Smartphones

Now Brief & Now Bar on the Samsung Galaxy S25 Series

“Human-like AI agent”

Published

January 23, 2025

You’ve likely seen your fair share of sci-fi flicks. You know how in many of them, the main character has some form of Cyber Assistant they talk to summarizing their day, giving them suggestions, and in some instances exchanging in playful banter? The Galaxy S25 series offers some of that with Now Brief and Now Bar.

We’re probably a ways away from the playful banter type. But in terms of offering useful information as well as being conversational, that’s what Now Brief promises and it’ll be displayed through the Now Bar.

The Now Brief will work across the apps installed on your phone. It will learn your schedules, tendencies, priorities, and what not. You can then ask it to do things on your behalf.

In the demo that Samsung showed us, the person received an alert about a meeting the following day. This appeared in the Now Bar that’s a pill-shaped notification-like visual cue on the bottom of the lockscreen.

Without even opening the Galaxy S25, the person asked the phone to move the schedule to another time and it did so. The idea isn’t new and the jury is still out on the actual execution and implementation But it’s a promising tool – one that lets you be more present in your immediate environment.

Working across apps

It’s not just your schedule, too. It can do many things for you like provide or look for restaurant recommendations. Just tell it where to look and what you’re craving.

If you’d rather stay home and cook than eat out, you can take a quick snap of your fridge and it’ll suggest recipes given the ingredients you already have. If you’ve been following Smart Home tech over the years, some Smart Fridges have this function too. Now, your fridge doesn’t have to be that smart, you can just leave it to your Galaxy S25 smartphone.

Samsung said this will work with Google Apps, Galaxy native apps, and select third-party apps.

Now Bar

The Now Bar, available on your lockscreen, will display all of these and more. And you can take actions on supported apps based on what’s being shown.

These can be your schedules, sports scores, navigation, and what not. At first glance it looks like the Dynamic Island moved to the bottom. But that’s an oversimplification. And there’s plenty of AI baked into it to make our lives easier.

Samsung Security

Samsung foresees the security questions users may have given the amount of information that the smartphone learns about you to help aid you better.

The company promises both Cloud and On-device security to make sure all your data is protected.

Double down on AI

The Samsung Galaxy S25 series doubles down on AI. It comes additions and refinements to Galaxy AI along with other improvements in hardware and performance

Circle to Search

Some of the more notable ones include an expanded Circle to Search function. It now anticipates what action you might take with your selection and opens an Edge Panel to help you decide. There’s even two additional two icons: one for finding out the music in your surroundings and another for AI Translate.

Content Creation things

The Samsung Galaxy S25 series adds a 50MP Ultra Wide camera that offers four times better detail than its predecessor.

Meanwhile, you get key additions to your content creation suite with features like Nightography Video that denoises the videos you capture in night and low light shooting conditions.

There’s also Audio Eraser that offers you granular control on the volume of your video. You can adjust the volume levels of Speaker, Music, Wind, Nature, and Crowd.

In addition, you also have Galaxy Log and Virtual Aperture for improved color correction and shot composition.

More content-adjacent AI things are improved Generative Edits (Magic Erase, etc), and a more accurate Portrait Studio.

Hardware and Performance

The entire Galaxy S25 line is equipped with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite SoC that’s especially tuned for Galaxy.

As for hardware changes, the Galaxy S25 series is slimmer and lighter compared to the Galaxy S24 series. The corners and edges have also been rounded for a better grip. For durability, there’s improved titanium and Corning Gorilla Armor 2.

Colorways

The Samsung Galaxy S25 Series come in various color options:

Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra:

Titanium Silverblue, Titanium Whitesilver, Titanium Gray, Titanium Black. With online exclusives being the following: Titanium Blackgold, Titanium Jetblack, Titanium Jadegreen.

Meanwhile, the Galaxy S25+ and Galaxy S25 share the following color options:

Navy, Icyblue, Mint, and Silver Shadow. Online exclusives are: Blueblack, Coralred, and Pinkgold.

