Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra review: Excellent performance, no matter the game

Samsung's flagship Galaxy S series has always been touted as a great Android phone, setting the benchmark against which other phones launched later in the year. With this year's Galaxy S24 series, Samsung has focused its efforts on delivering AI-based software enhancements.

The Galaxy S24 Ultra, which is Samsung's new flagship phone for 2024, retains the same core hardware features from the previous S23 and S22 Ultra phones, but features subtle improvements with a brighter flat display , improved processor and enhanced camera system - making this phone a safe choice for users in need of an upgrade.

Specifications

1. SoC: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 3rd generation for Galaxy
2. Screen: 6.8 inches Dynamic LTPO AMOLED 2X, 120Hz, HDR10+, 2600 nits
3. RAM: 12GB
4. Memory: 256, 512, 1TB
5. Battery: 5,000mAh
6. Port: USB-C
7. Operating system: Android 14 with OneUI 6.1
8. Camera: 200MP wide, 50MP 5x telephoto, 10MP 3x telephoto, 12MP ultra-wide, 12MP selfie
9. Connection: WiFi 7, Bluetooth 5.3
10. Charging speed: Wired 45W, wireless 15W
11. IP rating: IP68
12. Weight: 232g

The design has been refined

In terms of design, the Galaxy S24 Ultra looks almost identical to the S23 Ultra, which was already similar to the previous S22 Ultra. However, this year's design benefits from some subtle changes that gradually improve this recurring design.

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First, the phone is much flatter; The frame, screen and back all lose curvature compared to the S23 Ultra, and while this has been consistent in design throughout the S24 line, it's especially noticeable with the new Galaxy S24 Ultra, with its Galaxy design Note is inherently boxy. As for how it feels in the hand, the sides retain a subtle curve, making the phone relatively easy to hold, but the corners of the device feel much sharper.

Even without a major redesign, the Galaxy S24 Ultra's new flatter aesthetic makes the phone look very professional.

The next big difference in the design of this phone is the choice of materials. Samsung has finally differentiated the Ultra phone with a new titanium frame, as opposed to the aluminum shell on the regular Galaxy S24 and S24+. Does titanium make such a big difference or provide any immediate benefits? The answer is no, but it does make the device feel much better in the hand. The S24 Ultra's titanium finish picks up less fingerprints than the iPhone 15 Pro series, so that's a plus.

Samsung is also using the new Gorilla Glass Armor for its S24 series this year, and it's said to be the toughest Gorilla Glass Corning has ever developed - four times more scratch-resistant than the competition!

Aside from these key differences, the Galaxy S24 Ultra retains the same design as the S23 Ultra, which is not a bad thing. You still get IP68 dust and water resistance, an S-Pen slot, and similar dimensions to a phone with a large screen without making it feel unwieldy.

The screen is brighter, flat, larger and more beautiful

The Galaxy S24 Ultra's display is by far one of the best that Samsung or any company has ever shipped. This massive 6.8-inch display is now completely flat and has uniform bezels on all four sides. Choosing not to curve the panel this year, especially for the S-Pen-equipped Ultra model, makes a lot of sense.

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Samsung is also using a new anti-reflective film for this year, and while it greatly reduces outdoor glare, it also makes the screen appear a bit darker and less saturated. This new panel reaches a maximum brightness of 2,600 nits and looks great in use situations under direct sunlight.

Of course, like the previous S23 Ultra, you'll find all the other features, including HDR10+, LTPO 120Hz variable refresh rate, S-Pen support and 1440 x 3120 resolution, helping the S24 Ultra makes it perfect for consumer content and gaming.

Overall, the Galaxy S24 Ultra's display delivers a premium viewing experience whether you're watching media content, playing games, or using productivity apps.

The camera is inconsistent, especially in low light

When it comes to the camera, the Galaxy S24 Ultra offers a somewhat inconsistent experience. It is equipped with a 200MP wide main lens, a 3x 10MP telephoto lens, a 5x 50MP telephoto lens, and a 12MP ultra-wide lens. The main difference compared to the Galaxy S23 Ultra is that the telephoto camera has been increased from 10MP to 50MP, but has a 5x shorter optical range compared to 10x.

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In actual use, the performance of the camera system will vary. Under optimal conditions, the S24 Ultra captures high-quality, detailed images with rich color reproduction. However, consistency will decrease in poor lighting conditions - especially if you're not using the main sensor, resulting in over-processed images that lack sharpness and detail. This is most noticeable in the way details and colors change as you switch between different focal lengths, but overall it feels like a step back from the more consistent performance seen in last year's S23 Ultra .

In most conditions, the Galaxy S24 Ultra takes photos with more accurate, realistic colors. New this year is an HDR mode, which tends to push things to higher contrast, but dynamic range is improved and the phone does a good job of balancing scene and sky lighting.

Night mode also shows some improvements with better light capture and noise reduction. However, it still struggles to maintain detail in extremely low light, especially if you're not using the 200MP main sensor.

Portrait mode continues to be Samsung's strongest implementation of computational photography, with the Galaxy S24 Ultra doing a great job of handling the difficulty of separating subjects from the background - and even the foreground.

