For a good few years, we have been complaining about the lack of innovations in the smartphone industry. Apart from foldable screens, we haven't really seen a change in the capabilities of our smartphones, and even foldable screens are still considered niche.
The AI revolution managed to shock the world in 2023, mainly thanks to ChatGPT, capable of generating texts, images, and music. Now, this revolution is coming to smartphones, and Samsung is the first to incorporate AI into its products.
The Galaxy S24 series, announced in January this year, includes three devices, with the most advanced model being the Galaxy S24 Ultra.
Design: Rectangular Galaxy with Titanium
At first glance, the S24 Ultra is very similar to last year's model, but upon closer examination, the differences become apparent. The screen itself is no longer curved on the sides; this time it is flat. Additionally, the frame itself is made of titanium for the first time in a Samsung device, instead of aluminum, which is a stronger material.
If we're talking about durability, the glass is Gorilla Armor by Corning, which is supposed to protect the screen to some extent. The glass on the back of the device is also Gorilla Glass. Of course, it is still water and dust resistant with an IP68 rating, which means it can be submerged in water up to 1.5 meters deep for 30 minutes.
Overall, this is a smartphone that looks really good, especially in the gray-silver color, and the titanium frame adds a luxurious touch. On the other hand, it is still a large smartphone that weighs quite a bit - 232 grams.
Display: Excellent image quality with strong lighting
The 6.8-inch display is large and looks great, with extremely rich and deep colors that almost pop out, and combined with the high sharpness and high refresh rate (120Hz), it provides smooth motion that is enjoyable to look at. The refresh rate is adaptive, which means it adjusts itself to the feature being used, saving battery.
Samsung improved the brightness this year, which was already strong in the previous generation (1760 nits), now reaching 2600 nits, allowing for viewing in direct strong sunlight.
Interface: AI changes the experience
The operating system here is Android 14 with Samsung's One UI 6.1 interface. The AI capabilities that Samsung added here make this device different from other smartphones. It's worth mentioning that while some of the features work in Hebrew or do not require Hebrew (like the camera), in other parts, we suffer from language limitations. Hopefully, this will change in the future.
Circle to Search is a feature that allows you to surround an object with your finger or stylus while watching videos or looking at pictures, and it provides information about it. For example, when you see a photo of a friend and want to know where to buy the shirt they are wearing or want to know the building in the background of the picture. This option works great and allows you to change the search experience.
In the field of reading, if you enter to read an article and don't have the energy to read it all, clicking on the star icon in the Samsung browser will give you a brief summary of it in Hebrew. There is also an option to translate articles from one language to another, but it does not include Hebrew. Yes, there is support here for Spanish, Polish, French, German, and more.
For writing, there is an assistant that can improve the text you write, including grammar. This ability works in Hebrew and is available through the Samsung keyboard. It allows you to change the wording to be more polite, professional, and even with emojis. For users who write in English, this feature helps with English grammar, which is a great ability for people who send professional emails.
Samsung's AI also allows you to have a conversation on the phone with someone in a different language (not in Hebrew). For example, during a conversation with someone who speaks French, their speech will be translated in real-time to English on your side, so you can understand what they are saying. The translation can be in voice or text. For some reason, this option doesn't work by default, you need to look for the feature in the settings called "Live translation" and enable it.
Samsung has also integrated AI into its "recorder" feature, so if you record a conversation in English (or other supported languages), you can receive transcription and summary of it, so you don't have to listen or read the entire transcript. Regarding AI in the camera, more information will be provided later.
Hardware: Works smoothly with an updated processor.
It's not surprising that this is a smartphone with powerful hardware that allows it to work smoothly. The processor here is the new generation of Qualcomm - Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 with 12 gigabytes of RAM. The under-screen fingerprint sensor (Ultrasonic technology) reacts well, there is support for UWB technology, which is used for proximity detection of objects, for example, in Galaxy SmartTag 2 (and there are also cars that already use it for door unlocking), support for WiFi 7, which we hope to see widespread use of internet networks in the future in the country, and of course, space for two SIM cards, in addition to eSIM (which perhaps someday the major cellular operators in the country will enable us to enjoy this technology).
In the audio field, we get support for the latest Bluetooth 5.3, alongside the LE standard that some wireless earbud manufacturers have started supporting (the standard offers better sound quality, alongside lower battery consumption) and good stereo speakers.
Camera: Galaxy S24 Ultra - Very impressive camera, but its AI is even more interesting.
The camera comes with four sensors: a 200-megapixel main sensor, a wide-angle 12-megapixel sensor (120 degrees), a telephoto 50-megapixel sensor with 5x optical zoom, and an additional telephoto sensor with a 10-megapixel sensor and 3x optical zoom. The selfie camera comes with a 12-megapixel sensor.
The camera itself is excellent, whether it's in daylight photos with rich colors, great detail, and high sharpness, or in bokeh/portrait shots where the background appears blurred. Even photos taken in low-light conditions came out in good quality, and even photos with 5x optical zoom maintained their quality. In night mode with street lighting, I got a relatively clean and well-lit image. Selfie shots were fine, although the faces were slightly noisy.
What's interesting about the camera is the editing capabilities it offers thanks to the AI. These are generative editing capabilities, where after taking the photo, you can move objects within the image, for example, moving a child from one place to another within the photo, and the software will fill in the gaps created by moving the object. It works great and allows for playing with the images, moving people from one side to the other and hiding them. In cases where the software struggles to create a clean background that looks like the original, it inserts another object that is supposed to fit. I removed a large object from the photo that was on a table and replaced it with a small plant.
Battery: Strong battery, but slow charging
The battery of the Galaxy S24 Ultra performs well, lasting a full day of intensive use, with 20% energy remaining from 7 am to 11:30 pm. The screen-on time was long: 4 hours and 50 minutes. The wired charging here is not as fast as those of major Chinese manufacturers, it only supports 45 watts, and there is no charger included in the package. Wireless charging is only 15 watts, and there is reverse charging (4.5 watts) for charging headphones and smartwatches from the smartphone's battery.
Price: 5,050 shekels for the 256 gigabyte version.
In conclusion, Samsung has integrated AI capabilities in almost every important feature of the Galaxy S24 Ultra. Whether it is advanced photo editing tasks that turn complex tasks of graphic designers into simple ones, or fixing grammar mistakes in English, or summarizing articles or transcribing voice recordings (even summarizing them in English). The AI here is not just a gimmick, it is a capability that makes this smartphone superior to its competitors. Besides that, it is still a smartphone with a great-looking display, powerful hardware, long-lasting battery, and excellent camera.