Google Pixel has been released since 2016 and after almost eight years it is still not officially offered in Malaysia. This is different from the previous Google Nexus era where it was officially offered through LG, Samsung, Huawei and Motorola. So we can assume that Google has no interest in expanding the Pixel offering to the global market in the near or far future.
The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra was launched last week with various features that are exclusive to the series as well as Pixel devices only. After using it for almost a week I can say that the S24 Ultra is the Google Pixel for the global market and can also be given the second nickname of the Google Galaxy Nexus 2.
SPECIFICATIONS
Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra
6.8″ Dynamic AMOLED 2X screen, LTPO
WQHD+, 120Hz, HDR10+
Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 Processor For Galaxy (4nm)
1 x 3.39 GHz Cortex-X4 chip
3 x 3.1 GHz Cortex-A720
2 x 2.9 GHz Cortex-A720
2 x 2.2 GHz Cortex-A520
Adreno 750 Graphics Chip
RAM 12GB LPDDR5X
Internal Capacity 256 /512/1000TB UFS 4.0
Main Camera 200MP f/1.7, OIS (Wide Angle)
12MP f/2.2 (Ultra Wide Angle)
50MP f/3.4, OIS (5X Telephoto)
10MP f/2.4, OIS (3X Telephoto)
Selfie Camera 12 Megapixel f/2.2
5000 mAh battery
45W wired charging
15W wireless charging
SIM/Telephony Dual SIM nano / 5G
NFC Yes
No Audio Jack
Waterproof IP68
Scan System Under-screen fingerprint scanner
Sale Price RM 6299 (12/256GB)
RM 6799 (12/512GB)
RM 7799 (12/1000GB)
SCREEN
The 6.8″ QHD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2X screen supports a 120Hz LTPO refresh rate. This panel is brighter because it can reach 2600 nits with Vision Booster support allowing it to be seen clearly even under the bright Malaysian sun.
One less-advertised advantage of the S24 Ultra's screen is that it has the best anti-glare coating I've seen on the market. It's like the anti-glare system that Samsung uses on their premium QLED TVs. No need to find a good angle to see the content on the screen of this device.
It can also display HDR content from Google Photos, Gallery and Instagram. So far Samsung devices only support HDR display in video streaming applications such as YouTube, Netflix, Prime Video and Disney+ Hotstar. Seeing pictures taken in HDR mode was amazing as I had never experienced it before.
BIOMETRIC
The fingerprint scanner under the screen is of the fast ultrasonic type and can be used even if the finger is dirty or wet. It is so fast that it does not require a finger to be pressed hard on the screen to scan the finger. Its ergonomic position also makes it easier for fingers to be scanned when the device is held in one hand. There is also a face scanning system that is also very fast even in pitch black.
S-PEN
No specification changes have been made to the S Pen which is now in its fourth year of being offered on the Galaxy series. The Wacom technology used seems to have reached its peak level so no new innovations are introduced. The old features of making it a camera remote control, controlling camera zoom like a Harry Potter wand, S Pen support on the keyboard as well as writing directly on the search box have been retained. In the current market there is still no other candy bar type smartphone that can compete with the Samsung Galaxy S series (and also the Galaxy Note) and this tradition continues for another year.
DESIGN
The design of the Galaxy S22 Ultra and S23 Ultra is recycled once again but with some changes that are actually quite big. The body is now made of titanium metal replacing Aluminum Armor. According to Samsung with the use of titanium body S24 Ultra is more durable but lighter.
The sides are now more boxy than last year's model. There is no change to the position of the power and volume buttons on the right side. The speaker grille, SIM tray and USB-C charging port are also still below. The speaker grille holes are now replaced with thin grooves perhaps to provide better sound flow.
Another small change is that the back of the S Pen is also flatter so that it is uniform with the body of the device which, as I said earlier, is flatter. The body of the device passes the IP68 standard so there is no need to worry about it being damaged if dropped in a pool for up to 15 minutes.
The back houses four camera lenses that are quite large but not very tall. I still recommend the use of a frame to ensure the lens is not scratched and more importantly to allow the device to be placed flat on a table surface.
USAGE AND SOFTWARE
The One UI 6.1 operating system is used on the S24 Ultra and it is based on Android 14. I have used this interface on the S23 Ultra and Z Fold5 before so there are no new features that I can see on the operating system. Icons, layouts, shortcuts, settings screens and standard features are all the same. I wasn't allowed to take screenshots during the test session so I've included a screenshot from an S23 Ultra below which is almost identical just with a different background image.
