Samsung S24 Ultra Review: Galaxy Brain

Summary

The transcript covers a review of the new Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra phone. It discusses the phone's design and build materials like titanium, the display upgrades, the cameras with new AI features for translating conversations and summarizing recordings, and other software enhancements utilizing Google's Gemini AI. However, the reviewer feels somewhat underwhelmed since many features won't stay unique to Samsung and questions if the upgrades justify the high price tag, especially compared to rival phones like the Pixel 8.

Takeaways

• 😀 The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra has a slimmer design with a titanium frame and upgraded Gorilla Glass.
• 📱 The S24 Ultra display is brighter with reduced reflectivity compared to the S23 Ultra.
• 📷 The rear camera array has been changed - it now has a higher resolution 5x zoom instead of a 10x zoom.
• 🎥 Video stabilization has been improved on the S24 Ultra.
• 💡 AI features like real-time translation in the dialer app and voice memo summarization are handy additions.
• 🔋 Battery life is slightly improved on the S24 Ultra due to the lighter titanium frame.
• 🤖 Many of the touted AI features rely on Google's Gemini AI model, so may come to other Android phones too.
• 💰 The S24 Ultra has a starting price of $1300, with insane trade-in deals from Samsung.
• 📈 Samsung is providing 7 years of software updates for the S24 Ultra.
• 😕 Some feel the S24 Ultra improvements don't fully justify the high price tag.

Q & A

What are the key hardware changes in the Galaxy S24 Ultra compared to the S23 Ultra?

The S24 Ultra has a lighter titanium frame instead of aluminum, a brighter display with Gorilla Glass Victus 2, and more symmetrical bezels around the display.

What AI capabilities does the Galaxy S24 Ultra have?

It has real-time translation, voice recorder transcription and summarization, generative photo editing like horizon adjustment and subject manipulation, and video slow motion generation.

Why did Samsung change the camera setup from 10x zoom to 5x zoom?

Based on user data, Samsung found people used the 5x zoom more often than the 10x zoom, so they optimized for that usage.

How does the Galaxy S24 Ultra compare to other flagship Android phones?

Many of the AI features like voice memo summarization and photo editing will come to other Android phones like the Pixel 8 soon after the S24 launch.

What is the concern around Samsung charging for AI features in the future?

Some key AI capabilities depend on Google's Gemini model, not Samsung's own AI, so it's unclear if Samsung can charge for those.

What are the pros and cons of the Galaxy S24 Ultra's hardware?

The hardware is very good with the bright display and titanium frame, but may not fully justify the high $1300 starting price tag.

How does the Galaxy S24 Ultra software compare to previous Samsung flagships?

It doesn't push the envelope much on software compared to past models that added more hardware perks.

What are some cool customization options for the Galaxy S24 Ultra?

It has interchangeable backplates called Flip Covers that trigger animated wallpapers when attached using NFC.

What are the S24 Ultra's video recording capabilities?

It has improved video stabilization and can generate slow motion video from regular footage.

What is the review's overall assessment of the Galaxy S24 Ultra?

While impressive, many key features will come to other Android phones soon, so it may not fully justify the high price tag.

Outlines

00:00

😃 Sponsor Spotlight: T-Mobile

The first paragraph introduces T-Mobile as the sponsor of the video. It highlights how T-Mobile offers unlimited talk, text, and data starting at just $25/month with no contracts or hidden fees. The sponsor is providing travel and content opportunities for the video review.

05:03

📱 AI Features on the Galaxy S24 Ultra

The second paragraph focuses on the AI features of the new Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra phone. It demonstrates the on-device translation through conversations with a presenter and the new voice recorder which can transcribe and summarize conversations. The accuracy is noted to be decent but not perfect.

10:05

🤔 Evaluating the S24 Ultra's Cameras

The third paragraph evaluates the camera changes on the S24 Ultra, swapping a 10x zoom for a higher resolution 5x zoom. Sample comparisons suggest little noticeable difference for most people. The shift is described as a 'shrugworthy' decision but unlikely to be a major issue.

