It’s 2025 and to commemorate this quarter of a century since Y2K a new era of Samsung’s S Series has launched.

The three familiar models, S25, S25+ and S25 Ultra make their debut as premier Android based smartphones, but there’s also been a major overhaul.

This year’s S Series is a mix of what we are used to from Samsung in their signature flagship and a lot of bold and innovative features.

First up is to take a look under the hood for the mighty Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra.

Having the new and powerful Snapdragon 8 Elite processor at its core sees both battery efficiency and speed in tandem, enabling complex tasks, multitasking and some quality console gaming abilities.

Coupled with this is the standard 12GB RAM (there is a 1TB / 16GB RAM variant).

The bold and vivid AMOLED QHD display has increased by .1 of an inch to come out at 6.9 (S24 Ultra is 6.8 inch). Yeah, you’re not likely to notice the size difference if you’re still wielding a S24 Ultra, however the all screen, no bezel device with HDR10+ has a fluid 120Hz refresh which, if you’re a mobile gamer, is a must.

Camera wise, the S25 Ultra has it all to smash out any competing device and make this smartphone the must-have for professional mobile photography.

The front facing pinhole comes in at 12MP (wide), which provides you with a deep and true to life colour detail and is able to record in 4K.

But it’s the rear camera’s where things are at.

We have four lenses going on, 200MP wide, 10MP telephoto, 50MP periscope and an additional 50MP ultrawide.

Able to natively record in 8K (and of course 4K) for video the depth, detail and true-to-life colour capture is second to none.

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra – Portrait mode

Nightography is just beyond reality and of course the x100 digital zoom lets you capture those moon shots that really enforce the ‘Galaxy’ in this series’ brand name.

From everyday snaps, to vlogs, live reels or pet video’s if you are wanting to capture or record at a pro level the S25 Ultra has got you sorted.

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra – Space zoom

For those that like to get closer to the action, there’s optic x3 and x5 zoom through to digital x100 zoom.

However, be prepared to lose resolution and detail if you take snaps at the full digital zoom, and somewhat awkward camera control to snap the area you’re mega-zoomed in to.

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra – no zoom

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra – x10 zoom

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra – x100 zoom

This year’s S Series has had an overhaul in other areas too.

It’s the Samsung One UI you know, but oh so different with version 7.

For the past 12 months since the Galaxy S24 series, Samsung’s UI / UX team have been busy.

A smoother, more intuitive navigation with a heavy accent on tiling. Your home screen widgets are more informative yet less cluttered and overall give a cleaner experience.

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra – Now bar

Samsung has introduced us to the ‘Now bar’. An onscreen widget that sits at the bottom of the lock screen which can do all manner of things. From Samsung Health insights, to relevant events through to music streaming controls and more.

I fully welcome this – it’s handier than you’d think, and way more ‘dynamic’ than any ‘island’…

Now let’s talk about AI.

Last year we saw Samsung pioneer AI into their smartphones with circle to search, smart translation, AI photo editing and more.

We still have this in the S25 range with some of the best and most intuitive image wizards and edits on any device, but when you first start using your new S25 device there is an overload of AI preinstalled. From Gemini to Bixby or Google Assistant, even CoPilot.

Take your pick of the bunch is my advice and stick with the AI you’re used to.

The S25 Ultra does come with bloatware, you know, those apps (some third party) that are bundled and you cannot uninstall. This chomps a sizeable amount of onboard storage and no, you cannot expand via microSD card, that was removed years ago and I wish it would come back.

If you’re likely to be recording a few 8K vids, you’ll need to go for the larger storage options of 512GB to 1TB. But for most users the entry level 256GB will be more than enough.

You can circumvent the storage by using cloud, such as Google, or OneDrive, both are immediately available on the device.

Battery wise, the Galaxy S25 Ultra has your back. A 5,000 mAh powercell keeps you running day and night. So much so, that during my heavy daily use I’m able to squeeze up to two days from a full charge, without using reverse charging (charging a Samsung wearable on the back of the phone).

There are a few takeaways for me with the S25 Ultra. From the overly generously spec’d rear camera’s the intuitive use of AI, power, speed and battery life, but the biggest one was the refreshing look and feel of One UI 7.

This is the S Series you love, you’re used to, but unlike a certain specific smartphone whose ‘core’ UI / UX hasn’t changed since the 2010’s, Samsung are bringing the innovation, the change, leading the AI march and actually giving you new, improved and ‘Ultra’ specs for your hard earned cash.