This year Samsung is following in Google's footsteps and will provide support for seven Android versions and security patches for seven years. For those looking for a device with long update support, your only options in Malaysia are the S24 series and the Pixel 8 series which are not officially sold.
The interface elements are still minimalistic, easy to understand and neat. Theme personalization features with the color of the interface elements changing according to the background color are still the same. Widgets can be layered to display more information without taking up a lot of space on the home screen. Want extra memory? The RAM Plus feature can be activated by adding up to 8GB more RAM if needed.
Galaxy AI – Artificial Intelligence Not a Cheap Gimmick
There are many features that use artificial intelligence (AI) on the S24 Ultra. I already listed them in last week's article 10 interesting and disappointing things about the S24 series. In this review I will only touch on AI features that I feel are so useful and unique that they will be used every day.
Chat Assist
A feature I use every day is Chat Assist which helps me write social media status content. I just need to write a few short sentences. Press the Chat Assist icon on the Samsung Keyboard and then it will rewrite the sentence without any spelling mistakes and with several styles such as Professional, Casual, Emojify, Polite, and #Social. Each of them changes the style of delivery. For lazy people like me, Professional is the easiest option because it makes social media status look more mature.
I also use Photo Assist which provides editing suggestions on photos. Objects can be repositioned, delete unwanted picture elements and also feature to increase the picture resolution through Remaster cir. In the video above the image of my reflection in the mirror is erased within seconds of the original picture. This feature seems like magic for those who don't have Photoshop skills.
Finally, a feature I use regularly on the S24 Ultra is Circle To Search with Google. Press the home button (or gesture navigation pad) to launch it. Through Circle To Search, visual search can be done from any screen in any application. No more need to take a screenshot before opening the Google Lens app.
Circle to Search
The best feature of this feature is say I receive a WhatsApp message "see you at the Kampung Bharu nasi lemak shop". Using Circle to Search I can directly search for nasi lemak restaurants in Kampung Bharu because they will be directly listed at the bottom of the screen. No need to type search in Chrome. All from one screen. This is a feature that should be on all Android devices right now.
BENCHMARK – Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 For Galaxy
Only the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is offered with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 For Galaxy chip in Malaysia while the S24 and S24+ use the Exynos 2400 chip. How does this Snapdragon chip perform when compared to the Vivo X100 Pro (Dimensity 9300), iQOO 12 (Snapdragon 8 Gen 3), Galaxy S24+ (Exynos 2400), iPhone 15 Pro Max (A17 Pro) and iPhone 14 Pro Max (A16 Bionic)?
Geekbench 6
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 For Galaxy – 2278/7016
Samsung Exynos 2400 – 1539/6510
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 – 2181/6631
MediaTek Dimensity 9300 – 2071/5032
Apple A17 Pro – 2873/7228
Apple A16 Bionic – 2640/6820
AnTuTu 3D
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 For Galaxy – 1,768,765
Samsung Exynos 2400 – 1,643,090
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 – 2,075,821
MediaTek Dimensity 9300 – 1,852,552
Apple A17 Pro – 1,523,961
Apple A16 Bionic – 1,455,773
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 For Galaxy – 4657 / 27.89 FPS
Samsung Exynos 2400 – 2813 / 16.85FPS
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 – 5045 / 30.22 FPS
MediaTek Dimensity 9300 – 4067 / 24.35 FPS
Apple A17 Pro – 3695 / 22.1 FPS
Apple A16 Bionic – 2727 / 16.3FPS
3DMark Solar Bay
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 For Galaxy – 8564 / 32.56 FPS
Samsung Exynos 2400 – 6152 / 23.39 FPS
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 – 8528 / 32.43 FPS
MediaTek Dimensity 9300 – 6929 / 26.35 FPS
Apple A17 Pro – 6333 / 24.1 FPS
Apple A16 Bionic – 4283 / 16.3 FPS
The performance of applications and previews on the S24 Ultra is excellent. With the larger cooling chamber this year, I had no overheating issues even playing COD Mobile and Asphalt 9 at the highest settings. What heats up the device is just COD Warzone Mobile which is not optimized enough on all platforms including on iOS. Heating also occurs if many pictures are taken continuously. More intensive processing occurs when performing post-processing on the captured images.
With LDPPR5X memory and UFS 4.0 storage, there are no issues with initial performance or common applications Installing applications is lightning fast. In short, as a gaming device, the S24 Ultra is as brilliant as the ROG Phone 8 currently being tested in the our lab.
