After reading extensive reviews and due to Black Friday Deals available on the Samsung website, I’ve decided to purchase the new Samsung Galaxy S24 at the end of November.

I thought it would be a great upgrade to my current Samsung Galaxy S21 Plus. Even though it’s been only a couple of weeks and since the start I’ve been extremely disappointed with a lot smaller size of the new S24’s screen. I regret not going for the S24 plus or ultra version, however at the time of purchase it was unfortunately out of stock. I’m a loyal Samsung customer and I’ve been always going for Galaxy S phones which I was extremely satisfied with to date.

After some days of getting used to the new S24, I must compliment on fantastic files transfer option available between Samsung devices. It’s been at least 3 years since my last phone upgrade and I found scanning the QR code extremely useful! Within 3-4 hours, I had the whole content moved across, including files, photos, videos, and apps (and I was at 90% of the used space on my old S21 plus!)

In the first few days of exploring S24 I didn’t think much to it, to be fair I thought the new phone doesn’t really have any massively improved features, however by now I’m impressed by its performance – the battery lasts up to 2 days comparing to my old S21 plus which had to be charged a least twice a day! Also, the quality of camera is a lot better overall – especially the night mode. However, I’m not impressed with the vividness of the colours on S24’s display nor photos and videos. I’ve been reading a lot and trying to change the settings of my screen’s brightness, but I must say that I prefer more vivid display colours on my old S21 plus! In my opinion, the front camera was also a lot better on my old device, S24’s camera quality which is brilliant of course but for me the photos come up very dull and almost grey, unless I’m doing something wrong?

I’m still exploring the AI feature on my new S24, and I’m impressed with the translation option as I speak a few languages myself so both the verbal as well as written live translations are extremely useful.

Although I still find it difficult to get used to a lot smaller screen size, I think I won’t keep this phone for long and I’ll soon have to upgrade to the S24 plus version as I struggle (after being used to a lot bigger screen for so long) especially watching videos and during video calls or working on Microsoft apps.

Overall, I think it will be 3 out of 5 stars for me, after 2 weeks I’m disappointed with S24 but it is probably my fault for trying to go for the basic option of the Galaxy S device this time round. I usually go for the plus or ultra options available from Samsung and I think I believed other reviews when picking this phone.

I really like this phone. Its nice looking, nice feeling and a really good size. Its one of the smallest smartphones you can get on the market these days which suits me really well as I find phones have gotten overly large which makes them harder to fit in pockets, hold, type on, etc. I really like the orange colour, its fun, although maybe a little more pastel and the metal a bit more goldish/bronze than I expected but very pretty none the less.
The screen is very bright, crisp and clear and has a much appreciated extra dim and blue light setting. It's nice to watch videos, type on and just generally use.
I haven't managed to take the camera for a proper spin but I have managed to get some rather lovely pictures of my dog. They are crisp and detailed.
I previously had a Google Pixel 6 and decided to move back to Samsung for an upgrade since I genuinely loved my S10e (and S7 (arguably my favourite of the lot) and S3 before that) and I'm happy with my choice to go back. It has taken a little while to get used to the Samsung UI again (I still don't like the Samsung default icons but the personalisation of Samsungs/androids is super accessible no matter how tech savvy you are and this was easily changed to something that I enjoy looking at more). I still have google lens built into the phone which I am very happy about as it is a feature I used constantly on my pixel along with the google now playing. Its also been helpful that google integration with the Samsung phones means I can choose to use the google SMS and phone apps over Samsung's if I wish to for those who prefer them. I've been allowed to keep the features of the pixel and google integration and mix that with the Samsung hardware and features which I prefer.
I've managed to keep the best of both worlds with choosing this phone and has made it easy moving from one manufacturer to another as my data and how I use my personal devices is heavily integrated with and dependent on my google account and google apps.
I was also a little bit worried buying a new phone with how heavily AI is being pushed within hand held devices but it is entirely optional and isn't in any way pushed on you like I was worried about (such as when Bixby was first released, I remember it being rather annoying and the phones having a Bixby button? but that hasn't happened so I'm happy about that). But I know its there for if I ever wish to use it.
One thing, which is a really tiny thing, I miss from many years ago is the widget that shows your text messages that functions similarly to the whatsapp and gmail/outlook widgets as apposed to the direct message a specific contact widget. but that is inconsequential at the end of the day.
Overall, I'm chuffed with my new phone.