😕 Dependence on Google's AI is a Concern

The fourth paragraph notes that many of the touted AI features depend on Google's Gemini AI model rather than Samsung's own development. As Google brings similar features to other Android phones, the S24 Ultra loses some of its exclusivity. This dependence is disappointing.

🤨 Hardware Improvements Don't Justify the Price

The concluding paragraph states that while the S24 Ultra has impressive hardware improvements, much of the hyped software is not unique. With competitors offering similar AI features, the Ultra's high price is harder to justify based on software alone.

Keywords

💡AI

AI or artificial intelligence refers to software features that aim to emulate human intelligence and decision making. In the video, the presenter focuses extensively on the AI capabilities of the new Samsung Galaxy phone, positioned as an 'AI phone'. The phone incorporates AI for translation, transcribing conversations, summarizing recordings, removing objects from photos, generating slow motion video, etc. However, the presenter notes that many of these capabilities rely on Google's Gemini AI model, so may not stay exclusive to Samsung.

💡Camera

The video compares the cameras on the new Galaxy S24 Ultra to the previous S23 model. A key decision was to swap the 10x optical zoom camera for a higher resolution 5x zoom based on usage data. The presenter feels this may irritate longtime Samsung fans but likely won't be noticed by most customers. There are also improvements to video stabilization and social media compatibility.

💡Display

The display on the S24 Ultra is highlighted for being even brighter than the previous model and having stronger, less reflective Gorilla Glass protection. The bezels around the screen are now more symmetrical. The presenter notes this is the best display you can currently find on a phone.

💡Frame

The phone's frame or casing is now made from titanium instead of aluminum. This is lighter than the stainless steel Apple uses. But it also limits Samsung's color options to muted grays and whites instead of brighter colors.

💡Pricing

With a starting price of $1300, the presenter feels the S24 Ultra is impressive but may not fully justify the very high cost. The AI capabilities and promised 7 years of software updates help but many features will come to cheaper Android phones too.

💡S Pen

The S Pen is the stylus that comes with certain high-end Galaxy models. The video jokingly notes that the new S24 pen still has an S on it. The lack of magnetic attachment capabilities on the phone may be to avoid interference with the S Pen functionality.

💡Slow motion video

A new AI powered capability mentioned is the ability to turn any video into slow motion by adding extra frames. This works even if the original video was not filmed in slow motion.

💡Subscription model

There is concern that Samsung may eventually charge subscriptions for AI features, but the presenter feels this is happening across the industry. This could also give Samsung incentive to keep improving the features over time.

💡Summary transcription

One of the AI transcription features highlighted is the ability to automatically summarize a voice recording, avoiding the need to read a full transcript. The presenter tested this with a podcast and therapy session and found it provided helpful quick overviews.

💡Translation

Real-time translation powered by on-device AI is demonstrated, like translating a phone call or in-person conversation. Accuracy is decent but still has room for improvement based on a sample French translation.

Highlights

AI features like real-time translation and voice memo summarization enhance the capabilities of the Galaxy S24 Ultra.

The display on the S24 Ultra is even better than before - brighter, less reflective, and with a more symmetrical bezel design.

The back plates with animated wallpapers are a clever and simple way to customize the look of your phone.

The on-device processing for translation allows it to work fairly quickly without an internet connection.

The voice recorder can not only transcribe conversations, but also summarize key points.

The AI photo editing features like shadow removal are impressive.

Samsung swapped the 10x zoom camera for a higher resolution 5x zoom based on usage data.

The added video stabilization helps offset the camera changes for most people.

The insane trade-in deals help justify the high asking price.

Many of the AI features will come to other Android phones soon.

The 7-year update promise for the S24 Ultra is great.

The titanium frame makes the S24 lighter than the S23 Ultra.

The new Gorilla Glass is stronger and less reflective.

The color options are more limited due to the titanium material.

The translation feature works fairly well for simple conversations.

