The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra in Titanium OrangeAndy Boxall / Digital Trends
One of the top smartphones on the market place right now is theSamsung Galaxy S24 Ultra , and it ’s easy to see why . It ’s blazing libertine thanks to theSnapdragon 8 Gen 3chip and is packed with a long ton of powerful features . It has a quadriceps camera organization with an telling 200MP main gun and a young 50MP periscope telephoto , plus an absolutely gorgeous display .
When I joined Digital Trends , I was a newcomer toAndroid phonessince I only used to useiPhones , and one of the first Android flagship I reviewed was theSamsung Galaxy S23 . I thought the Ultra was in spades telling , but the mammoth sizing put me off a bit , even though I wanted to check out the 200MP photographic camera for myself .
Christine Romero-Chan / Digital Trends
I got my hands on the Galaxy S24 Ultra this year , and it ’s my first fourth dimension experiencing an S - Series Ultra phone . I have to let in — it ’s becoming one of my favorite phones of 2024 so far . Here ’s what I ’ve been fuck about the S24 Ultra .
I really love the S Pen
When Apple Centennial State - laminitis Steve Jobs announced the iPhone in 2007 , one of his famous lines was , “ Who desire a stylus ? You have to get them and put them away and you mislay them . Yuck ! Nobody wants a style . ”
alternatively , Jobs argued that the human finger was the well pointing gimmick in the world . To a sure extent , he had a point . But candidly , the S24 Ultra ’s S Pen is one of my downright best-loved affair about the earpiece so far , and I wish well my iPhone 15 Pro had a establish - in stylus , too .
I ’m not sure about everyone else , but I have noticed that after using my fingers all day on my screen , the display are cover with smudges . I wipe my smartphone screen multiple times a day because I see it plaguy .
Christine Romero-Chan / Digital Trends
As such , I ’ve principally been using the S Pen on the S24 Ultra as a style to voyage and use my speech sound . Maybe it ’s due to the size , since I have to use two hands anyway , but it just find really skillful to just use the S Pen to go through screens and menus , scroll , and select things . It ’s also much easy to shut out of pesky ads with those tiny “ X ” buttons with the S Pen rather than juicy , stubby fingers since it ’s much more accurate .
I ’ve also found the S Pen to be very handy for a great deal of other things . For model , whileCircle to Searchis a new AI feature of speech that is also useable on theGalaxy S24andGalaxy S24 Plus , the S Pen feels more accurate when selecting something to research for . I also do n’t really handwrite line on my telephone — I ’d rather typecast them out — but when I do , the S Pen makes that feel more natural .
The other big matter about the S Pen that I love is that it can be used as a remote control thanks to its push button . While there are a few use cases for this , such as check PowerPoint presentations and even pasture the Gallery app , my dearie is using it as a distant shutter clit . Since the S24 Ultra is so vast , it ’s hard for me to take a selfie with the touchscreen control . Being able-bodied to snap a photograph with the S Pen is just so commodious , and it ’s also peachy if I need to take a exposure with the rear camera .
Christine Romero-Chan / Digital Trends
The iPhone could gain so much from having something like the S Pen , especially theiPhone 15 Pro Max . Perhaps one twenty-four hours Apple can bring theApple Pencilto the iPhone . Until then , Samsung is on a league of its own here .
The display is gorgeous
I ’m quite impressed with the display on the S24 Ultra , as it ’s one of the best I ’ve used on a phone to date . Though I look back the regular Galaxy S24 and thought that display also expect great , the S24 Ultra need it even further .
One matter I noticed with the even S24 is that since it still uses Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 , it ’s pretty reflective if you ’re out of doors or in gay condition . But Samsung prepare this return with the new Corning Gorilla Armor glass on the showing , which helps reduce a lot of the brilliance and reflections that you would normally get on a smartphone screen .
The S24 Ultra , as well as the S24 and S24 Plus , also reaches 2,600 nits of peak brightness . While this is not quite as high as theOnePlus 12 ’s insane 4,500 nits , it ’s still very vivid and makes the equipment improbably useable open in direct sunlight . It unquestionably go past myiPhone 15 professional , and since I live in ( mostly ) sunny Southern California , take brighter video display is always a must .
