Another year, another entry into the Samsung Galaxy S series of phones. Except, of course, things are just a little different this year because of the heavy emphasis being put in AI features. This gives the base model Samsung Galaxy S24 a little bit more going for it beyond just being another annual incremental upgrade.
Or, if you’re a minority like me and prefer compact devices over the other pocket occupiers, then this may in fact be the better smartphone option for you. That is, if you can accept the fact that it is powered by the South Korean tech giant’s own Exynos chipset.
Specifications
The base model Samsung Galaxy S24, alongside the Plus, are the two in the lineup that doesn’t get the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. For those who have had less-than-pleasant experiences with the Exynos chips before, this may be a red flag. But hopefully, with this review, you’ll be able to heal from past traumas, just as the company has shown that its chips are now not all that bad. At the very least, the Exynos 2400 is not.
Other items on the Samsung Galaxy S24 spec sheet include a 6.2-inch Full HD+ display, 8GB of RAM and a 4,000mAh battery that only supports up to 25W charging. While our review unit comes with 512GB of storage space, there’s also a 256GB option if you prefer. For camera’s we’re looking at a 50MP main + 10MP telephoto + 12MP wide angle shooters at the back, and a 12MP secondary shooter in front.
Looks & Functionality
If a lot of phones in the market are already looking very similar and nigh indistinguishable from one another, it’s more so for the Samsung Galaxy S24. In fact, if it were not for the colour options and the position of the LED flash, you’d be hard-pressed to tell it apart from the S23. It’s not just the looks either; in use, beyond the Galaxy AI features and performance while under load, it is a completely indistinguishable user experience. And those are things you’ll mostly have to go out of your way to use anyway.
Of course, one might be tempted to argue, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. As I mentioned in my hands-on of the phone, the Samsung Galaxy S24 fits very comfortably in hand, but I take back what I said about the phone not being too slippery, as I have since dropped it a couple of times. It might be something to do with its lack of weight, or maybe it’s just me blaming everything but myself.
I’ve talked about the sound before, and for better or worse I have nothing new to report. The asymmetrical stereo speakers are unfortunate, but for what it is, it performs adequately enough. Probably worth mentioning that the speaker grille is now just a slit. It probably doesn’t affect sound quality, but it will definitely affect the way you clean it, if you’ve ever done it, anyways.
Finally, we get to the reason why you would want a Samsung Galaxy S24, or any of the larger variants, over the models that came before: Galaxy AI. Overall, the features mostly work advertised, and it’s pretty impressive when they work properly. And you can probably tell where I am going with this.
To start, let’s talk about the Galaxy AI features that work for more than just the company’s own preloaded apps. And of them, the only noteworthy one is really just Chat Translation, as well as Style & Grammar. The latter works like the other options available out there, so there’s nothing much to talk about. The former, on the other hand is a bit of a mixed bag. And it’s not the limited number of apps that’s the issue.
Testing this came down to translating text in Japanese and in Chinese, of varying lengths, and then comparing the result with Google Translate. For longer texts, each suffers their own unique flavour of missing context. But for shorter phrases, like what you’ll actually find in your local chat group, the internet search giant does a notably better job.
Then there are the considerable list of Galaxy AI features for the Samsung Notes app and the default Voice Recorder. Again, they all work as advertised, but they are all held back by being limited to the default apps. If you have another preferred note taking app like Google Keeps or even Evernote, or if you like using a specific voice recorder, then these are off limits.
Last on the list is Circle to Search, which is more a Google thing than Samsung. And it is also arguably the most useful feature of them all, letting you search for things without even leaving the app you are in. The extent to which this is useful should speak for itself, really.
Performance & Battery
As mentioned earlier, the Exynos name has a sort of stigma attached to it, particularly among those who have experienced it first-hand. For what it’s worth, there doesn’t seem to be a repeat with the Exynos 2400 in the Samsung Galaxy S24.
Synthetic benchmarks are what they are, but more importantly, in real use, the Samsung Galaxy S24 can keep games running smoothly for the most part. There are some slowdowns here and there, particularly when a world opens up and the game has to abruptly load more assets. Beyond such scenarios, you’ll have to be pretty unlucky to be in a situation where you couldn’t get an ideal outcome because of the phone’s performance.
Battery life is where things get a little iffy. In our usual video loop test, the Samsung Galaxy S24 lasted well over 25 hours. But heavy daily use will see you end the day with the phone being on its last legs, so it’s a bit of a mixed bag here. Charging is the usual 25W affair, taking just about 75 minutes for the 4,000 mAh battery to go from empty to full. It’s also the only member of the family to not get 45W charging, so there’s that.
Camera
The Samsung Galaxy S24 comes with a 50MP main + 10MP telephoto + 12MP wide angle combo at the back, almost completely identical to the S23. So assuming that it will result in similar images would be a fair expectation.
That being said, it’s not entirely identical either. Images shot with the Samsung Galaxy S24 looks to be a tad on the vibrant side of things. Which is nice if you like sharing them on social media, not so much othewise.
Sample Images
Competition
Samsung Galaxy S23
I’ve mentioned this a few times already at this point, but if we’re completely honest, the biggest change between the Samsung Galaxy S24 and its predecessor is Galaxy AI. If you can live without all of that, last year’s base model flagship provides surprisingly compelling value.
Sure, the chipset and display are slightly different, and so is the battery capacity. But beyond that, you’ll be hard-pressed to find differences.
iPhone 15
As usual, the list of competing phones for the Samsung Galaxy S24 would not be complete without the most recent iPhone, which is now the iPhone 15. Also as usual, the specs comparison won’t really make sense in this case, but let’s go through them anyway.
We start with a 6.1-inch screen, followed by the Apple A16 Bionic chip, 6GB of RAM and a range from 128GB to 512GB of storage space. The battery here is an odd 3,349mAh pack, and its cameras consist of a 48MP main + 12MP wide angle shooter behind, with a 12MP shooter in front.
vivo X100 Pro
Another phone launched recently that can be fairly compared to the Samsung Galaxy S24 is the vivo X100 Pro. This will probably be your pick if you’re into mobile photography, as it’s the feature that’s being highlighted the most for this phone.
For its spec sheet, there’s the 6.78-inch 2,800 x 1,260 120Hz screen, a MediaTek Dimensity 9300 chipset, 16GB of RAM, 512GB of storage, and a battery of 5,400mAh. Its camera setup consists of a 50MP main camera with a one-inch sensor, a 50MP ZEISS APO camera and a 50 wide-angle camera. In front, there’s a 32MP shooter in a punch hole cutout.
Conclusion
The saying “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” cuts both ways, and it’s especially the case for the Samsung Galaxy S24. On one hand, the company has settled on a safe formula, so there’s no going wrong. But on the flip side, it does feel a lot like using last year’s S23.
The new AI stuff is also locked behind the default apps, which leads to a lack of choice. As mentioned, the most useful of the lot, and also the one that’s not locked behind specific apps, is a Google thing. If it ever becomes available to other Android devices, then that’s one less reason to stick to this year’s South Korean flagships.
Ultimately, the main selling point of the Samsung Galaxy S24 is being juggled between Galaxy AI and Circle to Search. And unless you’re upgrading from a device that’s showing its age, you’ll be hard-pressed to justify making the jump if you’re not already invested in the Samsung ecosystem of pre-installed apps.
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