Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra review – the smartphone has entered the AI era

The release of the Samsung Galaxy S24 range of smartphones will be remembered as the first mobile devices to enter the AI era and improve your experience across the board.

There will be other smartphones from rival brands that inject AI in a similar way, but Samsung got here first.

While there are some cosmetic design changes with the S24 line-up of devices and a performance improvement – it is the software and Galaxy AI that make this one of the biggest year-on-year smartphone improvements that we’ve ever seen.

Flagship devices only ever offer incremental changes and are not aimed at the customers who purchased last year’s model but the customer with a four year old phone who can truly appreciate the accumulated updates over the intervening years.

But Samsung’s new Galaxy S24, S24+ and S24 Ultra will not only have recent customers thinking about trading their device for the new one but it will even attract some iPhone users to make the switch.

This review will be focusing on the Galaxy S24 Ultra.

Add to all this a stunning screen, a brilliant camera system and excellent performance and you’ve got an irresistible product.

DESIGN

There have been some design tweaks to the Samsung Galaxy S24 series.

The Galaxy S24 (6.2-inch display) and S24+ (6.7-inch) now have flatter edges and a matte finish rear panel that makes it less slippery.

The biggest change has been reserved for the Galaxy S24 Ultra which now sports a titanium frame to give a more premium look and feel.

Another change to the S24 Ultra that we like is the new flat display. The S23’s display had a slightly curved edge which was OK until the S Pen slipped over the side when you were writing or drawing.

The flat screen now means users can easily see the edge without going over.

All the new Galaxy S24 smartphones also have slightly thinner bezels so the displays look like they go truly edge to edge.

GALAXY AI

The standout new feature is without a doubt the Galaxy AI which includes so many new features including Live Translate, Circle to Search, Chat Assist, Note Assist, Transcript Assist, Browsing Assist and Interpreter.

Galaxy AI also comes in to play in your photography with the ability to enhance and edit pictures and videos like never before.

LIVE TRANSLATE

Live Translate works incredibly well in real time within the native phone app to translate your conversation between 13 languages.

The supported languages are English, Chinese, French, German, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Thai and Vietnamese.

So if you’re in a foreign country and need to book a restaurant, call a taxi or reserve a hire car, the S24 has got you covered.

You see real time translations and transcriptions from each side of the chat.

We tried it talking to a Korean woman to book a restaurant and it worked perfectly. A

And it’s all happening on the device as well.

INTERPRETER

Sometimes the person you’re speaking to in a foreign language is right in front of you and you can share the S24’s screen and flip the text so each person can read their part of the translation.

And this requires no connection to the internet or data – this is all happening in real time on the S24.

CHAT ASSIST

One of the hardest things to convey or understand in a message is tone.

The S24 can help by looking at your message and seeing the person you’re sending it to and suggest different styles and tones – like more formal or more professional.

When you tap the icon filled with the stars, Galaxy AI will work on some variations of your message while still conveying the same meaning and intention.

This could be a real life saver – especially if you regular message clients, customers, your boss, your wife and various other important people who you don’t want to accidentally offend.

It is your new messaging safety net.

NOTE ASSIST

Customers who opt for the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra will no doubt be brandishing the S Pen and Note Assist can help you knock things into shape, organise and receive summaries.

TRANSCRIPT ASSIST

The best way to capture what’s said in a meeting is to record it – but the big hassle is to transcribe it into a document that can easily be searched and referenced.

Transcript Assist can do just that and even distinguish between different speakers.

BROWSING ASSIST

One incentive to use Samsung Internet as your go to browser is Browsing Assist.

This feature can quicky summarise longer web articles into something that’s easier to digest.

CIRCLE TO SEARCH

This would have to be one of the most impressive features.

Everyone we showed Circle to Search to was gobsmacked and immediately saw the possibilities.

And this works not only with any new photo but also on social media or the internet.

If you see something you like, press and hold the home button and circle the object and instantly you’ll see the results of a Google search.

If you spot a nice handbag or a pair of shoes you can grab a snap and find out the brand the price.

It’s ideal for those who are too shy to walk up and ask someone about their bag or their shoes or any other article of clothing.

And it works in the same way of you spot something you like on social media.

It’s a game changer to search for what we see.

CAMERA

The Samsung S24 Ultra has an outstanding quad camera system that consists of a 12-megapixel ultra-wide camera, a 200-megapixel wide-angle camera with 2x optical and Quality zoom, a 50-megapixel camera with 5x optical zoom and 10x Quality zoom and a 10-megapixel camera with 3x optical zoom. Optical Quality zoom is enabled by the Adaptive Pixel Sensor.

What drives the quality of the cameras is the new ProVisual Engine that does the heavy lifting when it comes to capturing and editing your images and videos.

AI Zoom is also a welcome addition which uses deep learning to ensure your zoomed image looks it best all the way up to 100x.

And it has an excellent focus lock so even at 100x the camera is locked on to your target to make it easier.

There are also the amazing Nightography capabilities which boosts your images and videos with more light when there is very little light to begin but also optimises your pictures and videos captured in situations like concerts or when viewing fireworks.

EDIT SUGGESTION

This is one of the most powerful features of Galaxy AI which can look at your image and suggest improvements like removing shadows or reflections and blurring the background of your selfie.

Forget spending time manually enhancing your images with the edit tools – AI does it for you in seconds and more often than not the difference between the original and the mastered show is incredible.

GENERATIVE EDIT

This comes in handy when you need to move or erase an object in your image.

You select the object you want to move, resize or remove and the Galaxy AI does the rest including building in the part of the image that was covered by the object or person you’ve erased or moved. It is truly remarkable.
INSTANT SLO-MO

With Galaxy AI it’s possible to create a section in slow motion when editing your videos by insert extra frames to slow things down to focus on a particular moment.

These AI powered camera features will also work with select third party social media apps like Instagram.

PERFORMANCE

The Samsung Galaxy S24 series is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 mobile platform for Galaxy for added power and efficiency.

The Galaxy S24, S24+ and S24 ultra all have up to 120Hz adaptive refresh rates.

COLOURS

The Galaxy S24 Ultra colours include Titanium Grey, Titanium Black, Titanium Violet and

Titanium Yellow.

There are also some online exclusive colours including Titanium Blue, Titanium Green and Titanium Orange.

On Galaxy S24+ and Galaxy S24 the available colours will include Onyx Black, Marble Grey, Cobalt Violet and Amber Yellow.

The online exclusive colours are Sapphire Blue, Jade Green and Sandstone Orange and Titanium Orange.

PRICING

– Samsung Galaxy S24 – $1,399 (256GB), $1,599 (512GB).

– Samsung Galaxy S24+ – $1,699 (256GB), $1,899 (512GB).

– Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra – $2,199 (256GB), $2,399 (512GB), $2,799 (1TB).

VERDICT

The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra is probably the best smartphone you can buy right now with a sleek look and feel, excellent performance, a stunning screen, incredible camera system and the brilliant Galaxy AI. This package is just too good to resist.