First impressions: Entering a new era with the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra
An unexplored galaxy
A few days ago, Samsung pulled back the curtains on its revolutionary Galaxy AI in tandem with the release of the new S24 series at its bi-annual Samsung Unpacked event. It’s no secret that the tech world (and the world, in general…) is moving into the age of artificial intelligence and Samsung is diving head-first into it with the S24 series. The Galaxy AI capabilities add a new level of intelligence in the day-to-day usage of smartphones, from Live Translate in messaging apps to Generative Edit with photos.
Currently, the Galaxy S24 series is only available for pre-orders but I was one of the lucky few who got early access to the phone to experience it in its full smart glory. After writing my full rundown of the Galaxy AI and S24 series, I was eager to see just how well the phone could perform. With a ton of new features and functions to make my way through, it’ll be a while before I form a full opinion on it—but to kick things off, here are my first impressions of the brand new Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra in Titanium Violet.
WHAT’S IN THE BOX
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The packaging was rather minimal with the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra. Aside from the phone itself, the box came with a SIM ejection tool, a USB Type-C cable, paperwork, and a warranty card. Simple, to the point, and not wasteful.
S PEN SUPREMACY
The Galaxy S24 Ultra includes a built-in S pen, useful for notes and making sketches. The S Pen brings functionality and convenience to the overall experience of using the S24 Ultra. From a few sketches and doodles on the Samsung Notes app, I found the latency between the S Pen and S24 Ultra to be extremely low, closely mirroring an actual pen-and-paper experience.
I AM TITANIUM
The titanium body is a first for Samsung, supposedly adding sturdiness and durability. In my hands, the phone—with its slim frame and rounded sides—fits comfortably. However, it did get a little difficult reaching the edges of its 6.8-inch display with one hand. With that being said, it wasn’t a huge problem since I’m usually holding my phone and typing with both hands. Other simple gestures such as scrolling and unlocking the phone were easily done.
DISPLAY FOR DAYS
The display on the phone is said to be Samsung’s brightest one yet, coming in with 2,600 nits at peak brightness. In the sun, I could still make out what was on my screen with some of the reflections minimised—kudos to you, Vision Booster. This made viewing photos and watching videos while outdoors a more comfortable experience. To add, the blacks on the QHD+ dynamic AMOLED 2X display were true blacks, while the colours appeared vibrant and text sharp.
QUICK AND RESPONSIVE
So far, the phone has been great scrolling through apps with ease. This can be credited to the 120Hz refresh rate. Multitasking is also a breeze on the phone, as I could hop between apps like YouTube and Gallery for photo editing without any dropoff all thanks to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 Mobile Platform for Galaxy.
ZOOM IN, ZOOM OUT
In a stunning upgrade, the Galaxy S24 Ultra comes with a new 50MP telephoto camera with a 5x optical zoom. It also added optical quality zoom capabilities at 2x and 10x. From my experiments with the telephoto lens, it seems to capture sharp images with great detail even at 10x zoom. Other than that, the camera is pretty much the same as its predecessor with five lenses.
AI-POWERED WORKHORSE
Let’s address the robot in the room. It goes by the name Galaxy AI and, boy, is it powerful. Its intelligence may be artificial but its usefulness and functionality are anything but. With its ProVisual Engine, I had a huge range of photo editing tools and functions in the palm of my hand. I could remove unwanted items, get rid of shadows, and more. For now, I’ve put the Object Eraser function to the test and so far, so good. As for the Remove Reflection tool, its results haven’t been ideal, but I’ll continue to test and monitor which conditions it excels in.
With the Circle to Search with Google feature, it is certainly useful when the situation calls for it. With my tests, it has responded quite well to general searches. As I continue to use the phone, I’m sure I’ll explore more of its capabilities and see how far I can go with my searches.
Lastly, I used the Generative Wallpaper function to create my wallpapers for both my lock and home screen. It was fun to play around with and offered quite an extensive range of backgrounds that I could customise down to the colour palette.
Prices for the Galaxy S24 Ultra start at RM6,299 (256GB) with pre-orders available on the official Samsung website now.
Stay tuned for my full review on the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, coming soon! For more stories on Samsung, click here
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