The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra is truly something special in the S Series and a must upgrade from whichever smartphone you may be rocking right now.

The post Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Samsung’s pioneering Bluetooth ear buds have certainly evolved from their first consumer released Icon X.

We have had the small round shaped buds, through to the weird ‘Beans’ and now Samsung have gone more mainstream with their new Samsung Galaxy Buds3 Pro.

Retaining true wireless mixed with HD quality audio Samsung took a more conventional design and added even more features for your wellbeing.

First up to connect the Galaxy Buds3 Pro you’ll need the Galaxy Wear app. This is available on both Android and iOS, and you do not need a Samsung phone to get the most out of these buds.

Once synced up you can expect to have some crystal clear audio pumping in to your ears, with noise cancelation and Voice Aware.

Handsfree is brilliant as the Buds3 Pro successfully block out any environmental noise.

Voice Aware is exactly its namesake, rock out while holding a convo in person. The Buds3 Pro will prioritise voice over music or media.

The Galaxy Buds3 Pro come with lights on both stems of either buds, called ‘Blade Lighting’. This is an indicator light for Voice Aware, charging and more. It’s not a light effect that stays on.

Samsung has added siren awareness even if you have the Active Noise Cancelation on, when out and about with your tunes dialed up to max volume, you’re not going to get knocked down by a speeding emergency vehicle. This is also a feature to be used in office too. If you’re using the Buds3 Pro at work and the fire alarm goes off, you’re sure going to hear it.

Touch control on the Galaxy Buds3 Pro is similar but different to what we have seen in prior models.

Swipe up or down the stem to control volume. Pinch to pause or play, or answer a call.

Each bud has a 24 bit codec for Ultra High Definition and a new 2-way speaker system that separates differing notes or instruments if listening to music.

The Buds3 Pro actually do split audio up extremely well. There’s a definite separation from higher notes through to the rumbling of the bass when streaming music.

Mobile gaming and movie watching was on par with having audio through a multi-channel soundbar set up.

The Galaxy Buds3 Pro have got it when it comes to superior personal audio.

If you are using these on a Samsung Galaxy smartphone, you’ll get the additional ‘feature’ of 360 surround which utilises head-tracking. But I say ‘feature’ loosely.

It only works if your phone is unlocked and at times the head-tracked audio gets stuck in one position. Something that since Samsung introduced a few years back, has never quite got right (or allowed it on other Android devices).

The Galaxy Buds3 Pro take Galaxy AI to another level as they will tweak the audio according to your fit, environment and media you are listening to.

The Buds3 Pro are also super comfortable for long periods of use.

Battery wise, you can expect to get around 6 hours if you’re using ANC (Active Noise Cancelation) or with ANC off you’ll get an extra 1 hour. My advice, go hard at full volume with ANC on, it doesn’t make a lot of difference in battery life.

The Galaxy Buds3 Pro are wireless chargeable and the sleek but retro-looking case will give around four full charges.

The Galaxy Buds3 Pro are a change from what we are used to from Samsung, but it is a change for the better. For most it will be an easier fit and wear, they are more intuitive and smart, but best of all is the audio experience you’re in for with a set of these.

The post Samsung Galaxy Buds3 Pro Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

As foldables go, Samsung has been the pioneer, and can you believe the flexible screen has been around now for five years.

With every new iteration each year Samsung improve on the previous model.

Now with the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip6 we get a lighter, slightly slimmer model.

Coming in a variety of colours the Galaxy Z Flip6 is touted more towards a youthful market.

The 3.4 inches AMOLED front cover screen takes up almost the entire front, with provision made for the dual camera lenses.

While you can operate the phone via the front screen, it is small, and fiddly, but it is ideal for selfies and checking notifications on the fly.

Unfolding the Galaxy Z Flip6 gives you a near-to invisible crease in the centre and a brightly vivid 6.7 inches of foldable display, with a refresh rate of 120Hz.

Spec wise the model reviewed is a 256GB storage and Samsung have opted to increase the RAM in this years model, with all storage variations now having 12GB.

Crunching the data Samsung has added the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 3.

Camera’s don’t fail to impress. Your main camera at the rear is a 50MP wide, coupled with a 12MP ultrawide.

The inner camera (when unfolded) is mid-range at 10MP. Given that you will need to open the phone to use it functionally I’d hoped that the inner ‘selfie’ camera would have bolstered up a few more MP.

