Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, S24+ and S24 hands-on review

17 January 2024


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  • ?
  • Anonymous
  • gDf
  • 25 Jan 2024

Azza2, 24 Jan 2024My guesses are the reduced lens size with a larger sensor w... more"My guesses are the reduced lens size with a larger sensor will still capture more light"
No. Not more light per object because this depends only(!) on the effective lens diameter, not on the sensor area. A sensor can only capture the light that goes through the lens. It doesn't matter whether you use a telescope and take a photo of Jupiter with a small sensor or with a large sensor. You capture the same amount of light per exposure time from Jupiter, no matter which sensor size. The larger sensor only leads to a larger field of view, so the total amount of light per exposure time is larger due to the light of objects that are within the additional field of view. A sensor only measures(!) light, it doesn't gather light.

Equivalent f-number is for comparing the total amount of light (total sensor area) or for comparing diffraction at pixel level, it's not for comparing the light from an object or for comparing diffraction per object.

A Panasonic Zs80D at 720mm (129mm f/6.4) captures as much light per time from the moon as a 24mm f/1.2 lens because the effective lens diameter is 2cm in both cases. A full frame 24mm f/1.2 camera captures a larger total amount of light per exposure time, but that's solely due to the light from objects that are within the additional much larger field of view.

"In fact, the smaller sensor the longer a zoom you can practically use in compact cameras.
"
It's actually not the sensor size what matters here, but the number of pixels per angle, which is proportional to focal length/ pixel size. More pixels per angle often lets you capture more detail from objects. Small sensors often have a small pixel size, so they don't need a high focal length for a high number of pixels per angle. Nonetheless, there is a limit due to diffraction. Even when you could make the pixels smaller and smaller, you can't capture more and more details from distant objects due to diffraction. The effective diameter determines the theoretical limit how many details you can capture from a distant object.

    • A
    • Azza2
    • mE0
    • 24 Jan 2024

    Anonymous, 23 Jan 2024The S24 Ultra's periscope camera only has an effective... moreMy guesses are the reduced lens size with a larger sensor will still capture more light. Than say the opposite of the same said scenario. Although something near 7mm would be preferable.

    As a 1-inch sensor 24mm equivalent is 8.8mm (crop factor 2.72) however the crop factor for that sensor would be 3.42 and a f-stop which is half behind f4. I think once you are behind full frame equivalence these numbers have less significance. They aren't as capable at lens bokeh, hyperfocal and diffraction like a fuller size model.

    In fact, the smaller sensor the longer a zoom you can practically use in compact cameras. The larger sensor such as a medium format will require much bigger lenses due to the nature of physics. Having 46mm² of photodiodes opens up much more options.

    I think people sometimes obsess over things that don't matter in the real world. For this response I spent time to clarify what I meant with examples rather than stating unfounded claims. Nothing personal.directed at anybody.



    So my point is don't sweat the small stuff.

      • C
      • CadyDesign
      • 0Ue
      • 24 Jan 2024

      The camera specs of S24 is wrong. I have S24 (vanilla with Exynos2400) and can do 4k 120 slowmo like Ultra and FHD 120,240fps. Bun now Samsung no longer offer Ultra slowmo FHD 960fps, at least i cant find any setting that enable that.

        • N
        • New guy
        • Nue
        • 24 Jan 2024

        Anonymous, 23 Jan 2024The S24 Ultra's periscope camera only has an effective... morePlease who knows if the two sims work simultaneously.
        Like can sim 2 alert me even quietly when I'm on a call on sim 1?

          • ?
          • Anonymous
          • X@8
          • 24 Jan 2024

          DDDD19, 22 Jan 2024S24 ultra is too big, I prefer S24 6.2", but, I'm... moreExcept if you go pre-order...I think there's chance to increase the storage.

            • ?
            • Anonymous
            • gDf
            • 23 Jan 2024

            The S24 Ultra's periscope camera only has an effective diameter of 5.47mm (if the f-number is 3.40) ! The S23 Ultra has 5.55mm, the S21 Ultra has 6.24mm, the Huawei P60 Pro has 6.93mm, the Galaxy K Zoom has 6.98mm and the travel zoom camera Panasonic Zs80D has 20.1mm.
            So the S24 Ultra rather captures a tiny bit less light per exposure time from distant objects than the S23 Ultra! But when the S24 Ultra uses analog binning in low light conditions, it only has 3 megapixels at 230mm whereas the S23 Ultra has 10 megapixels. The lower megapixel count of the S24 Ultra leads to less read noise and this can lead to a better low light performance despite capturing about the same amount of light from distant objects per exposure time.

