Galaxy S24 Ultra review: I’m a Samsung stan, but iPhone 15 Pro Max is one hell of a rival

The Samsung Galaxy S24 UltraI believed, would definitely win my heart.

I’ve been a Samsung stan considering that I owned the Galaxy S21 Ultra and S22 UltraI enjoyed hearing my ugh-you-have-green-bubbles iPhone good friends state, “Wow, your phone takes remarkable images” as they resented their own overprocessed, iDevice-taken selfies.

Individuals seen in wonder as I took out my S Pen to write down my beverage order for the bartender when the music was too loud.

In an iPhone-loving world, I seemed like my S22 Ultra was an underdog that was much better than its Apple competitor– individuals simply required to get up to its unbelievable abilities.

The numbers do not lie. While the Galaxy S24 Ultra shines with (some) Galaxy AI includesmy screening reveals that the Samsung phone has some major competitors with the iPhone 15 Pro Max on the marketplace.

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra cost

The Galaxy S24 Ultra base design has an MSRP of $1,299– $100 more than the beginning cost of the Galaxy S23 Ultra when it introduced in 2022.

Samsung is running a pre-order discount that lets you snag a 256GB or 512GB phone for simply $549 with a qualified trade-in. (Since these 2 designs have the very same discount rate, you ‘d be offering yourself short if you didn’t get the 512GB variation.) If you desire 1TB of storage, you’ll need to spend $669.99.

What I like about the Galaxy S24 Ultra

I can’t promote everybody, however in my circle of tech good friends, there’s been a growing sense of AI tiredness

With numerous business hawking AI-powered devices, plus the continuous discourse of task displacement stress and anxiety, personal privacy and ethical issues, and more, my instinct informs me that customers were damn-near “over it” when Samsung revealed Galaxy AI.

Contrary to the AI tired out, I discovered myself being rather intrigued. Here’s my experience with it up until now.

Galaxy AI’s ‘Chat Translation’ is extraordinary

I have household in Puerto Rico who do not speak a lick of English. And when it comes to me, in spite of years of taking Spanish classes, my rough grasp of the language would make the Duolingo bird think about early retirement.

I as soon as depended on third-party apps like Google Translate to interact with my Spanish-speaking kin, however that was– rather honestly– an annoyance.

Now, thanks to Galaxy AI, I can text my Puerto Rico-based cousin– sans Google Translate– straight in WhatsApp through the keyboard. It operates in Google Messages, too. (I utilized it to text my French-speaking mommy.) I have not had problems with it up until now; it equates all texts with specialist accuracy and rapidity.

As you’ll see in this evaluation, not all Galaxy AI functions are as sleek.

Galaxy AI’s “24 hr time lapse” is badass

Have a look at the GIF listed below. Galaxy AI did that. This was simply an image (you can see the initial image listed below the GIF).

Galaxy AI worked its magic and changed a picture into a 12-second time-lapse video– and you ‘d never ever understand it was absolutely nothing however a fixed photo in its initial type.

S Pen continues to shine

The Galaxy S24 Ultra continues to be a leading selling point for the Galaxy S series phones. Sure, you can utilize it to doodle and make use of the screen, however it’s likewise a pen-shaped remote.

I can push and hold the button on the S Pen, which, by default, fires up the cam app. By pushing the button as soon as, the shutter button is activated, permitting me to take images without touching the screen.

Air actionsconsisting of flinging the pen to the left and zig-zagging the S Pen, can release video mode and the Notes app, respectively. Which’s simply the idea of the iceberg of what the S Pen can do.

Once again, none of these functions are brand-new, however it’s one of the very best elements of the Galaxy S24 Ultra.

My only desire is that it ‘d be great if the S Pen might have some sort of locator sensing unit within– this stylus is simple to lose. (On the plus side, the Galaxy S24 Ultra notifies you when the S Pen is not in its silo.)

Browse your doodled notes in the Notes app

Something that upsets me about my Galaxy S22 Ultra is that I have a big library of doodled files in the Notes app. Regrettably, I’m not able to browse through my enormous portfolio of notes for specific messages or words.