Recording video – you can do it like they did in the ‘old days’ of camcorders by holding the Flip6 on the side and shoot like that professional film maker you always knew you were.

Nonetheless, as is known for Samsung phones, the pics you take with any of the lenses is strikingly detailed, and Samsung still has one of the best Nightography out there.

Battery wise, Samsung has added a 4,000 mAh power cell in to the Galaxy Z Flip6.

This is on the lower side, but… given that you’ll likely use the Flip6’s cover screen a lot and only open the phone if you need to call or use apps, it’s this mix of useage that manages to extend the battery life.

You’ll get a full day from a full charge, easily. But generally nothing more beyond that.

While last year’s Galaxy Z Flip5 is still a strong contender in the foldable market, I’d recommend the Flip6 to those that have the first or second gen of the Flip series.

To a degree, the camera’s need to be bumped up in their spec a wee bit, excluding the min 50MP.

The Galaxy Z Flip6 is a fun playful device, and I have always had a love for the uniqueness of the Galaxy Z Flip. Pocketable, small and easy to move around with, all the while having the resources to almost keep up with their S Series cousins.

The post Samsung Galaxy Z Flip6 Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Big, bold, and ready to hit the track, the swimming pool or run a marathon with you.

Samsung’s Galaxy Watch Ultra, really is the ultra of wearables.

The round 1.47 inch AMOLED face sits within a large rounded square housing making for the Galaxy Watch Ultra to appear larger than it is as well as creating a bigger bezel look.

To the right there’s two tactile buttons and one larger centre rotating button to get you into your apps and varying workout regimes and routines.

Unlike the prior Galaxy Watches the outer bezel of the watch face does not rotate – I can see why from the design point of view, as the Galaxy Watch Ultra is as round as it is square.

Water resistant for up to a depth of 100 meters (including ocean) and built with titanium, the Galaxy Watch Ultra is ready to get rough and tough along with you.

Able to withstand the ocean depths, altitudes of 2,000 meters and temperatures as low as -20 or as high as 55C, you may not survive some of that, but the Galaxy Watch Ultra will keep on ticking.

And if you’re in a jam, take a spill, or just completely lost, the Galaxy Watch Ultra comes with it’s own emergency siren. If you hold down the middle rotating button, aka the ‘Action button’ for a few seconds an alarm will begin, which progressively gets louder. And I do mean louder!

While it’s clear that the Galaxy Watch Ultra has been designed for those who are sports focused and really love the outdoors, it still has all of the smarts health and wellbeing sensors and reports directly from your wrist.

Built on Google’s WearOS, there’s an endless menu of apps that you can install from Google Play as well as customise your watch face.

From stress, heart rate, sleep, temperature and more your vital body stats are recorded by the Galaxy Watch Ultra and synced up to the Samsung Health app on your smartphone.

Take calls handsfree, receive your notifications and swipe around the watch face to go from settings, to menu’s and alerts.

Best of all is the battery life.

The Galaxy Watch Ultra has a 590mAh battery which can give you up to 100 hours in Power Saving mode. This of course depends on your physical regime and how you use the watch as well.

Using the Galaxy Watch Ultra as my daily for the past two weeks I never actually needed to put it in to Power Saving mode. It’s done extremely well.

On first run from the box it ticked over nicely for two days before needing a charge up. On the second and third run it’s survived four to five days on a single charge.

The ideal is a smartwatch that needs minimal charging, and Samsung are getting very close to this with the Galaxy Watch Ultra.

For some, this new wearable is going to seem a little too large, but for those that are sports minded, have physical jobs, the Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra is ready to hit the gravel, scale those heights, go down to those depths and more, all the while being a sturdy reliable coaching mentor and health assistant, at a premium price.

The post Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

This year’s Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 is here, and it not only brings the AI smarts, it’s slimmed down and super light.

The innovative foldable, with a 6.3 inch AMOLED cover screen and a tablet sized 7.6 inch 120Hz foldable brings the best of both worlds in to one.

Folded the Galaxy Z Fold6 is easily pocketable, but still I find the cover screen a little too narrow for daily use.

Opening it up is where it’s at, and where you’ll get more use with split screen apps, mobile gaming, excellent mobile photography and more.

Under the hood the model in this review has 256GB storage, 12GB RAM, a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor and 4400 mAh battery.

