Technologies

How Galaxy AI Camera Tools Help You Take Better Photos Automatically on the S25

From photobomb fixes to better low-light shots, Galaxy AI1 helps you get polished, post-worthy photos without a heavy manual lift.

Summary:

The Samsung Galaxy S25 and S25 Ultra are packed with new AI-powered camera
features.
The Scene Optimizer feature will automatically adjust settings like exposure and contrast to optimise for different scenes and lighting conditions.
Editing tools like Object Eraser and Generative Edit
let users remove, move, or resize elements in photos
with just a tap.
Super HDR enhances dynamic range, delivering richer detail and truer color in both stills and previews.
AI-driven search
capabilities make it easier to find photos and get pro-quality results without navigating complex menus or learning new skills.

If you’ve ever missed a perfect photo
op because you were fussing with settings, you’re the kind of photographer Galaxy S25 is built for. In Samsung’s
latest flagship device, the brand embeds intelligent enhancements throughout the camera experience—from photo capture to editing and sorting.

What’s so compelling about these Galaxy AI* updates is that they don’t require you to watch hours of tutorials to master—they just work. The S25 marks a step forward for the way AI quietly works in the background to elevate your photography, without you needing to do anything special.

Here’s how Galaxy AI helps make great photos happen automatically.

Smarter settings in real time

One of the most low-key powerful features of the S25 is Scene Optimizer, which uses AI to identify what you’re shooting—landscapes, food, people, pets—and automatically fine-tune settings like exposure, contrast, and saturation to make it looks its best. Simply enable the feature in the camera app settings to turn it on indefinitely.

Thanks to AI, the S25 also produces more balanced photos in tricky lighting scenarios. For instance, in low light, Samsung’s Nightography feature reduces noise while preserving sharpness
and color. (Results may vary depending on lighting, subject, and shooting conditions.) In broad daylight, the device’s built-in Galaxy AI compensates for harsh contrast and reflective surfaces.

That means the S25 can adapt instantly to your environment, making quick decisions that improve image quality without slowing you down. Shooting your dinner in a dim restaurant? When you turn on Scene Optimizer in your settings, Galaxy S25 kicks in to enhance brightness without making it look like a flash went off. Snapping a mountain range in peak sun? The S25 will naturally balance the sky and landscape so neither gets washed out. No toggling between modes, no extra effort—just a well-adjusted shot, ready to send to your friends or post online.

Take a clean shot, every time, with Object Eraser and Generative Edit

We’ve all had great shots ruined by a stranger walking into the frame
—or a power line cutting across an otherwise pristine skyline. The Galaxy S25‘s Object Eraser handles those intrusions with ease.

Powered by advanced AI and Samsung’s ProVisual Engine, users can simply tap on an object they want removed, and the phone fills in the background. In seconds, the tool recreates patterns, textures, and lighting to make it look like the offending object was never there.

Generative Edit, the broader suite of AI tools included on the S25, also lets users move or resize elements in their photos—for instance, you can reposition a subject for better framing, or scale down a distracting element in the background. The AI fills in any gaps for a seamless final result.

Super HDR for richer detail in every pic

Dynamic range is one of the toughest things for smartphone cameras to get right. Bright skies and dark shadows often lead to blown-out highlights or murky details. Super HDR on the S25 addresses this common problem by capturing multiple exposures nearly simultaneously, and blending them with AI to preserve detail across the full tonal range.

Super HDR doesn’t apply solely to stills in the camera app; it also enhances preview and playback in the Gallery. It even extends to social media apps like Instagram, so what you share is more representative of what you actually shot.

Better and more intuitive search

The Galaxy S25 also makes it easier to find the photos you’ve already taken without spending half an hour in a conversation-interrupting endless scroll. Thanks to Galaxy AI-enhanced search in the Gallery app, you can now type natural queries like «dog playing fetch» or «spring break at the beach,» and the phone will parse both visual elements and metadata to surface exactly what you’re looking for.

AI that’s there when you need it—and invisible when you don’t

One of the best parts about Galaxy AI is that it doesn’t require a learning curve. Even if it’s your first-ever Samsung device, you can pick up the phone and just start using it. Most of the photography tools activate automatically or appear at the precise time you need them with minimal interruption.

You don’t need to fiddle with menus or sliders; the phone quietly does the heavy lifting. Behind the scenes, the device’s AI is making thousands of tiny decisions—tweaking exposure by fractions, choosing the right tone curves, sharpening only where it helps—in mere milliseconds.

