Welp, this is a blog post I wasn’t expecting to make. Ever since October 2023, I’ve been using a Galaxy Z Flip 5 flip phone as my daily driver, taking it with me from New York to the North Cape. Throughout that time, it has taken everything that daily use could throw at it without ever slowing down. Well, in early March 2026, the Flip finally decided to fold. A seal covering one of the hinges broke away, which exposed the screen and allowed dirt to get into the interior. A few days after the seal broke, the screen followed. The device is still functioning, but the screen is dead.
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| So long and thanks for all the flips 🫡 |
Under normal circumstances, this would be an unpleasant speed bump but nothing more. Unfortunately, I’m currently unemployed and broke, meaning I don’t have any funds available to get another folding phone. I was due an upgrade because my mobile contract was up for renewal, but all of the devices I could get for free were regular smartphones. I was briefly torn between the Nothing Phone 3a and the Samsung Galaxy S25 FE but in the end, the wireless charging capability of the latter phone sealed the deal, as my entire charging infrastructure is centred on Qi wireless charging pads.
What’s up with the FE, you ask? Well, you probably didn’t ask but I’ll answer it anyway, it’s my blog after all. Samsung’s Galaxy FE phones are slightly lower spec versions of Samsung’s flagship phones, designed to give much of the premium experience at a lower price. In the case of the Galaxy S25 FE, this means a screen with a slightly lower resolution display, even though I doubt anyone would be able to tell the difference without the use of a microscope. More importantly though, the phone is equipped with Samsung’s home-brew Exynos 2400 chipset instead of the full fat Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Elite that is used on the regular Galaxy S25. Beyond that, the phone appears to be identical to its flagship counterpart.
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| The Samsung Galaxy S25 FE certainly doesn’t look, or feel, cheap! |
One thing’s for sure, the S25 FE does not look, or feel, like a budget phone. From the moment you unbox it, the phone feels every bit as premium as its non-FE counterparts. There’s no creak at all, the entire thing feels weighty and rock solid and whilst the jet-black colour way I got when I ordered mine is about as exciting as a slice of toast, if doesn’t cheapen the device whatsoever. Setup is as painless as you’d expect, even though transferring all my information over from my old phone did turn out to be a bit of a challenge, what with the screen not working and all. It did take a few hours to do so thoughts, at least for me.
Once everything is set up though, the difference between the S25 FE and its predecessor becomes immediately apparent. For one thing, the blasted thing won’t fold! Seriously, I’ve lost count of how many times I tried to flip the thing shut in the first few days after getting it. On a more serious note, the. S25 FE sports an under-display fingerprint reader, rather than having one integrated into the power button as on the Z Flip. There’s also a slight lip on the bottom end of the phone that’s big enough to be visible whilst not being large enough to allow for a solid grip. The device is also wobbly when set down on a table thanks to its triple camera array at the back.
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| If, like me, you’ve been using devices whose fingerprint scanners are integrated into buttons, and in-display reader like the one on the S25 FE will catch you out once or twice… |
Unfortunately, my device was delivered with a side order of head cold, so it took me about two weeks of downtime before I could really give the device a proper shakedown. However, once out and about, the S25 FE shows itself to be a solid workhorse. On the whole, the device is quick and responsive, and it takes a combination of camera use, mobile hotspot, music streaming via Bluetooth and GPS use for public transport apps like Transit to really make a dent in that battery life. Ever since though, the device has clearly shown itself to be a reliable workhorse. What’s more, the display is bright and vibrant, even outdoors, making readability a non-issue at least here in Ireland where the sun seems to be on a part-time contract. One thing that did take some getting used to for me was the position of the NFC chip at the top of the device, near the camera array. On my old flip phone, this was integrated into the bottom of the device, together with the wireless charging coil. I mostly use my Galaxy Watch for payments these days, so this change caught me out the first time I tried to top up my Leap Card, Ireland’s public transport card.