The rear facing triple cameras come in at 50MP wide, 10MP telephoto and a 12MP ultrawide. For your selfies you have two options, the cover screen pin hole camera is 10MP while the 4MP one is hidden under the foladable display.

It’s fair to say here that while the photo’s that the Fold6 takes are clear, detailed Samsung has held back a bit on the mega-pixel count for it’s lenses in the Fold series.

Video recording does have 8K, which matches their other flagships in the S Series.

The 120Hz refresh is brilliant for high end mobile gaming and as always having that pixel perfect foldable tablet display takes your game to the next level.

The Galaxy Z Fold6 has the goods for some serious Triple A games on Android and Xbox Cloud.

Given the more screen real estate you can multi-task like a pro. The prior mentioned split screen apps allow you to work on one side while streaming media on the other.

Combine this with Samsung’s new AI, where you can circle and search, edit your pics like a professional getting AI to do the tricky stuff, translate languages and more, the Galaxy Z Fold6 is a one stop smartphone / tablet hybrid that does everything… except last the distance.

On average use you’ll definitely a full day on a full charge. While battery life always depends on what you use your smartphone for, when mobile gaming, the Fold6 battery just wasn’t able to keep up. From full charge and two hours of Diablo Immortal the phone was almost drained.

This said, the graphics and gameplay were stellar on the fold screen.

And while I’ve mentioned that the Galaxy Z Fold6 is thinner and lighter than previous models, it’s also very pleasing to see that when folded the phone is flush without any gaps.

If you’ve jumped on the foldable screen bandwagon already then the Fold6 is a definite and worthy upgrade. However, if you’re still on the fence about owning a fold device, this year’s model is likely to be the one to give you that push in to the phone / tablet category.

Slim, light and with enough screen for anything you want to do on a phone, the Galaxy Z Fold6 is mastery when it comes to foldables.

The post Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Samsung’s Galaxy A Series has been the pocket friendly price point without compromising too much on the specs.

This year’s offering holds true to this with a new range of A Series smartphones releasing.

STG received both the Samsung Galaxy A35 5G and Galaxy A55 to review and compare.

On first glance both smartdevices are very similar. Both offering up some killer camera’s that way higher priced devices don’t quite come close to, all the while not sparing too much on the inner workings to get you through a day… or three.

However  when put to real-world use and the covers virtually removed, the Galaxy A35 5G and the Galaxy A55 are different and of course have differing price-points.

Both A Series smartphones come with a 6.6 inch AMOLED screen with a brightly detailed 120Hz refresh rate.

Storage on either phone has 128GB, but the RAM differs, of course. The Galaxy A55 being the beefier 8GB RAM and the Galaxy A35 5G coming in at 6GB.

Depending on what you use your smartphone for, this may or may not be a clincher for you. For example, the Galaxy A55 was able to play high quality mobile games at ease while the Galaxy A35 5G struggled.

Both the Galaxy A35 5G and Galaxy A55 offer some impressive cameras.

While the Galaxy A55 has a 50MP wide main camera and a 5MP Macro, same as the Galaxy A35 5G, the difference comes in at the secondary camera. The Galaxy A55’s 12MP ultra-wide vs. the Galaxy A35 5G’s 8MP.

There’s a huge difference between the selfies camera’s too. A mega 32MP ‘selfie’ camera on the Galaxy A55 whereas the Galaxy A35 5G was whittled down to 13MP.

In some scenarios this is likely to affect the level of detail when using the front camera.

Camera modes on offer were pretty much the same, and produced very similar results in both light and dark environments.

Samsung Galaxy A35 5G – Portrait mode

Interestingly my pick of the two devices when it came to camera specs vs. pricepoint was the Galaxy A35 5G.

The Galaxy A55 was a lot more fluid to use with its Exynos 1480. I found that the Exynos 1380 on the Galaxy A35 5G caused a wee bit of lag and sluggishness at times with general use. It also seems to be this difference in processor (and RAM) that came in to play with the ability to use either smartphone for console quality gaming.

Powering you through a day, or more on both is a 5,000 mAh battery.

This was excellent on both the Galaxy A55 and A35 5G, the Galaxy A35 lasting the longest, likely this was due to the phone’s inability for hardcore gaming, limiting its all-round use.

For general use either smartphone is easily going to get you through a couple of days on a full charge.

It can be confusing when you’re looking to upgrade your phone and figuring out which is right for you. There’s a few models in the Samsung Galaxy A Series, from the highest to the lowest, and it will also depend on your budget too.

