More modern design with flat frame and no IP certificate
Before dealing with the hardware and camera performance of the phone, which is probably more important to you than any other part, it might be better to talk about the differences between the Galaxy A25 and the previous generation and its similarities with the Galaxy A35 and even the Galaxy A55. The main difference between the phone and the previous generation is the Key Island design and the use of a flat frame. For me, the flat frame feels much better than the curved frames. If you agree, then be happy that Samsung has abandoned the curved frame and given it a more modern design in its new budget phone.
Thanks to the Key Island design language we talked about in detail in our Galaxy A55 review, the frame is gone from curved to completely flat; But the part that hosts the power and volume control keys is still curved. The plastic frame of the phone and the notch of the selfie camera on the screen do not allow the phone to look like a premium phone even from a distance; Especially now that even lower competitors such as Redmi Note 13 4G use a hole in the display to implement a selfie camera.
Samsung is not yet ready to go beyond the teardrop notch of the selfie camera
The plasticity of the frame and the back of the phone is not so bad, and although we probably all agree that the metal frame and glass back panel feel much better, we can (and have to!) see the glass as half full; Because the plasticity of the frame, in addition to the issue of price control, which is doubly important for budget phones, makes the phone lighter compared to its older brothers, and the A25 owes its weight of 197 grams to this choice.
The size of the phone does not make you experience a very interesting feeling when you hold it, and so to speak, you are not on the side of a comfortable phone; So don’t just be happy with the lightness of the phone and consider this important issue as well. It’s worth noting that the A25 lacks any IP rating for official protection against dust and water, and there’s no mention of a screen protector; So don’t forget the glass and cover to protect the phone.
The Galaxy A25 lacks any IP rating for official protection against dust and water
The colors of Samsung phones are always one of their strong points. In the case of the Galaxy A25, we had the Blackish Navy for review; But there are other options such as light blue and lemon yellow to choose from. The design on the back of the phone is also not smooth and polished, and a subtle chess-like pattern can be seen on its surface; Of course, this pattern is very subtle and can hardly be seen from a distance. Fortunately, fingerprints and grease do not remain on the body.
Another major difference that can be seen in the design of the Galaxy A25 with the recent mid-range models of Samsung is the implementation of the fingerprint sensor, which is located on the power button (and not under the display) just like the previous generation.
In addition to the important things that I have mentioned, the thing that can be seen in the design department and is probably considered good news for many people is the presence of a 3.5 mm audio jack, which is a rare phenomenon in the world of smartphones these days; So, if you’re using wired headphones for whatever reason, you won’t need to buy a USB adapter to connect them to your phone.
On the lower edge of the Galaxy A25 frame, there is a USB 2.0 Type-C port, a 3.5 mm audio jack and the main channel of the stereo speakers, which is one of the main differences of the phone compared to the mono speaker of the previous generation. These speakers are located on the bottom edge of the frame and the top edge of the screen (in the form of a conversational speaker), respectively. The quality of sound reproduction in the middle and high frequencies is very satisfactory and similar to Galaxy A34; But the same cannot be said about low frequencies. In terms of sound volume, we evaluate the performance of the speakers as normal and not great.
120Hz OLED display with wide bezels
There is no big change in the display of the Galaxy A25 compared to the previous generation. Samsung used the same 6.5-inch OLED screen used in the Galaxy A24 and assigned a resolution of 2340 x 1080 pixels to it. Unfortunately, we still see the Infinity-U cut in the upper part of the screen, which is a bit disappointing. It seems that Samsung is not yet ready to move past this kind of undesirable design and cares more about cost reduction than other issues.
Although Samsung has increased the screen-to-body ratio from 82.4% to 84.2%, the Galaxy A25 still has relatively wide margins, especially at the bottom of the screen, and this is another factor that makes Samsung’s budget phones different from mid-range and flagship phones. will be
Apart from the things that have not seen any changes compared to the previous generation or their changes are not very noticeable, Galaxy A25 now has a refresh rate of 120 Hz, which leads to smoother user experience and is a big step compared to the 90 Hz refresh rate of the previous generation. Samsung says the brightness of the display will reach 1000 nits in the best case; A number that on paper is equal to the Galaxy A35 and A55.
