Galaxy S26 Assessment: Tristar still compact flagship Android

Samsung's compact flagship phone hasn't changed much in a year, but as the competition grows, S26 is still one of the best miniphones.

S26 is the cheapest and smallest one of the three stars' top cell phones this year, and is dwarfed in size and price by the top S26 Ultra. However, as with all current products with chip storage, the price of S26 has increased by Pound80, equivalent to Pound879 ($949,899 ($1,349 AUS$). At least it's double the original storage space.

Samsung extends the bright, clear and smooth screen of S26 to 6.3 inches. However, due to its narrow border, it is only 2.7 mm, 1.2 mm wide, which is not apparent in use, higher than the previous generation.

It is designed to be simple, with a good sense of hand, with flat aluminum sides and sand glass on the back. According to modern standards, the cell phone weighs 167 grams and feels very light and easier to hold and put in the entrance bag.

For this year's model, Samsung used its Exynos 2600 chip outside North America in conventional S26 and S26+, instead of Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, which is limited to the giant S26 Ultra. The good news is, unlike the Tristar chip before, Exynos 2600 is only a little behind in performance and efficiency. This gives people a lively feeling and good performance in all respects.

S26 Charges are used on an average basis for about 40 hours on a sustainable basis and the screen is active for about 5 hours under wifi and 5G, meaning that most people must charge each night. Batteries can be recharged at a time for more than two days, with less use on WiFi, but the hours of the game consumes the battery considerably, making it less suitable for a pole player.

S26 Runs with the Ultra model One UI 8.5 (Android 16), open boxes are used and include many al tools that are layered on good customised software.

Many tools are reliable and can keep up with competition, including practical applications for text, trans-recording and image editing, and call assistance to stop garbage calls by listening to you and asking why the caller rings.

Tristar version. Google Active artificial intelligence assistant named “Now Nudge”, extracts data from applications on mobile phones to provide timely advice on keyboards for message delivery applications, such as calendar events, location and other information. It's a little limited, but it's like... Go.The ogle's Magic Cue, like, shows real prospects.

Samsung will provide software updates by February 28, 2033, so you can use S26 more safely than some competitors.

Specifications

- What?

Main screen: 6.3 in

- What?

Processor: Samsung Exynos 2600 for Galaxy

- What?

Memory: 12GB

- What?

Storage: 256 or 512GB

- What?

Operating system: One UI 8.5 (Android 16)

- What?

Camera: 50 MP + 12 MP 0.6x + 10 MP 3x; 12 MP precursor

- What?

Connectivity: 5G, USB-C, wifi 7, NFC, Bluetooth 5.4, UWB and GNSS

- What?

Water-resistant grade: IP68 (1.5 m, 30 minutes)

- What?

Dimensions: 149.6 x 71.7 x 7.2 mm

- What?

Weight: 167 g

Camera

S26 has the same rear camera set up as its front, including 50 MP main camera, 12 MP ultra-wide angle camera and 10 MP 3-long focus camera, as well as an improved 12MP self-censorship camera.

Since S22 in 2022, the rear camera has not changed much and has begun to appear. The main camera is the best of the three reared modules with clear and detailed photographs in full light. The hyper-wide angle is pretty good for the panorama, but it is not possible to focus on a particularly close location for more interesting photographs. Three-fold focal lenses are pretty bad, but enough.

Under the lower light setting, things began to collapse, the images were soft and noisy, and the automatic night mode helped a little, especially on the long-focused camera.

By contrast, S26 filmed a very good video in its size and inherited an impressive new level lock on S26 Ultra. The self-censorship camera is also one of the best cameras on a mobile phone that captures good details, has a stable dynamic range and low light performance.

In general, S26's camera is good, but it hasn't made significant progress over the years, and you can get better results than a rival at the same price.

Sustainable development

Batteries should be sustainable for 1,200 fully charged cycles. The cost of maintaining the Centre ' s screen was authorized in the amount of GBP 149, including the replacement of batteries. Samsung also provides self-help maintenance programmes.

The phone contains 21.2 per cent of recycled material. In its report, Samsung provided a detailed analysis of the impact of the mobile phone on the environment and provided old equipment replacement and recycling plans.

Price

The sale price of Samsung Galaxy S26 was Pound879 ($949,899 ($1,349 AUS$).

In contrast, Galaxy S26+ was sold at Pound1,099; Galaxy S26 Ultra was sold at Pound1,279; Google Pixel 10 was sold at Pound799; and iPhone 17 was sold at Pound799.

Judgement

Galaxy S26 is one of the smallest and lightest smartphones in the world, holding and placing entry bags more easily than most other products.

6.3 Inches of screens are excellent and are still large enough for most activities. The cell phone is very quickly felt, and the battery may last much longer than the cell phone, but it can still be used for one day and some general use. The software is very stable and has long-term support and access to a full set of artificial intelligence tools, some of which are useful.

This is a good phone for daily use. But the model has hardly changed over the years, especially in the camera sector, and it has shown its age. That's good, but you can get better photos from the same price or cheaper competitors. The lack of Qi2 magnets for support of accessories is also a pity.

Advantages: lightweight, good 6.3-inch screen, good software and seven-year support, top-level performance, good three cameras, up-to-date artificial intelligence, good battery life, cheapest three-star flag type.

Shortcomings: iterative design, improved cameras by competitors, no five-fold focus, battery life is shorter than that of a large cell phone, most artificial intelligence functions are exaggerated.