Hello.
In the daily hustle and bustle, I didn’t get around to telling you about my experience using the Galaxy S24 Ultra, which I’ve been using for six months now. But, as usual, after the presentation of the new generation of iPhone, I learned so much about my device from strangers in a couple of days that I was motivated to express my thoughts. If you believe people’s reviews, then I have a terrible, disgusting device on my hands, which has problems with the build quality (it breaks from one hit on any hard surface), the display shows green at the slightest tilt, and becomes unreadable in the sun after a minute. The camera takes bad and very bad photos, and the video simply crumbles into individual pixels. You can’t even remember the speed of the interface, even devices from the past work faster, not to mention modern ones. I won’t list the entire list of sins of the unfortunate S24 Ultra, but I will try to tell you about my impressions of the model, fortunately I use the phone on a daily basis.
I don’t like cases, I force myself to use them only in one case – if the camera block protrudes or there are other flaws in ergonomics, for example, the device is slippery and can be dropped. Therefore, I don’t have any case on the S24 Ultra, which is infinitely pleasing, the thickness of the case remains small.
In this case color I have no abrasions on the back panel, no fingerprints. Everything is almost perfect, the reliability of the materials is at a high level. The camera rim started to peel off in the first weeks – a standard feature for Samsung, they have been doing this for many years. The company does not see a problem in this, and I do not react to such abrasions.
The titanium frame is not torn off, there are small marks from use. Where are they from? The phone has been in different conditions, flew to the rocks during hikes, got into sea water – in a word, it has not traveled with me anywhere. My heart has not stopped for a long time when it flies somewhere, the reliability is excellent. Although it is possible that everything depends on your luck or lack thereof.
The flat screen has become familiar, I can’t say that there is a difference with the S23 Ultra for me, but it is easier to write with the S Pen. There is also one feature that pleases me every day, it is the absence of glare on the screen. Samsung used this technology for the first time in the S24 Ultra, the screen is very bright and does not glare, it is perfectly readable in the sun in different conditions.
In Yakutia, in winter, the screens of the Honor Magic6 Pro, Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max and S24 Ultra were compared; the vaunted 5000 nits in Honor turned out to be a marketing ploy; the screen was not readable in the winter sun.
So, after this, trust the paper specifications. When you see everything with your own eyes, you get an objective picture of the world. And here I have to agree with the critics of the S24 Ultra, who talk about the incorrect operation of the adaptive brightness.
It is possible to make the screen dark, for this you need several coinciding factors, in particular, to turn on the power saving mode, and also to make sure that the device warms up. This combination of circumstances worked best on the beach in Abu Dhabi, the temperature was 44 degrees in the shade, in the sun the device became red-hot in a matter of minutes. And the screen darkened. All other phones behave exactly the same way, they are too hot.
How to achieve this in everyday life? Yes, in principle, in exactly the same way – do something on the phone that will lead to strong heating. Heat dissipation is organized well, but in the hot summer under the direct sun it will heat up. The fact that this is a protective function of the screen does not bother anyone, you always want a very bright picture. But, alas, this is not always possible for objective reasons. I will note here that in the same circumstances other devices with OLED screens behave in a similar way.
The oleophobic coating has long since worn off, at least it seems that way, but the structure of the screen itself is different, fingerprints do not remain on it (I do not use any films or glasses).
When turned on, no stains are visible, the finger slides easily across the screen. When turned off, the dirt forms small stripes or islands, this is a feature of the display structure (it can be erased, but I do not do this at all, since it does not bother me at all). And here it is necessary to make a philosophical remark. Someone may be annoyed by a separate trifle, someone perceives it as something insignificant and unnoticeable. So everything rests on your perception of the world, and it is not worth scolding people who cannot live because the screen is not very bright when the device heats up.
About heating. Is it possible in conditions other than hot summer to get the device to warm up and stop working some applications or usual functions? I couldn’t do this, started recording 4K video, after about thirty minutes I decided that I was tired of it, turned off the recording.
About cameras and their quality
We should probably talk about the “terrible quality of photos” in a separate article, but for now I’ll provide a number of photos that describe the camera’s capabilities well.
There are no ideal cameras on the planet, but I like the range of possibilities that this particular model provides. The widest creative spectrum, you can bring your ideas to life.
Since the announcement of the iPhone 16, Apple users have been constantly looking for its advantages, as if they can’t live without it. I was reproached here that Samsung will definitely repeat the ability to record 4K video at 120 frames per second. But so far it can’t shoot like that.
