REVIEW: Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra packs flashy AI tools with hits and misses

Samsung’s latest smartphone, the Galaxy S24 Ultra packs a plethora of the latest flashy AI tools in an attempt to improve text, images, video and search – with both hits and misses.

The new Galaxy S24 Ultra comes equipped with a combination of Samsung and Google’s latest AI layered on top of one of the most capable phones on the market, filled to the brim with competition-beating specs.

Not much difference

The overall design of the smartphone differs only iteratively from predecessors, with a fully flat rather than curved screen and new titanium sides, similar to the iPhone 15 Pro Max, which gives it a gripper finish and, in theory, makes it stronger and more durable.

The screen has Corning’s latest Gorilla Armor glass that is more scratch-resistant and much less reflective, significantly reducing glare which, combined with the super-bright screen, makes using it outdoors as easy as indoors even on the sunniest of days.

ALSO READ: Dell strengthens collaboration to help enterprises adopt AI tech

Features

Some of the AI features on the mobile phone really are impressive: live translation for phone calls could be really helpful for someone who makes a lot of calls in an unfamiliar language. However, I was disappointed that the language packs are limited with no Arabic supported, which could’ve proved useful when I was in Saudi Arabia recently.

Voice recording summaries are surprisingly good and turning any video into slow motion is just plain fun. Are the results always great? No, but they’re usually delightful.

Circle to Search, Live Translate, Interpreter, Chat Assist, Note Assist, Transcript Assist, ProVisual Engine, Generative AI Edit, and Instant Slow-Mo are great features.

Coming onto the cameras, Samsung has not held back. A quartet of lenses are present on the rear – 200MP wide-angle, 12MP ultra wide-angle, 50MP telephoto, and 10MP telephoto.

The results are truly great while shooting outdoors, and toggling between the 12MP, 50MP, and 200MP lens options shows you just what this camera array is truly capable of in the right hands.

This is the zoom capability of the Samsung Galaxy S24. A normal photo of the clock tower in Makkah, #SaudiArabia. After that, I zoomed in at 19% & 100%. Even with full zoom, the photos are clear with intricate details visible. #Samsung #GalaxyS24 @SamsungMobileSA @SamsungSA pic.twitter.com/WXCGglB186

— 𝙵𝚊𝚒𝚣𝚎𝚕 𝙿𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚕 ⚡️ (@FaizelPatel143) February 20, 2024

Expensive

The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra is the best phone you can buy right now from a specifications perspective.

While it’s an awesome smartphone, the exact same compliments can be paid to last year’s S23 Ultra and Galaxy AI does not distinguish the real-world performance of the S24 Ultra compared to its predecessor.

There is also the price tag. Provided you’re okay with parting ways with at least R30 000, this will be all the phone you need for the next two years or so, but you need deep pockets.

ALSO READ: Samsung unveils Galaxy A55 and A35 5G, but what’s the difference?