Galaxy S24 Ultra, 3 Months In: Here Are All the Hidden Gems Beyond AI

Samsung launched the Galaxy S24 Ultra in January with AI as the main focus, highlighting how it might make our lives simpler with instruments like language translation and Circle to Search. For the previous three months I’ve lived with the Galaxy S24 Ultra as my fundamental telephone. I discovered which options are useful, just like the antireflective show, and which weren’t, like Galaxy AI. During that point, I found there are hidden options and instruments on this telephone, past AI, that make it higher than I anticipated. If you are on the lookout for extra concerning the telephone, you may learn my CNET colleague Lisa Eadicicco’s full S24 Ultra overview the place she goes deep testing the efficiency benchmarks, battery life and all its AI instruments.Read extra: Best Samsung Phone for 2024My final Samsung Galaxy telephone was the S22 Ultra, and it is held up nicely over the previous two years. So when Samsung launched the S24 Ultra with its suite of recent AI instruments and the promise of seven years of software program updates, I hoped it might win me over in the identical approach the S22 Ultra did. The S24 Ultra’s show is game-changingYou can provide me AI options and a 200-megapixel digicam, however the one function I take advantage of with out fail each day is the display. I really feel Samsung underplayed how huge of a deal the antiglare show is on the S24 Ultra, particularly as a result of the corporate solely launched a video with extra particulars on the Corning Gorilla Armor development three months after launch. The show dramatically cuts down reflections and glare open air in comparison with different flagship telephones. I in contrast it to the iPhone 15 Pro Max, Pixel 8 Pro and even final 12 months’s S23 Ultra on a vivid San Francisco day and there was no contest — the S24 Ultra simply beat all of them. I can take pictures and watch YouTube movies while not having to shade the display. You can see how every display carried out within the video embedded on this web page. The distinction is dramatic between the screens on the S24 Ultra (left) and S23 Ultra (proper). Screenshot by Lexy Savvides/CNETThe Gorilla Armor coating can be extra scratch-resistant than earlier Gorilla Glass shows, in response to the corporate. Three months in and after just a few different CNET editors borrowed this telephone, it nonetheless seems good, with no scratches to report. Compare this to my S22 Ultra, which developed a deep scratch on the show just some weeks into use.Read extra: Blizzard Bound: A Photojournalist Takes the Galaxy S24 Ultra to TahoeI discover it puzzling that Samsung solely revealed particulars on the display’s development months later. Maybe that is due partially to the show points that some folks skilled just a few weeks after launch. Samsung addressed these points with a software program replace.Upgrading to this show from the curved S22 Ultra additionally introduced one other sudden perk: a flatter show. I discover it is higher for taking fast notes with the S Pen when the show is off as a result of I can write as much as the perimeters if I want.S24 Ultra AI options aren’t that specialNo contest: For me one of the best AI function on the S24 Ultra is Circle to Search. I take advantage of it on a regular basis, whether or not that is looking for one thing on a webpage, or circling one thing from the digicam app. The different AI options I’m utilizing steadily from the Samsung instruments embody the shadow and reflection eraser, plus the rotating canvas possibility that fills within the edges of the picture.But all these AI options have come to the S23 Ultra and Z Fold 5 and Flip 5 with the One UI 6.1 replace. Google Pixel telephones even have Circle to Search. So they don’t seem to be a sufficiently big promoting level for the S24 Ultra anymore and, like my colleague Lisa Eadicicco stated, it looks like a missed alternative for Samsung. Circle to Search is my most-used function, particularly within the digicam app. Screenshot by Lexy Savvides/CNETI’ve additionally been utilizing Gemini AI as a substitute of Google Assistant, and it has been an excellent expertise for probably the most half. I’ve been utilizing it greater than I anticipated. However it nonetheless has points understanding my Australian accent at instances after I use voice-to-text dictation so I primarily sort requests to Gemini till that improves.S24 Ultra cameras do not wow like earlier telephonesThis might be the primary time in a very long time that the digicam hasn’t been an enormous a part of my Galaxy expertise. This telephone nonetheless has the good zoom capabilities and having that flexibility to maneuver from ultrawide by way of 100x is enjoyable, however I by no means use 100x zoom as a result of it makes my pictures appear like watercolor work. I typically max out at 30x.Read extra: Galaxy S24 Ultra vs. iPhone 15 Pro Max: Camera ComparabilityBut the digicam would not really feel as thrilling as earlier Galaxy telephones, and even different Android telephones just like the Xiaomi Ultra 14 that push the boundaries with a 1-inch sort sensor dimension. That’s partially as a result of Samsung eliminated the 10x optical digicam for a brand new 5x one, opting as a substitute for pixel binning the 50-megapixel picture to get to 10x hybrid zoom. Specifically for video at 10x, like filming at a live performance, it removes flexibility and forces me to make use of 10x digital zoom greater than I like. I’m at all times workforce optical over hybrid or digital zoom.Quick Share is sport altering for file sharingSharing information between units is one thing I do each day, particularly if I need to share a photograph I took with buddies or with my work laptop. I’ve at all times wished a common AirDrop, however we’re nearly there with Android adopting Quick Share (it was referred to as Nearby Share). But the S24 Ultra does one higher, as a result of whenever you go to share a picture, you may see the choice to scan a QR code or copy a URL, so you may share full-resolution information with one other machine or with buddies. I take advantage of this on a regular basis to switch between the S24 Ultra and iOS, or to my work laptop, which is a Mac. To wrap up, the Galaxy S24 Ultra has received me over greater than I assumed it might. Features like Galaxy AI weren’t as useful as their hype however quality-of-life enhancements just like the antiglare show made an affect. I’ll be thinking about revisiting this telephone in just a few months, particularly as soon as we all know extra about different updates Android 15 may carry.Editors’ be aware: CNET used an AI engine to assist create a number of dozen tales, that are labeled accordingly. The be aware you are studying is hooked up to articles that deal substantively with the subject of AI however are created fully by our skilled editors and writers. For extra, see our AI coverage.