In recent years, new phones just meant better specs and thus better performance. Innovation has remained minimal, with what we can do, and how we can do it, remaining largely unchanged.
But in January 2024, Samsung announced the S24 series of Galaxy phones, touting AI features that would take functionality and the user experience to the next level.
So, after a few months with the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, let’s take a deep dive into whether it’s truly game-changing or just another phone, with over-the-top marketing hype.
Design and Ergonomics
Over the last few generations, the Galaxy S series of phones has matured into a signature style, with each iteration being an evolutionary enhancement to what was already a slick design.
For the S24 Ultra, new inclusions are a Titanium frame, a completely flat display, and a smaller hole-punch front camera. Essentially, it’s a monolithic rectangular slab, that feels substantial and premium to hold.
The titanium frame is given a matte coating that feels smooth and satin-esque. Picking up the device is a rewarding feeling, every single time. As a negative, it’s so smooth that it’s almost slippery in certain circumstances.
It’s also quite big and heavy, making it impractical for 1 handed use. Compare it to say a Samsung A53, and the latter is noticeably thinner and lighter. So, if you like thin and light phones, the S24 Ultra isn’t for you. As for one-handed use, the UI does feature a specific mode for exactly this.
It’s available in four colors, with a few more options available exclusively via the Samsung website. The unit pictured here is the Titanium Black, which is more like dark grey. Unfortunately, the whiteish cream color that was present in the S23 Ultra line-up is not available.
Worth noting that the Titanium and Titanium Black are the only colors where the frame and rear are the same color, with all the others having two tones. The Samsung-exclusive orange color is quite an eye-catcher!
Samsung has always endowed their Galaxy S Ultra phones with the absolute best displays, and that tradition continues here. The 6.7-inch Super AMOLED screen is brilliant, boasting a peak brightness of 2500 nits, and excellent colors. It is literally edge-to-edge with negligible bezels.
Additionally, it features a variable refresh rate with LTPO 2, a resolution of 1440p, and HDR10+. Samsung has again pushed the limits to give us what is the best screen on a phone.
The power and Volume buttons are on the left, and nothing on the right. A USB Type-C connection is at the bottom, placed between a speaker and stylus on the left, and a mic and SIM tray on the right. There is an in-screen infrasonic fingerprint scanner that is super snappy.
Specs and Performance
Powering the S24 Ultra is the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, Qualcomm’s latest and greatest SoC, featuring a 5G octa-core processor, with Adreno 650 GPU. Memory is a whopping 12 GB, with storage coming in 3 flavors: 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB.
Of worthy mention is the EFS 2.1 storage which is ultra-fast. App installations and updates are the fastest I’ve ever experienced on a smartphone.
Samsung has paid attention to every single detail, be it hardware or software to ensure the absolute best fluid user experience. Touch UI 6.1 has been rebuilt ground-up to ensure maximum responsiveness, and this coupled with the ample SoC and memory specs, the blazing fast storage, and the high-refresh screen, makes for a fabulously fast phone.
Having used several other flagship devices, this is undoubtedly a cut above.
The included speakers are also top-notch, reproducing rich clear sound. It gets quite loud, and I’ve never heard it at over 80%. The speakers in the earpiece double up for a stereo presentation.
I usually keep haptics off, but it is so good on the S24 Ultra that I’ve been using it since day one. Out of the box with no tweaking, it’s perfect both in terms of strength and finesse.
Lastly, we tested the 5G performance in Warsaw city and got a healthy download speed of 513 Mbps and an upload of 74 Mbps. I cannot imagine I’d need more!
Battery and Charging
The battery has a capacity of 5000 mAh, the same as last year’s S23 Ultra. There is no included charger, but fast charging is rated at 45 watts, which is the same as last year. What’s great is that it works with any 45-watt charger and does not need a specific Samsung charger.
It features wireless charging at 15 watts and reverse charging at 10 watts. While I did not test the wireless charging, I did try the wired reverse charging, and it worked as advertised.
Battery life is really good, easily lasting a day with normal use. With light use, the phone would be at more than 60% battery at the end of the day. In several scenarios I could easily use it for one and a half days, sometimes even two.
Charge and discharge cycles are indicated very realistically, unlike some other devices that hold absurdly strong from 100-80%, but then drain faster when below 20%. This feels much more reliable and I appreciate it.
Charge Matrix:
- Connected to Charger at 1%
- 10 Mins – 19%
- 15 Mins – 27%
- 30 Mins – 51%
- 45 Mins – 65%
- 60 Mins – 74%
- 90 Mins – 97%
- 97 Mins – 100%
Once connected to the charger it also displays a time to full charge, which is very useful.
Software and User Experience
The device ships with Android 14, and the new Samsung OneUI 6.1 skin. While I usually always install a launcher, I decided to give OneUI 6.1 a chance, and so far, it’s been pretty decent.
