Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra and S24+ review: Amazing camera and Generative AI capabilities

A lot of buzz has been surrounding the latest Samsung Galaxy S24 series, particularly on the spanking new AI capabilities and camera functions. So, I thought I should give them a try, even though I've been an iPhone user most of my entire life. Although most of the buzz is on the S24 series, the AI capabilities will also be coming to most of the S23 series, and other Samsung products like the Z Fold 5, Z Flip 5, and Tab S9.

I took the phones to snap photos of Taylor Swift's The Eras Tour concert and here's what I think.

Overview of the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra and S24+

The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra

I received the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra in 'Titanium Yellow,' which has a nice matte gold finish on its frame. I didn't mind the colour, although I think it does pick up a few specks of dust here and there. The frame is huge compared to my iPhone 13 Pro, which I've been using for a few years. The S24 Ultra has a display of 6.8 inches and a nice weight feel (232g).

Watching YouTube videos on the screen is a breeze with its 2,600-nit peak brightness on the AMOLED 2X panel, with an adaptive refresh rate between 1Hz and 120Hz. Even when I'm reading on the screen, the experience is smooth and not too jarring for my eyesight.

I could easily tag my personal email to the pre-installed Google apps like Mail, Drive, and Calendar, which saves me time from logging in again.

The S Pen has a nice hold, and once in a while, when I don't remember to return it to its base, a pop-up reminder with a gentle alarm tells me so.

The Samsung S24+

I received the Samsung S24+ in 'Cobalt Violet', which honestly, is one of my favourite colours to preview. It's slightly smaller than the S24 Ultra at just 6.7 inches of cover display dimension, and it also weighs lighter at 196g. Resolution-wise, it doesn't differ too much from the S24 Ultra.

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The cameras on the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra and S24+

There isn't any drastic change from the S24 series compared to last year's range, and even my ex-colleague over at Engadget said so. He shared that, "for better low-light performance and improved zoom, you might prefer the S24 Ultra. Still, the S24 and S24+ should be sufficient for your daily snaps, and for me, the results were usually consistent across the three rear cameras."

This is the fun part for me since I take many photos to accompany my articles. I brought both the Samsung S24 Ultra and S24+ phones to Taylor Swift's The Eras Tour on 7 March. Yes, both phones, including my personal iPhone, which were all stuffed into my crossbody bag.

The Samsung S24 Ultra blew me away with its 10x optical quality zoom. I balanced the phone steadily while Swift sashayed down the platform and danced with her troupe. The night colours aren't as vivid as the iPhone's camera capabilities, but there's a lot of sharpness that adds to the photo's vibrancy.

But mind you, if you look at the S24 Ultra photo below and compare it to the S24+ photo, they are by far, day and night. S24 Ultra's main telephoto lens provides a useful focal length, which I appreciated.

Oh, and let's touch on the magic that is the Generative AI edit tool, which uses machine learning to edit your photos. In photo editing desktop tools like Adobe Photoshop, you'll have a similar lasso tool which you can use to wrap around the image, resize or retouch. The problem after editing a photo is to retouch the image so it doesn't look out of place without that blank space (ahem, pun intended!).

The Generative Edit can fill that space by pulling clues from the photo to generate new contexts for the picture. Case in point: shadow lines on the moving platform have now replaced the removed image.

Other AI tools on the Samsung S24 series

Samsung also announced its AI transcription feature, which will be useful for my work when I interview personalities who converse in English and Mandarin. However, you could only transcribe the whole conversation after you've finished recording, and you won't see the transcribe live which is odd as Samsung has the in-build live interpreter tool.

Using Samsung's Notes app, you can also lean into Galaxy AI to summarise and format your notes during press events and interviews.

Final decision: Should I switch to the Samsung S24 series?

Honestly, having used the phones for a week, I was getting more comfortable with the phones for my everyday functions. The phone battery performance is fantastic – over two days – and the photos on the Samsung S24 Ultra blew me by surprise! I could see the Generative AI tools being more intuitive and convenient as the machine learning improves over time. While Google is leading the Generative AI game, I think Samsung deserves some credit over here. The price tag on the Samsung S24 Ultra is a deterrent (it's S$1,928/ RM7,799) but if I had that kind of moolah right now, I'd definitely make the switch and get it for myself.

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