              • ?
              • Anonymous
              • MSJ
              • 23 Jan 2024

              GSMA should try to find out more about AI features long-term availability. Website legal language is enough for some instantly say in 2026, they'll be paid (means all and for sure) which is hardly true. Details would help, if they're willing to clarify. (correct me if full official info exists)

                • ?
                • Anonymous
                • MSJ
                • 23 Jan 2024

                Trekon , 22 Jan 2024I played with S24 ultra, It seems the screen due to the ant... moreThere's a yellow tint software issue on some devices running One UI 6 that's gonna be fixed soon. Might be that.

                  • N
                  • Nasser
                  • 3J5
                  • 23 Jan 2024

                  Finally Samsung did something great, after listing to end-users.
                  Flat screen
                  SD processor
                  And they added AI to it, which is the biggest leap in smartphone industry, now other will starting following Samsung idea, similar to what happened for the foldable screens.

                  Now, I will go for Samsung after 4 years of moving around other android devices and iOS.

                  However, I was hoping to use SD processor in all models in other markets similar to US. I hope they consider this in future. Now the only SD processor we have is the Ultra model.

                  I love Samsung, and I am back to use their devices.
                  This time with Ultra 24.

                  NA

                    • ?
                    • Anonymous
                    • XBJ
                    • 23 Jan 2024

                    Trekon , 22 Jan 2024I played with S24 ultra, It seems the screen due to the ant... moreYou can order for me too

                      If you check pretty much all the photos, the shiny surfaces look "unnatural" and slightly grainy. I had hoped they would fix this since I saw it on the S23 Ultra, but it unfortunately looks similar, maybe just slightly better. I returned the S23 Ultra and got a Xiaomi 13 Pro, as I was not using the stylus and I kind of hated the sharp corners.

                        • D
                        • DDDD19
                        • L@m
                        • 22 Jan 2024

                        S24 ultra is too big, I prefer S24 6.2", but, I'm very disapointed with Samsung, it stills without UWB and there is no 512GB version avaliable.

                          • D
                          • Dtoomy
                          • MdD
                          • 22 Jan 2024

                          Johnn , 18 Jan 2024With the S24+ being closer to the ultra than ever, is it be... moreHere in Sweden there is only a difference of 2 US dollars per month buying it on a subscription for 36 months from a operator. So at the end the S24+ will cost a total of 1200 Us vs 1270 Us which makes everyone tip in favor for the Ultra. Especially since the plus model only use the Exynos chip.

                            • ?
                            • Anonymous
                            • xjH
                            • 22 Jan 2024

                            Anonymous, 22 Jan 2024China phones are a rip off, I have used a Xiaomi phone, and... more😂 lolz, why do u Samsung fans enjoy lying so much. All Xiaomi phones including redmi and poco got updated since, even 13 pro and 12 series got A14 update before Samsung galaxy lineup but yeah u can keep being delusional. Also wanna ask which Xiaomi phone ure using

                              • ?
                              • Anonymous
                              • bxd
                              • 22 Jan 2024

                              Ss, 22 Jan 2024Because there are actual competition in China and Samsung s... moreChina phones are a rip off, I have used a Xiaomi phone, and so far i am stuck on Android 11 because the company won't update it is premium handsets, same with all china makes, they just wanna sell devices, but when it comes to updates or features they just wanna skip on that, what the Chinese companies are doing is ruining Android, Google should be ashamed to have done this

                                • T
                                • Trekon
                                • bxd
                                • 22 Jan 2024

                                I played with S24 ultra, It seems the screen due to the anti glare protection used, is making the screen looking yellowish and lacks detail, color volume and tone. anyone else had the same issue when playing with it, or is it just my tired eyes, i am about to cancel my preorder because of this, so let me know

                                  • ?
                                  • Anonymous
                                  • MSJ
                                  • 22 Jan 2024

                                  Ss, 22 Jan 2024Because there are actual competition in China and Samsung s... moreWhat lobby exactly? Chinese phones are allowed in EU (go buy that) and USA didn't need Samsung at all to ban Huawei. Better stop trolling

                                    • S
                                    • Ss
                                    • bEC
                                    • 22 Jan 2024

                                    Exynos for EU, 21 Jan 2024On purpose or not, GSMarena always miss China on their spec... moreBecause there are actual competition in China and Samsung spend to much on government lobbying aka bribe to ensure their monopoly in EU and US market.

                                      • ?
                                      • Anonymous
                                      • IWS
                                      • 21 Jan 2024

                                      Ivam, 21 Jan 2024Really disappointing that we get Exynos in Europe... Again. Exynos 2400 performance is impressive

                                        • ?
                                        • Anonymous
                                        • MSJ
                                        • 21 Jan 2024

                                        Anonymous, 21 Jan 2024Then he would cry because those features are not included. ... moreYep. It's ridiculous

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