Samsung Galaxy S24 review: Shines brightly in the premium market

Samsung Galaxy S24 review: This generation of Samsung S-series comes with a suite of AI features, but is it enough for savvy smartphone buyers? Let’s find out in the full review of Samsung Galaxy S24.

The Samsung Galaxy S24 is priced at Rs. 79999 for the lowest storage variant in India. (Aishwarya Panda/HT Tech)

Samsung Galaxy S24 review: Over the years, Samsung Galaxy S-series smartphones have been creating a lot of buzz among buyers in the flagship segment. Samsung has time and again amazed its audience with standout back-to-back innovations. With multiple competitors in the smartphone market, Samsung has mostly found a way to stay relevant by packing unique offerings in every generation of its smartphones. Samsung's direct competition has mostly been with Apple, and the debate between these two brands will always continue. However, this year Samsung has outperformed itself with the new Galaxy S24 series. The series has been an eye-ball grabber due to its advanced capabilities with the integration of Galaxy AI features, apart from the top hardware. While Apple is far behind in bringing AI to their smartphones, Google and Samsung are a few of the companies that are providing top AI features in the premium smartphone market.

The Samsung Galaxy S24 is the base variant of the newly launched series. I used the smartphone for a week to check out how the new generation of the S-series performs. The Galaxy S24 supports all the AI features, has a new chipset, and comes with some noticeable upgrades which we will talk about in detail.

In fact, first of all, let me get this out as early as possible here. I have been quite impressed with the smartphone and I would like to say that if you are looking for a stylish lightweight smartphone that you can rely on to do an absolutely perfect job, private or professional, then you can surely opt for the Samsung Galaxy S24. Having said that, let's have an in-depth look at the Samsung Galaxy S24.

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Samsung Galaxy S24 review: Design

The Galaxy S24 which features a matte finish glass back. (Aishwarya Panda/HT Tech)

Galaxy S24 caused quite a few eyebrows to be raised due to its uncanny resemblance to the iPhone 15 model. While its size and some side elements are identical to the iPhone, the curved edges seem reminiscent of previous Galaxy models. Therefore, with the base model of the Galaxy S24 series, Samsung has introduced nothing new in the design, unlike the Galaxy S24 Ultra which has received some major design upgrades.

I received the Amber Yellow color variant of Galaxy S24 which features a matte finish glass back. While the comes with a sleek and attractive design, it does have a trade-off due to its slipperiness and smudges. The back also houses three camera sensors with an LED flashlight on the side. Both the back and front of the smartphone are protected by the Gorilla Glass Victus 2 which was also seen in the Galaxy S23 series. On the sides, it is backed by an aluminium frame. Underneath, you will find the USB-C port in the middle along with a SIM card slot and microphone.

Notably, apart from its similarities with the iPhone 15, the Galaxy S24 also reminds you of Galaxy FE editions and the latest A-series. A design upgrade should have been the first priority with the Galaxy S24 series.

Samsung Galaxy S24 review: Display

The Galaxy S24 features a 6.2-inch Dynamic LTPO AMOLED display (Aishwarya Panda/HT Tech)

The Galaxy S24 features a 6.2-inch Dynamic LTPO AMOLED display (Aishwarya Panda/HT Tech)

Samsung Galaxy S24 review: Camera

The Galaxy S24 comes with a triple camera setup which includes 50MP main camera. (Aishwarya Panda/ HT tech)

The Samsung Galaxy S24 features a triple camera setup with a 50 MP main camera which captures crisp and natural images. I was surprised by the intricate details and color it captured, for me it was something I had never seen before. Yes, there are better camera smartphones in the market with the same price range, however, the Galaxy S24 does an excellent job of capturing every detail and color of the scene. It also features a 10MP telephoto camera with 3x optical zoom and a 12MP ultrawide camera with a 120-degree field of view. Although there are no changes in the camera specs as compared to the Galaxy S23, however, Samsung claims that there have been some improvements.

The camera performance was exceptional in both daytime and nighttime, with an impressive amount of light entering the camera sensor, making the picture look visually pleasing after the device processes the image. However, the biggest back draw of the Galaxy S24 camera was its portrait mode. As I was experimenting with the camera capabilities of the smartphone, the portrait mode blurred the entire object after processing the image. In various instances, it could not capture the entire object that was in front of the camera, making it quite disappointing. There are various mid-range smartphones such as Oppo Reno 11 which provides a mind-blowing portrait performance. As I was excited to test the camera functionalities, I also noticed that it struggles to capture the details of images during nightography and makes the object grainy or blurred. This mostly occurred when I was using the Zoom functionalities.

The Samsung smartphone also comes with a suite of generative AI features which help in editing images. With Galaxy AI, you can easily remove reflections, and shadows, resize, remove and move objects around. However, when removing objects, it sometimes places different objects or weirdly blurs the object. Therefore, more improvement would be appreciated in this department. However, most of the time, I was impressed with the mind-blowing job it was doing as well as its easy-to-use AI editing tools as most of the time it makes the image look real and not edited.

