I traded in my Galaxy Fold 3 for the S24 Ultra five months ago. I did it for the cameras and I’m still happy with my decision. They’re fantastic. The whole phone is.
The cameras take stunning photos. There’s nothing to nitpick. If you become adept at using Samsung’s camera applications and understand some photography basics about framing and lighting, the results are masterful.
Photogs love to dig into the metrics and compare numbers. I’m more into the astatic value of the pictures than I am the camera’s technical performance. To my eye, Samsung is the best for this generation of mobiles. The images are crisp, focus is fast, and auto mode is ready for those fleeting moments no matter the situation. Samsung has been perfecting mobile photography for decades and their experience shows in the results.
Like a lot of people, I’ve completely transitioned to taking all pictures on my phone. One trick I’ve learned is to set up the voice trigger. No matter how careful you are, moving your hand to tap the screen can mess up your shots. Even the most careful tap can cause the lenses to jitter.
There’s a lot to like besides the camera system. The battery and power management algorithms are equally impressive. I’ve been able to limit charging to eighty percent of the battery’s available capacity and still make it through an average office worker’s day. Limiting lithium batteries from reaching their full charge capacity increases their useful lifespan.
Samsung’s stylus is still great. I’ve written, sketched, and scribbled pages and pages with mine already. Including this entire article. Coming from the Fold 3, I had forgotten how convenient pop out pens and the ability to write on the powered off screen truly are.
One review that I had read before purchasing the S24U said the speakers were of poor quality and down firing only. I’m not sure that person actually had access to the phone when they reviewed it. It gets ridiculously loud and sounds great in my opinion. It has both top and bottom speakers.
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor is blazing! In fact, the phone can get physically hot if you push it hard. Mine hasn’t overheated, but it would be uncomfortable to hold sometimes if not for my case. The performance is worth a few scorched fingertips if you ask me.
Speaking of performance, this thing is a gaming phenomenon. AAA titles like Call of Duty Mobile and Grid feel like the full console versions. Some mobile games support ray tracing and super smooth 120 FPS, and the S24U is all about it. Game Pass Ultimate streaming works well.
Business apps like OneNote, Outlook, and Excel are quicker to get into than they are on my high-performance laptop. There’s plenty of RAM for browser tabs and multiple background apps. I find that I rarely need to take my laptop to meetings with me. I’m just as productive from the Ultra at notes, plans, sketches, and even light presentations.
I ended up with a case that I found on Amazon. It has a built-in camera cover that slides open and shut. It also features a wallet that easily holds my ID, bank card, and some cash. The back of the wallet makes a perfect stand for watching streams and playing games with a controller.
The side-effect of this style of case (wallet on back) is that it doesn’t work with wireless charging. It does however work fine with Tap to Pay, and it fits in my car’s phone holder.
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