S24 Ultra

[snuffy]

I've found these very good for my S21U, so they might well do one for the S24U:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08PVK25K3

I'd assume they will come with one fitted anyway, so there's no rush to fit a new one from the start (which would be my plan).

[Shiv_P]

snuffy said:

I've found these very good for my S21U, so they might well do one for the S24U:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08PVK25K3

I'd assume they will come with one fitted anyway, so there's no rush to fit a new one from the start (which would be my plan).

They don't come with one fitted...
I would go for a tempered glass one - I have TAURI on mine but it's film rather than glass so feels rubbish

[snuffy]

Shiv_P said:

They don't come with one fitted...
I would go for a tempered glass one - I have TAURI on mine but it's film rather than glass so feels rubbish

I might be wrong here, but didn't the S21U come with a film type screen protector fitted ? And people peeled them off because they assumed it was just part of the packaging ?

I quite like the film things, but they do start to peel of on mine, but with a flat screen I'd like to hope that will not happen as much.

[xerawh]

Bit the bullet and ordered one. Not normally one to buy the latest tech and my S22U is almost perfect bar the camera. Disappointed with performance so hoping this deals with it. Otherwise wouldn't have upgraded.

At £450 cost to upgrade (and my S22U being a £100 insurance upgrade) it's hard to ignore as you won't get anything close for £600.

This assumes I can sell the watch for £150 and maybe offload the Disney subscription for a small amount as we don't need it.

[Shiv_P]

snuffy said:

Shiv_P said:

They don't come with one fitted...
I would go for a tempered glass one - I have TAURI on mine but it's film rather than glass so feels rubbish

I might be wrong here, but didn't the S21U come with a film type screen protector fitted ? And people peeled them off because they assumed it was just part of the packaging ?

I quite like the film things, but they do start to peel of on mine, but with a flat screen I'd like to hope that will not happen as much.

That was on the original Z Fold

[Shiv_P]

Shiv_P said:

snuffy said:

Shiv_P said:

They don't come with one fitted...
I would go for a tempered glass one - I have TAURI on mine but it's film rather than glass so feels rubbish

I might be wrong here, but didn't the S21U come with a film type screen protector fitted ? And people peeled them off because they assumed it was just part of the packaging ?

I quite like the film things, but they do start to peel of on mine, but with a flat screen I'd like to hope that will not happen as much.

That was on the original Z Fold

Sorry, I am wrong there. Looks like S21U did come with a protector, unfortunately they don't come preinstalled these days

[snuffy]

Shiv_P said:

Sorry, I am wrong there. Looks like S21U did come with a protector, unfortunately they don't come preinstalled these days

I knew Fold did, because I think it's actually part of the screen, so it defiantly should not be removed, but that's a bit poor of Samsung to ship the S21U with one but not the S24U.

Maybe they think their new super-duper glass is so good it does not need one ?

[Billy_Rosewood]

snuffy said:

I've found these very good for my S21U, so they might well do one for the S24U:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08PVK25K3

I'd assume they will come with one fitted anyway, so there's no rush to fit a new one from the start (which would be my plan).

It seems there are mainly just screen and camera protectors out there at the mo.. I was hoping for a full "ppf" solution. It also helps add grip to the inevitablely slippery back.

[snuffy]

snuffy said:

I do like a nice shiny new toy - a lovely yellow one will be with me in 7 days time !

Or not then.

I've had no communication about shipping, and now the Three website says stock is not expected until the 2nf of Feb.

[honda_exige]

Lovely

Switched from Amazon to Curry's last night as for some reason Amazon aren't delivering them today and I've conveniently got a half day today so time to have a play.

Edited by honda_exige on Wednesday 24th January 11:53

[snuffy]

I've now had a courier contact which says they are awaiting my parcel from Three. But it wont be coming today.

[Mr-B]

What are those corners like in the hand? That was another thing that put me off the 24, they look quite sharp compared to the rounded corners of previous generations.

[Shiv_P]

Loving mine so far, the anti reflective display in particular is really useful

[Luke.]

