The Samsung Galaxy S24 Series - Can "Galaxy AI" Define a New Era?

    Another year, another device... Really!? NOPE... This time around Samsung isn't just serving up the usual tech upgrades; instead, they've unleashed their new smartphone lineup, the S24 series with something that's been around our ears for almost a year now... AI AI and AI! 

Yes, Samsung calls it the "Galaxy AI".

Let's delve into its latest enhancements, software, processor capabilities, cameras, and, of course, "Galaxy AI"

1) Hardware Enhancements: The S24 and S24+ feature robust yet lighter aluminum, which Samsung calls "Armour Aluminum". Following Apple's introduction of titanium in its newer iPhones, Samsung also incorporated titanium into its flagship Ultra phones.

This time all the display panels are flat, but have a peak brightness of 2600 nits, which means it's bright, I mean really bright! 

They've also upgraded the glass on the S24 Ultra with the new "Corning Gorilla Armor" which is a step up from the "Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2" used previously.

Hey! We all know "Glass is glass and glass breaks"... So, in simple words, the frame and the glass used this time are more durable and scratch-resistant. 

S24 Ultra

S24 and S24+

2) The Software: All three devices comes out of the box with One UI 6.1 (the name coined for Samsung's own software skin), based on Android 14.

Some people (including me) used to hate Samsung's One UI majorly for its outdated designs, but this time it's not the case. Every detail, from icons to widgets, has a design upgrade; yes, they look elegant and bring lots of fun features.

One UI 6.1 Quick Looks

3) Processor: This year's lineup uses the all-new "Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy"... Yes, "for Galaxy", i.e. it is custom-made and tuned for the Samsung Galaxy S24 series. 

Whenever we see the word "custom-made", we can say it's Optimised, and that's the case with these devices.  
The previous year's phones performed very well with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 so there is no doubt that it'll perform better this time. This chip is capable of running AI models without the internet. Also, it has a new feature called "Ray Tracing" [related to graphics in video games], which means that the processor can trace the path of rays of light as they travel through a scene, allowing for more realistic and accurate lighting, shadows, and reflections in the visuals.

To give you a clear picture, this Ray Tracing feature is available on higher-end PCs with graphics cards (RTX). Bringing this feature to a device this small, is really cool!

Ray Tracing ON vs Rau Tracing OFF

4) Cameras: Before moving on to the Cameras, let me explain to you the two types of zoom in simple words:

• Electronic Zoom: This is basically cropping the image digitally and then processing it. As a portion of the image is cropped, it leads to a loss of quality. This type of zoom can be achieved without any special lens. It's commonly found in budget phones.
  
  
• Optical Zoom: This is like using a DSLR camera. This type of zoom can only be achieved with a special lens. The lens physically moves to bring the subject closer, maintaining the image quality. This is an expensive setup, thus, it's found in flagship/top-end smartphones.

The standard S24 and the S24+ come with a 50MP wide and 2 times optical zoom shooter, a 10MP | 3 times optical zoom shooter, a 12MP ultra-wide camera, and a 12MP selfie camera. 

The Ultra comes with a 200MP wide and 2 times optical zoom shooter, a 50MP | 5 & 10 times telephoto shooter, a 10MP | 3 times optical zoom shooter, a 12MP ultra-wide, and a 12MP selfie camera... Huh... Lots of cameras!

S24 Ultra Camera Setup

S24 & s24+ Camera Setup

But nowadays smartphone cameras majorly rely on digital photo processing or technically, "computational photography". 

Samsung did complete their homework! As the processor can handle AI-related tasks, Samsung relies on AI for photo processing. They call it "The Provisual Engine".

The majority of smartphone users prefer photos from Samsung compared to Apple as the photos are social media ready and the provisual engine takes this level of processing even further. 

The Provisual Engine helps to reduce photo blur, better color reproduction, HDR processing, and most importantly helps with maintaining zoom quality and better night photos even with zoom!

Zoom quality enhancement using AI

To experience the level of zoom, check this out:

Wide angle shot

10 times telephoto Zoom shot

In my opinion with the night mode photos, portraits, and zoomed captures, Samsung takes the lead from its competition. 

4) Galaxy AI: Now it's time to address the elephant in the room, "The Galaxy AI".

Samsung has partnered with Google's cloud-generative AI technology to work on Galaxy AI!

Have a look at the AI features:

• Circle to search: 
  
  
  
  
• Live Translate: Translates live speech while on a call with a person who speaks a different language
  
  
  
  
• Transcript Assist: Provides real-time transcription during audio recording. It automatically distinguishes between speakers, labeling them as Speaker 1, Speaker 2, etc., based on voice differences. Additionally, it offers a summary of it as well.
  
  
  
  
• Image Editor:
  
  
  
  
• Summarise Notes: 
  
  
  
  

After seeing these videos, if you were to inquire, "Is it groundbreaking?" Absolutely -NOT-. Why? Cuz all these features are readily available on the web, and several AI tools offer these functionalities for free. Take, for instance, Google Lens, Scribbr, Otter AI, and more.

Let's consider the Google Pixel 8. The so-called revolutionary features - Cicle to search? Google Lens has got it covered. Transcript assist? Google's version not only exists but outperforms. Image editor? Yes, it exists and has more features. Notes Summarizer? Present and superior. Live Translate? An Absolute Yes. Also, note that the normal photos captured by the Google Pixel 8 are better than those of the Samsung, all at a more budget-friendly price!

But... Yes, there's always a  BUT... Google's Processor is not very reliable in terms of performance, so it leaves the door open for Samsung to show its charm, that is, its ability to seamlessly integrate all tech into one cohesive package. From AI capabilities to peak performance, a top-notch camera, and a premium design - Samsung checks all the boxes. It emerges as an alarming contender in the Android realm and continues to give the newer iPhones a run for their money. The battle between these two devices is one to anticipate... Let the showdown commence!

Let me know your thoughts in the comments, and I'll catch you in the next one.