions and lighter weight make a distinction. It doesn’t look or really feel as cumbersome as different telephones normally do within the facet pocket of my yoga pants. I spend numerous time in yoga pants (and if I’m being trustworthy, zero time truly doing yoga) so I respect this. And the S25 Edge truly matches right into a slender clutch that’s solely designed to carry a few bank cards and a chapstick. No different trendy cellphone — save the iPhone 13 Mini — has gone in and not using a combat.

I’d be much less prepared to endorse the S25 Edge if it price much more or the battery life was markedly worse than the standard S25-series phones. Nice information: it solely prices a bit extra, and battery life is barely a bit worse. It’s $1,099 in comparison with the $999 Galaxy S25 Plus. An additional $100 is nothing to sneeze at, however when you’re spreading that price out over three years the distinction is a couple of bucks a month.

My greatest concern after I began testing this cellphone was the battery life. The Edge’s 3,900mAh capability is way decrease than the 4,900mAh cell within the S25 Plus. And no shock, the S25 Edge’s battery doesn’t stretch so far as what you’ll get within the S25 Plus or Extremely. However it’s effective.

As a rule, I activate each battery-draining function I can after I take a look at a cellphone, together with the always-on show and the best display screen decision and refresh charge settings. With all this enabled I launched into a trial by fireplace: a full day covering Google I/O in individual. With about three hours of screen-on time and an hour-ish utilizing it as a cell hotspot to put up images to our live blog, it managed to get by the day with 20 p.c left by that night time. Did it really feel nice? No. Beneath regular circumstances I’d have charged it partway by the day, as a result of I endure from battery anxiousness. However it was effective.

I’ll give it a stamp of approval, however with the caveat that when you watch numerous streaming video or do numerous graphics-intensive gaming, that is in all probability not the cellphone for you. I’m additionally involved about what the battery efficiency will appear to be a number of years from now as its capability naturally degrades. If you happen to’re the sort of one that desires to hold on to your cellphone for as a few years as attainable it wouldn’t be a foul concept to plan on getting a recent battery swapped in after a number of years — take it from an iPhone 13 Mini proprietor.

With reference to small telephones: the S25 Edge isn’t one. It’s a lighter, extra approachable huge cellphone, however I nonetheless wrestle to get my thumb to the far nook of its 6.7-inch display screen. Most individuals will need to put a case on this cellphone anyway, which takes it from “slim” to “simply kinda common” slightly than “wow that is tremendous chunky.” It is a very vibes-based evaluation, however I don’t need any of my fellow small-phone followers to make the error of pondering this may very well be a small cellphone in disguise.

Battery life may be the largest tradeoff you’ll should make for this cellphone, nevertheless it’s not the one one. The Galaxy S25 Edge comes with solely two rear cameras — a 200 megapixel principal much like the S25 Ultra’s and a 12-megapixel ultrawide. On the usual S25 and S25 Plus you get a 3x telephoto, too. Clearly the dimensions constraints have been an element on the Edge, and Samsung included a top-shelf principal digicam to make up for the telephoto. I feel that was the correct name.

I like a devoted telephoto digicam as a lot as the following man, particularly with Samsung’s wonderful portrait mode, however the 2x crop zoom works effective for a little bit further attain. As at all times, you’ll both love Samsung’s punchy, shiny colours or they gained’t be your cup of tea. I’ve discovered to reside with them.

Outdoors of battery life and digicam choices, the S25 Edge offers up remarkably little. You continue to get a Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, full IP68 mud and water resistance, and a 6.7-inch display screen with 1440p decision. Even with the slimmer profile warmth dissipation is ok. In on a regular basis duties I not often seen the cellphone heating up, and it managed a 20-minute Diablo Immortal session with each show setting I may entry cranked up. It was toasty by the tip, however I didn’t see any drop in efficiency.

Utilizing the Galaxy S25 Edge for the previous couple of weeks has cleared up a few of my considerations with this new kind issue — one we’re more likely to see from Apple within the close to future, too. Battery life is alright. Utilizing a skinny cellphone actually does really feel completely different. Subtracting 1.5 millimeters in thickness truly does make it appreciably simpler to hold.

The S25 Edge makes a sort of sense for somebody who likes a big display screen however not the majority and weight of an enormous cellphone. However this individual ought to additionally be somebody who’s simple on a battery, and isn’t the sort of one that simply desires to purchase a cellphone and never have to consider changing it (or extra probably its battery) for so long as attainable. These are some fairly severe caveats.

On the very least, I encourage you to go discover this cellphone at your wi-fi provider or Greatest Purchase or no matter and simply choose it up. It doesn’t appear that impressively slim or gentle on paper, however you may simply be amazed at the way it feels in your hand.

Images by Allison Johnson / The Verge