I’ve been using the Galaxy S24 Ultra as my main phone since this February. Aside from our official review. here are my actual, in-life experiences with the phone.
The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra came to the office this February, and as soon as it passed all our tests and benchmarks — I yoinked it!
The new screen glass had me enamored, and the new AI features had me intrigued. I was coming off a long term experience with the ROG Phone 8 Pro and wasn’t looking back to grabbing the good ol’ iPhone. Nah, time to dive back into the S Pen goodness!
By now, you know what the Galaxy S24 Ultra is — it’s a huge phone with a 6.8-inch AMOLED screen, a superpowered Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, an S Pen on the inside, slight camera upgrades from last year, and a titanium… eh, coating of the frame.
Our original review of the Galaxy S24 Ultra focuses on measurements, camera tests, benchmarks, and comparisons. But here… here, we will be talking about how it performs as an actual day-to-day smartphone, organizer, social media tool, camera, entertainment machine.
I don’t care that it’s made with titaniumBut I love the shape
Notably good (Image credit — PhoneArena)
Samsung was quick to coat its premium flagship in titanium, not long after Apple released the titanium-clad iPhone 15 Pro. It’s a thin film of the premium metal on top of the good old classic aluminum frame. It does change the feel of the phone by a bit, but considering its front and back are all glass, I wouldn’t say it makes a huge difference. Does it add physical endurance? Maybe a bit, I wouldn’t test it, though.
But that design — Samsung got it right with the Galaxy S23 Ultra, and only improved upon it since. Here’s what I mean — the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra, the S21 Ultra, and the S22 Ultra were all amazing phones, right? I ended up not using any one of them because of their soft sides and slippery back. They just felt uncomfortable to hold, especially when wanting to use the S Pen. And yes, I rock a phone either naked or with a thin case on.
The Galaxy S23 Ultra, with its slightly flattened sides and sharp corners, is pretty easy to hold. And I’ll be honest, I’ve had some close calls when taking it out of my pocket. But it provides plenty of grip. And the fully flat display has me noting with an S Pen again — ahh, I missed that.
The screen is still awesome
Part AMOLED, part Gorilla Armor (Image credit — PhoneArena)
The new Gorilla Glass Armor on the Galaxy S24 Ultra shocked us with its ultra-low reflectivity. It also makes the display panel shine better, even when viewing it in broad daylight. It was a striking effect, immediately visible as soon as we got it at the office.
Now, after the honeymoon period is over, I can reaffirm that — yeah — it’s a small change on paper that does still deliver on a daily basis. And I still love looking at that screen.
There was a slight issue at release — if you activated the Eye Comfort Shield feature in the Settings, the S24 Ultra’s colors would get a bit too dull. Samsung admitted that it needs some tuning and, at present, it seems to be fixed. There’s an extra toggle within the Eye Comfort Shield if you want to get the washed-out effect, which removes aggressive colors.
