Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra Review: The most feature packed flagship

The S Pen employs the tried-and-tested push mechanism for easy ejection, making it convenient to grab even when not directly looking at the screen. Despite its lightweight feel, the stylus appears to be durable. The S Pen is very responsive to the S24 Ultra's display. I appreciate its versatility for note-taking, colouring, drawing, and the added functionality of using the S Pen button as a remote camera shutter.

(Image: Shibani Gharat)

The display is exceptionally bright, providing no difficulty in reading emails and messages outdoors, even under direct sunlight. With a brightness of 2,600 nits, a 40% upgrade over the S23 Ultra, and the added protection of Gorilla Glass Armor with an effective anti-reflective coating, the S24 Ultra's screen ensures both durability and visual clarity.

The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra is powered by an octa-core Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor and features 12GB of RAM. The Galaxy S24 family is one of just a few smartphones that have launched with the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip. It sports eight CPU cores, but the arrangement is different. There's a single Cortex-X4 prime core, five high-power A720 cores at two different clock speeds, and a pair of A520 low-power cores.

The GPU has also got an upgrade, boosting performance by about 25%, according to Qualcomm. It's essential to note that while the S24 and S24+ have Snapdragon in the US, Canada, China, and Japan, the international SKU uses Exynos. However, the Galaxy S24 Ultra utilises Snapdragon globally. Running on Android 14, the S24 Ultra offers a smooth experience, powered by the efficient Qualcomm 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy chip, with swift app openings. The device's emphasis on AI capabilities sets it apart.

I’m a cynic about certain AI aspects, but the Circle to Search feature on the S24 Ultra genuinely impressed me. Its usability becomes so ingrained that transitioning back to a different phone leaves you missing the convenience. All you need to do is hold down on the centre navigation button to trigger a mode where all it takes is a quick circle to look something up.

This feature extends beyond the S24 Ultra and is available on the entire S24 line, prompting thoughts on its potential adoption by other phones. The S-Pen inclusion with the S24 Ultra enhances the fluidity of this feature. But Samsung is pushing generative AI hard in the S24 lineup and to me, some of the Galaxy AI still feels like it is in the testing process. Take the ‘Interpreter’ feature for example. The feature although can be used in Airplane mode to translate your conversation within seconds, there is a lot of ‘pregnant pause’ between conversations. Plus it is far from successful in translating complex sentences.

One of the most unusual places Galaxy AI shows up is Chat Assist, where the AI writes different versions of what you’re saying. Very useful when you find it difficult to find professional and polite words.

S24 Ultra’s 5,000mAh battery endures very well. Even after a full day of usage including taking photos and videos the battery had a good amount of juice left. The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra supports wireless charging.

In the camera department, the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra boasts a powerful quad-camera setup on the rear. The configuration includes a 200-megapixel (f/1.8) primary camera, a 12-megapixel (f/2.2) camera, and a 50-megapixel (f/3.4) camera, all equipped with face detection autofocus. Notably, three sensors— the 200MP primary, 10MP 3x zoom, and 12MP ultrawide—remain unchanged from the previous model. However, the periscope camera's zoom capability has decreased from 10x to 5x, seemingly a downgrade. Yet, the sensor's resolution has increased from 10MP to 50MP, allowing for effective cropping to achieve 10x zoom with higher resolution compared to the previous model.

For selfies, the Galaxy S24 Ultra features a single front camera with a 12-megapixel sensor and an f/2.2 aperture, incorporating autofocus for enhanced capabilities.

Overall, the camera system delivers impressive photos, particularly in moderate indoor lighting. However, capturing sharp images of moving subjects, such as pets, might require a few attempts. The promised improvements in Nightography on the S24 Ultra are noticeable, although I find the device tends to overcompensate in brightness.

In my first week with the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, it has proven to be the ideal large phone I was seeking. The device packs good performance, and a great battery life but its newly redesigned form factor is easier to keep a hold on throughout the day. Given my extensive content consumption on the phone, the display proves to be perfectly suited for this purpose.

As for Galaxy AI? It creates occasional wow factors,' but certain features are still a work in progress.

Nevertheless, with this flagship, Samsung undeniably has a compelling device, and the icing on the cake is the promise of seven years of updates. Samsung's Galaxy S24 line will receive seven years of major Android upgrades and protection from vulnerabilities, the company said.

The new software update policy matches Google's Pixel 8 lineup, which at the time of its fall announcement was the longest of any major Android phone maker.