Transcripts

sponsored by T

Mobile I just can't have the same

conversations

anymore yes the bezels are Slimmer yes

the screen is flat and yes the pen still

has an S on it but if you're looking

forc exent in smartphones at least those

without a hinge software is where it's

at these days and that's why Samsung has

chosen to pitch its newest most

expensive bar type Galaxy as an AI

phone yeah the buzzword I managed to

mostly avoid at this year's CES in Las

Vegas finally caught up with me at

Samsung's unpacked Event in San Jose and

here's the thing AI actually does make

it easier to get excited about this

year's Galaxy Ultra the only only

question is it's one of those years for

how

long take note I'm not saying the ultra

as a whole wins me over externally this

is what the national might call another

unoc elegant fall into the

unmagnify year upgrade cycle the s24

ultra is big and sharp like always now

bearing a frame made of a metal that

Apple has all but copyrighted with all

its Relentless advertising but switching

to Titanium made sense for the iPhone

because it's much lighter than the

stainless steel it replaced letting

Apple shave between 8 and 9% of mass off

the phone the titanium on the s24 ultra

replaces aluminum on the s23 ultra

making the 24 1 G lighter than its

predecessor and because of the way

titanium takes color Samsung is

consigned to a similarly drab palette as

as the iPhone for this generation with

options ranging from slightly warmer

than the iPhone gray to uh I don't know

whatever this is half-hearted

tapioca though I admit I do like the

purple one and samsung.com has

additional color ways to satisfy

appetites both subtle and

gross there are changes here I

appreciate ones that make a practical

difference the display is brighter and

covered by a stronger and less

reflective Gorilla Glass which means the

screen that was already the best you

could find on a phone is somehow even

better and the bezels bracketing it

aren't just Slimmer they're now

symmetrical I was ready to wrap it up

there all dejected like when an

eagle-eyed Samsung rep noticed my

frustrated apathy and directed me to

this wall of Wonder I somehow completely

missed the flip suitcases that came out

for the Galaxy flip 5 last year which is

a shame because they're really really

cool you slap one of these back plates

onto the phone and a little NFC tag

inside the plate triggers an automatic

download of an animated wallpaper to

match this isn't the first time I've

seen something like this I think Yola

was the first to do it or at least the

first one that hit my radar about a

decade ago but it's such a cool clever

and simple way to customize your phone

the only thing I'd change is to make it

properly magnetic like a moto mod as

shipped the plate won't stick to your

phone by itself you need to install the

included bumper border to keep it in

place oh and speaking of magnets that

aren't there while the phone is capable

of wireless charging the new ch2

standard which basically gives Android

phones mag safe yeah that's not here

maybe that's because magnets screw up

the S Pen but let's be real if Samsung

wanted to make this work it could have

engineered its way around

it instead Samsung F focused on making a

product it could package as the AI phone

I know the term AI has been so

thoroughly buzzword ified as to become

basically meaningless but it is useful

given the proper context as I said on

mediat techs living in the future

podcast you can think of AI as a kind of

seasoning like adding spices to a meal

adding AI to different parts of a device

can enhance and extend the capabilities

of that device on the

whole Samsung has seasoned quite a bit

of the s24 ultra with generative Ai and

it's set up a ton of demos for us to try

in Los Vegas check out The Interpreter

which I used to have an in-person

conversation with a Spanish-speaking

presenter I desperately need to find a

library

immediately

nice

you know if you make a r there you'll

find

it okay but what about a beer

afterwards the library also serves

[Laughter]