Galaxy S25 Series specs:

	Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra	Galaxy S25+	Galaxy S25
Display	6.9-inch QHD+  Dynamic AMOLED 2X Display   Super Smooth 120Hz refresh rate (1~120Hz)    Vision booster  Adaptive color tone	6.7-inch QHD+  Dynamic AMOLED 2X Display    Super Smooth 120Hz refresh rate (1~120Hz)    Vision booster  Adaptive color tone	6.2-inch FHD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2X Display    Super Smooth 120Hz refresh rate (1~120Hz)    Vision booster  Adaptive color tone
Processor	Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy
Camera	50MP Ultra-Wide Camera F1.9, FOV 120˚200 MP Wide Camera OIS F1.7, FOV 85˚50MP Telephoto Camera 5x Optical Zoom, OIS F3.4, FOV 22˚10MP Telephoto Camera 3x Optical Zoom, OIS F2.4, FOV 36˚12MP Front Camera F2.2, FOV 80˚	12MP Ultra-Wide Camera F2.2, FOV 120˚50 MP Wide Camera OIS F1.8, FOV 85˚10MP Telephoto Camera 3x Optical Zoom, F2.4, FOV 36˚12MP Front Camera F2.2, FOV 80˚
Memory & Storage	12GB + 1TB   12 + 512GB   12 + 256GB	12 + 512GB   12 + 256GB	12 + 256GB   12 + 128GB
Battery	5,000 mAh	4,900 mAh	4,000 mAh
Charging	Wired charging: Up to 65% charge in around 30 mins with 45W Adapter and USB C cable Fast Wireless Charging 2.0 Wireless PowerShare	Wired charging: Up to 65% charge in around 30 mins with 45W Adapter and 3A or 5A USB-C cable Fast Wireless Charging 2.0 Wireless PowerShare	Wired Charging: Up to 50% charge in around 30 mins with 25W Adapter and 3A USB-C cable Fast Wireless Charging 2.0 Wireless PowerShare
OS	Android 15 One UI 7
Network and Connectivity	5G, LTE, Wi-Fi , Wi-Fi Direct Bluetooth v 5.4
Water Resistance	IP68

News

Samsung might be working on a rollable phone

It might be called the Galaxy Z Slide.

Published

June 30, 2026

Luigi Leonardo

For Apple, the next holy grail is a foldable iPhone. However, for Samsung who’s already had an iron grip on the foldable market for years now, the next evolution might be a rollable phone.

According to several Korean sources, Samsung’s next project is a rollable phone. Samsung Display is currently discussing the technology with the company’s smartphone arm for a potential consumer-ready product.

As is normal with new technologies, it might take a while for a rollable phone to enter the market. Samsung is reportedly planning a 2028 release for the device.

As for the name, the brand might settle for the Galaxy Z Slide. With how Samsung names its devices, “Slide” makes sense.

Now, a rollable phone has been a dream for a few other brands. For example, LG, before they gave up on the smartphone market, dished out a concept for a rollable display in the TV and the smartphone space. Sony, Motorola, OPPO, and TECNO have also experimented with the technology.

With its resources, Samsung stands to be at the forefront of the rollable market, just as it did with the foldable phone. But, as always, take the rumors with a grain of salt. There’s still quite a bit of time before 2028 arrives. The brand can easily change its mind.

News

Android is finally getting a foldable gaming mode

It’s coming in the next few months.

Published

June 29, 2026

Luigi Leonardo

On today’s episode of “We Can’t Believe It Took Them This Long to Add This,” Android is finally introducing a native foldable gaming mode for smartphone with two screens.

Foldable smartphones have been around for a while now. Despite the popularity of the form factor today, they are, ironically, not the best ways to play games. Though they usually have the performance, their designs are hardly conducive to long play sessions. They don’t feel like handheld consoles; they are more like thick slabs without built-in buttons.

Over the weekend, Mishaal Rahman, now working with Google, has unveiled a new foldable gaming mode, which natively turns one of a foldable’s screens into a gamepad.

