Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra Review: Best Features Besides AI
When Samsung launched the Galaxy S24 Ultra in January, a major point of interest was its suite of Galaxy AI tools, including Circle to Search and language translation. I’ve been using the Galaxy S24 Ultra as my main phone for the past three months since launch, and have found some genuinely useful hardware features, such as the anti-glare screen. However, some of the software tools haven’t lived up to expectations, such as some of the AI features. Still, there are plenty of hidden features inside this phone that make it better than I expected when I first read the specs on paper.
If you want to learn more about the phone, you can read my CNET colleague Lisa Eadicicco’s full S24 Ultra review, in which she extensively tests the phone’s performance benchmarks, battery life, and all of its AI tools.
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My last Samsung Galaxy phone was the S22 Ultra, and it had held up well for the past two years. So when Samsung released the S24 Ultra with its suite of new AI tools and the promise of seven years of software updates, I hoped it would win me over in the same way the S22 Ultra had.
Galaxy S24 Ultra display: anti-glare magic
You can give me AI features and a 200MP camera, but the one feature I use every single day without fail is the display. I feel like Samsung has downplayed how important the anti-glare display is on the S24 Ultra, especially since the company only released a video showing more details about the construction of Corning Gorilla Armor three months after launch.
The display significantly reduces reflections and glare outdoors compared to other flagship phones. I compared it to the iPhone 15 Pro Max, Pixel 8 Pro, and even last year’s S23 Ultra on a bright San Francisco day and there was no contest — the S24 Ultra beat them all, hands down. I can take photos and watch YouTube videos without needing to shield the display. You can see how each display performed in the video embedded on this page.
The difference between the S24 Ultra (left) and S23 Ultra screens is dramatic.
The Gorilla Armor coating is also more scratch-resistant than previous Gorilla Glass displays, the company says. Three months later and a few other CNET editors have borrowed this phone, it’s still looking good, with no scratches to report. Compare that to my S22 Ultra, which developed a deep scratch on its screen after just a few weeks of use.
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I find it odd that Samsung didn’t reveal details about the screen’s construction until months later. Perhaps that’s partly due to the display issues some people were experiencing a few weeks after launch. Samsung addressed those issues with a software update.
Upgrading to this display from the curved S22 Ultra also brought another unexpected benefit: a flatter screen. I find it better for quickly scribbling notes with the S Pen when the screen is off, since I can write right up to the edges if needed.
The S24 Ultra cameras.
Galaxy S24 Ultra AI features: Circle to Search is the star
No contest: For me, the best AI feature on the S24 Ultra is Circle to Search. I use it all the time, whether I’m searching for something on a web page or circling something from the camera app. Other AI features I find myself using most often from Samsung’s tools are the shadow and reflection eraser, plus the rotating canvas option that fills in the edges of the image.
But all of these AI features came to the S23 Ultra and Z Fold 5 and Flip 5 with the One UI 6.1 update. Google’s Pixel phones got Circle to Search, too. They’re no longer a big enough selling point for the S24 Ultra, and, as my colleague Lisa Eadicicco has pointed out, it feels like a missed opportunity for Samsung.
‘Circle to Seek’ is the feature I use the most, especially in the camera app.
I’ve also been using Gemini AI instead of Google Assistant, and it’s been a good experience overall. I’ve used it more than I expected. However, it still has trouble understanding my Australian accent when I dictate speech to text, so I mainly type requests into Gemini until that improves.
Galaxy S24 Ultra cameras: not overly exciting
This is probably the first time in a long time that the camera isn’t a huge part of my Galaxy experience. This phone still has great zoom capabilities, and having the flexibility to go from ultra-wide all the way to 100x is nice, but I never use 100x zoom because it makes my photos look like watercolors. I usually go all the way up to 30x.
Read more: Galaxy S24 Ultra vs. iPhone 15 Pro Max: camera comparison
But the camera doesn’t feel as exciting as previous Galaxy phones, or even other Android phones like the Xiaomi Ultra 14 that push the boundaries with a 1-inch sensor size. That’s partly because Samsung has ditched the previous 10x optical camera for a new 5x one, opting instead to pixel binning a 50-megapixel image to achieve 10x hybrid zoom. For shooting video at 10x specifically, like filming a concert, it takes away flexibility and forces me to resort to digital 10x zoom more often than I’d like. I’m always team optical over hybrid or digital zoom.
New Galaxy S24 Ultra updates since launch
Below is a list of some of the updates the Galaxy S24 Ultra has received since its launch in January 2024:
- Camera adjustments including improved indoor portrait photos and ultra-smooth video recording.
- Display update that allows you to adjust the brightness setting with a slider.
- Security patches and updates.
- At the time of writing, my Galaxy S24 Ultra has yet to receive the OneUI 6.1. 1 update, which brings features like AI SMS responses from the Galaxy Watch 7 and Ultra.
The Galaxy S24 Ultra’s Quick Share feature is fantastic
Sharing files between devices is something I do every day, especially when I want to share a photo I took with friends or my work computer. I’ve always wanted universal AirDrop, but we’re almost there now that Android has adopted Quick Share (it used to be called Nearby Share). But the S24 Ultra takes it one step further, because when you want to share an image, you’ll see the option to scan a QR code or copy a URL, allowing you to share the full-resolution files to another device or to friends. I use this all the time to transfer between the S24 Ultra and iOS, or to my work computer, a Mac.
To wrap up, the Galaxy S24 Ultra convinced me more than I thought it would. Features like Galaxy AI weren’t as helpful as they promised, but quality of life improvements like the anti-glare display made an impact. I’ll be interested to revisit this phone in a few months, especially when we know more about other updates that Android 15 might bring.