Overall, while the Galaxy S24 Ultra's camera system shows potential and versatility, it's marred by a lack of consistency. With future software updates, Samsung may be able to iron out these relatively minor issues and really exploit the hardware's potential, but as it stands, this is a capable camera system. Use a little tweaking.

Hardware and battery life is surprisingly great

The S24 Ultra is powered by the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 For Galaxy chipset paired with 256GB of UFS 4.0 storage for the base level of storage (up to 1TB), with 12GB of RAM across the board. New this year is the addition of WiFi 7, which can theoretically reach speeds of a whopping 46Gbps.

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In benchmarks, our Galaxy S24 Ultra scored 2,186 on Single-Core and 6,659 on Multi-Core when plugged in for GeekBench 6. For comparison, the iPhone 15 Pro's A17 Pro scored 2,920 on Single-Core and 7,186 on Multi-Core. Score.

With these scores, the two phones essentially have the same level of performance, but what you can achieve with the Galaxy S24 Ultra is more sustained performance thanks to a much larger heatsink, which meaning the processor gets better thermal management at peak performance.

When tested in the real world, the Galaxy S24 Ultra performed very well; you can multitask with ease, keep multiple apps in memory, and never really have to worry about hitting any performance ceiling; it works as it should and that's a great thing.

This great performance also extends to the battery, as the device continues to use a 5,000mAh battery, which combined with a fairly optimized operating system and processor, means you get a phone that can Use continuously for up to 2 days. .

When it comes to charging, the phone still only supports 45W PD fast wired charging and 15W wireless charging, but once you start using the device for a few days and get used to its battery life, you'll notice that 30 minutes of charging in the morning will last you all day. All of this shows how impressive this phone's battery handling capabilities are.

Overall, Samsung has improved gradually, keeping what was already great. Once again you get a very powerful phone with the Galaxy S24 Ultra.

The software and Galaxy AI are really helpful

Without a doubt, the software experience on the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra is the device's most obvious change compared to last year's version. To be honest, this is the first time Samsung has released some truly useful features and not just empty talk.

First, let's talk about OneUI. OneUI 6.1, which comes with the device, is mostly great - although you'll still find the usual bloatware of Meta and Microsoft apps you probably don't use, as well as Samsung's own suite of apps . But beyond that, you can choose what features you want and what you don't.

The big software announcement this year for the Galaxy S24 series isn't OneUI 6, but the fact that the S24 series will receive a whopping 7 years of software updates, equivalent to Google's Pixel 8 series. This means you can stay up to date with new software and (more importantly) security updates for longer.

The standout add-on suite this year is Galaxy AI and there are 7 distinct new AI features built into the device that can be classified into 3 categories: Translation, summarization and formatting, and image processing. They can all be turned on or off individually in Settings if you're not using them, and Samsung even lets you choose what to do on your device - a big plus for privacy.

With translation features, you can use them in 3 different ways. The first two are Google Translate clones that perform translation through Interpreter mode and the other is text translation in the messaging app. These are things we've seen with Google, but the benefit for Samsung is that the AI ​​processing is done entirely on the device. You don't need to be connected to the Internet or data to access it, and translations are significantly faster because of this.

The next feature set is summarized, in Samsung Notes and Voice Recorder. This will give you a smart summary of what was written or recorded.

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Moving on to the more interesting photo editing features, you're essentially getting Samsung's version of Magic Editor on Pixel phones.

Finally, the most practical software feature of the Galaxy S24 Ultra has to be the Circle to Search feature and it's no surprise that it was created by Google. Circle to Search lets you press and hold the home button or navigation bar on any screen and circle what you want to search for. This completely changes the way you search, shop or learn about things from the context of your phone and the world around you.

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Circle to Search is so quick and consistently accurate in finding what it's looking at, that going back to any other form of search feels antiquated.

Should I buy Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra?

Samsung gradually changes the design of its phones every year or boldly adds every feature they can imagine. At first glance, comparing Samsung's past to the current Galaxy S24 series might make these phones unattractive and boring – but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

The Galaxy S24 Ultra feels like an AI-enhanced Galaxy S23 Ultra. For a phone that costs so much, that's one of the best compliments you can give, as the Galaxy S23 Ultra is an extremely good performer.

The Galaxy S24 Ultra is not exactly a revolution in Samsung's flagship product line. It preserves the core strengths of its predecessor while integrating truly useful AI-based enhancements, combined with subtle hardware enhancements. A flatter design, improved materials, and brighter display are thoughtful upgrades that enhance the user experience.

The biggest drawback on the S24 Ultra is the inconsistency of the camera. However, since this issue is likely due to software and not hardware, this is something Samsung may fix in a future update. With Samsung's new commitment to updating these phones over the long term, hopefully that will happen.

Overall, Samsung once again offers a safe upgrade with its Galaxy S24 Ultra. If you're looking for a big phone equipped with the best hardware and strong software support, the Galaxy S24 Ultra is an attractive choice.

Marvin Fry

Update 02 February 2024