Samsung has just released the highly anticipated Galaxy S24 Series and it has all the bells and whistles. The new “gimmick” or main feature of the phone is AI. Samsung has implemented AI throughout the device. Most will agree that the hype around phone launches has dwindled in the last few years, but can Samsung change that with its suite of AI features?
OS Support:
One of the first things mentioned during Galaxy Unpacked was increased software support for the S24 Series. Samsung has extended security and generational OS updates for 7 years. This is even longer than Apple, which has set the golden standard for software support along with Google. It’s nice to see one of the worst companies in terms of software support rise to the top. Not too long ago Samsung used to support their phones for only 2 years.
Real-Time Voice Translation:
With the Galaxy S24 Series Samsung brings real-time voice translation to calls and text messages regardless of what phone the other person has. For example: if you want to call a family member who only speaks Spanish you can call them while speaking in English and the S24 will translate what you’re saying into Spanish. In other words, if you speak English into your phone it will come out in Spanish on the other end. This feature can help break language barriers, especially for people with foreign family members.
This feature also extends to text messages as well. You can text someone in English and the S24 will translate it into one of the following: Chinese Simplified, English, French, German, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Thai, or Vietnamese. In addition to the variety of languages, users get the ability to choose between styles of conversation formal or casual. Chat assist features occur on the device due to Gemini Nano which is Google’s AI Model designed for on-device tasks.
Note Assist:
AI features have also made their way over to the note-taking app. With the included Galaxy Pen, now when you write your notes you can use AI to neaten them up making your notes more legible and organized. One of the coolest features included is the ability to take what you’ve written in your notes and have AI summarize it into a few bullet points. For example, if you wrote down a few hundred words of notes the Galaxy S24’s AI will shorten it to a few bullet points in a matter of seconds.
Transcript Assist:
In addition to Note Assist, there is also Transcript Assist. One of the main features of Transcript Assist is the ability to recognize multiple voices speaking and write down what each person said. Transcript Assist gets even better because after all the voices have been recorded you can use AI and summarize everything that was said. This could make Galaxy AI very enticing for students in lectures. (Ask permission before recording)
Google + Samsung Partnership:
Another exciting topic is the partnership between Google and Samsung which helped bring features like “circle to search” to the Galaxy S24. The way this feature works is that the user can circle an object on their screen and it will automatically search for the item. An example of this would be seeing a pair of shoes someone is wearing on social media and just circling them to see where they got it. This feature will save people so much time and effort because they don’t have to go through the hassle of tracking a product or item down with words.
Camera:
The Galaxy S24 Ultra has a 200MP main camera, a 12MP Wide lens, a 10MP 3x Tele lens, and a 50MP 5x Tele lens. (Base S24 and S24+ have 50MP Main, 12MP Wide, 10MP 3x Tele) Many of the specs of the camera are the same as the S23 Ultra except the Telephoto lens now being 5x rather than 10x. Some users have expressed dissatisfaction with this because now anything past 5x zoom will be digital rather than the limit being 10x zoom. However, Samsung has tried to compensate for this by increasing the resolution of the 5x Tele lens. Samsung has also focused on improving night photos with Galaxy Nightography AI. This allows for the camera to capture more light, therefore a sharper and more detailed image is captured.
AI Photo Editing:
Photo editing has become a lot quicker and cleaner thanks to Galaxy AI. When taking photos there can be unwanted objects, glares, and reflections. The new AI editing features allow users to remove them with a few simple clicks in the app. This saves tons of time for average users who don’t know how to edit photos professionally. Users can also realign photos and generate parts of the background that were cut off with the help of AI. Any photo edited with AI from the S24 will have a little AI watermark so anyone can tell the image was edited with AI
Performance:
The heart of the Galaxy S24 is the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 For Galaxy. This chip is similar to the previous chip with features like Ray Tracing still being included. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 should be able to perform better thanks to its higher clock speeds and revamped cooling system. The S24 series has a vapor chamber which allows the CPU to stay cooler for longer thus keeping performance at peak for longer.
Display:
The screen of the S24 Ultra is 2600 nits making it one of the brightest displays on a smartphone. In addition to the display screen, it also has an anti-glare coating which makes it much easier to look at in direct light. Another change to the display is that it is completely flat rather than having a curved edge. Lastly, Samsung has also used Corning Gorilla Armor glass which makes the screen much more scratch-resistant. According to tests by popular YouTuber JerryRigEverything, the S24 Ultra gets scratched at a level 7 on the Mohs Hardness Scale with deeper grooves at a level 8. Compared to previous generations scratching at a level 6.
Conclusion:
The S24 Series is jam-packed with AI features and is built to last with its tougher glass and titanium frame (S24 Ultra only). On top of that, the 7-year commitment to software updates means this phone will be supported past 2030 which is mind-boggling. The Achilles heel of this generation is the price. The Galaxy S24 Ultra starts at $1299 with the S24 Plus at $999 and the S24 at $799. Samsung has also noted that some of the AI features could cost money because in the fine print it states, “Galaxy AI features by Samsung will be provided for free until the end of 2025 on supported Samsung Galaxy devices.” While the S24 Series has a lot going for it, the price makes it hard to recommend to most, especially with the iPhone 15 Pro Max being $1199. If you’re an Android user and still want the AI features of the S24 you can still pick up last-gen’s S23 and get the AI features because Samsung confirmed they will trickle down. Overall the S24 series is very intriguing and brings excitement back to Smartphone launches with its amazing AI features.