Discussion Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra. An ultra disappointment.

ibex333 · Jan 17, 2024

Its finally here! And... There's hardly anything essential or unique.

All of the AI stuff? Thats coming to the S23 as well later in the year, so it's a software thing. Not a hardware thing. What's worse, a lot of it is "not that useful." Translation during calls is quite useful, sure, but Googles lasso search is really not that big a deal, and auto redacting your notes and such, that you can just do online with other AI tools.

What the hell did you expect, you may say. I expected at least a fully integrated mini version of Chat GPT running locally on Samsung phones. Perhaps a less capable one given all the power constraints, but you get the idea.

Titanium shell? Just because Apple did that? I don't really care. We all use cases anyway.

Gen 3 Snapdragon, which around 30-40% faster is not THAT big a deal given Gen 2 is still plenty fast.

That leaves us with an overpriced, iterative upgrade which is not all that innovative. I'll probably still do a trade-in because after that and the Samsung coupon it MAY be worth it, but my opinion overall is "MEH".

CP5670 · Jan 17, 2024

I'll stick to my S23 ultra. The zoom lens is a big downgrade to me, and everything else is very similar. I upgrade only every 3 or 4 years anyway.

nOOky · Jan 17, 2024

I pre-ordered a 512gb unlocked light blue. Not much of an upgrade over my S23 Ultra, but I think the extra bright display and the flat screen will be nice as is the promotional credit I got a case, screen protector, and the Buds with. With $750 trade in (my phone looks like new) I'm okay with it because I paid less than that for the S23 almost a year ago. I decided the 1tb wasn't worth it as I already am used to using a USB-C SSD flash drive for moving files back and forth from the phone. I can always send it back.

Edit: the switch from 10x zoom to 5x despite the increase in megapixels is hopefully not that big a deal. Otherwise it's baffling why the cameras were not upgraded, the selfie cameras field of view still sux imho and needs to be wider. Not everyone carries a selfie stick around.

sze5003 · Jan 18, 2024

I kind of wanted it because of the flat screen. But they are offering $150 in accessories I already have or any case I choose is out of stock. I would be trading in my s23u but at this point aside from having a better battery I don't know.

NWRMidnight · Jan 18, 2024

The s24 ultra 512gb (black), will be a nice upgrade from my s21 5G ultra 128gb (black). Specially for $299 after Verizon's $1000 trade in.

manly · Jan 19, 2024

LOL @ "this upgrade sucks but I'm jumping onto the hamster wheel anyway"

Nobody should do annual upgrades anymore, it's long been worth it even with trade-in deals.
I highly doubt the SoC is 30% faster than a year ago but if so, that is FANTASTIC.

I believe I'll stick with my S21+ for a least another year, since it falls under the 5 year update policy.

sze5003 · Jan 19, 2024

Was finally able to get an order through their site. Most of the accessories are sold out now.

Wendingo · Jan 21, 2024

I would gladly trade the AI and the titanium for a better fingerprint sensor... Or a larger battery, or a better speaker system, or faster charging and data transfer speeds. They're, basically, selling the same hardware they used on galaxy s20, with slight changes. Why spend money on titanium if it weighs the same as the aluminum model?! And why not make the useless stylus optional?! They continue to spend money on things that don't matter instead of giving their customers what the latter actually wants... Why? They don't want to re-engineer the 'successful' for a of the body, with the infamous "ass-pen" slot. What a disappointing follow-up to the disappointment that was S23 Ultra...

Hail The Brain Slug · Jan 21, 2024

Wendingo said:
I would gladly trade the AI and the titanium for a better fingerprint sensor... Or a larger battery, or a better speaker system, or faster charging and data transfer speeds. They're, basically, selling the same hardware they used on galaxy s20, with slight changes. Why spend money on titanium if it weighs the same as the aluminum model?! And why not make the useless stylus optional?! They continue to spend money on things that don't matter instead of giving their customers what the latter actually wants... Why? They don't want to re-engineer the 'successful' for a of the body, with the infamous "ass-pen" slot. What a disappointing follow-up to the disappointment that was S23 Ultra...

The one (granted poorly conducted) battery life test so far showed the S24 Ultra lasting almost 11 hours while the S23 Ultra lasted 8hr 10m. If better instrumented testing comes anywhere near that improvement, that is a fantastic uplift for having no change to battery capacity.

I've seen a few reports the speaker is much improved over the S23U.

Show us on the doll where the s-pen hurt you.

Wendingo · Jan 21, 2024

Amazing, a truly astonishing achievement for a phone with such a bright screen! Again, what I and many other users need is a BETTER UNLOCKING METHOD like a FaceID or a Qualcomm 3D Max, I didn't mind the battery life in s23 ultra, what I did mind is how unreliable the fingerprint reader was and how unusable the facial recognition ended up being, how long it took to charge, now slow the data transfers were, how quiet the speakers were and how many things the much cheaper Chinese phones had for years now that are still missing on this $1700 device.