On the front, the Galaxy S24 features a 12MP selfie camera that captures face details to the level that it made me quite embarrassed to even upload any picture on social media without the use of a beautifying filter. The amount of light and brightness it captures is exceptional and provides crisp selfies which will surely not disappoint.

The Samsung Galaxy S24 is powered by an Exynos 2400 processor. (Aishwarya Panda/ HT Tech)

The Samsung Galaxy S24 is powered by an Exynos 2400 processor. (Aishwarya Panda/ HT Tech)

Before briefly discussing the performance of Galaxy S24, note that the Indian version of the smartphone is backed by Samsung's in-house Exynos 2400 processor, while in various regions it is backed by the top-end Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor. Although I was disappointed when I heard about the change in processors this year, however, after using the smartphone, I have formed a different opinion. Many users claim that Samsung devices with Exynos processors struggle with battery and heating issues, however, with Galaxy S24 I did not face any such problem. However, there were noticeable instances of the smartphone heating up. It was not a major heating issue, but after hours of continued use, it does get warm, but then cools down in minutes.

In my opinion, heating was not the major issue as the Galaxy S24 performed beautifully. The smartphone is quite quick and responsive while playing heavy graphic games such as BGMI, Genshin Impact and Honkai Impact 3rd. I also played GTA: San Andreas from the Netflix version. Multitasking on this device was also a breeze as I did not face any lag or slow functionality. While I was not expecting much from the Exynos 2400 processor, I must say that Samsung has excelled in this department as well and it could give tough competition to all other smartphones in this category including the iPhone 15. Lastly, another promising thing about the Samsung Galaxy S24 is its 7 years of software updates and security patches.

Samsung Galaxy S24 review: Galaxy AI

The Galaxy S24 comes with various Galaxy AI features to enhance your smartphone experience. (Aishwarya Panda/ HT Tech)

Now, comes the most exciting part of the Samsung Galaxy S24, its Galaxy AI features. Note that similar Galaxy AI functionalities are available in the Galaxy S24 Plus and the Galaxy S24 Ultra. Now let's briefly discuss the Galaxy AI features the smartphone supports. There are seven major areas where you will find AI features: Phone, Samsung Keyboard, Interpreter, Samsung Notes, Voice Recorder, Samsung Internet, and Photo editor.

On the call, users can take advantage of the live translate feature which converts voice or text to a preferred language which completely removes the language barrier. On Google Keyboard, users can take advantage of three AI features, translation, writing style, and grammar. I found the writing style feature quite impressive as I frequently used it to write my emails. The Samsung Notes consists of various AI features that users can take advantage of, including formatting the text in headings, bullet points, etc. Additionally, on Notes, you can easily generate summaries and change the writing styles. These were some of the few major areas where you can experience the Galaxy AI.

Apart from these AI features, users can also generate AI wallpapers, however, the options are very limited and the device does not allow users to write prompts in their own personalised form. For example, if you have selected the “Translucent” category, you can only change the name of the flower and its color. Therefore, in my opinion, it was not as advanced as I expected.

Samsung Galaxy S24 review: Battery

Its features a 4000mAh battery. (Aishwarya Panda/ HT Tech)

The Samsung Galaxy S24 is backed by a 4000 mAh battery which is less than what other mid-range smartphones in the market provide. Nevertheless, it provides a decent battery life and can be used throughout the day with a single charge. However, it's the charging time that was a concern for me as it takes about 2 hours and 15 minutes to get fully charged from a 5 percent battery. The Samsung Galaxy S24 supports 25W wired and 15W wireless charging.

Samsung Galaxy S24 review: Verdict

Be it gaming, multitasking, AI features, and more, Samsung has beautifully crafted the Samsung Galaxy S24. (Aishwarya Panda/ HT Tech)

After using the Samsung Galaxy S24, I was flattered by the smartphone's size and display offerings. Although there is nothing new in the design, it still feels quite premium and stylish in hand. Apart from its portrait and zooming capabilities, there is nothing about the smartphone that I did not like. Be it gaming, multitasking, AI features, and more, Samsung has beautifully crafted the Samsung Galaxy S24. The S24 is a fair competitor of the iPhone 15 and the Google Pixel 8. Therefore, you should definitely not shy away from buying this smartphone as it is the best in my opinion in the Rs. 80000 segment.

Pros

• Crisp display
• Exquisite performance
• Galaxy AI features
• Snappy main camera

Cons

• Camera portrait mode
• Slight heating
• Basic design

Specifications

• Display
• 6.2-inch
• Rear camera
• 50MP
• Battery
• 4000mAh
• Processor:
• Exynos 2400