The Galaxy S24 Ultra modifications all of that. It can, undoubtedly, “check out” my chicken scratch, permitting me to explore files inside the Notes app– even if it was composed with the S Pen.

Style beats the iPhone 15 Pro Max

As I pointed out in my hands-on experience of the Galaxy S24 Ultrathis phone is ergonomic paradise. Unlike the iPhone 15 Pro Max’s stiff edges, which annoyingly go into my soft palms, the Galaxy S24 Ultra continues to boast soft, rounded edges that comply with my hand.

The 6.8-inch, 3,120 x 1440-pixel resolution display screen still has that hole-punch electronic camera that houses a 12MP selfie cam, which provides aesthetically pleasing, gloriously large screen realty– more than the iPhone 15 Pro Max, which includes the Dynamic Island (i.e., a glorified notch).

Samsung provided Mashable the titanium violet color, which is, in my viewpoint, rather mid, however that titanium yellow is elite It appears like it’s covered in flashy gold.

Other colors consist of titanium black, titanium gray, titanium blue, titanium green, and titanium orange. As the names shows, the Galaxy S24 Ultra has a titanium frame, comparable to the iPhone 15 Pro Max, that apparently makes the phone more long lasting than its predecessor.

Sturdiness is damn excellent

At one point, I got up from my sofa, and unexpectedly, I heard a loud smack. I looked down, and to my scary, the Galaxy S24 Ultra was on my wood flooring.

I gasped and I rapidly got the Samsung phone. In a panic, I took a look at the screen and looked for scratches and fractures. I breathed a sigh of relief when I understood it looked great as brand-new.

Samsung wasn’t joking about its sturdiness. How did it pass this unforeseen drop test? Thank the display screen’s Corning Gorilla Glass Armor, which boasts advanced scratch-and-shock resistance.

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra zoom is elite

When I initially heard that the Galaxy S24 Ultra is dumping its 10MP, 10x telephoto video camera for a 50MP, 5x variation, I was hesitant. Yes, the resolution has actually increased, however the optical zoom suffered a decrease. Could this injure the Galaxy S24 Ultra?

As it ends up, the Galaxy S24 Ultra’s zoom is among its finest functions. when I blind-tested iPhone ownersthe majority of them chose the Galaxy S24 Ultra’s 10x shot– not the iPhone 15 Pro Max’s 10x capture.

It’s worth keeping in mind that the iPhone 15 Pro Max has a 12MP telephoto electronic camera with 5x optical zoom.

What’s ‘eh’ about the Galaxy S24 Ultra

For the Galaxy S24 Ultra, it’s up versus some stiff competitors. Numbers aren’t whatever, however after running some criteria on both the Galaxy S24 Ultra and the iPhone 15 Pro Max, the Samsung phone has a hard competitor to beat.

Battery life is long– however not as sustaining as iPhone 15 Pro Max

As you’ll see in the battery life area, the Galaxy S24 Ultra can last more than 10 hours, which is outstanding.

The iPhone 15 Pro Max has a much better runtime by almost 2 hours.

Object eraser is struck or miss out on

I’ve gushed about the Galaxy AI cam functions, especially the time-lapse energy. Benefits like Object Eraser can be struck or miss out on.

The Galaxy S24 Ultra effortlessly got rid of that pesky passerby in the red coat in front of the U.S.S Maine National Monument. Get outta there!

When I attempted to eliminate the red container in the image above, Galaxy AI had a hard time to replicate the horse’s hoof, which is undoubtedly a more complicated job.

Efficiency does not beat iPhone 15 Pro Max, however this isn’t a huge offer

I ran the Geekbench 6 standard on both the Galaxy S24 Ultra and the iPhone 15 Max. As you’ll discover out in the efficiency area, the previous could not capture up to the latter.