If you’re considering a Samsung Galaxy A Series, we have compared one of the higher models to one of the lowest, and as you’ll see the differences can be minimal but at the same time restrictive for what you may need from your smartphone.

Either way, which ever smartphone tier you choose it comes down to what you use your phone for and I can definitely say that both the Galaxy A55 and Galaxy A35 5G are worth their respective price tags.

You actually get more than what you pay for with Samsung’s Galaxy A Series.

The post Samsung Galaxy A35 5G vs. A55 Comparison appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

There’s no denying that Samsung’s A Series offers value for money.

Whether you go to the higher end, like the Galaxy A55, or opt for the more price friendly lower device, you’re still going to get some impressive specs for your dollars.

Samsung’s Galaxy A35 5G is of similar ilk to it’s bigger sibling, having the vivid AMOLED 6.6 inch display with a 120Hz refresh, a 128GB internal storage (expandable by way of microSD card), but with a lesser 6GB RAM.

Getting you through your daily tasks and photo snaps is a Exynos 1380 processor. Which is enough for light to average users.

The Galaxy A35 5G is not a phone built for console quality mobile gaming though, as it struggled with even the lighter side of high quality games.

But if you’re in the market for a Galaxy A35 5G you’re probably not going to play much more than a light casual game on your phone every now and then. And for this, it’s fine.

Camera chops are impressive.

There’s three cameras at the back, a 50MP wide main camera, joined with a 8MP ultra-wide and a 5MP macro.

The x10 zoom doesn’t tend to lose focus or become grainy and the macro shots are superb.

Night time was okay in a pitch black setting but reminiscent of the same results I experienced with the Galaxy A55.

Samsung Galaxy A35 5G – Macro mode

For your breathtaking selfies you have a decent 13MP lens. And within the handful of camera modes on offer, is ‘Fun’ mode. Clearly this is slated at a certain demographic.

Both front and rear record vids at 4K. Now when you compare that to other way more expensive models and brands, the Galaxy A35 an excellent vloggers smartphone.

Powering the Galaxy A35 5G is a 5,000mAh battery.

Interestingly I was able to get more longevity from the Galaxy A35 5G than I did it’s more beefier sibling.

While hardcore gaming was an almost no-go, day to day use got me through a couple of days real easy.

Samsung Galaxy A35 5G – x10 zoom

If you’re a bit more on the lighter side with your smartphone use, the Galaxy A35 5G should get you through a few days, making it super reliable.

The Galaxy A35 5G is designed for the either the younger market, or those that are not going to do anything too heavy on their smartdevice. It will definitely keep up with you day and night and offers up some very impressive mobile photography results at a very low price point.

The post Samsung Galaxy A35 5G (2024) Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

With the glitz and glamour of the top shelf models of Samsung’s smartphone lineup it’s easy to overlook the middle tier, the A Series.

You shouldn’t. The Samsung A Series Android phones have a lot of bang for your buck, and at a budget friendly price tag.

This years Galaxy A55 bring us an Android based smartphone with some killer specs.

Coming in at 6.6 inch, near-to all AMOLED screen, the nicely rounded squared edges are beautifully finished off with a dust and water resistant aluminium frame.

Around the back there’s a triple camera which sees a generous 50MP wide lens coupled with a 12MP ultra-wide and a 5MP macro.

The front ‘selfie’ camera comes in at a whopping 32MP. For the social media divas and video bloggers this is an absolute  dream front facing camera.

More on that 5MP Macro lens though.

Smartphone manufacturers often forget about macro photography, or they include it but it doesn’t quite get the technical love it should. Not so with the Galaxy A55.

Using Macro mode on the camera you can get some super detailed close-ups.

Night mode was a bit hit and miss though. It does pull in light or light up an environment in a pitch black scene. However it’s not as lit up as Samsung’s S Series smartphones and I found that the Galaxy A55 tended to struggle to give a true replication of a ‘normal’ lit environment, by way of adding in an almost rainbow array of colours in to a shot to illuminate it.

The inner specs of the Galaxy A55 are not to be sniffed at.

While the internal storage is low at 128GB you can boost this by way of a microSD card (something I wish we would see come back in the S Series).

There’s 8GB RAM to keep you multitasking like a pro, and this is beneficial when it comes to some more heavy weight tasks that you may put the Galaxy A55 through.

