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Now that the Samsung Galaxy S24 line of smartphones are available for purchase, Samsung despatched me a overview unit of the S24 Extremely to make use of to see the way it stacks up in opposition to previous fashions, and to see if iPhone customers like me might make the swap from Apple to Samsung.

I made the swap from Android to Apple a couple of years in the past and haven’t seemed again. In reality, that is the primary Samsung telephone I’ve used for all of my every day duties in years — I miss the customizability of Android, however discovered a few of Samsung’s quirks annoying. Nonetheless, after a couple of years away from Android, the S24 Extremely — which is out there at Amazon, Walmart, Finest Purchase and Samsung.com — is one of the best Android smartphone I’ve ever used and has me actually contemplating buying and selling in my iPhone in for good.

Samsung Galaxy S24 Extremely Assessment

Right here is my overview of the brand new Samsung Galaxy S24 Extremely Smartphone, based mostly on show and construct high quality; person expertise; AI options; battery life; and value.

Show and Construct High quality

At a whopping 6.8 inches, the Samsung Galaxy S24 Extremely is an enormous telephone and will solely be reserved for folks with bigger palms, or individuals who want the additional display screen actual property for productiveness. I struggled utilizing it with one hand, as I stored making an attempt to stability the telephone whereas extending my thumb to faucet on apps and hyperlinks. The telephone is light-weight at simply 8.18 ounces (or 232 grams). Like every premium telephone, it feels good to carry, albeit a bit sharp with its squared off and pointed edges.

At instances, I additionally had a tricky time conserving the telephone safe in my pant pockets. It typically peaked out once I stood up, or fell out altogether once I was sitting on a sofa. It’s advisable that you just use a telephone case or a hands-free strap and holster when dealing with it as a result of its pointed edges and titanium body make it a bit slippery to deal with.

So far as the show, the S24 Extremely’s Dynamic LTPO AMOLED 2X show with a Gorilla Glass Armor entrance is pristine and clear with a small gap cutout for the front-facing 12-megapixel selfie digicam. I discovered myself simply staring on the telephone for lengthy intervals of time. It was simply so stunning to take a look at and work together with, particularly with two-hand use. It’s 120Hz refresh charge made scrolling by way of web sites and apps a pleasure with buttery easy movement that felt fast and snappy. That’s thanks partially to the telephone’s top-of-the-line Qualcomm SM8650-AC Snapdragon 8 (Gen 3) chipset paired with 12GB of RAM and Android 14 (with Samsung’s One UI 6.1 person interface layered on high) inside.

Consumer Expertise

The expertise in my day-to-day utilization was fluid and steady with zero lag or hiccups. Nonetheless, I discovered myself annoyed at instances with Samsung’s quirks, particularly when it got here to unlocking the telephone.

The S24 Extremely makes use of an in-screen ultrasonic fingerprint reader that’s situated beneath its show. After preliminary setup with my index finger and thumb, the telephone would solely unlock about 15% of the time utilizing the fingerprint reader. I chalked it as much as person error and re-entered my fingerprints and nonetheless hand the identical issues unlocking the telephone. After a 3rd time, it nonetheless wouldn’t register correctly. I even cleaned the show and had the identical final result.

I had a bit extra success with face unlock. I’d say the telephone unlocked about 60% of the time utilizing my face. However, situations needed to be superb to get the telephone to unlock. The room needed to be well-lit, in any other case the telephone wouldn’t unlock.

I had essentially the most success unlocking the telephone with a easy passcode with a couple of 100% success charge. As soon as unlocked, the expertise was largely seamless. Interacting with the show and apps had been correct and fulfilling with Samsung’s new AI options being very helpful, particularly for search and picture enhancing.

Samsung AI

For 2024, Samsung launched a couple of new AI options for its line of flagship smartphones. “Circle to Search” is a fast and straightforward approach to seek for photographs or merchandise with out going to Google and typing out an outline.

Simply press and maintain the house button and circle the picture you’d like to go looking along with your finger or the included S-Pen for an in depth search of what you’re on the lookout for. This is useful when you see a photograph of a pair of sneakers or a hat you’d like to purchase on-line. The combination is seamless all through the whole telephone and its apps, whereas the expertise is frictionless from eager to know one thing to having the reply in entrance of you in seconds with out going to the Google app immediately.

In the meantime, Samsung’s AI picture enhancing instruments lets you shortly repair, straighten or take away objects in pictures taken on the smartphone, or pictures within the Samsung Gallery app. In my expertise, the software is straightforward to make use of, works in seconds and is definitely worth the value of admission.

Simply snap a photograph, like this Crepe Lasagna from Rosticceria Evelina in Brooklyn, NY or my cute canine Joanie under, after which go to the Samsung Gallery app, faucet on the Samsung AI button and use your finger or S-Pen to circle the article you’d prefer to take away from a photograph after which faucet the “Generate” button to look at it disappear. It really works like magic.