This isn’t a huge offer. Both ratings far go beyond the efficiency limit required to run daily jobs on a smart device. I ‘d argue that the iPhone 15 Pro Max has excessive power for its own great– a lot so that it beats the similarity the Microsoft Surface Laptop Go 3 in efficiency.

Even though the Galaxy S24 Ultra does not beat the iPhone 15 Pro Max, it’s still loaded with plenty of power to deal with any of your jobs– and then some.

What I do not like about Galaxy S24 Ultra

While I like that Samsung kept the Galaxy S24 Ultra’s signature round edges and hole-punch display screen, there are other tweaks that I do not like.

The flat display screen isn’t for me

I might remain in the minority, however I love how my Galaxy S22 Ultra’s screen bleeds into the edges. It’s typically passionately called a waterfall screen; I constantly discovered it to be perfectly futuristic.

I comprehend that it’s not useful. Putting a screen protector on a waterfall display screen is a little bit more challenging (e.g., getting the air bubbles out is a discomfort).

Still, I’m going to miss out on the waterfall screen. It was an Android-esque style, and now, along with the brand-new titanium function, the Galaxy S24 Ultra getting a little too iPhone-y for my tastes.

Selfie cam has stiff competitors in iPhone 15 Pro Max

For a very long time, I’ve constantly applauded the Galaxy S series for its sensational selfie pictures.

It looks like my choice is altering. I took selfies with the Galaxy S24 Ultra and iPhone 15 Pro Max (both have 12MP front-facing electronic cameras) at a Starbucks in Manhattan, and to my surprise, I wound up choosing the iPhone 15 Pro Max.

When it comes to the large video camera, I still dig the Galaxy S24 Ultra’s 200MP lens over the iPhone 15 Pro Max’s 48MP shooter.

The ultra-wide shots (both include 12MP shooters) look much better with the Galaxy S24 Ultra, too.

Galaxy AI ‘Call Assist’ requires enhancement

What’s Call Assist? It’s an AI interpreter that actions in to equate your calls.

If you’re speaking English, Call Assist can equate your declaration into Spanish for the receiver. And when the individual on the other end responds, their action is equated back to English.

I checked Call Assist with my French-speaking daddy and I identified some problems:

• You need to rapidly tap on 2 alternatives (” Call Assist” and “Live Translate”) before the other individual gets or the function will not release.

• Call Assist equates discussions well, however often, it does not enable slow-talking users to complete their sentences.

• On unusual celebrations, Call Assist stops equating completely.

Call Assist was the Galaxy AI function I was most thrilled about, today I’m feeling a bit disillusioned. This does not imply that it can’t be enhanced. For the next-gen Galaxy AI, Samsung must produce a more patient AI interpreter.

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra battery life

As we reportedthe Galaxy S24 Ultra has a battery runtime of 13 hours and one minutealmost 2 hours except the iPhone 15 Pro Max’s runtime of 14 hours and 53 minutes.

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra Geekbench rating

On Geekbench 6, the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, loaded with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor, produced a Geekbench 6 rating of 7,078

For contrast, the iPhone 15 Pro Max, geared up with an A17 Pro chip, provided a rating of 7,359.

Is the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra worth it?

The Galaxy S24 Ultra still has a chokehold over me with its slithery-smooth S Pen, advanced on-device translation for texting, dazzling time-lapse function, excellent resilience, and iPhone-beating pictures.

As much as it discomforts me to state it, the Galaxy S24 Ultra appears to be losing ground in energy performance. Battery life, among the most considerable elements of a smart device, is still respectable on the Galaxy S24 Ultra, however the iPhone 15 Pro Max is a little much better.

I’m likewise not the greatest fan of the selfies the Galaxy S24 Ultra produces.

Still, since I have a multicultural household, the Galaxy S24 Ultra interest me. Galaxy AI functions like Chat Translation and Call Assist are a need to for me. The Galaxy S24 Ultra still takes the throne as the very best Android phone. For the very first time ever, I’m questioning my pro-Samsung position. Fantastic selfies and long battery life are too attractive to miss.