In professional mode (and such a setting is clearly needed only by those who understand why and, most importantly, what they are doing) all this has been around for a long time. So, consider it repeated.
A few words about the video that “Samsung can’t shoot”. I am absolutely sure that the people who talked about this have never shot a video on Samsung. Take a look at some examples yourself. The microphone set is such that the sound recording quality is excellent (and you can also do 360, when the sound will be recorded from your headphones, but shhh).
There are a number of interesting stories here, and I particularly like one. Our reader once said something along the lines of “8K recording is rubbish, the picture is terrible, it’s simply impossible to watch on TV, as if a maniac was filming a movie.” It took a long time to find an answer to the main question: how and on what does he try to watch videos filmed on a Samsung? It turned out that he had a budget TV that didn’t even support 4K resolution, and in order to somehow launch the video he’d filmed, he had to dance with a tambourine. Is it a shame? That’s not the word. But it’s more or less the same as “I’m a buyer and I don’t want to understand anything, I need everything to work by default everywhere and always.”
Many of the photos for the texts were taken on my phone, and I have never had any complaints about their quality. Which speaks for itself. And the constant question of what this was taken on also puts everything in perspective.
Operating time, charging
I have two devices, and the tasks are divided between them. I read texts on the Galaxy Fold, and then I do communication, mail, and so on. The main load falls on it, but photos, videos, S Pen (working with documents and more) – all this is on the S24 Ultra.
Having two smartphones removes the issue of operating time as such, a full working day with almost any load. At the same time, I use S24 Ultra to download large files, store them (I have 512 GB of memory in it).
I looked at how many photos I took in six months, it seems that this is my personal record. There were many interesting trips, which resulted in such a number of photos. And it is simply pleasant to click on it.
The downside for me is the charging time, it’s more than an hour. I can’t call the one for the S24 Ultra fast charging. But the operating time from one charge hasn’t changed compared to what it was at the beginning. So we can assume that everything is the same here.
Speed of work, updates and other little things
Another comment that amused me was that Samsung updates its devices for three years at most, no more. For the S24 Ultra, updates will be released for seven years (five years of the system plus two years of security patches). The device will remain relevant for a long time, and this is very good.
The interface and application launch speed are beyond question. Updates are released regularly, and I find all sorts of AI features for photo editing pleasant and useful, although I don’t need them every day. Nevertheless, I can’t imagine my life without them.
Some conclusions about the model
Every year I consistently switch from one Ultra model to another (I could have not done this, but it is connected with work, I explain everything to myself exactly like this). This device is from the first batch, I did not have any problems with it then or today. It is impossible to say that I am indiscriminate. If there were any problems in it, they would probably have appeared and irritated me.
Here’s another complaint I can confirm. If you shake the device near your ear, the S Pen will dangle in the holder and you’ll hear a quiet sound. Although what I agree with here is that the issue is not with the S Pen, try taking out the stylus and shaking the device, the sound will remain. After a certain number of impacts, the camera’s optical stabilization starts to wander with sound, it continues to work, but this sound appears. Exactly the same problem with any device that has such stabilization and that you’ve dropped a certain number of times. There is no solution to avoid this. This does not affect the quality of the pictures, I carefully compared them with the new device, everything is more or less the same.
I use DeX from time to time, but I won’t write or talk about it, it’s a separate and rich topic, not relevant for everyone. After all, only a small number of people need to turn their phone into a computer.
Has the device ever frozen? No. Has it ever launched apps incorrectly? No. Has it ever slowed down? Also no. Perhaps I’m doing something wrong, I approach the phone catastrophically differently, I’m not trying to “improve” it in any way to get such results. I just use it and don’t see any flaws that could prove that it’s a total nightmare. On the other hand, my expectations weren’t too high, I clearly understood what I was buying and what I would get. It’s a great device for life, if you understand what you need and what you want to get. It won’t make you coffee, but it will handle its tasks well.
As before, I can say that there is no direct competitor for the Ultra line on the market, no one has been able to create such a machine. Whether you need its capabilities or not directly depends on your lifestyle, your habits in the field of smartphones. And I will not impose my choice on anyone, I do not see any sense in this, and this is a stupid story. We are all different, one is good for someone, another for someone else. For me, the device is very good.
Source: mobile-review.com