Christine Romero-Chan / Digital Trends
While I did n’t have theGalaxy S23 Ultra , my fellow Andy Boxall did , and he says that the S24 Ultra has a flat video display than its herald . I in reality love this flatter screen , as it work it using the S Pen very well-off and loose . I also do n’t end up doing a lot of inadvertent touches on the display like I did with the OnePlus 12 ’s very well-endowed screen edges , so that ’s a addition .
Battery life is truly insane
Though my iPhone 15 Pro is still my primary smartphone , shelling life history is one of its weakest degree . Sure , it will get me through the twenty-four hours , but I typically need to plug it in during the eve to make it last until bedtime .
The S24 Ultra has been evidence itself to be quite a beast in term of bombardment life . In our review , the S24 Ultra would get about two Day of bombardment on a single charge with moderate to grievous utilization . I have n’t been labour my S24 Ultra to those limits , as my usage with it has still been quite light since it ’s not my basal gadget . As such , a full charge for mine lasts about three days at the minute , according to the barrage fire section in the options app .
The massive 5,000mAh battery inside the S24 Ultra , combine with the power efficiency of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 potato chip , will absolutely get you through a full day and then some with just a unmarried charge . This is easily a two - day sound , and for some phratry , maybe even more .
When you do need to charge , the 45 - watt wired profligate charging is pretty nice . Sure , it ’s not as fast as the OnePlus 12 ’s 80W fast charging , but it ’s still definitely well than the iPhone 15 Pro — and many other smartphones available in the U.S.
The cameras are amazing
One of the independent reasons I typically advance my smartphone each year is because of the camera . It ’s one of my most used features , and I want it to begoodbecause I do n’t have a standalone camera . The Galaxy S24 Ultra has one of the best smartphone cameras I ’ve used so far .
I tried out the S24 Ultra camera over the weekend , and the event were unbelievable . I was particularly eager to render the 5x and 10x optic soar , and they ’re by all odds impressive . I was capable to enchant a adequate snap of a snowcapped mountaintop off in the distance while on the rooftop level of the Disneyland parking structure . I also used it to zoom along in on a gorgeous sunset , and the color are utterly beautiful .
Even photos taken with the 200MP principal camera at 1x take care great . One of the problem I ’ve had with Samsung devices before was the propensity for icon to be overly saturate and vivid in the coloring profile , but Samsung has toned that down a bit with the S24 line . photo have been look more naturalistic with the colors , and I ’m quite happy with the results .
It doesn’t feel too big
One of the reasons why I always felt deterred from checking out Samsung ’s Ultra telephone set was because of the size of it . After all , if you ’ve followed some of my work , I ’ve always been anadvocate of smaller earpiece ; large devices always palpate unmanageable for my petite helping hand .
I was surprised with the Galaxy S24 Ultra , however . Despite it get a monolithic 6.8 - column inch display , it does n’t really sense too large and I found it pretty loose to hold because of the flesh design . Plus , with the S Pen , I ’m typically using both hand anyway .
If I were to switch to a big gadget as my primary alternatively of my iPhone 15 Pro , I consider I would definitely move over to the S24 Ultra .
The S24 Ultra is one of the best phones of 2024
We ’re only a duo of calendar month into 2024 , but the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra has quick become one of my favorite phone I ’ve tried this year ( the others being the OnePlus 12 and the regular S24 ) .
The S Pen on the S24 Ultra is just one of my absolute favorite things about the gimmick . It really makes me care that Apple would adopt an desegregate style with its Pro line , or at least the Pro Max , because mayhap then I would consider trying one out . Not only is the S Pen great for just navigating around and not smudging up the screen as much , but being able to use it as a remote is passing commodious .
And this twelvemonth Samsung took it a step further with the incredible Gorilla Armor show that is badly one of the most impressive I ’ve laid my eyes on . finally , the television camera system is definitely one of the just on a smartphone , and a bad melioration on the previous semblance profile , in my persuasion .
I ’ll be sad once I have to send the Galaxy S24 Ultra back , that ’s for certain .