Samsung has promised a crazy seven years of support, so software upgrades are not something to worry about. Gone are the days when a two-year-old Android phone meant living with an older OS.
Towards the end of February, I received the first update, and 2 more after, including the most recent towards the end of June. Seems like Samsung is quite active with fixes and enhancements.
While usually there isn’t much new to talk about here, after years of what felt like lackluster innovation, Samsung is stirring up some buzz with a whole suite of AI-based enhancements; some run-on device, and some that need cloud power. The most significant is the circle-to-search feature which is genuinely quite useful.
There have been multiple instances I’ve used this, including say a tree on the street I’m walking past and can’t recognize, and it worked amazingly well. Most people around me have been wowed by the feature; the non-tech savvy asking me how they can do it on their phones.
There’s plenty more, and just the AI features on the S24 series can likely be a stand-alone review. But special mention to the live translation in SMS, which is very useful when traveling or living in a country where you don’t speak the local language.
The photo editor which has generative AI features that were previously limited to Google Pixel phones
The audio-transcribe feature can convert audio transcripts to text files, differentiating multiple speakers.
Software collaborations like Microsoft Phone Link work flawlessly. This has been troublesome on some other devices, but it functions perfectly on the Samsung S24 Ultra.
It connects automatically whenever you log in to your Windows PC, and gives you access to calls, messages, photos, and apps. You can also control music playback from the phone, see your notifications, set the phone to silent, etc.
Quick share allows for file transfer from your phone to your Windows PC, and vice versa. It works really well and is blazingly fast. For my test, I transferred 1.3 GB of mixed files (videos and photos), and it took under 10 seconds. The experience is so clean and so snappy, that it puts Apple’s famed AirDrop to shame.
Samsung has come a long way, and this polished software experience, be it on the phone or when collaborating with a Windows PC is second to none.
There’s also the Samsung DEX feature that lets you connect your phone to a monitor and enjoy a full-fledged desktop experience. I didn’t test this, but there’s plenty of info you can find online about it.
Camera and Optics
Being a leader in the industry, every year’s flagship release from Samsung is expected to have the best camera experience. In short, the S24 Ultra lives up to this tradition. Even without going into the specs or the software magic, results are superb with nothing that you can fault.
As for the hardware, the S24 Ultra features the same primary 200-megapixel camera from last year but has further fine-tuned the computational photography software to produce slightly better results.
There are two optical zoom cameras, a 10-megapixel 3x and a 50-megapixel 5x. A 12-megapixel ultrawide serves as the fourth camera in the quad-camera setup. Unlike some phones that have a quad camera setup with many unusable useless cameras, here they serve a purpose.
5x zoom is great for portraits and for 10x zoom the 5x camera is used with some digital zoom and crop. Thanks to the 50-megapixel camera there is still good detail at 10x. Samsung retains its super zoom with up to 100x using digital zoom and stabilization.
Be it landscape, architecture, food, or night photography, expect to get consistently good results. The details are excellent, with great colors.
The S24 Ultra can negotiate complicated lighting scenarios like sunsets with streetlights, and buildings with indoor lighting, all in the same picture. Low light situations are also super-impressive, gathering a lot more than what your eyes can see.
On the front is a 12-megapixel selfie camera that takes good pictures, even at night with low to medium lighting and multiple colored light sources. Results are not overly beautified, seemingly real looking.
The video capability is very polished and a noticeable step up from last year’s S23 Ultra. It’s also easily the best video experience on an Android phone. The Super Steady mode is really steady and great for video taken in motion.
As for specs, you can shoot 8k video at 30 fps, 4k at 120 fps, and 1080p at up to 240 fps. All modes support HDR10+ and stereo sound recording.
Value and Competition
Excluding the niche and special edition phones, the S24 Ultra is officially the most expensive phone on sale, having, with its release price being $100 dollars more than the iPhone 15 Pro Max. It is currently available in the Philippines for an SRP of P84,990.
Samsung does have plenty of promos though, including a free upgrade to 512 GB of storage, trade-in offers, Samsung store discounts, free Samsung Care+ Insurance, as well as substantial discounts on the Galaxy Earbuds, Tablet, Watch, etc.
Other 2024 Android flagships available now include the Xiaomi 14 Ultra, Google Pixel 8 Pro, and OnePlus 12.
Conclusion
The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra was the best-selling Android phone in Q1 of 2024. In its first 40 days of release, it sold five million units, obliterating all other Android phone sales records, including its own S23 Ultra release from the previous year. This is not an accident!
To top it off, five months after its release, it is still the best Android flagship phone to have in 2024. The harmonious blend of top-notch hardware and software finesse leaves you with a second-to-none Android experience.
- Model: SM-S928B/DS
- Price: P 84,990
- Verdict: The best Android phone in 2024