Digicam and Images

Talking of pictures, the S24 Extremely has a ridiculously highly effective and sharp quad-camera system on its rear with a 200-megapixel broad, 50-megapixel periscope telephoto, 10-megapixel telephoto and 12-megapixel ultrawide cameras working collectively to ship clear, wealthy and really detailed pictures. As well as, the digicam system makes it potential to go from .6x to 100x zoom at a moments discover with shocking stability and readability (see the picture comparisons of the Fulton Road G-train subway station in Brooklyn, NY under).

The rear cameras also can seize video in 4K Extremely HD image high quality at as much as 60fps. In my testing, movies had been sharp and fluid with no stuttering or lag. Furthermore, while you view movies within the Samsung Gallery app, you will have the choice to press and maintain on the video file to look at your footage again in sluggish movement, if you wish to watch moments in a lot better element.

Battery Life

Among the best and most spectacular issues concerning the S24 Extremely is its battery life. Briefly: it makes different smartphones look weak. In my use, I acquired about 4 days and 5 hours (about 100 hours) from 100% battery life to zero with very informal use, together with sending textual content messages, taking telephone calls, listening to podcasts, lite internet looking and snapping a couple of pictures.

In case you’re an informal smartphone person, then you may simply get simply over 90 hours of use earlier than it’s important to put it on a charging pad, or plug it right into a wall outlet. Nonetheless, that battery life decreases, when you’re a extra average or heavy person.

However on the very least, I acquired almost three days of use out of the S24 Extremely with heavier use — like watching YouTube and TikTok movies, capturing 4K movies, hourly use of Slack and work emails, heavy internet looking, sending textual content messages, taking telephone calls, recording interviews and enjoying a couple of cellular video games — earlier than I needed to cost it once more.

S-Pen

On the backside of the smartphone, you’ll discover the Samsung S-Pen hidden inside its titanium body. Simply push in to eject the stylus for a approach to take handwritten notes, jot down a couple of concepts or sketch out designs or objects.

In my use, the S-Pen was a pleasant addition, however not fully essential for my use case — particularly because it feels very flimsy and simply breakable. The expertise doesn’t really feel like paper, so writing with it makes it really feel very slippery because you’re writing on a bit of glass, whereas it appeared extra like an added worth proposition add moderately than a useful gizmo I’d use on a regular basis for duties and workflow. It’s good to have, however not wanted.

Value

Let’s face it. The S24 Extremely is pricey beginning at $1,299.99. However, that value can simply balloon upwards of $1,659.99, when you go for extra storage as much as 1TB. Is it value it? I’d say sure, if you need the top-of-the-line Samsung smartphone with the newest Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset, which received’t see an improve for one more yr. With all of its AI options, premium show dimension, included S-Pen, quad-camera system and high-end specs, then it’s value each penny, particularly when you’re in Samsung’s ecosystem of units.

However, you may nonetheless get most of these issues at a a lot lower cost with the S24 or S24+ — which begins at $799.99 or $999.99, respectively.

Samsung vs. Apple

Coming again to Samsung from the Apple iPhone, the training curve from one working system to a different is fairly easy, particularly with Samsung’s Good Change app that transfers over your apps out of your previous system to your new one by way of WiFi. However, utilizing the S24 Extremely whereas within the Apple ecosystem of units will not be preferable. Whereas there are workarounds, the options simply aren’t as seamless as utilizing all Apple units collectively.

However, there are actually a couple of options included on the S24 Extremely that I actually want had been accessible natively on the iPhone — particularly Samsung’s AI options, like Circle To Search, the AI pictures editor within the Samsung Gallery app and spectacular digicam with digital zoom.

Ultimate Verdict

The Samsung Galaxy S24 Extremely has almost every part going for it as a premium smartphone for the trendy, digital age. Its show is brilliant, sharp, crisp and pristine with easy movement. Its digicam system can snap clear and detailed pictures as much as a whopping 100x zoom. Its software program and AI options are helpful and useful, albeit quirky and annoying at instances (do we actually want three completely different e mail apps out-of-the-box?). Its battery life is ridiculously lengthy, particularly for very informal customers.

Nonetheless, is it adequate to make the swap from Apple to Samsung? Sure and no. In case you’re okay that the telephone isn’t seamless to make use of with an Apple MacBook or a pair of Apple AirPods Professional, then sure. However, if you need your cellular units to work along with your laptop computer and equipment, then it’s a no. In case you’re not keen to change your complete digital life, then I’d nonetheless stick to the Apple iPhone 15 line.

From design to supplies and digicam system to AI options, with a couple of quirks apart, the Samsung Galaxy S24 Extremely is one of the best telephone Samsung has ever made. In case you have $1,299.99 and need one of the best Android smartphone for 2024, then that is the telephone to get.