Samsung Galaxy A25 5G review: Nearly Nailed It

Price When Reviewed

$299.99

Best Prices Today: Samsung Galaxy A25 5G

Its flagship Galaxy S24 series might get most of the fanfare, but Samsung continues to quietly pump out affordable smartphones. One of its new models for 2024 is the Galaxy A25 5G. 

This handset is yours for just £249/$299, and brings features such as a large and bright 120Hz AMOLED screen, 50Mp main camera, claims of two-day battery life and, of course, 5G connectivity.

Previous Galaxy A series phones have offered very good value for money, and with the Galaxy A25 5G catching up with 2023’s Galaxy A34 in many ways for a lower price, it looks like being more of the same here.

Design & Build 

• Plastic and glass combo 
• Three colourways 
• No waterproofing 

There’s not a huge amount to say about the design of the Galaxy A25 5G, as it very much follows on from previous phones in the series.  

That is to say that it echoes the styling of Samsung’s flagship Galaxy S24 range, just with a few small tweaks here and there. 

One of the big ones is the choice of materials, with a plastic back and frame here. The front is glass, but Samsung doesn’t specify what type, and that’s perhaps no surprise, given it picked up several light scratches within two weeks. Note that they are only visible when the screen is off and when reflecting light. 

Overall, it’s got the distinctive look of a Samsung handset, particularly the trio of rear cameras in what I like to call a port-hole style and arrangement.  

It’s the pattern on the back that makes the Galaxy A25 stand out, for better or worse. The shiny grid made up of tiny squares is not to my taste, looking like a close-up view of a television’s LEDs and reminiscent of those opaque privacy windows you get dotted around in schools. 

I’m testing the ‘Blue’ version here, which seems to show up the pattern more than the other colourways of ‘Blue Black’ and ‘Yellow’.  

The shiny grid made up of tiny squares is not to my taste, looking like a close-up view of a television’s LEDs

Although the device feels sturdy and has survived a drop from the arm of my sofa to a laminate floor with no issues, you might want to put a case on. Of course, this will also cover up the rear pattern if you’re not so keen.

I would recommend this not only to cover up the pattern on the back, but also to improve grip, as the Galaxy A25 is on the slippery side.

A small design thing I like is that the frame is slightly raised where the volume and power buttons are. The latter is where you’ll find the fingerprint scanner, which works well, but the power button has a very loud and annoying click when you press it. 

In size and weight, the Galaxy A25 is almost identical to the iPhone 15 Plus (which I had in for review at the same), so it’s a big and heavy phone, but nothing unusual. Just bear this in mind if you’re looking for something compact and easy to handle. 

I’m glad to to see a 3.5mm headphone jack, but the Galaxy A25 5G doesn’t have any kind of official dust or waterproofing. 

We don’t normally mention it in a non-flagship phone review but the vibration motor for haptic feedback is particularly weak here, providing a buzzy and cheap feel. 

Screen & Speakers 

• 6.5-inch AMOLED 
• 120Hz refresh rate 
• Stereo speakers 

Apart from slightly smaller diagonal dimensions, the display on the Galaxy A25 5G is the same as last year’s Galaxy A34. 

The hand-me-down effect means you get a 6.5-inch AMOLED panel with a Full HD+ (2340 x 1080) resolution and 120Hz refresh rate. It’s punchy, colourful, detailed and bright, meaning it’s one of the best screens you’ll find on a phone in the budget market. 

I measured it at 405 nits with automatic brightness off and at ‘full’, but Samsung says it can reach a whopping 1000 nits. It’s certainly much easier to see outdoors in bright light than many rivals. 

You can also switch on the Eye Comfort Shield mode, which aims to reduce blue light. I can’t vouch for its scientific effectiveness, but it’s there if you want to use it. 

That 120Hz refresh rate (double the standard rate) makes for a smooth overall experience, and you can switch it down to 60Hz if you like, which will extend battery life a little. It’s a shame there’s no dynamic mode, where the phone can automatically switch between the two depending on what you’re doing. 

It’s one of the best screens you’ll find on a phone in the budget market

Like most smartphones (even budget ones), the Galaxy A25 has stereo speakers. They sound decent and there’s a good amount of volume available too. 

Dolby Atmos is supported on the phone, but you’ll have to dive into the settings menu to switch it on. I personally don’t find it adds anything when listening from the built in speakers, and can often make the sound worse. However, it might help when you have headphones plugged in (there’s a 3.5mm jack here), depending on how good they are.

Specs & Performance 

• Exynos 1280 chipset
• 6GB RAM 
• 128GB storage 
• Micro-SD card slot 

Under the hood here is Samsung’s own Exynos 1280. It’s 2022 mid-range chipset that’s also found in previous devices such as the Galaxy A33 and A53 so it’s a trickledown situation here. While relatively old, this is still an octo-core processor built on a 5nm process. 

If that means nothing to you don’t worry – the main takeaway it’s powerful enough to run the phone well enough for daily use. Just don’t expect to do any advanced gaming on it or complicated tasks like intense video editing – it’s a budget phone, after all. 

There’s a reasonable but not impressive 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, though unlike a lot of rivals there’s a Micro-SD card slot for adding more space (up to 1TB) if needed.