beer what a great place thank you now of

course you've been able to use your

phone to translate conversations for

years the difference here is that the

processing is happening on the phone

instead of in the cloud that helps it

stay fairly Speedy even if your data

connection is slow and if you're in an

area with no signal at all it'll still

work that translation is also built into

the Samsung dialer so if you make a

phone call to someone who speaks a

different language you get a realtime

Robo translation that works pretty well

at least if you're asking a staged

Samsung presenter where to find a cheese

Berger in Korean of

course I'm glad to hear that but it

works somewhat less well if you're

talking to your sister in France who's

fluent in French and who tells you that

the translation leaves room for

improvement okay what the translation is

do I think it's not top it's not great

it's not very correct and L you think

she's not as fluent as she thinks she is

these findings are somewhat

substantiated by Gadget matches Michael

Josh in his video

here or butter chicken recipe lots of

you love and World Kim's

recipe okay so it's not really doing an

exact translation

absolutely what else can you do with

Galaxy AI big asterisk on that brand

name that I'll come back to in a bit on

the positive side of the patronic Divide

I think my favorite AI feature is the

new voice recorder which can not only

transcribe a conversation but now also

summarize it so you don't need to read

through the entire transcript to

remember key points I tested this by

recording the Android police podcast

which yielded a pretty solid summary and

then I used it in real life first on a

goom Market call with the clicks team

and then in a session with my

therapist no I'm not going to show you

that conversation but seeing our call

broken down into a succinct mostly

coherent outline you know I I could see

this being really helpful to review

before my next

session I found that therapist through

an online counseling service by the way

and that would be a great segue into a

sponsor spot if they were my

sponsor no today's sponsor is a better

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[Music]

you all right back to the hardware but

sticking with the smarts there's a

generous helping of generative AI in the

these cameras generative fill for

filling in the frame if you need to

adjust your horizon making a subject

bigger or smaller or moving it for

whatever reason oh and something I

actually like the shadow removal in

Samsung's photo editor is truly Next

Level props to techisode TV for pointing

that out to me also you've probably seen

this neat trick already you can press

and hold a video your shot to create a

slow motion version and this works even

if you weren't shooting in slow-mo for

the same reason everything on a hotel TV

looks like a European soap opera the

device is adding artificial frames

between the real ones in order to smooth

out what would otherwise be a juty

stutter

Fest as for the Optics that feed those

alos well Samsung made the controversial

decision to swap last year's 10x Zoom

for a higher resolution 5x zoom on this

one based on user data that suggested

people used 5x more often in the past I

might have spent the next 10 minutes

weighing whether it does or doesn't

matter but in truth I don't think it

does when I posted s23 versus s24

samples from San Jose followers on

threads said they couldn't tell much of

a difference thanks in part to social

media compression that most photos are

going to go through anyway look pixel

peeping is a noble profession but from

my perspective if anything the camera

shift is just another in a series of

shruggle decisions probably invisible to

most folks because the phone is still

capable of more zoom performance than

almost any other in the US and offset by

better video stabilization which I sort

of Saw sometimes and greater

compatibility with social media apps

like

Instagram yeah

sure ah Oh What a

Feeling if the camera shakeup irritates

anyone it's those of us oldtimers who

remember the old Samsung the company

that wouldn't feel the need to remove a

camera in order to add add another that

Samsung would have said hey for 1,300

bucks you get five cameras on the back

instead of four but um those days it

seems are behind

[Music]

us hey I owe you an asterisk if you

guessed it's about Samsung potentially

charging for its AI features after 2025

well guess again honestly that doesn't

surprise me everything is moving to a

subscription ion model these days and

from one perspective might actually be a

good thing in that it would incentivize

Samsung to keep improving these features

if Samsung were the one making them and

that's the real asterisk a lot of Galaxy

AI depends on Google AI specifically the

Gemini AI model so while Samsung built

the apps that tap into Gemini and it

gets first crack at them on the s24 many

of these features will come to other

Android phones and some are already

there Circle to search the most talked

about new feature is coming to the pixel

8 the same day it launches on the s24 by

some accounts the pixel's new voice memo

summary is already better than Samsung's

and many of the photo editing features

already have Google

equivalents and that's why I come away

from 9 days with the s24 ultra somewhat

underwhelmed not because it's not

impressive but because most of the

things that impress me won't stay unique

to this phone for long as that same

Android police podcast episode noted

Samsung has seldom been known for

pushing the envelope on software where

it usually shines is in hardware and

while this Hardware is very good and the

7-year update promise is wonderful and

the tradein deals are as insane as ever

I just can't help but feel this year's

Ultra doesn't totally justify its asking

price

this video was filmed partially on

location at Samsung unpacked in San Jose

California for which Samsung provided

travel lodging and content capture

opportunities including a redwood forest

train ride and a visit to the Santa Cruz

Mystery

Spot however as always the company had

no editorial input into this review nor

did I give Samsung copy approval

privileges or even an early preview the

loone sponsor of this video is T

Mobile Please Subscribe if you'd like to

see more videos like this until next

time from Michael Fischer Captain two

phones on threads thanks for

watching and stay mobile my

[Music]

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