TELEPHONY And GPS
There are no issues with the telephone network. I used 5G in Malaysia, the UAE and the United States on the S24 Ultra throughout the review period. Fast, stable and phone calls are also clear. With WiFi 7 support, the device is also "future-proof" if you want to use a WiFi browser at home in the future. I was only able to test it with a WiFi 6 browser and the internet performance was very satisfactory. Also satisfying is the excellent GPS performance as I've seen on the Galaxy S series since time immemorial.
CAMERA
The main camera uses a 200MP wide-angle lens configuration, 12MP ultra-wide-angle, 5X 50MP telephoto and 3x 10MP telephoto. Only the ultra-wide-angle lens is not equipped with an OIS system. On the front, a 12MP selfie camera is used. No major changes here except the use of a 50MP telephoto in place of last year's 10MP sensor. The main camera can zoom at 0.6X, 1X, 3X, 5X, 10X, 30X and 100X settings.
All I know is portrait mode can be done at the new 5X zoom setting. 8K video recording is also possible at a 5X zoom setting compared to just 1X before. Even at the 100X setting, the camera is still able to maintain a stable viewfinder. There are other devices with similar zoom capabilities but I find Samsung's image stabilization system to be the best. Here are some sample photos that I managed to take.
The camera app however has some specific bugs in Portrait mode. Sometimes when the “High Key Mono” mode is taken, the resulting image is in color instead of black and white. In Portrait mode also sometimes background objects and subjects cannot be distinguished perfectly so that they all become blurred. This problem is only experienced by me alone and not by other commentators in Malaysia. At the same time, the problems they faced (such as lifeless screen colors) were not experienced by me either. Bugs on the S24 Ultra are extremely random.
BATTERY
The battery of this device is just shy of dying at the end of the day. On average after a week of use I get 10 hours SOT and the battery life can last over 24 hours on my normal use. The performance is higher than the S23 Ultra that I used as a daily device before and is comparable to the iPhone 15 Pro Max. This makes me forgive the S24 Ultra only supporting wired 45W charging which takes over an hour to fully charge the battery. Wireless charging up to 15W can also be done supporting the Qi protocol.
This relatively long time is because after charging to 90%, charging will be slowed down to preserve battery life. This system is also used on iPhone and Sony Xperia. There is also an option to limit charging up to 80% only and charge up to 100% then stop charging before resuming if it drops to 95%. Samsung's charging may be slower than competitors, but the system that ensures the battery lasts longer is very useful.
AUDIO
There is stereo and there is also Dolby Atmos. The S24 Ultra speaker system like last year's S23 Ultra is loud, clear and doesn't break. The sound does not sound flat providing a satisfying experience. The use of oval shaped speaker holes does not change the audio profile. Overall the S24 Ultra speaker does not disappoint.
WHAT'S IN THE BOX?
Here is what is received in the box with purchase.
1x Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra.
1x USB-C to USB-C charging cable.
1x Manual.
1x SIM Pin.
CONCLUSION
The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra is the best Android phone I've reviewed so far because the software is just as great as the hardware. Therefore I feel that the Galaxy S24 Ultra is the Google Pixel for the global market and can also be given the title Galaxy Nexus 2. Some features that were previously only for the Pixel are now appearing on all the S24 series in Malaysia.
AI features like Chat Assist, Circle to Search With Google, and photo editing in Gallery are the three that I used all the time during the review period. There are other AI features, but these three features are not gimmicks, but they do make it easier for me to do my work and search more accurately. The only drawback is that Bahasa Malaysia support has not been provided at this point but is promised to be present in the near future.
Coupled with Android version support and security patches for seven years, this year's S24 series has added value that no other Android device in the Malaysian market has.
In Malaysia Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra is sold at a price of RM6299 for 12/256GB, RM6799 for 12/512GB and RM7799 for 12/1000GB. I admit it's very expensive for a smartphone but what Samsung offers this year, especially the S24 Ultra is worth it. It's been a while since I've been excited about a smartphone but this device is so packed with innovative features that the competition doesn't have that it's impossible not to recommend it.
Pro
The boxy titanium body design is comfortable in the hand.
Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 For Galaxy is quite powerful.
Supports S Pen.
Various Galaxy AI features that are not just cheap gimmicks.
Support seven Android versions and seven years of security patches.
Excellent battery performance.
IP68.
Cons
No design changes compared to last year's model.
Charging is still only 45W.
RAM up to 12GB only while competitors already offer 24GB devices.
Price will be a barrier.