In a highly anticipated move, Samsung had officially unveiled the Galaxy S24 at the its Unpacked event on January 17, 2024. The inclusion of Galaxy AI is without doubt the major highlight of the new flagship phone, making it one of the first smartphones to include generative AI capabilities. But, is that all there is to it? Let's take a look at what else we can expect from the Galaxy S24.
Samsung Galaxy S24: First Samsung phone with dual-eSIM support
eSIM support is not anything new for Samsung devices. But traditionally, Samsung devices only allowed you to have one active eSIM at any one time. If you needed to use dual SIM on Samsung, one of them had to be a physical SIM card (on SIM 1).
In the Galaxy S24 series, we see for the first time Samsung supporting a dual-eSIM functionality, making it the first non-Pixel Android phones that support this functionality.
Apple devices have been supporting dual eSIMs since the iPhone 13; and Pixel phones have had this feature in the Pixel 7 and Pixel 8. With Samsung now introducing dual-eSIM support on their flagship model, we can expect to see a continuous increase in eSIM adoption.
What does dual-eSIM support mean for the user?
That also means that yes, it is now possible for you to have 2 active eSIMs at the same time on your Galaxy S24 device.
For users who are already using an eSIM for your primary line, dual-eSIM support now also enables you to use a travel eSIM for your next trip without having to turn off your primary line, opening up more options for you to stay connected on your travels.
But while Samsung has introduced dual-eSIM support, they have not gone down the extreme path of removing physical SIM trays. That means that for those who are not ready to make a full switch to eSIMs, not to worry - you can still use your nano-SIM cards!
Other notable upgrades in the Samsung S24
1. Galaxy AI
The star of the show is without doubt the introduction of the Galaxy AI. The Galaxy AI relies on on-device AI and cloud-based AI to deliver features that could be potentially useful for users:
- Live Translate - Supports real-time translation on your calls and messages. This could be particularly useful for making calls while traveling in a new destination where you cannot speak the language.
- Transcript Assist - You can now create notes using voice. Record your own voice and the AI will transcribe, summarise, and even translate it for you.
- Chat Assist- Tweaks the tone of your messages, ensuring they're appropriate for work, social media, or wherever you intend to post them.
- Circle to Search- Circle, highlight, scribble, or tap on anything on your screen to trigger a Google Search.
The Galaxy AI also provides the ability for AI-powered photo editing, allowing you to perfect your photos for your social media posts.
2. Enhanced Camera
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is commonly acknowledged to be the best concert camera, with its ultra zoom and good performance in low lighting conditions.
Compared to the S23 Ultra, the S24 Ultra features a Quad-telephoto system, with an optical zoom up to 5x (as compared to the S23 Ultra's 10x). But while the true optical zoom is only up to 5x, the S24 Ultra also offers 2x and 10x optical quality zoom, enhanced using Adaptive Pixel Sensor.
The camera sensors also have bigger pixels than the last model and captures a wider angle at the same focal length. This provides the optical image stabiliser more to work with, meaning better stabilization for handheld shots. The larger sensor pixels can also reduce the noise of photos shot in low-light conditions.
The S24 camera also leverages AI to enhance zoom and low-light photography. With how Samsung is already known to over-process their images, it would be interesting to see how the Galaxy AI would further impact photos from the Samsung camera.
3. Performance and Battery Life
In the Galaxy S23 series, Samsung had exclusively used Qualcomm's Snapdragon processor. But with the S24, they have brought back their in-house Exynos chips for the Galaxy S24 and Galaxy S24+ for most countries. Phones in Canada, China, and the US will use the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 For Galaxy processor. The Galaxy S24 Ultra will use the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 For Galaxy chip worldwide.
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 boasts an increase in battery efficiency as compared to its Gen 2 predecessors. Coupled with the increase in battery capacity (the Galaxy S24 uses a 4000mAh battery, which is 100mAh bigger than the Galaxy S23; and the Galaxy S24+ uses a 4900mAh battery, which is 200mAh bigger than the Galaxy S23+), we can expect a much better battery life for the S24 phones using the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chips.
On the other hand, Exynos chips are known to have long-pending issues like overheating and low power efficiency. However, Samsung had said that they are using the new Fan-Out Wafer Level Packaging chip packaging technology to improve thermal performance. But how these chips would perform and how the battery life would be impacted even with the additional capacity remains to be seen.