Whether you’re taking, editing, or sharing a photo, Galaxy AI helps eliminate the friction between your vision and the final result. You don’t have to overthink it—the S25 helps you get a great shot, then gets out of the way.

It flips, it folds, it’s anything but expected: the Galaxy Foldable is coming.

*Samsung account login is required for certain AI features.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Wednesday, Nov. 5

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Nov. 5.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? Some of the clues are tricky, but we have all the answers, so read on. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: Fresh addition to a pasta sauce, perhaps
Answer: BASIL

6A clue: Log ___ (water park ride)
Answer: FLUME

7A clue: Group of ships
Answer: FLEET

8A clue: Some drinks from «streams»
Answer: SODAS

9A clue: Documentarian Burns
Answer: KEN

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Closest pals, for short
Answer: BFFS

2D clue: «No problems here!»
Answer: ALLOK

3D clue: Shoe material in an Elvis hit
Answer: SUEDE

4D clue: «That is to say …»
Answer: IMEAN

5D clue: Tennis do-overs
Answer: LETS

Technologies

Apple Reportedly Planning Cheaper Macs to Compete With Budget Chromebooks, PCs

Apple doesn’t market its machines as affordable, but that could be changing.

Apple may release more affordable Mac laptops to compete with Chromebooks and budget-friendly Windows laptops as early as 2026.

Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports the company has plans to roll out a machine for «well under $1,000.» According to Gurman, the new laptop is already in early production under the codename J700. This matches earlier rumors that a low-cost MacBook Air was in the pipeline at around $599, which would allow Apple to directly compete with other cheap laptops, including Chromebooks and Windows PCs.

A representative for Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.

According to the report, costs will be kept down by using a lower-end LCD that’s smaller than the 13.6-inch MacBook Air, potentially making the new affordable MacBook as small as 12 inches.

Another way Apple could reduce the cost is by using an A-series iPhone chip, which falls short of the top-tier performance offered by the MacBook Pro or the current M4 Air. The upcoming chip may be a variant of the A19 Pro chip that debuted with the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone Air, which Apple says is capable of MacBook-level performance.

As CNET senior editor Matt Elliott noted, the promise is a bold one. He speculates that the rumored $599 MacBook Air may get the same smartphone processor, or an M-series chip based on that architecture.

Bloomberg also reports that a MacBook Pro with an M5 Pro and M5 Max chip is in development, and Apple has completed work on a MacBook Air powered by the M5 chip, which is planned for release early next year.

The affordable laptop would be designed for casual users, students and businesses, specifically individuals who need a device for tasks such as web browsing, light media editing and document creation. The tech giant is also targeting the education market, as well as iPad buyers who may also want a traditional laptop.

«If this is strictly a move to entice consumers with a high-quality, lower-cost MacBook running MacOS in place of an iPad with a keyboard, then yes, Apple can likely take a chunk of that market,» said Josh Goldman, managing editor at CNET.

«Making inroads into the education market at this point, where Chromebooks have taken over since the pandemic, will prove challenging, though I’m sure it’s nothing that throwing billions of dollars at can’t fix,» CNET’s Goldman said.

This price range is ‘a big departure’

Price is likely to be key here. A $599 price tag would place the new Mac in the same range as more affordable Chromebooks and entry-level laptops, representing a significant change from Apple’s previous strategy.

«Apple potentially dipping into the Chromebook range of $300 to $500 with a new MacBook is a big departure,» said Goldman.

He notes that one of Apple’s most affordable MacBooks is the M4 MacBook Air, available new starting at $999 for the 13-inch model. Walmart still sells a new M1 MacBook Air, a 5-year-old laptop, for around $600.

By contrast, an iPad 11th Gen with a Magic Keyboard will run you around $600, making it clear that Apple’s target market for the rumored device is students and lighter users.

Apple typically hasn’t targeted the lower-priced segment of the market with its MacBooks. However, with consumer wallets under pressure from inflation, high tariffs and layoffs, an affordable MacBook could be imperative and timely.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for Nov. 5, #408

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for Nov. 5, No. 408.

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Connections: Sports Edition is pretty diverse. The blue answers stuck out to me right away, because some of them are super famous and the others felt like they belonged with those names. If you’re struggling but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by the Times. It doesn’t show up in the NYT Games app but appears in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can play it free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: How to see a game.

Green group hint: Soccer.

Blue group hint: Giddy up!

Purple group hint: Not a run play.