Galaxy A25 front view
Watch movies with Galaxy A25
In the usual Zoomit tests, which are done with a 50% raster standard (50% white screen and 50% black screen), the brightness of the display exceeded Samsung’s claim and reached 1620 nits in automatic mode. In manual mode, we obtained the screen brightness of 570 nits, which seems sufficient for use in indoor environments.
Samsung Galaxy A25 displays sRGB color space in Natural profile with 99.3% coverage and DCI-P3 color space in Vivid profile with 100% coverage. Color accuracy in the Natural profile is in much better condition compared to the Vivid profile with an average error of 2.4, the colors are closer to reality and almost neutral; While in the Vivid profile, the colors tend to be relatively cold. It is not surprising that there is no information about 10-bit color depth and the screen displays about 16 million colors.
Galaxy A25’s optimal performance thanks to the A53 chip
Samsung has assigned the Exynoas 1280 to fulfill the processing requirements of the Galaxy A25. This chip, whose production goes back to 2022, is produced with Samsung’s own 5 nm lithography, and in the CPU section, eight cores including 2 Cortex A78 cores with a working frequency of 2.4 GHz and 6 Cortex A55 cores with a working frequency of 2.0 GHz. They accompany
To check the performance of the A25 chip, as always, we went to the usual Zoomit tests. Before anything else, one thing that stands out in the results is that Samsung seems to be extracting more performance from the Exynos 1280; Because compared to the Galaxy A53 based on the same chip, we see a better performance, even though the Galaxy A53 is currently sold several million Tomans more expensive than the A25.
Looking at the benchmark table, we notice that the Galaxy A25 has a slight difference with the Redmi Note 13 Pro 4G in the field of multi-core processing; But in single-core processing, it appears about 32% stronger, which means that you can get faster performance from the Samsung phone in everyday and normal use.
In addition to the improvement of the central processor, the Mali-G6 graphics processor in the Galaxy A25 also experiences an improvement of almost 2 times compared to the previous generation, but since we are on the side of a budget phone, we cannot expect high frame rates in games; However, for some people, the fact that the phone can run games like PUBG and Call of Duty with an acceptable frame rate will be a welcome news. Can we expect the same from A25?
Game with Galaxy A25
In medium graphics settings (HD resolution), you can run PUBG with a frame rate of 30 fps. The heavy game Genshin Impact can also be run with low graphics settings (Low) with a frame rate of 37 fps. The Call of Duty game also provides you with a smooth and satisfying experience in High graphics settings. Don’t forget that stereo speakers also play a big role in improving the gaming experience compared to the previous generation.
Looking at the benchmark table, we notice that the Galaxy A25 has a slight difference with the Redmi Note 13 Pro 4G in the field of multi-core processing; But in single-core processing, it appears about 32% stronger, which means that you can get faster performance from the Samsung phone in everyday and normal use.
In addition to the improvement of the central processor, the Mali-G6 graphics processor in the Galaxy A25 also experiences an improvement of almost 2 times compared to the previous generation, but since we are on the side of a budget phone, we cannot expect high frame rates in games; However, for some people, the fact that the phone can run games like PUBG and Call of Duty with an acceptable frame rate will be a welcome news. Can we expect the same from A25?
Game with Galaxy A25
In medium graphics settings (HD resolution), you can run PUBG with a frame rate of 30 fps. The heavy game Genshin Impact can also be run with low graphics settings (Low) with a frame rate of 37 fps. The Call of Duty game also provides you with a smooth and satisfying experience in High graphics settings. Don’t forget that stereo speakers also play a big role in improving the gaming experience compared to the previous generation.