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| Both regular 15W wireless charging… |
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| …and 5W reverse wireless charging are available on the phone. No Qi2, though… |
Speaking of wireless charging, that S25 FE slotted right into my existing charging infrastructure at home. Be it the dual charger in my home office or the stand-up wireless charger in my bedroom, both work without any issue. Crucially, reverse wireless charging is available as well, meaning that wirelessly topping up my watch or earbuds while out and about is possible as well. More importantly, the S25 being a slab phone makes Qi2/MagSafe cases a viable option, opening up a whole new set of accessories for device users. I only wish I had the money to afford those! At least my mophie MagSafe power bank is finally getting some proper use. I don’t know why Samsung hasn’t moved on with integrating Qi2 proper in its phones, it’s a low-cost, low effort win for them.
That being said, not everything is sunshine and roses. The lower power of Samsung’s Exynos 2400 chipset is making itself known at times. Don’t get me wrong, games such as World of Warships run just fine, much better than that spread of torpedoes I just fired at that annoying Town-class cruiser, but I’m getting sidetracked. For some reason that I haven’t been able to identify yet, some apps take an eternity to load. Not all the time though, sometimes they open instantly, whilst at other times, you’re likely to wait 3-5 business days before anything happens. The app I use to top up my Leap Card is one of the culprits as is the HSE App, provided by Ireland’s public health service, so I suspect that poor coding practices on the part of the Irish public service have a role to play, but my weather station app from Netatmo is equally affected, so I’m not quite sure what to make of this. It is infuriating at times though…
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| All hands on DeX. That’s not my MacBook powering that external screen! |
And then there’s DeX. Samsung’s desktop emulation has been a regular feature of most of their flagship phones for years. In a nutshell, DeX allows a user to utilise their phone like a computer when plugged into a dock or external screen. I’ve been fascinated by this concept for years, even briefly enabling developer mode on my old phone just to try it out. When I found out that it was natively available on the S25 FE, I naturally gave it a spin, pairing my trusty Logitech mouse and keyboard and plugging the phone into the dock normally used by my MacBook. I used it to type up the entire DeX section of the notes for this blog post. It was an experience.
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| Writing the notes for this part of the review via DeX was an experience… |
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| While Samsung’s OneUI might look the part in DeX mode, the system isn’t quite ready for prime time yet. |
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| By default, the phone moonlights as a trackpad when using DeX. It is somehow even more sensitive than regular mouse input on Android! |
Out of the box, mouse input via DeX was jumpier than an over-caffeinated squirrel. I needed to massively turn down the sensitivity in the DeX settings to make it work. The phone does give you the option to use the screen as a touch pad when in DeX mode, but that didn’t work any better either. Keyboard input worked, but for some reason, I wasn’t able to switch the input language to German to match my keyboard without switching the system language for the entire phone. Also, making that change basically restarted the entire desktop environment. With that being said, window management was surprisingly easy, easier and more cohesive actually than on the iPad I’m using to type up this review! Still, it soon became obvious that the phone struggled to keep DeX running on my 22” widescreen. It quickly became uncomfortably warm and I could visibly watch the battery level dropping while using DeX. Also, whilst I really like the notification tray within DeX, for some reason, notifications still popped up on the phone even while I was actively using DeX.
I continue to like the idea of DeX. I really like it. And after using it, I can actually see the potential of such a solution. Smartphone chipsets are incredibly powerful these days, I mean Apple is using one of theirs to power a full-blown MacBook! The prospect of only having to carry around your phone and turning that into your computer when needed is enticing and I feel like this is going to be the future of computing. However, in its present form, Samsung DeX is more of a tantalising glimpse into said future, rather than being a part of it. Seriously, it’s got more bumps and rough corners than most of the streets here in Cork!
As for the S25 FE itself, it is a solid phone, and I’m glad that I have it. It is rock solid, does not feel like a budget product at all, and whilst it is about as attractive as a grey VW Golf, it will be able to handle everything that daily life can throw at it. Battery life is good, the cameras are great, and Samsung’s OneUI 8 flavour of Android exists. I mostly use Niagara Launcher though. If DeX were more powerful and I could rely on it to properly open all apps all the time, I’d be more enthusiastic about it. As it stands, it’s a utilitarian phone more than an object of desire and I’ll definitely go back to a folding phone as soon as I can afford one. For now though, the Samsung Galaxy S25 FE is pretty much everything I could ask for and then some. If only I could get it to fold…
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