Mr-B said:

What are those corners like in the hand? That was another thing that put me off the 24, they look quite sharp compared to the rounded corners of previous generations.

Was just thinking that. Looks too much like a tablet.

[robbiekhan]

Mr-B said:

What are those corners like in the hand? That was another thing that put me off the 24, they look quite sharp compared to the rounded corners of previous generations.

It's a total non-issue. I watched so many reviews where they say the corners dig into your palm etc but I never saw this with the S23 Ultram and the 24 Ultra is more comfortable in the palm than that for long periods of use.

Here are my thoughts after cloning my S23 Ultra setup over to this and been using it all evening. I posted this on another forum so a copy paste:

There are a number of things (changes) I have noticed now that I've spent all these hours fine tooth-combing everything basically vs what OneUI 6.0 has on the S23 Ultra. Some of these things will no doubt be dictated by Google as a move going forwards for their unified look and feel for the Google/AI experience from here on.

1: By default many apps (Facebook for example) won't let you change notification tones for individual categories like chats, comment replies etc. This is because under notification settings in OUI6.1 there is a new setting to enable or disable forced notification categories control instead of letting the app control it internally. This is off by default, toggling it back on re-enables this function. For me this is important as i I HATE most app's built in notification sounds, Facebook and FB Messenger are two such apps. Obnoxiously loud and lengthy tones whereas I like quick and discreet yet perfectly discernable to me as to what app made that pitched tone or noise etc.

2: The navigation bar has been changed. You no longer can enable the 3 segmented navbar gestures and hide the gesture markers. The 3 gesture areas are replaced by a forced Google central bar that cannot be auto hidden. The only other option is to use old style navbar buttons. I know it's only a few pixels high but I'd like the ability to hide the forced navbar area, since I use One Handed Operations+, I can remap a gesture for Circle To Find to an action that way. I suspect that this is enforced by Google as mentioned, and that Samsung Goog Lock will add a module to mitigate this restriction and give users the options to tweak it to preference. Good Lock devs seem to listen to user requests so give it a month or so for people to submit their reports.

As a result, the actual usable screen restaurateur is reduced vs the S23 Ultra, and the 23 Ultra actually ends up having a better usable screen edge to bezel ratio lol:


Now there is a workaround of sorts, it doesn't fix it completely, but you can get the chinned off area back at the bottom and reduce the width of the central bar by using Navstar in Good Lock, once set, the navbar now simply floats over any active window


You can also make is slightly darker too by changing the colour not to black, but just a dark grey shade a few shades before pure black, this darkens it further.

3: The S Pen grip is less grippy than the one on the S23 Ultra, means you have to pinch it with more pressure now else it can slide up your fingers as you draw/write.. Also the S Pen still isn't flush fit with the bottom of the body when inserted, so the phone won't stand up on its own unless you eject the pen first. Slightly annoying given that the end of the S Pen is flat whereas the S23's one is curved:


4: I think the cameras on the back look really cool, but having had the Redmagic 9 Pro (Also SD 8 gen 3) for a bit, I actually really appreciate a completely flush back. Given that both phones are near identical in thickness with the RM9Pro only being a couple of mm taller/narrower, whilst at the same time having a 6000mAh battery, 1500mAh more than the S24 Ultra, I think maybe the sticky-outy camera rings were more of a design decision from Samsung than anything else, they even have bulky camera surrounds on the mdrange A/J series Galaxies so I think it might be a style thing, "camera sticks out thus must be mega":


5: AOD, I have a routine set up so that when it's charging the AOD is displayed, this worked well on the 23 Ultra as I had the AOD set to a higher brightness which was easily visible when the phone was laying on the wireless pad at he desk or in the car. The ability to change the brightness by double tapping the AOD clock no longer exists and I find the AOD a bit dark to see clearly under the monitor on the desk when the lights are off and only the monitor is the main source of light in the room. AOD ramps up instantly when the room lights are increased though. So just a slight niggle that hopefully an update sorts.