The S-pen is just useless, they should divest it and put money into a better fingerprint reader. It's not 2005 and we do not need a built-in stylus for our resistive screens on our Palm Pilots.

Hail The Brain Slug · Jan 21, 2024

Wendingo said:
Amazing, a truly astonishing achievement for a phone with such a bright screen! Again, what I and many other users need is a BETTER UNLOCKING METHOD like a FaceID or a Qualcomm 3D Max, I didn't mind the battery life in s23 ultra, what I did mind is how unreliable the fingerprint reader was and how unusable the facial recognition ended up being, how long it took to charge, now slow the data transfers were, how quiet the speakers were and how many things the much cheaper Chinese phones had for years now that are still missing on this $1700 device.

The S-pen is just useless, they should divest it and put money into a better fingerprint reader. It's not 2005 and we do not need a built-in stylus for our resistive screens on our Palm Pilots.

I can see you just came to rant. I mean, you made an account just to post this.

If you don't want the features Samsung offers, there are plenty of other phones to choose from with all kinds of things you value like faster charging, better speakers, larger batteries, and more.

manly · Jan 21, 2024

Justinus said:
I can see you just came to rant. I mean, you made an account just to post this.

If you don't want the features Samsung offers, there are plenty of other phones to choose from with all kinds of things you value like faster charging, better speakers, larger batteries, and more.

This thread is kinda amusing. In 2024, there are consumers who still demand large annual leaps in smartphones, just so that they can jump on the hamster wheel of trade-ins over and over. And when Samsung inevitably disappoints, some will still jump on that wheel and pay for the privilege.

Hail The Brain Slug · Jan 21, 2024

manly said:
This thread is kinda amusing. In 2024, there are consumers who still demand large annual leaps in smartphones, just so that they can jump on the hamster wheel of trade-ins over and over. And when Samsung inevitably disappoints, some will still jump on that wheel and pay for the privilege.

I was honestly hoping for something, a change in the battery, under display camera, whatever. This is the third iteration on this design with no meaningful changes. I don't really see the software AI features that almost all run on the cloud as a new feature for the S24, especially since they will come to the S23. And the titanium, eh, big whoop.

I did spend a while considering it before signing up. The aggregation of all the smaller, iterative changes adds up to a package that would improve my experience and use case significantly. Plus, after further consideration, I'm kind of pleased it has no real new hardware features, it is all mature tech. Someone else can buy the next model when they add x or y for the first time.

nOOky · Jan 21, 2024

Yea the fingerprint reader on my last 3 Samsung devices has just sucked. My old LG V40 worked flawlessly, I'm not sure how Samsung can't make it work correctly.

Hail The Brain Slug · Jan 21, 2024

nOOky said:
Yea the fingerprint reader on my last 3 Samsung devices has just sucked. My old LG V40 worked flawlessly, I'm not sure how Samsung can't make it work correctly.

Seems hit and miss. My S22U works flawlessly and is by far the fastest and more reliable fingerprint reader I've ever used. My SO's S22 gives her trouble frequently, although it might be down to the particular screen protector she's using. Somehow it hasn't inconvenienced her enough yet to change screen protectors to try to improve it.

sze5003 · Jan 21, 2024

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra shines in battery life test, narrowly beats iPhone 15 Pro Max and Pixel 8 Pro to reclaim battery crown

In a recent battery life test by YouTuber XEETCHARGE, the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra outshone its competition, including the Pixel 8 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max, as well as its predecessor, the S23 Ultra. Despite featuring a similar 5,000 mAh battery, the S24 Ultra's impressive 11-hour performance...

www.notebookcheck.net

Battery life seems pretty good to me. It's about an hour more than the s23U. It is incremental changes but I'm happy for the flat screen. At this point we have reached the era where phones aren't really innovating in performance or specs anymore every year; most people don't ever notice in day to day use.

Hail The Brain Slug · Jan 21, 2024

sze5003 said:
Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra shines in battery life test, narrowly beats iPhone 15 Pro Max and Pixel 8 Pro to reclaim battery crown

In a recent battery life test by YouTuber XEETCHARGE, the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra outshone its competition, including the Pixel 8 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max, as well as its predecessor, the S23 Ultra. Despite featuring a similar 5,000 mAh battery, the S24 Ultra's impressive 11-hour performance...

www.notebookcheck.net

Battery life seems pretty good to me. It's about an hour more than the s23U. It is incremental changes but I'm happy for the flat screen. At this point we have reached the era where phones aren't really innovating in performance or specs anymore every year; most people don't ever notice in day to day use.

In this particular test it's 11 hours vs 8hr10m

Wendingo · Jan 21, 2024

Justinus said:
I can see you just came to rant. I mean, you made an account just to post this.