It’s a complete gamepad, too. The feature adds a D-pad, two thumbsticks, A-B-X-Y action buttons, L1-L3, R1-R3, and Start. Users can manually adjust the layout, the size of the buttons, haptics, and dark mode. The only drawbacks are that the gamepad is currently locked to 50 percent of the screen (or one of the displays) and that you can’t adjust the transparency.

This is a much needed feature. Most mobile games today offer only single-screen gamepads overlapping the whole screen. Some, of course, can utilize the second screen but not natively. Though developers will still need to adapt to the feature, having a native gamepad is a huge boon for regular mobile gamers.

The foldable gaming mode is expected to roll out starting with Android 17 in the coming months.

News

The vivo X Fold6 is the first foldable to support teleconverter lens

Also boasts the biggest battery and the bestest cameras in any foldable to date

Published

June 26, 2026

Vincenz

Graphics by Vincenz Lee | GadgetMatch

While the rest of the smartphone space wants to divert your attention towards the upcoming wide-style foldables, vivo focuses more on bringing a better and smarter foldable experience with the all-new X Fold6.

The better multitasker

vivo’s software team has invested much of their hard, sweat, and tears by bringing improved multitasking features exclusive for the X Fold6 with the OriginOS 6 Fold.

Graphics by Vincenz Lee | GadgetMatch

Last year’s X Fold5 brought multitasking improvements with the Atomic Workbench feature. Serial Mode was the default layout with a main page and four tasks on the side all displayed in one screen

In this year’s X Fold6, they are introducing a newer “Parallel Mode” layout with in-your-face multitasking experience spliced in several customizable windows à la Mondrian grid.

GIF by Vincenz Lee | GadgetMatch

And it’s not just your typical split-screen divisions with floating windows panes and an adaptive dock, OriginOS 6 Fold promises a more intelligent yet more efficient workspaces never done by other manufacturers in their foldables over the past few years.

GIF by Vincenz Lee | GadgetMatch

There are four basic scenarios provided for the X Fold6:

AI Workbench
Office Workbench
Tourist Workbench
Shopping Workbench

GIF by Vincenz Lee | GadgetMatch

vivo even promises “thousands” of Atomic Workbench app combos for “thousands” of people:

Stock Workbench
Creative Workbench
Watch the Game Workbench
Ticket-grabbing Workbench

If you feel limited by that foldable workspace, connecting the X Fold6 through several display devices such as your monitor or TV enables you a maximized PC mode as well as side-by-side interconnection and collaboration.

GIF by Vincenz Lee | GadgetMatch

Heck, even cross-compatibility between apps and other devices (regardless if iPhone, Android, Windows, or Mac) are all seamless with one another.

The possibilities are just endless with vivo’s latest X-foldable.

And while we’re at it, the vivo X Fold6 sports a 8.02-inch display when unfolded (alongside Samsung’s M14 inner screen luminous material) while 6.51-inch cover display when closed.

Both are LTPO 8T AMOLED adpative 120Hz displays that can reach up to 5000 nits of peak brightness — and as low as 1Hz and 1-nit when deemed useful.

Both screens also have a pixel density of 424ppi with support for 1.07 Billion Colors as well as HDR10+ and Dolby Vision content.

Full-fledged flagship foldable

vivo went all out with the X Fold6 not just in terms of software experience, but also the core hardware found within.

For one, it’s powered by the Dimensity 9500 Super Edition 3nm 8-core SoC paired with an ultra-capable ARM G1 Ultra GPU. Very different from the notorious 2023-made chipset in last year’s X Fold5.

This joint effort by MediaTek and vivo is made to be super energy-efficient not just to support extreme multitasking, but also for these plethora of AI features to be faster and more stabler:

AI Cross-Window Drag and Drop
AI Conference Assistant
AI File Manager

Users also have to pick between 12 or 16GB of LPDDR5X Ultra memory. Meanwhile, its UFS 4.1 storage range between 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB options.

