Samsung Details New Galaxy AI Tools In Upcoming Galaxy S24 Series

Samsung’s Galaxy Unpacked events are usually the spot for unveiling new devices and outlining why the annual entries in its variety of Galaxy series are better than the previous year’s entries. Wednesday’s first Galaxy Unpacked of 2024 did include the first official look at the new Galaxy S24 line of smartphones, but the clear focus of the day was Samsung’s strong commitment to AI implementation within its devices.

Referred to by the company as “Advanced Intelligence” rather than the common definition of AI, Samsung revealed a bevy of AI tools making their debut in the S24 series that range from truly interesting and applicable beyond the current uses of generative AI that have drawn heavy, rightful criticism over the last year to some that while welcome raise questions about their efficacy without some hands-on experience.

The most impressive of the new tools address translation, photography and video innovations. The company’s Galaxy AI suite allows for real-time translation of live phone calls both in audio and on-screen text, supporting up to 13 languages at launch. Text messaging gets its own AI-powered translation tools via Chat Assist, allowing users to translate incoming and outgoing text messages in real time. It is a powerful development in real-time translation tools on Samsung platforms that is powered by Samsung’s working relationship with Google and its Gemini AI model.

Photos and Videos also get an AI-powered boost similar to what last year’s Google Pixel 8 Pro introduced. Samsung touted its new Pro Visual Engine as the source behind its best camera lineup to date on the Galaxy S24 Ultra The company calls it a “quad-tele camera system” that uses AI integration to produce high-quality images at high zoom with improved image stabilization. Samsung highlighted the new 5x zoom on its 50MP lens as a major addition for capturing images from a distance and AI tools that analyze image subjects before the shutter is activated for crisper details, better capturing of skin tones and improved noise reduction in images.

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Users can also edit images to expand backgrounds and move or remove portions of the image with generative AI filling in the gaps. Thankfully, Samsung stated that it will automatically apply a watermark to images on the device that are edited with generative AI in addition to denoting such details in image metadata.

On the video side, Samsung detailed its new Instant Slow-Mo feature, which lets users alter the speed of videos shot by the device by using generative AI to fill in the missing frames needed to produce a smooth slow-motion video. Both photos and videos will be shareable using Samsung’s Quick Share feature, which the company stated is getting support across a number of Android devices and Windows PCs rather than only Samsung devices.

The presentation included the promise of AI integration into Samsung Health, highlighted by the feature of blood oxygen monitoring while sleeping being used to warn users of conditions such as sleep apnea. It is an apt thing to focus on as Samsung keeps expanding its health and wellness options on its wearables, but the desire for more information on how this works and its efficacy through hands-on use is present. The same can be said for the company’s newest wearable, the Galaxy Ring, which made its debut near the end of the keynote without any further details given about it.

Perhaps the most surprising reveal was the addition of Circle to Search, a new feature developed in tandem with Google to let users utilize a series of gestures to search for words and images directly from any app. Examples demoed during Galaxy Unpacked showed how users could circle, scribble or tap on images and text cropped from Instagram posts and text messages to instantly display a Google Search window related to the chosen subject. The demo looked impressive, though the results displayed in some instances gave the feeling of how it could feed into the areas Google’s expansion of search has tread that has drawn criticism. There is no denying that it is effective and could be a great tool for rapidly answering questions like “which restaurant are you talking about” or “where can I get this striking top” without opening another app, but it could also be another contributor to the SEO nightmare and struggles with spam content that keeps affecting Google and other search engines.

Samsung’s Galaxy AI presentation was impressive even with the qualms and questions, and users will be able to get their chance to try out these new tools when the Samsung Galaxy S24 series launches on Jan. 31. Circle to Search will also launch for Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro owners on the same date.