The processor, a Exynos 1480, is most definitely not a Snapdragon Gen 2 or 3 for sure, but it is able to hold its own very well, even with console quality mobile gaming.

Infact I did not have any technical lag or issues with games I tried on the Galaxy A55 – and if you’re going to get yourself one of these the inner specs are more than enough for day to day use and snapping pics and vids.

Battery life was mixed. The Galaxy A55 has a 5,000mAh powercell and for the average user this will likely get you through a couple of days before requiring a charge up.

Day to day use for me, who tends to be a little heavier, definitely got me through an entire day, morning to night, however when it came to mobile gaming the battery depleted quicker than I had expected.

While I wouldn’t recommend for lengthy gaming sessions, the Galaxy A55 is one of the best mobile photography phones you can get without the hefty price tag.

It’s almost up there with some of the more expensive handsets, even offering a better camera than some, yet its affordability puts the Galaxy A55 makes it accessible to most.

There’s no need to need to substitute or suffer a downgrade with the Galaxy A55, it has almost the same chops as a top shelf smartphone.

The post Samsung Galaxy A55 (2024) Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra is big, bold and one epic Android tablet.

Built, designed to be a powerhouse of multitasking, entertainment, creativity and even gaming.

Last year I put my laptop aside and took on the challenge of using the Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra as my daily driver for a time. Now I’m doing the same with the Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra.

Everything from this feature that I am writing up on STG, through to image and video editing, spreadsheeting and more the Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra can handle it all.

Given the specs of the tablet with its 14.6 inch AMOLED screen, 12GB RAM and a Snapdragon Gen 2 processor it’s got the grunt to handle whatever you throw at it, including console quality gaming.

The Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra, although given it’s mega size, is no different to taking a laptop out with you, except, it’s thinner and lighter. I do recommend having the keyboard case, as I do for this write up. It makes your digital tablet’ing life a lot easier.

The official keyboard case for the Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra is missing the trackpad though, so you’ll need to still use the tablets touchscreen, or the S Pen to open apps and navigate around.

I’m not too sure what the motive was for removing it and it’s something I’m hoping comes back with the next Galaxy tablet keyboard case.

The Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra that I was loaned from Samsung has 256B storage. This is their entry level Tab S9 Ultra. The 256GB was more than enough – this said, you can add a microSD to expand that storage. I also tried this with a 1.5TB memory card.

The Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra is also Samsung’s first water resistant top shelf tablet. If you’re out and about and get caught in a downpour you’ll be fine.

Samsung generously include a S Pen with their Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra.

If you’re a creative, or someone who needs to take a lot of notes, this is a must have. As with the tablet itself, the S Pen is also water resistant and it is so fluid to use – to the likes of  a real pen. Translating your handwriting in to text, which is mostly accurate.

Using the Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra for video calls with family and friends is also perfect. I did take a few video calls during my time on the tablet as a laptop replacement, the dual 12MP front cameras are picture perfect, super clear. There is also a 13MP wide and 8MP ultra-wide set of lenses at the rear.

Using the Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra as a laptop replacement was an almost seamless transition. The only break from the norm was the absence of the trackpad.

However, it is super fast, the ability to multi-window on the one screen and having that S Pen ended up being a much needed accessory.

If you’re looking to change out your laptop for something a bit lighter to move around with, but gives you the same core functionality, the Galaxy Tab S9 tends to be more reliable, a long battery life (up to 9 hours via its 11200 mAh battery) and full circle functionality with killer sounding built-in speakers.

A beast of a tablet, the Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra is more than a tablet, it is a full production suite that’s ready to go when you are.

The post Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra as a Laptop Replacement appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

As a new year rolls around, so does a new dawn of flagship smart phone releases.

In traditional form Samsung kicks of the new year right with their release of the Galaxy S Series.

True it really doesn’t seem that it was 12 months ago we saw the S23, S23+ and S23 Ultra 5G hit the store shelves. But, it was and my how things have evolved.

And an evolution is exactly what we have with the largest and beefier Galaxy S24 Ultra 5G.

As they showcased at CES 2024, the new series of smartphones has adopted the use of AI (Artificial Intelligence).

But first, the specs.

Across all of the new S24 Series, 256GB is the lowest, with Samsung very wisely dropping any 128GB variations.

Knowing that smart phone users that like to adopt the higher end phones will most definitely make use of the camera. A lot. And without the option of microSD expansion for some years now, 128GB is simply swallowed up too quick by vids and pics.

