Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra Review: Don’t Buy For The AI

Chris Davies/SlashGear

EDITORS’ RATING: 9/ 10

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The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra can’t coast on its video cameras or be successful simply by its screen: the days of hardware alone winning the mobile phone war are long behind us. Rather, it’s making finest usage of that hardware which Samsung is depending on to offer its most capable sweet bar, with the launching of Galaxy AI.

On the face of it, Galaxy AI plans together things a number of us are currently acquainted with, like generative image modifying, video processing, and live translation. What stands to make it unique, nevertheless, is that this is taking place on a smart device, not on a high-power desktop.

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Life on the bleeding edge is dangerous. Welcoming brand-new functions before everybody else can produce a mobile phone that does what no competitors come close to, and yet putting bets on new innovations is constantly going to be a gamble. That’s even before you get to the significant $1,299.99 beginning cost

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Samsung does not transform the wheel when it concerns the Galaxy S24 Ultra’s aesthetic appeals, however it didn’t need to. The switch to titanium for the phone’s frame follows Apple’s adoption of the metal for its high-end designs like the iPhone 15 Pro MaxThe winner in any case is the user, who gets a lighter, stronger gadget. Samsung’s brushed surface is pleasing, too, though still on the slippery side. Gorilla Armor glass guarantees to keep things unscratched.

Short of opening a Galaxy Z Fold 5the Galaxy S24 Ultra’s 6.8-inch AMOLED screen is as huge as it gets in Samsung’s smart device line-up. It’s a wonderful panel, high-resolution at QHD+, and efficient in both 120Hz revitalize rate for smooth video gaming, along with adaptively cranking that to as low as 1Hz to lessen the battery hit. Consider a broad contrast variety, and a remarkable 2,600 nits of peak brightness, and it’s clear Samsung is at the top of its screen video game.

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While the edges of the Ultra are curved still, the screen is flat. That’s another win for ergonomics, preventing the S Pen slippage when your handwriting or sketching reaches the sides of the screen. The stylus itself stays about as hand-friendly as Samsung might’ve made it while still having it move into an in-phone silo, and the nib-feel on the screen isn’t precisely that of paper however still has a great quantity of friction.

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Digital note-takers are still those best-served by the S Pen. This time around, those people with alarming handwriting get some help, with Samsung Notes able to straighten our scrawl in addition to transforming it into text. It can likewise work up immediate summaries– and determine useful area and subsection titles– based upon note material.

It’s part of what Samsung is now branding Galaxy AI, a mix of on-device and cloud-based processing that taps what’s forming to be 2024’s greatest buzzword. You’ll require a (complimentary) Samsung Account in order to utilize the majority of the AI functions, though you can turn off online processing. That leaves whatever to the phone’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy chipset and 12GB of RAM, which definitely appear as swift as you ‘d hope from a 2024 flagship, albeit with limitations on simply what can be done without the cloud.

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Generative image modifying, for example, will not work without online processing authorizations. Live translations, on the other hand, will. There’s no easy list of what will and will not operate when you turn the toggle: you have to wait for each component of Galaxy AI to grumble it can’t work with Snapdragon power alone.

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There’s more than simply media modifying to Galaxy AI. While Google’s Circle to Search seemed like a trick at first, it ended up being probably the most helpful brand-new function on the Galaxy S24 Ultra. Holding down the Home soft secret– which can, if you choose, still be mapped to set off the Google Assistant– and after that circling around or tapping something on-screen brings up Google results, typically a mix of search, shopping, evaluations, and other details. Naturally, while it debuts on Samsung’s phone, Circle to Search is likewise pertaining to other Android gadgets like the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro in the future, not to discuss the less expensive Galaxy S24+ and S24.

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How helpful Samsung’s other AI-powered tech will be, depends upon how you utilize your Ultra. Altering to the “most helpful” end of the scale are functions like Interpreter and Live Translate, which can do voice and text translation in real-time much in the method we’ve seen Google do on its Pixel phones. While you may not wish to depend on it totally for nuanced circumstances, having the ability to see translations appear near-instantaneously still seems like magic. Considering that Samsung bakes those smarts straight into its onscreen keyboard, the AI tools are readily available in any app you may wish to get in text.

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On the other hand, Chat Assist– which assures to make tone tips based upon what you type– feels more gimmicky. It can summon up expert, casual, and respectful variations of your initial text, in addition to social (with hashtags) and emojified (with emojis) variations, and change it with a single tap.

Provided with “Hey employer, let’s chat when I’m done consuming,” for example, one time Chat Assist recommended “Hello [Boss’s name]I wish to talk about a matter with you when I have actually completed my meal. Thank you,” as a more refined variation. Its “Yo manager, let’s capture up when I’m finished with my grub” option was a suggestion that there’s a limitation to how well AI can record your own, specific character. For social usage, obviously including the hashtags #lunchtime and #foodlover would’ve sufficed.

It’s smart, however evaluating Galaxy AI’s application of tone still needs you to have some understanding and gratitude of tone changing in the very first location. If you’re simply searching for a more sleek cover letter for a basic task application, Chat Assist ought to work. Discussions with individuals who really understand you, however, may wind up wandering into the extraordinary valley.

