Samsung Galaxy S24 and Galaxy S24+ Review: Taking on the iPhone with the Power of AI

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For the fifth year in a row, Samsung unveiled its premium Galaxy S smartphone in three distinct iterations — S24, S24+, and S24 Ultra. The Galaxy S24 and S24+, as their model numbers suggest, are two takes on the same phone, separated by screen size and (for the first time) resolution, battery capacity, onboard RAM, and price. The starter Galaxy S24 costs $800, while the Plus model starts at a penny below $1,000.

Visually, the Samsung Galaxy S24 and S24+ are identical to their predecessors, unlike the Ultra model and its all-new titanium build. Despite their familiar looks, these phones are important sequels to excellent products. Their AI-powered features, along with their expected hardware bumps, take the latest members of the iconic Android family to another level in terms of transparent convenience and usability.

How We Tested

I spent weeks putting the Galaxy S24 and S24+ through their paces as my primary Android phones, focusing my attention on their AI smarts, everyday performance, and mixed-use battery life. I used the devices to make calls across various platforms, navigate the web and social media, send and receive thousands of emails, texts, WhatsApp, and Slack messages, stream music from Tidal, and watch videos the likes of Netflix and YouTube.

I also spent hours gaming on each phone. My gameplay included using NVIDIA GeForce Now to play cloud-based titles and many hours of Real Racing 3 and other big-name local games. Having extensively tested them since launch day, here's why the newcomers are instant best-in-class contenders.

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All About AI

The integration of artificial intelligence into the Galaxy S24 Android experience ranges from revamping ubiquitous activities like searching in Google to enhancing photos and summarizing text, all the way to translating phone calls in real-time, to name just a few scenarios. Depending on the type of user you or the gift recipient are, any (or all) of these novelties will change how you interact with your new Galaxy.

Circle to Search

This is the most consequential new AI feature the Galaxy S24 smartphones bring, and it’s as straightforward as its name. Available by long-pressing the home button at the bottom of the device’s screen, Circle to Search allows you to learn more about objects on your screen in any app by making a circle around them. Upon making a selection, you'll receive a page with search results that include anything — from learning more about landmarks, wildlife, or food, among countless other things, to translating text to shopping for an item you just encountered. The whole process is incredibly intuitive, so taking advantage of it is fast and easy.

After using it on a daily basis for the past few weeks, I think the Circle to Search feature is nothing short of fascinating and helpful. Rather than type Google search queries, I could instantly learn more about anything on my phone’s screen faster by circling it. The functionality vastly improved many of my Google searches for the better.

Live Translate

Live Translate allows the Samsung Galaxy S24 to translate calls in real-time in a multitude of languages (e.g., English, Spanish, Korean, Chinese, French, etc.). Tapping into it is easy via screen tap in Samsung’s phone app — all you need is to download the language packs you plan to use. Once activated, Live Translate will display text in both languages.

Whether you or the giftee travel frequently or, say, work for a multinational company, the tool will quickly show its worth by doing away with the anxiety caused by language barriers.

Generative AI

The above buzzworthy tech is unsurprisingly sprinkled throughout a host of core Samsung Galaxy S24. With the help of generative AI, you can transcribe voice recordings, summarize text, and improve the tone of your texts and emails. The tech can also alter photos by making suggestions or by resizing and moving objects of your choosing.

Taking advantage of everything generative AI offers on the Samsung Galaxy S24 is easy. Onboard apps like the Samsung web browser and Android keyboard, the image editing tools, and the voice recorder app have distinctive buttons for activating AI tools.

I put a variety of AI-powered features to the test. I successfully used Circle to Search to track down a pair of coveted sneakers, and using Live Translate allowed me to have a short conversation with a bilingual friend from Italy. Generative AI also helped me parse through press releases at a faster pace, summarized product briefings, and gave my home screen a unique look by generating unique wallpapers based on my prompts.