Samsung’s website mentions an 8/256GB model, but I can’t see this on sale anywhere at the time of writing.

Samsung Galaxy A25 5G benchmarks 

In terms of other specs, there’s nothing out of the ordinary. As the name suggests, this is a 5G capable phone, but this is fairly common in 2024 especially at the top end of the budget market. 

Otherwise, you get the usual array of Wi-Fi 5, Bluetooth 5.3, GPS and NFC.  

Cameras 

• 50Mp main camera 
• 8Mp ultrawide 
• 2Mp macro 
• 13Mp selfie 

The Galaxy A25 has a typical lineup of cameras for a budget smartphone in 2024.  

It’s a familiar story where the main camera is high resolution 50Mp sensor, but pixel-bins down to a smaller megapixel count (12.5Mp in this case). Then there’s a lower resolution ultrawide shooter and a mostly pointless macro lens. 

At the front, in a teardrop notch, is the middling resolution selfie camera – here it’s a 13Mp sensor.

Performance is a similar story as well, so you’ll get some reasonable and decent results in good, mainly outdoor, lighting conditions. Just don’t expect the A25 to come up with usable shots no matter where you are or time of day. 

You’ll take most of your photos with the main camera, which is good, but nothing special. I found it fine to use in point-and-shoot situations, though was surprised by the amount of shots that were underexposed. It’s also not the kind of phone that finds it easy to keep up with my always-on-the-move daughter.

As long as you have enough light, it’s one of the best budget phones for shooting video

A mode simply called ‘Fun’ in the camera caught my attention, but it’s simple a selection of Snapchat filters and needs an internet connection to work.  

The ultrawide camera fits more in, of course, but at the sacrifice of quality and you also can’t escape the fish-eye distortion at the edges.

A 2Mp macro lens is really there to bump up the number of cameras so the phone sounds more impressive. We’ve seen it countless times from almost every manufacturer and this one is no different.

It’s sort of fun to play around with on occasion, but the fixed focus makes it difficult to get the subject sharp and the resolution is so low that it’s not really worth the effort anyway.  

The selfie camera is impressive, and the portrait mode does a reasonable job too, again when you have good lighting. It might appear to have an ultrawide camera alongside it, but that’s an illusion – it’s simply cropped in to begin with.

At a possible 4K/30fps, video recording is more impressive than you might expect and there’s even OIS (optical image stabilisation) on board to keep things as steady as possible.

I would personally stick to Full HD/60fps but quality is good. As long as you have enough light, it’s one of the best budget phones for shooting video. 

Battery Life & Charging 

• 5000mAh capacity
• 25W charging 
• No charging in box 

Though a 5000mAh battery is about average size for a modern smartphone, Samsung says the Galaxy A25 5G can last two days. 

I’ve personally found that to be true and you are likely to as well, provided you’re not using the handset for lots of gaming or other demanding tasks. Of course, heavy usage with things like personal hotspot and high brightness will take its toll, but this is an all-day phone at the very least.

In our usual PCMark for Android battery test, the Galaxy A25 lasted a reasonable but not special 10 hours and 34 minutes. 

This is an all-day phone at the very least

Wired charging at 25W (there’s no wireless charging, of course) might not sound impressive, but it actually matches the flagship Galaxy S24. That might seem impressive on the surface, especially when Samsung claims this is “Super Fast Charging”, but it’s not really.  

Samsung doesn’t supply an adapter in the box either. That’s good for the environment, but you may need to factor in buying one. Using one I had it home, it reached just 32% in 30 minutes.

Software & Apps 

• Android 14 
• One UI 6 
• Long software support 

It’s refreshing to see a budget phone come with the latest version of Android at the time of writing. That’s Android 14, albeit with Samsung’s One UI 6 skin over the top.

Samsung’s interface looks good and is, most importantly, easy to use. Plus, there are features like the sidebar that you might find useful daily. Here, you can keep favourite apps and contacts so they are only a quick swipe away. 

As well as features like Link to Windows (for quick sharing with a Windows PC), the company also adds many of its own such as Smart Switch (for moving everything from your old phone), Quick Share (for instant sharing with other Samsung devices) and Multi control (use mouse and keyboard of one device to control another, and drag files between them).

Samsung’s interface looks good and is, most importantly, easy to use

Things aren’t great everywhere, though, with a lot of pre-installed apps, also known as bloatware. I’m sure some apps appeared despite me opting against them during setup.

You get the likes of Temu, CrossWord Jam and TikTok for starters, not to mention others from Microsoft and Facebook. Thankfully, you can uninstall the vast majority. 

Samsung also provides excellent software support. Where rivals may only update the Android version two or three times, your Galaxy A25 will get up to four, along with up to five years of security patches. It’s not quite Galaxy S24 levels, but not far off.

Price & Availability 

As mentioned at the top, the Galaxy A25 5G will set you back £249 in the UK. This gets you 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage.  

Samsung’s website also mentions possibilities of 8GB RAM and 256GB storage, but there’s only one model to choose from once you hit ‘buy’. 

You can buy it direct from Samsung, or via Amazon or Currys.  

Those in the US will have to fork out $299.99 from Samsung, Amazon and BestBuy, where…