Samsung’s latest smartphone offering, the Galaxy S24 Ultra, further solidifies the company’s place among the top Android phone developers while providing a very interesting peek into the positive uses of AI within the mobile space.
That isn’t to say that the phone itself features several welcomed improvements over last year’s stellar Galaxy S23 Ultra, but, much like the presentation during which Samsung announced the device, the Galaxy S24 Ultra’s true potential rests in its Galaxy AI suite of tools.
One of the most touted among what Galaxy AI offers is its auto-translation capabilities. The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra features both real-time text and voice auto-translation within calls and text messages. It’s a great addition for a further globalizing world and operates cleanly in a good amount of situations, but it still didn’t feel all the way there in terms of feeling like you’re having a natural conversation during calls. It works, but there is still room for it to grow.
The device also adds AI-powered document summarization to Samsung Notes, message tone assistance for those who wring their hands over how they come across in digital communications and transcription generation in Samsung’s voice recorder app. None of these light up the world and feel like they are there simply to keep up with the Joneses, namely Google, but that doesn’t take away from their functionality. They work fine and that’s all you’d want out of them.
Where Samsung’s AI additions show true impact is the device’s “Quad Tele” camera array. The Galaxy S24 Ultra adds a 5x zoom 50MP telephoto lens to the traditional three-lens back camera selection that delivers crisp, detailed photos from a distance. Image quality overall is improved by a new Pro Visual Engine that uses AI to analyze image subjects for enhanced visual clarity.
Photo editing also gets an AI-powered bump. Users can edit the position or outright remove subjects from photos similar to Google’s Magic Eraser tool, expand the scope of photos with generative AI filling in the gaps and convert any video shot on the device to slow-motion. All of these tools worked well in practice during my time with the device and feel like a great first step for further iteration.
Best of all, any image edited using generative AI automatically gets slapped with a watermark denoting that fact, which is great considering how prevalent the use of AI photos, videos and artwork has become in spreading disinformation and direct harassment in recent years.
Another prominent feature is Circle to Search, a new tool developed in collaboration with Google that lets users instantly search words or images simply by circling them with the S Pen or finger. It is incredibly responsive in use and brings a different level of speed and accuracy to search.
Beyond these additions, the Galaxy S24 Ultra has the feel of a premium smartphone thanks to its new titanium chassis. It has some heft to it for sure, but that didn’t feel like much of a deterrent during daily use. Add on reliable all-day battery life, a boost in performance speeds from its Snapdragon 8 processor and the promise of seven years of support by Samsung and the Galaxy S24 Ultra stands as a worthy successor to its older sibling.