Shane
As a new year rolls around, so does a new dawn of flagship smart phone releases.
In traditional form Samsung kicks of the new year right with their release of the Galaxy S Series.
True it really doesn’t seem that it was 12 months ago we saw the S23, S23+ and S23 Ultra 5G hit the store shelves. But, it was and my how things have evolved.
And an evolution is exactly what we have with the largest and beefier Galaxy S24 Ultra 5G.
As they showcased at CES 2024, the new series of smartphones has adopted the use of AI (Artificial Intelligence).
But first, the specs.
Across all of the new S24 Series, 256GB is the lowest, with Samsung very wisely dropping any 128GB variations.
Knowing that smart phone users that like to adopt the higher end phones will most definitely make use of the camera. A lot. And without the option of microSD expansion for some years now, 128GB is simply swallowed up too quick by vids and pics.
The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra 5G is powered by the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. Built to handle the most extreme workload, high end mobile games, all the while keeping cool and calm and not impede on battery consumption.
Samsung offered up the same amount of RAM as last year at 12GB, which is fair and definitely more than you may ever need. This is I hope will see an increase in the next models, as other flagship manufacturers (excluding Apple) are adopting 16 to 18GB, or the provision to be able to utilize storage space to expand the RAM.
We see WiFi 6 compatibility on the S24 Ultra 5G, but it missed out on the WiFi 7 upgrade / future proofing.
Cameras are of course what makes the Galaxy S Series the front runner in the entire Samsung smart device line up.
The rear sees four cameras in the signature layout that makes the Ultra unique.
Your main lens is a 200MP wide, accompanied by a 50MP periscope telephoto, an additional 10MP telephoto and a 12MP ultrawide.
For those breathtaking selfies you get a 12MP wide pinhole lens, which completely minimizes the impact on the full screen view.
The space zoom has been retained at 100x zoom and this has been improved on even more by way of being easier and steadier to use. The Galaxy S24 Ultra 5G also has an excellent macro.
And speaking of screen, it is a vivid 6.8 inch AMOLED with a 120Hz refresh (perfect for gaming) and with HDR10+.
But there is no curve at the sides. While the body of the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra 5G is rounded for the comfort being held in one’s hand, the screen is edge to edge without the wrapping on either side.
As Samsung did a few years ago now with the discontinuation of their Note series, the S24 Ultra 5G comes with its very own S Pen. This comfortably clicks in to the titanium body of the phone, and Samsung’s One UI will detect when it’s being removed and offer up the usual writing and drawing options that we have seen in prior top shelf S Series, including air action where you can use your S Pen to remotely control your S24 Ultra 5G.
The S Pen is as fluid as ever when writing and is to the likes of a real ink pen when transcribing, which can be natively converted to text via the device’s AI.
So more on that now.
Samsung have always had the most robust and option rich video and picture editor in any smartphone I have used and reviewed.
Now you can utilize AI magic for your snaps. Circle and search is taking a pic of an item or object and using Samsung’s own cloud AI to search the web for that specific item, with an astounding level of accuracy.
Want to remove an ex partner or a photo bomber from a pic. You can!
By outlining the object (or person) you want to remove Samsung’s AI will process the entire image and try to fill in the background where the object or person was.
In my tests, it worked, sure, but for the most part was still relatively obvious something had been masked.
The more successful AI image feature was the moving of objects or people, essentially cutting them out of the frame and moving them to a different place within the image.
With the S24 Ultra 5G you no longer need smart photo editing apps. It’s all on the device.
Depending on whether you are using WiFi at home or mobile data will reflect how long the AI processing takes as it processes in the cloud. This is free for now, but there is word out there that eventually it will require a subscription to use the AI features. Makes sense, all other photo editing apps are on subs.
AI is not only limited to your photo’s. It’s also a travelers best friend.
The Samsung AI on the S24 ultra will translate languages in real time, whether that is via a phone call, or person to person.
No longer will you have awkward ‘lost in translation’ moments when on an OE.
Powering this AI infused multi-purpose, multi-taskable beast is a decent sized 5, 000 mAh battery with 45 watt fast charging (via a power brick not supplied), 15 watt wireless and 4.5 watt reverse charging (for charging up your Galaxy Buds.
Battery life is a mixed bag but is on the positive side.
For general use you’re likely to get a couple of days out of a full charge. Gaming decreases this of course. For daily use (and I am not a light mobile user) I was able to squeeze out two and a half days on a full charge.
A few gaming sessions (approx. 6 hours in total) shaved off 30% which is good going (games played are Call of Duty Mobile and Diablo Immortal).
8K video recording seemed to cause no stress on the battery after 10 to 20 minutes of footage recorded. Power damage was completely minimal, around 5%.
If you’re a light to mid user you’re going to be fine if you forget to charge your Galaxy S24 Ultra 5G overnight.
Heavy user or a serious mobile gamer, you should make it through a full day, easy.
The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra 5G has taken a leap in to the future of smart mobiles and set the path and expectations for what we can now expect from a smartphone going forward.
In some respects I feel that the AI is still in an early stage, but in others it excels beyond expectations.
The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra 5G is more than a smartphone. It offers up an entire suite of functionality that no other device can currently, making it the one-stop go-to.
A worthy upgrade or a must own device.
Releases: February 2024
Device Name: Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra 5G
Chipset: Snapdragon Gen 3
Memory: 12GB
Internal Storage: 256GB
Camera: F: 12MP. R: 200 MP wide, 50 MP periscope telephoto, 10 MP telephoto, 12 MP ultrawide
Battery: 5, 000 mAh