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Those suffering Trypophobia might discover the back of the Galaxy S24 Ultra an obstacle: the 5 lenses extend a little less than they did on in 2015’s phone, however they’re still magnificent obvious. The main sensing unit clocks in at 200 megapixels, along with a 12-megapixel ultra-wide. 2 telephoto sensing units– one 50-megapixel 5x optical zoom, the other a 10-megapixel 3x optical zoom– complete the back, while a single 12-megapixel front cam deals with selfies.

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As in the past, Samsung’s software application blends and matches depending upon the conditions. By default the primary cam contends 12MP– integrating information from clusters of pixels– however can be set to 50MP or 200MP. There’s the choice for conserving as JPEG, RAW, or both; as you zoom, the Galaxy S24 Ultra stabilizes the devoted telephoto lenses with crops of the other sensing units. 10x zoom looks fantastic; 30x zoom is alright if you’re not pinching to increase the size of completion outcome. 100x is excellent because you can still construct information, however still not something with much useful usage.

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Sticking to the practical levels of zoom brings even more fulfilling outcomes, not to point out a suggestion that in photography, megapixels aren’t whatever. Samsung’s updated optical image stabilization (OIS)– which can obviously cope with more, and higher degrees of, hand-shake– is most likely making a larger distinction. You see that especially in scenarios where normally the phone is integrating information from several sources for HDR shots: with the vase listed below, for example, the S24 Ultra did a good task of taking out low-light information from the shaded side dealing with the cam, without burning out the white snow too strongly in the background.

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In low-light and night shots, for instance, ousting more shake suggests a cut in sound and blur. Samsung’s processing feels less heavy-handed when it concerns over-saturation, too, with colors feeling more natural. You can, naturally, bump that up once again quickly utilizing the integrated modifying tools.

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Once again, the genuine modifications here aren’t a lot to the electronic camera hardware as how Samsung assists you process the image and video outcomes. Galaxy AI develops on popular modifying tools like things elimination and vehicle adjustments/enhancements, with things like generative fills that can broaden a frame beyond the initial picture, or enable challenge be rearranged without leaving a space.

Samsung’s application here can be scattershot. As you examine images, it’ll make tips for possible AI-powered edits– like eliminating reflections– however functions like generative fill and having the ability to rearrange things are deeper in the edit page. Confusingly, you can long-press a things from the routine gallery view to separate it from the frame then copy it or wait as a sticker label, however you can’t rearrange it that method.

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For all it might have been billed as such, though, AI is not magic. The S24 Ultra can definitely think what may’ve been prowling behind your moved topic, and Generative Edit can make a stab at how the bigger scene may’ve looked, however its prescience still disappoints excellence: even reasonably basic fills, such as getting rid of a pencil off a wood desk, left a shadow behind instead of woodgrain.

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To hallucinate some lines from a Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem: when Galaxy AI is great, it’s extremely, great, however when it’s bad, it is ghastly. A rearranged soda can was changed with some sort of thought of vase, in one case, though in another image Galaxy AI did a strong task of duplicating tile texture after a piece of fruit was moved and resized.

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In this zoomed-out and turned image of a feline, on the other hand, Galaxy AI created additional information from around the table, and for the many part it’s remarkably efficient. You ‘d most likely wish to crop out the odd gray area at the bottom, however– while not really looking like the genuine table– the included wood detailing at either end definitely looks reasonable enough.

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In other words, if you’re anticipating the skills of a Photoshop specialist at the touch of a button, it’s worth straightening your expectations in the meantime. Often it’s quite darn excellent; other times, it’s woeful. It’s likewise uncertain if Samsung’s efforts to flag where its AI has actually touched will please doubters. Images customized utilizing Galaxy AI get a noticeable watermark and additional details in their metadata, however you can quickly crop out the previous.

Samsung is likewise leaving the door open up to spending for all this tech down the line. “We are dedicated to making Galaxy AI includes available to our users and will supply them totally free till completion of 2025 on supported Samsung Galaxy gadgets,” the business informed SlashGear in a declaration. “Different terms might make an application for AI includes supplied by 3rd parties.”

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There’s significantly a sense, for flagship phones like this Galaxy S24 Ultra, that purchase choices have actually currently been made long before the handset gets its main expose. If you’re a “Samsung individual” then there’s a sporting chance you’ll be getting the next high-end Galaxy that’s revealed, much like an “iPhone individual” most likely currently understands to be conserving their cash for Apple’s next bauble late in the year. There’s absolutely nothing incorrect with that, either: it speaks, definitely, to the improvement and consistency of the experience business like Samsung, and Apple, are providing (as does Samsung’s dedication to 7 generations of Android upgrade).

All the very same, it’s difficult to leave the sensation that we’re beyond the days of substantial hardware improvements, however still not rather in an age of transformational software application. The Galaxy S24 Ultra’s electronic cameras are terrific, however so were those of its predecessors. It has outstanding battery life from its 5,000 mAh pack– which supports quick wired and cordless charging plus reverse cordless power share– however, once again, so did the last Ultra. Galaxy AI is smart, in locations, and enjoyable in others, however absolutely nothing it provides here rather reaches “essential” level.

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If you’re a Galaxy S23 Ultra owner, then, that’s most likely great news: you can avoid the upgrade for another year, a minimum of. And those who’ve waited a couple of years are getting a phone with outstanding hardware and terrific video cameras, good even if they never ever even hire the AI. As a taste of the future, the Galaxy S24 Ultra definitely reveals pledge, however do not overstate just how much worth AI will give your daily experience.

The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra can be boughtfrom Samsungfor a beginning cost of $1299.99.