Aside from that, the phone feels really good to hold, the Titanium warms to temp really quickly just like my old Titanium watch used to, and as a result it transfers heat more obviously than the S23 does. I'm feeling the heat more in my palm than I ever did with the S23. This is a good thing I guess as you want transferring away from the internals, not staying locked in or focused in one particular area.

Camera, unlike previous Galaxies where if you selected the higher MP modes you would end up with higher levels of noise/less dynamic range when in the normal photo mode (not Pro or Expert RAW). On the 23 Ultra this has changed and you actually get very good low light noise and dynamic range. I guess I can partially retract a previous statement about sticking to 12MP, 50MP is perfectly usable for high quality sharp results where you do want to get as much detail as possible and then ideal to downscale for display/sharing. It's not practical though as both 50MP and 200MP images take a some time to process in the background and you also lose some features like the 50MP mode only gives you the 1x and 5x lenses (with digital zoom in between), 200MP only gives you access to the 1x lens. Further testing needs doing though, I'm travelling this weekend so will give it a good go.

Be sure to install Camera Assistant and tweak some settings for the best quality for both photo and video.

Speaking of video, 4k60fps with the settings set to focus on quality is really excellent. Finally smooth 60fps at 4k with great image quality.. Just make sure that Video Stabilisation is turned off in the camera settings as you will get panning judder if it's left on by default. There's revised OIS on the 24 Ultra and it's always active, there's no need to enable EIS as well as that just crops in the video FOV as well.

[Billy_Rosewood]

Billy_Rosewood said:

snuffy said:

I've found these very good for my S21U, so they might well do one for the S24U:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08PVK25K3

I'd assume they will come with one fitted anyway, so there's no rush to fit a new one from the start (which would be my plan).

It seems there are mainly just screen and camera protectors out there at the mo.. I was hoping for a full "ppf" solution. It also helps add grip to the inevitablely slippery back.

This looks like what I'm after. Even better there's an option for "full" or just "body" protection, so you can use a different screen protector if you prefer. Pre-order until early Feb.

https://ultraskins.co.uk/product/samsung-galaxy-s2...

[snuffy]

Billy_Rosewood said:

This looks like what I'm after. Even better there's an option for "full" or just "body" protection, so you can use a different screen protector if you prefer. Pre-order until early Feb.

https://ultraskins.co.uk/product/samsung-galaxy-s2...

I got mine today and it does seem a shame to cover it really. I shall see what there is on the screen only protection front.

So far I like it a lot.

When I opened it, it felt stone cold (which it was of course), then get gets quite warm to the touch on the sides.

[Sheets Tabuer]

Got mine today, not a lot of difference from the s23 ultra, prefer the screen on the 24 though.

[xerawh]

thanks robbiekhan for the review.

Anyone else want to share their experience of the S24 Ultra now they've had it a few days.

Still on the fence whether to cancel the order (and keep the S22) or get excited...

[robbiekhan]

I've been out and about using mine, took some photos etc and it's been a few days in. So far so good. There are some genuine improvements over the S23 Ultra, chief of which is the screen for obvious reasons. It's too early to tell whether the camera is a marked improvement, as there have not been any updates yet whereas the S23 had numerous updates for the first 6-8 months containing camera development.

One area where the S23 Ultra beats it is in low light noise, especially around the corners, you can see this in one of the below images. The S23 Ultra used to have noise but the last few camera updates fixed that.

But, being able to change lenses whilst recording at 4k 60fps is a huge plus,

Some samples around Portsmuff:







These were edited in Lightroom Mobile, nothing major, just the colour grading which is my default style for everything whether phone or DSLR. The original for say the water one above is here for reference on what it looks like out of the box:


The video recording is excellent however!



I think the AI stuff will end up being a bit of a duffer after a year, Samsung have said that there will be a paywall behind some (most?) of the AI features from 2025, so all the reviews raving about the best bits have not factored this into their reviews. Someone buying one of there with the mind to keep it for over 3 years given that there will be 7 years of OS updates provided, will have to pay for the AI features if they get accustomed to them over the next year and who knows how much Samsung will charge for that.