The Extremely Is Not an Understatement

It takes time to evaluation a smartphone, particularly one as beefed up and feature-filled because the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra purports to be. As a substitute of conserving you ready for weeks as I take a look at out the {hardware} and discover its choices, I’m taking a gradual method. Journey with me as I be taught all about Samsung’s new Galaxy S24 Ultra.

I’m solely two days into the Galaxy S24 Extremely. I’m already a lot extra impressed with the design than I used to be with the earlier two generations. It’s the titanium body that Samsung adopted this time round. It pulls collectively the entire look of the telephone, making the S24 Extremely really feel just like the final mannequin you will get. It additionally helps that the Galaxy AI options they packed into this system don’t really feel like

Galaxy S24 Extremely Options

It’s titanium, child!

I’m digging the titanium aesthetic that’s taking up premium smartphones. Apple began the development with the iPhone 15 Pro/Pro Max, and now Samsung is carrying the torch for the Android-wielders of the world. Consequently, the Galaxy S24 Extremely is in a category of its personal. It even has distinctive colorways, together with Titanium Grey, which Samsung supplied Gizmodo for evaluation. The one elements of the body that aren’t titanium embody the amount rocker and energy button.

There isn’t a lot distinction in heft or weight distribution from final yr’s Galaxy S23 Extremely. Nonetheless, in comparison with the iPhone 15 Pro Max and the Google Pixel 8 Pro, it’s about an oz extra dense. The Extremely is a large telephone—the final word in every thing Samsung provides. I’m calling in a few instances to see if including a case to the combination makes it cumbersome as an on a regular basis carry.

On the very least, the S24 Extremely feels simpler to cradle due to its angular edges. I’m glad to see that Samsung has lastly ditched the curves. I didn’t take care of them on the Edge variants from the 2010s. Those self same curves made the Galaxy S22 Ultra really feel like an unfinished system.

Samsung continues to supply IP68-rated water and mud resistance for its flagship units. Sure, I do take the smartphone into the bathe. Isn’t it good that I don’t have to wash with my intrusive ideas?

Samsung made two minor enhancements to the Galaxy S24 Extremely’s display this yr. Like final yr’s S23 Extremely, it’s a 6.8-inch Quad HD+ Dynamic AMOLED show with a refresh fee of as much as 120Hz. However the display is now matte-like in comparison with the shiny exterior of the previous two generations of Ultras—no extra mirror impact for checking your lipstick.

The S24 Extremely’s show additionally has a peak brightness of 2600 nits, up from final yr’s 1750 nits, surpassing the iPhone 15 Professional and the Pixel 8 Professional’s peak brightness choices. For some cause, all these smartphone producers started competing for the display with essentially the most readability in direct daylight. Nobody has commented but on whether or not that is a direct transfer to reply to the onset of world warming, however I’m assuming that for this reason these telephones are getting so vibrant till I affirm in any other case.

I’m on the other finish of the spectrum concerning smartphone shows. I need to understand how low it goes as a result of I’ve complications and different illnesses introduced on by too-bright screens. Samsung has been the chief on this, notably with its AMOLED shows. As soon as I get my show calibrator attached and working, I hope to have numbers on precisely how low the Galaxy S24 Extremely’s vivid show can go.

Galaxy S24 Extremely Specs

Extremely Efficiency

Each new flagship contains enhanced specs throughout the board. This yr, the Galaxy S24 Extremely has been up to date to the most recent Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip, which is able to energy a lot of the yr’s top-tier Android telephones.

You’ll be able to solely purchase the Extremely with 12 GB of RAM, which is how a lot reminiscence each high-performance smartphone ought to have—particularly these pushing AI capabilities like Samsung with Galaxy AI. Samsung additionally boasts improved ray tracing with this yr’s launch.

Galaxy S24 Extremely Digital camera

Additional and sharper

The digicam system on this yr’s switched-up sensors from the final two releases. The S24 Extremely begins with a 200-MP main digicam with a most aperture of f/1.7, which helps simply take these late-night pictures. A better decision sensor within the S24 Extremely replaces the 10-MP telephoto digicam within the S23 Extremely. It’s now a 50-MP sensor with as much as 5x optical telephoto zoom, versus the decrease decision 10x optical capabilities supplied earlier than. The concept is that pictures from far-off shall be sharper this time round. We’ll see.

I’m nonetheless understanding the samples for the digicam comparability. Listed here are the units I plan to check towards the Galaxy S24 Extremely:

Galaxy S24 Extremely Galaxy AI

What’s with all of the AI tips?

If I discovered something at CES, it was that AI has been weaponized for mass advertising and marketing. I used to be half anticipating that to occur with Samsung’s Galaxy AI. However whereas it’s principally Google’s large language models working beneath the polished One UI veneer of options like Circle to Search, Galaxy AI proves it is going to be a worthy instrument to have readily available. The one bummer is that you simply’ll need to pay for some of the features after 2025.

The On the spot Sluggish-mo functionality is already one among my favorites. It’s as a result of nobody makes use of slow-motion mode to shoot video, particularly once I’m recording my child on the swings. You’ll be able to’t predict when the second will occur. On the Galaxy S24 sequence, you’ll be able to add the slow-motion impact after the very fact and share that snippet with social media. It’s so a lot better than recording every thing in slow-motion video mode.

Like Google’s Pixel units, Samsung additionally provides quite a lot of picture enhancing tips. Certainly one of them is known as Generative Edit, and it really works to assist fill in area in the event you ask it to maneuver or delete a specific space. Thus far, I get the identical outcomes I’d with Google Photographs and its Magic Editor. It really works more often than not. The picture samples above clearly present the place the AI eliminated the smartphone from the mattress behind me. However there have been different cases, in a lot brighter lighting, the place the Generative Edit excelled on the deed.

Galaxy S24 Extremely Ideas So Far

A lot extra to come back

There may be a lot extra to say in regards to the Galaxy S24 Ultra. We’ve but to check its 5,000mAh battery capability and its charging speeds. And there are nonetheless a handful of translation options to take a look at. Thus far, the Galaxy S24 Extremely is proving to be a succesful bundle, which is to be anticipated from Samsung’s final smartphone. The system will formally be on sale beginning Jan. 31. Test again right here quickly for the complete evaluation.