If you don't want the features Samsung offers, there are plenty of other phones to choose from with all kinds of things you value like faster charging, better speakers, larger batteries, and more.

I forgot that my freedoms of speech and expression are only contingent on expressing opinions that you approve of, after all, you are obviously important enough for me to care what you think... Or maybe you should take your own advice and not read my so-called 'rants'? Again, feel free to reply to anyone but me, unless you really expect me (or anyone) to actually value your input.

Wendingo · Jan 21, 2024

nOOky said:
Yea the fingerprint reader on my last 3 Samsung devices has just sucked. My old LG V40 worked flawlessly, I'm not sure how Samsung can't make it work correctly.

Because LG used the tried-and-true optical one and Samsung opted in for a more complex 3d Ultrasonic. The best solution they ever had was an iris Unlocker, it was pure magic and worked way better than anything apple has to offer... Back in the days of S9+ I really miss that phone, it had an oxygen sensor, an iris reader, expendable storage, a 3.5mm jack and an ip68 rating, same as my current monstrosity og a phone... And yet, it was flawless. It also had a single camera that took amazing super slow motion videos, without AI or any other digit garnish that doesn't work now and never, ever will. Because AI doesn't exist, they just rebranded the word "Algorithm", making it sound more sophisticated than it should.

Wendingo · Jan 21, 2024

Justinus said:
Seems hit and miss. My S22U works flawlessly and is by far the fastest and more reliable fingerprint reader I've ever used. My SO's S22 gives her trouble frequently, although it might be down to the particular screen protector she's using. Somehow it hasn't inconvenienced her enough yet to change screen protectors to try to improve it.

My s21, 22 or 23 ultras did not work with a screen protector, ever, they also don't work if I cut my finger, if it's wet, if the screen is wet, if I used sandpaper for a minute or if my hands are overly dry. The facial recognition is not reliable without an infrared or a TOF sensor built-in and pins and passwords are plain slow. Samsung recognized it and promised to use a better 3D Max in S23U but then decided that it was way more important to double the megapixels in its already-useless 100 megapixels sensor.

This is what really bothers me with Samsung, them spending money on things which, technically, give bragging rights but, unfortunately, in no way improve users' experience, such as half-baked AI, etc.

manly · Jan 22, 2024

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting a different result.

spdfreak · Jan 22, 2024

I almost bought a P8 to replace my P6 but decided to wait for the S24. Almost bought the S24 but didn't because the P6 really does everything pretty well and google is still rolling out updates that improve the phone. I think we are in the era of mature technology and its going to be pretty hard to justify a new phone if the one you have isn't flat out broken. The titanium thing or odd colors is just a stupid marketing trick. Who doesn't put a case on their 1000.00 phone? But people are pretty stupid in general.

Hail The Brain Slug · Jan 22, 2024

spdfreak said:
I almost bought a P8 to replace my P6 but decided to wait for the S24. Almost bought the S24 but didn't because the P6 really does everything pretty well and google is still rolling out updates that improve the phone. I think we are in the era of mature technology and its going to be pretty hard to justify a new phone if the one you have isn't flat out broken. The titanium thing or odd colors is just a stupid marketing trick. Who doesn't put a case on their 1000.00 phone? But people are pretty stupid in general.

Also the whole part about titanium having less than 1/10 the thermal conductivity of aluminum could potentially significantly impact the phone's heat dissipation. Already people seem to be noticing the S24+ having better sustained clockspeeds and performance. I suspect this could be one factor in that.

NWRMidnight · Jan 23, 2024

Justinus said:
Also the whole part about titanium having less than 1/10 the thermal conductivity of aluminum could potentially significantly impact the phone's heat dissipation. Already people seem to be noticing the S24+ having better sustained clockspeeds and performance. I suspect this could be one factor in that.

those I have seeing are comparing the s24+ with the Exynos chip (european) against the S24 Ulra with the snap dragon Chip. I have yet to see any comparison of the s24+ Exynos, vs the s24+ snap dragon. But even if there are such comparisons, the problem is trying to comparie the s24+ with the s24 Ultra, as it's not a legimitate comparison. The S24+ and the S24 Ultra have other hardware differences beyond the CPU and the titanium, such as different sensors, extra camera, a larger screen.. things that can effect performance, heat, battery life.., etc.. Even the battery size different can effect heat. So, all though the s24+ may perform better, or maintain clock speeds better, it really is meaningless because of the differences. It all comes down to the user's preferences of what they believe is important based on their use/needs.

nOOky · Jan 24, 2024

Mine shipped, it arrives Friday. My first thing will be comparing the cameras, the 10x-5x optical zoom and then low light images alongside each other with my S23 Ultra. If I can't tell any difference I might send it back, unless the new flat display and extra brightness blow me away.

Discussion Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra. An ultra disappointment.

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