The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra 5G is powered by the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. Built to handle the most extreme workload, high end mobile games, all the while keeping cool and calm and not impede on battery consumption.

Samsung offered up the same amount of RAM as last year at 12GB, which is fair and definitely more than you may ever need. This is I hope will see an increase in the next models, as other flagship manufacturers (excluding Apple) are adopting 16 to 18GB, or the provision to be able to utilize storage space to expand the RAM.

We see WiFi 6 compatibility on the S24 Ultra 5G, but it missed out on the WiFi 7 upgrade / future proofing.

Cameras are of course what makes the Galaxy S Series the front runner in the entire Samsung smart device line up.

The rear sees four cameras in the signature layout that makes the Ultra unique.

Your main lens is a 200MP wide, accompanied by a 50MP periscope telephoto, an additional 10MP telephoto and a 12MP ultrawide.

For those breathtaking selfies you get a 12MP wide pinhole lens, which completely minimizes the impact on the full screen view.

The space zoom has been retained at 100x zoom and this has been improved on even more by way of being easier and steadier to use. The Galaxy S24 Ultra 5G also has an excellent macro.

And speaking of screen, it is a vivid 6.8 inch AMOLED with a 120Hz refresh (perfect for gaming) and with HDR10+.

But there is no curve at the sides. While the body of the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra 5G is rounded for the comfort being held in one’s hand, the screen is edge to edge without the wrapping on either side.

As Samsung did a few years ago now with the discontinuation of their Note series, the S24 Ultra 5G comes with its very own S Pen. This comfortably clicks in to the titanium body of the phone, and Samsung’s One UI will detect when it’s being removed and offer up the usual writing and drawing options that we have seen in prior top shelf S Series, including air action where you can use your S Pen to remotely control your S24 Ultra 5G.

The S Pen is as fluid as ever when writing and is to the likes of a real ink pen when transcribing, which can be natively converted to text via the device’s AI.

So more on that now.

Samsung have always had the most robust and option rich video and picture editor in any smartphone I have used and reviewed.

Now you can utilize AI magic for your snaps. Circle and search is taking a pic of an item or object and using Samsung’s own cloud AI to search the web for that specific item, with an astounding level of accuracy.

Want to remove an ex partner or a photo bomber from a pic. You can!By outlining the object (or person) you want to remove Samsung’s AI will process the entire image and try to fill in the background where the object or person was.

In my tests, it worked, sure, but for the most part was still relatively obvious something had been masked.

The more successful AI image feature was the moving of objects or people, essentially cutting them out of the frame and moving them to a different place within the image.

With the S24 Ultra 5G you no longer need smart photo editing apps. It’s all on the device.

Depending on whether you are using WiFi at home or mobile data will reflect how long the AI processing takes as it processes in the cloud. This is free for now, but there is word out there that eventually it will require a subscription to use the AI features. Makes sense, all other photo editing apps are on subs.

AI is not only limited to your photo’s. It’s also a travelers best friend.

The Samsung AI on the S24 ultra will translate languages in real time, whether that is via a phone call, or person to person.

No longer will you have awkward ‘lost in translation’ moments when on an OE.

Powering this AI infused multi-purpose, multi-taskable beast is a decent sized 5, 000 mAh battery with 45 watt fast charging (via a power brick not supplied), 15 watt wireless and 4.5 watt reverse charging (for charging up your Galaxy Buds.

Battery life is a mixed bag but is on the positive side.

For general use you’re likely to get a couple of days out of a full charge. Gaming decreases this of course. For daily use (and I am not a light mobile user) I was able to squeeze out two and a half days on a full charge.

A few gaming sessions (approx. 6 hours in total) shaved off 30% which is good going (games played are Call of Duty Mobile and Diablo Immortal).

8K video recording seemed to cause no stress on the battery after 10 to 20 minutes of footage recorded. Power damage was completely minimal, around 5%.

If you’re a light to mid user you’re going to be fine if you forget to charge your Galaxy S24 Ultra 5G overnight.

Heavy user or a serious mobile gamer, you should make it through a full day, easy.

The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra 5G has taken a leap in to the future of smart mobiles and set the path and expectations for what we can now expect from a smartphone going forward.

In some respects I feel that the AI is still in an early stage, but in others it excels beyond expectations.

The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra 5G is more than a smartphone. It offers up an entire suite of functionality that no other device can currently, making it the one-stop go-to.

A worthy upgrade or a must own device.

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