It’s important to note that the above features are not the stuff of marketing but impactful Android improvements. Samsung collaborated with Google Cloud to implement generative AI tools. At the same time, Circle to Search debuted on the Galaxy S24 before making its way to the Google Pixel 8 and the Pixel 8 Pro via an update.

Hardware and Performance

Samsung equipped the Galaxy S24 trio with Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon Gen 3 chip. The component allowed the phones to effortlessly power through my workflow of toggling between a browser with multiple open tabs, responding to emails and Slack messages, and editing text, all while streaming audio from Tidal.

High-powered local and cloud-based gameplay didn’t slow the Galaxy S24 down either. Crucially, the Snapdragon Gen 3 silicon is tailor-made to deliver the stellar AI interactions described above. It’s immensely capable and just as futureproof.

A captivating AMOLED display panel has been a Samsung Galaxy S calling card since 2020, and the latest ones are no exception. Compared to last year’s Galaxy S23 and Galaxy S23+, their successors have screens with higher peak brightness. The last-mentioned spec bump leads to perfect visibility even in brightly lit indoor and outdoor spaces, as well as more dramatic visuals with HDR-enhanced content.

The Galaxy S24 and S24+ pack large batteries, which easily got me a day of use — that’s hours of screen time spent scrolling through social media feeds, reading and replying to emails and instant messages, and web browsing, to name a few activities — between power-ups. Gameplay was unsurprisingly more taxing on the battery, but thanks to fast wired and wireless charging tech at my disposal, I didn’t worry about wasting time juicing up.

In addition to being just a tiny bit bigger than the 6.6-inch screen of the Samsung Galaxy S23+, the 6.7-inch unit of the Galaxy S24+ has a higher QHD+ resolution. The increased pixel density is a welcome upgrade — any phone with a four-digit price tag should have a higher resolution than Full HD in my book.

Camera

Even though it features hardware similar to the previous generation, the triple rear camera of the Galaxy S24 and S24+ captured excellent photos in a plethora of scenes during my testing. Selfies from both phones came out great, and so did the 4K videos I recorded with the phones. An option to record ultra-sharp 8K video is also available, but four years after its arrival, such a high resolution is still overkill for most consumers.

Casual photographers and seasoned shutterbugs alike will be pleased with the results before factoring in the extensive set of image editing tools they have at their disposal. The camera interface is packed with easy-to-access features for making the best out of the onboard hardware.

That said, I could definitely use an upgrade in optical zoom over the 3X magnification that the Galaxy S24 and S24+ bring, especially in the big-screen version. High-profile rivals like the Pixel 8 Pro offer a bigger optical zoom range for the money.

Wrap-Up

By delivering an amalgam of instantly recognizable design, tough build with an official rating for water resistance, top-tier hardware with matching performance, and cutting-edge platform experience with handy AI-enhanced bits, the Galaxy S24 and S24+ are the best Android phones for most consumers and, again, formidable iPhone alternatives for those who aren’t invested in Apple’s ecosystem. The phones also debuted alongside an excellent selection of cases for protecting and customizing them.

I tip my hat to Samsung for partnering with Google to deliver advanced AI features to its latest phones. The tech giant’s promise of 7 years’ worth of timely platform and security updates is also remarkable and on par with Google’s support for the latest Pixel phones.

Which One Should You Buy?

The Galaxy S24+ is my pick in the duo for packing a bigger screen with higher resolution, larger battery, and more memory — including RAM and storage — in entry-level guise. Increasing the RAM and storage to 12 GB and 256 GB, respectively, together with the large screen, makes the bigger phone more suitable for demanding users who prioritize multitasking, gaming, and streaming video.

On the other hand, the 6.2-inch Samsung Galaxy S24 is a great buy for packing powerful hardware in a pocket-friendly package that’s easy to use with one hand. If you are looking for a compact Android that doesn’t skimp on power and features, this is your best option.

Shop Samsung Galaxy S24 Shop Samsung Galaxy S24+

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