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Does the Samsung Galaxy S24 deliver on the hype? Our verdict on Samsung's AI
When the Samsung Galaxy S24 smartphone series was announced, the star of the show was undoubtedly the new built-in AI.
Headlining the launch of the new flagship series were tricks include translating your calls and texts instantaneously, summarising long pieces of texts, and changing the tone of your messages. In the cameras, AI gives you new editing tools and Samsung says it improves the quality of shots too, with some features exclusive to the most advanced phone - the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra.
But is this really worth paying a premium for? We put the features through their paces in our labs to find out.
We review over 65 smartphones a year. Find out what to look for in your next phone in our guide to the Best smartphones to buy in 2024.
AI Photo Tools - Generative Edit
AI is not new in smartphone cameras. We've already seen a Magic Eraser function on the Google Pixel, which removes objects from images, but Samsung's Generative Edit goes further.
How does it work?
New editing tools give you greater freedom to make your photo look how you want it to after the picture has been taken. You can move objects within images and change their size as well as remove them. Any gaps are filled in by AI.
Outside of the editing tools, AI helps the cameras in a few other ways. This includes digital optimisation and being able to zoom in up to 100 times on the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra.
Read on to see how well these work in our verdict from the lab below.
Which? labs verdict
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Samsung Live Translate and Chat Translation
Live Translate claims to banish the language barrier by translating speech through your phone in real-time – Samsung says it's just like having a personal translator on the call with you. Chat Translation does the same thing but over text. These aren't features most of us will use often, but could be a life-saver in a pinch - if they work.
How do they work?
When using Live Translate, Samsung's AI voice - Bixby - will jump in to translate after each speaker goes silent for a couple of seconds. It warns both speakers at the beginning of the call that it's listening and will translate, so it doesn't come as too big of a shock to the person at the other end of the line.
13 languages are supported: Chinese Simplified, English (India, United Kingdom, United States), French, German, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish (Mexico, Spain, United States), Thai and Vietnamese. You can set languages up for certain contacts as well, so Live Translate begins automatically.
Like Google Translate, Chat Translation automatically detects the language of the text you've received and translates it. It can do the same for the texts you send back.
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Circle to Search
Circle to Search can Google search for any type of content you want that's displayed on the screen of your Galaxy S24. You could search for text, a photo, a video, or part of an app.
How does it work?
You circle what you want to search for on the touchscreen and Google search results come up. You can then adjust your search area and search again if it's not quite right.
It's very similar to Google Lens or the Search screen function by Google Assistant.
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Note Assist and Writing Style
Another element of Chat Assist is called Note Assist. This summarises long pieces of text, which - if accurate - could save us all time and effort. But Writing Style was the function we were most excited to put to the test. Samsung says this can reword any piece of text into a different tone - such as from 'professional' to 'casual'.
How do they work?
Note Assist cuts down text into just a few points. You have some freedom to choose how AI should interpret the text. For example, it can summarise what the text is talking about, but this won't be useful if you're trying to summarise a to-do list. For this, you can get AI to convert it to text with headers and bullets instead. We were intrigued to find out if the AI could really pull out the main points from online articles or minutes from meetings – Which? members can find out our results below.
Writing Style claims to change the tone of your text depending on who you want to send the message to. This includes tones called 'professional' 'casual' '#social' and 'polite'. It can even 'emojify' your text, where the AI will generate appropriate emojis to add to your message.
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Where can you buy the Samsung Galaxy S24 series?
The Samsung Galaxy S24 series is available at a wide-range of retailers. Check out the prices listed below and click through to buy.
Some retailers are offering bundle deals and you can compare contract deals here. But first, read our full reviews below to find out which phone will suit you best and all the other features they have to offer:
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