While vivo didn’t dare to beat the likes of the HONOR Magic V6 and OPPO Find N6 when it comes to utmost thinness at 9.4/9.9mm (versus 8.8/9.0mm and 8.9mm respectively), the brand equipped the biggest battery in any foldable so far: a whopping 7000mAh battery capacity.

That’s a 1000mAh increase over last year’s X Fold5.

They even let go of the “lightest foldable” record last year in favor of packing all these flagship-grade components.

Charging speeds remain the same this year: 80W wired FlashCharge plus 40W wireless FlashCharge.

That port also supports the faster USB-C 3.2 Gen2 standard.

Other flagship features include powerful stereo speakers with Dolby Panorama, IP5X dust-resistance plus IPX8 / IPX9 water-resistance ratings. It can also withstand sub-zero temperatures as low as 20ºC or 68ºF.

There’s even vivo’s self-developed 1+4 communication chipset configuration that enhances connectivity even in enclosed or far-flung areas. Satellite Communication Services (in China) never forgotten.

Thrice the ZEISS

The vivo X Fold6 isn’t just a true multitasKING. It probably also boasts the best camera system you can get in any foldable right now.

On paper, vivo’s X Fold6 headlines the Samsung-made 200MP f/1.68 main camera based on their 1/1.14-inch HPB sensor. ICYMI, this is the telephoto module found on the X300 Pro.

The 16mm ultra-wide sensor wasn’t left behind as it’s a 50MP f/2.05 unit with a sensor size of 1/2.76-inch.

Graphics by Vincenz Lee | GadgetMatch

Last but definitely not the least, that 50MP ZEISS APO Super Telephoto camera is powered by Sony’s 1/1.95-inch LYTIA 602 (LYT-602). It features 3x optical zoom (75mm equivalent) and supports as far as 100x digital zoom.

This also doubles as a telephoto macro camera — up to 20x zoom.

The main and zoom lenses have a CIPA 4.5 Professional Grade which means better OIS in shaky scenarios.

All lenses feature the best in class ZEISS T* coating to block all that unwanted glare and flare.

Graphics by Vincenz Lee | GadgetMatch

The once exclusive Blueprint Color Palette feature to the X300 Ultra also makes it debut to the vivo X Fold6.

Teleconverter on a foldable?!

vivo didn’t stop just by bringing that massive camera bump.

As shocking as it seems, the vivo X Fold6 also supports the all-new G2 Teleconverter Lens announced alongside the X300 Ultra and X300 FE.

Graphics by Vincenz Lee | GadgetMatch

Just a reminder that both the old and new 200mm teleconverter lenses will work on the X Fold6.

However, the longer 400mm G2 Ultra teleconverter lens is still exclusive to the X300 Ultra.

Pricing and Availability

The vivo X Fold6 is currently available for pre-orders in China along these colorways: Polar Night, Salt Lake, and Blue Hole.

Graphics by Vincenz Lee | GadgetMatch

There’s also a special Black Gold Edition limited to 16+1TB models.

Pricing and configuration are as follows:

12+256GB = CNY 7999 (US$ 1180 / EUR 1030 / GBP 890 / SG$ 1525 / MYR 4899 / PhP 72,070 / INR 111,800)
12+512GB = CNY 8999 (US$ 1330 / EUR 1160 / GBP 1005 / SG$ 1720 / MYR 5515 / PhP 81,075 / INR 125,775)
16+512GB = CNY 9999 (US$ 1476 / EUR 1290 / GBP 1115 / SG$ 1910 / MYR 6125 / PhP 90,085 / INR 139,750)
16+1TB = CNY 10,999 (US$ 1639 / EUR 1420 / GBP 1225 / SG$ 2090 / MYR 6735 / PhP 99,095 / INR 153,725)
16+1TB with Professional Camera Kit Bundle = CNY 11,999 (US$ 1770 / EUR 1550 / GBP 1340 / SG$ 2290 / MYR 7350 / PhP 108,105 / INR 167,700)

As per usual, vivo didn’t state any availability outside Mainland China. Only time will tell how long global markets have to wait for the X Fold6’s global release.