Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra - Review
Last year when I reviewed the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, I was impressed with the phone, from its performance to its feel. So when I was offered the chance to review the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, I had to think about it, I mean how much could really change in a year. As it turns out, not a whole lot, but also a fAIr bit.
Ok, so let’s get this out of the way, what has changed from year to year, if you were to look at the phone side by side to the 2023 release, you might not be able to tell that there are any differences, but there are a few. One of the most noticeable differences is with the screen, it is still a 6.8inch AMOLED display, but where the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra capped out at 1750nits of brightness, the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra dwarfs it with 2600nits. The screen still sports a 120Hz refresh rate, but has managed to get a slight bump in supported resolution, like 140 pixels on the up side, but it is pretty much the same. The weight and dimensions of the phone are also near identical, but one of the changes this year is that the phone comes with the same memory (not storage) no matter which model you pick. The last major similarity is in the battery, which is still the same 5000mAh, but with a more streamlined internal design and updated core, it now sports a few more hours of video playback, which is nice.
Another thing that looks the same at first game is the camera, it still sports that three stack of lens and the phone still has a 12.0MP front camera. The trio on the back consists of a 200.0MP wide-angle camera and a 12.0MP Ultra-Wide camera, but it is the telephoto that is different. The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra sported a 10.0/10.0MP camera, the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra sports a 50.0/10.0MP camera, which means that there are more options, such as Nightography support for portrait photos, or Super HDR for both photos and video. What all these changes boil down to is that if you have a Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra today and you get the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra tomorrow, you may not notice a whole lot of difference. Yes the brighter screen should catch your eye right away, but the rest are so minor in their changes that it will only be with significant use that you really see them stand out.
Of course, we can’t talk about the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra without talking about Galaxy AI, the latest fad that even Samsung are jumping in on. Don’t get me wrong AI has some real benefits, but it has just as many cons, however here they have opted for a basic suite of features. Inside of Galaxy AI there are four functions that are being promoted, Circle to Search, which as the name suggests you simply circle something and Google with search for it. Thankfully the S24 Ultra does include the S-Pen, making it quite a simple thing to do. While searching by image has been around on computers for years now, this is the first time I ever had it work on mobile and it be so simple. The next two options were not ones that I needed to worry about, but they are Live Translate and Note Assist. The former is just as the name implies, live translation of text and the latter summarises text for you. While the first is actually helpful, the second is going to be on a case by case basis, as there is no way of knowing if its missed a point or two whilst doing the summation.
The one feature that I did test out quite a bit was the Photo Assist, which at its most basic level, lets you fix up those photos you took, by removing folks from the background, adding in elements and all that. Now you can’t just prompt it to generate an image for you, which is a good thing, but it will do what it needs to do, in order to fill in a gap in any image where you have circled it to focus on. In the images below, you can see the original photo on the left and then the AI adjusted photo on the right. In this case all I did was circle the person in the middle of the shot, which I admit I made sure they were there for the test, and had the phone do the rest. None of the other details were touched, only the area that I indicated and it took maybe 30 seconds to complete the task. The AI prompt isn’t just to remove something from the background, I did also take a photo of a bust in shadow to try and get it to remove the shadows, something it states it can do, but either the source photo was not the best, or the AI just couldn’t work with what I had.
While the AI tools were impressive, I feel like they are only going to have very limited use cases, if you are someone who needs to have that perfect photo, then the Photo Assist function will be incredible. Sometimes I have taken a photo at Walt Disney World and known that once I get home, I will have to fix it up, so being able to do that while in the exact spot I took the photo is game changing. The other tools are going to be even more limited I feel, don’t misunderstand, live translation would be super impressive, but how often are you honestly going to need that, unless you travel to dozens of countries each year.
Of course, as we do a lot of gaming here, I did also put time into a few mobile games, like the currently in soft launch Plants Vs Zombies 3 and the issues I had last year with gaming are still present here. The phones new Titanium body is fantastic to hold, but when gaming the placement of the speakers were covered by my hands, which meant I couldn’t hear the game properly. Now some people will say that I should use headphones and while away from my house I did, but when sitting in my nice comfy chair, I should be able to enjoy a game and its audio, direct from the device. For a game like Plants vs Zombies 3, as you can play that game with just one hand, it meant that only one speaker was covered, so putting time into that meant that it was more mono than anything else. When I spent time in Call of Duty Mobile, as I had to hold the phone with both hands, both speakers were covered, which just made everything sound weird. If you use headphones, Bluetooth of course, then it may not be an issue, but as this is the second year in a row with this issue, for anyone gaming or watching content, holding the phone is not going to work.
The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra is another wonderful device, it features a screen that can best be described as stunning, it has battery life that will last you for days, and of course has storage to keep your photos and music with you. The only reason to upgrade this year is going to be for those AI tools and even then, I really think that only the Photo Assist is worth it if you take a lot of photos on your phone. If you picked up the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra last year, then there is little reason to upgrade now, what was a great phone last year is now a more refined product in 2024 and while the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra is a solid phone, the push towards AI means that most everything else was only given a little attention. If you have been sporting the same phone for a number of years now, this would be an incredible device to pick up, but the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra offers almost the same performance and at a reduced price and in today’s economic landscape, AI can’t help you generate money.
The Score
9.0
Review unit provided by Samsung
The Pros
AI tools have potential, but the Photo Assist is the star, being able to tweak photos in-depth just as you take them is incredible
Incredible phone in your hand, smooth rounded exterior and great button placement makes it easy to use…
The Cons
…However speaker placement still gets impacted when playing games or watching content with the phone in your hands
The AI tools mean that nothing else is massively different from the S23 Ultra, making it a half-step upgrade