This is Samsung's first foray into the AI space after another well-known mobile device manufacturer has been creating AI-powered CPUs for their phones for a few years now. I have one of those phones so will be comparing the latest Samsung flagship to this.

Visually, the Galaxy S24 packs a punch in a compact form. It's a beautiful combination of flat glass screen (gone are the curved edges of older Galaxy series phones which have always been a frustration rather than a feature) and dark brushed aluminium wrapped around the sides (on the black version). The phone’s sleek design includes minimal bezels around the screen which maximises screen real estate whilst keeping the whole package as nice and small as possible. In an age of ever-expanding and unwieldy phone sizes, the S24 presents as a very conveniently sized package without compromise.

As with all Samsung phones, you know it has a fantastic Screen - the sharp and vivid display on the S24 enhances your viewing experience - whether you’re streaming, browsing, or gaming, the vibrant screen won’t disappoint.

The S24 boasts all-new Galaxy AI and Google circle-to-search tools. Whether you’re curious about a web page, a YouTube video, or a photo you just took, the Circle to Search feature answers your queries effortlessly. Plus, the AI translation works like magic, bridging language barriers when travelling which is extremely helpful for me as I frequently travel for work!

Something that has been becoming more of an important feature on phones these days is the ability to quick charge (especially for me in an airport). The S24’s fast charging supports up to 45W fast chargers which will fully charge the phone in approximately an hour.

While the cameras might not outshine some competitors, the S24 offers more zoom features than most and a variety of shooting modes to enhance your photos including AI enhancements. With a promise of seven years of Android updates, this could be Samsung’s best affordable Galaxy S phone yet in the long-term when other phones are only being supported for a few years after which they seem to mysteriously slow down!

In summary, the Galaxy S24 is a pocket powerhouse that balances performance, style, and practicality. 📱✨

First impressions of the phone when unboxing, it feels like a quality product with a decent weight and feel without seeming to be too heavy. As soon as you turn it on it's clear that the screen on this is great. Having used it for more than a week now, the quality of the screen makes a huge difference when using this phone and is better than any other I've used so far. Inside or outside there's never any issue of being able to see the screen clearly.

Set up from my old phone was very fast and easy, hardly had to do anything other than open up my old phone and set the link, everything I needed was ready to go very soon. The phone itself is fast and very responsive, a very smooth experience whether texting but also gaming something like COD is a very nice experience. The new AI features have been very cool to use, and work very well. Day to day the ones I find most useful are the ones to recommend tones for your text messages depending on the scenario, and the summary of reading a website and getting a snapshot of the key info, have been so useful to use. The others could be useful for specific use cases but not ones I've needed so far, random tests have shown they've worked as expected.

Battery life has been way beyond expectations, I have needed to charge it once every two days so far and always confident it will last me all day so I haven't needed to travel with my battery pack anymore. Also, with a suitable charger it gets to 100% very quickly, or if I need a top out before heading out on short notice I've been able to in only 10 minutes or so.

Camera is great, has also been great in the past so nothing else really to say beyond that. I do wish however, that long pressing the power button let you turn it off rather than Bixby without needing to change settings, I've never really been a fan of Bixby compared to other options. Also a shame there is no sd card slot again, although there hasn't been one in other models previously either. For a phone with a great camera and ability to edit and save different versions this would make a difference in both taking and maintaining edited versions of photos all on the phone with confidence of never running out of space.

Overall I absolutely would recommend this phone.