back to article Samsung’s Galaxy S24 pitch: The AI we baked in makes you more human

Samsung has made AI the centerpiece of its annual premium handset launch and featured its Galaxy Ultra, the heir to the Galaxy Note, as the hero of the day. There’s nothing startlingly new about the Galaxy S 24 range. As in previous years, Samsung has a base model, a Plus model that’s a little larger, and an Ultra that’s …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Do all S24Plus get the Snapdragon?

    Other reports suggest that "some markets" will get an Exynos chip for S24 and S24Plus, as usual. The price will be unaffected, of course.

  2. Geoff Campbell Silver badge
    Linux

    Seven years of support

    It's welcome to see a commitment to proper long-term software support, but I do wonder how that will match with a realistic two-year battery lifespan on any phone in daily use. I just switched to a Fairphone 5 for the replaceable battery, and other reasons.

    GJC

    1. Charlie Clark Silver badge

      Re: Seven years of support

      Yep, my S10e got 4 years of support. It's been given a new battery and will soon get LineageOS because it's still a cracking phone and not too big for my tiny hands.

      1. Joe W Silver badge

        Re: Seven years of support

        Ahh, phone size. My hands are of a I guess average size, but trouser pockets are indeed limited in capacity. The current phone is as big as can fit (actually a tad too big for some trousers, drat!). It was the smallest non-crap-phone I actually could buy at that time. New "flagship phones" are simply too big (not big if you want to find a spot to land a light aircraft...).

        My forst thought on the "handles punctuation" feature was that sometimes it does indeed matter, example:

        Let's eat, grandpa!

        Let's eat grandpa!

        (and I am not willing to spend that mouch money (1.6k€? WTF?!) on a phone. I would rather buy a decent sized band saw.... or upgrade one of my bikes, or go on holidays in Switzerland - but hey, I'm not judging, I'm not in the target audience, I'm not wondering about what tat my favourite "influencer" is trying to push, so - meh)

        1. Dave Pickles

          Re: Seven years of support

          Yes tabulatory gigantism* has severely afflicted the phone market. My Pixel 5 will just about fit into a standard shirt pocket, anything newer has no chance.

          * Term nicked from "The Peter Principle".

        2. Charlie Clark Silver badge

          Re: Seven years of support

          Haven't put a phone in a trouser pocket for decades: try cycling like that. Shirt or jacket pocket but needs to be able to operated with one hand. Otherwise, silly money for these toys! The Samsung A series or its keenly priced Chinese competitors do all I need from a phone apart from wireless charging.

          See what's on the market in a couple of years…

          1. Patrician

            Re: Seven years of support

            My phone is only ever in my front trouser pocket and I cycle with no issues; mind I do only ever wear jeans so that might make a difference.

            1. juice

              Re: Seven years of support

              I switched over to industrial "work" trousers a few years back; those big flappy front overpockets are perfect for modern massive mobiles, and the side pockets are great for things like powerbanks, earplugs, mini swiss army knife and the like.

              And as an occasional goth/rocker/tekkie, they're even vaguely fashionable :)

            2. Charlie Clark Silver badge

              Re: Seven years of support

              Wouldn't work for me, have to be thigh side-pockets. But I also have a mount for longer journey 'cos I use the phone to navigate.

              But jeans? On a bike? You can't be going far because that double-seam is designed to hurt. Gave up jeans years ago as impractical for everyday use. They're okay as work clothes when others are not available.

        3. Piro

          Re: Seven years of support

          I'd hopes for the XCover line up, having an XCover 5 myself. But the 6 is too big, and the newly announced 7 is too big. Hopeless.

    2. chololennon

      Re: Seven years of support

      > but I do wonder how that will match with a realistic two-year battery lifespan on any phone in daily use

      Just personal experience: My Moto G1 (2014) still has battery for more than a day with avergage usage, the same for my other phone, Moto G6 (2018).

  3. elsergiovolador Silver badge

    Point

    Is this whole AI done on the device and no sensitive data is leaving the phone or is it going to Samsung (and presumably whoever can pay / get access? wink wink)

    Seems like this release is quite pointless.

    1. Geoff Campbell Silver badge
      Holmes

      Re: Point

      Most of the AI is done locally using the new NPU cores, and I think there is a switch to restrict all processing to local only.

      As for it being pointless, where Apple lead, others follow. Shiny bells and whistles have been their selling points for a while now.

      GJC

    2. jgarbo

      Re: AI subscription

      According to Samsung the AI compnent will be subscription after 2025, so it looks like Google is handling AI. You'll need a Google a/c to use it.

      1. David 132 Silver badge

        Re: AI subscription

        >According to Samsung the AI compnent will be subscription after 2025

        Ah, the time-honoured drug dealer model.

        "First hit's free."

        I assume they're hoping that over the next 12-24 months users will get totally hooked on the AI features, such that being asked to pony up $$ each month after 2025 will seem reasonable.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    And all that Samsung bloatware ?

    reviews really should mention how much shite you can't get rid off. All those "apps"

    1. Fursty Ferret

      Re: And all that Samsung bloatware ?

      You can always tell which tech publications get given free swap and invited to launches in interesting and exotic places. Even The Reg isn't immune from this.

  5. Grunchy Silver badge

    You could get married with AI

    On Barney Miller, Inspector Luger got Barney to write him letters to mail order Filipino ladies, and he wound up getting married.

    Now the show was fictional, but it is a fact that it’s cancelled for many years, and Barney isn’t gonna write your love letters for you. It’s gonna have to be Samsung, or you, or else forget it?

    Hawkeye and BJ did another Mash script read-through last year, and chat gpt had to write it for them. Writer’s strike!

  6. Sampler

    Yawn

    Waiting for the Xiaomi 14 Ultra.

    I like my 12s Ultra and if the 14 pro's camera adjustments are anything to go by, the new Ultra should be great - plus, hoping on an international ROM, I do miss my Android Auto on the China only ROM (and having to dig out my Note 20 Ultra for long car journeys) - not sure why you can download and install Android Auto from the app store for it to just give you a warning that it must come bundled with the phone to function, you would expect a software behemoth the size of google to be able to fix it so if you don't have it, you can't get it, or that it would install prerequisites if you're now located outside of China and running all the other apps (like mail, chrome and wallet...).

  7. EricB123 Silver badge

    Say it Ain't So

    I heard that after 2 years, Samsung flagship phone users will have to pay a monthly subscription for the AI features to continue working.

    Good God, I sure hope my source was an unreliable one!

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Say it Ain't So

      Companies love subscription models these days. I wouldn’t be surprised to find at least one subscription tier for AI in the near future.

  8. rheya

    "I’m years from upgrading after my late 2023 purchase"

    I’m years from upgrading after my mid 2007 purchase, a Nokia 2760 flip action that can make and receive calls and texts. In all truth I should say "receive texts" as replying is such a flap I normally don't bother. With Bluetooth disabled and a WAP 2.0 web browser that was retired at birth I feel I've made it difficult for any bugger to surveil me. The only cloud on the horizon is the availability of 2G, but I reckon I'm still good for another 6+ years.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Hey ASA are you listening?

    If so... ask Samsung exactly how using AI can make you more human that you already are?

    Oh wait... they'll probably take the same point with this as they do with Toyota's misleading 'Self Charging Hybrid'. You have to put fuel in the gas tank.

  10. BadRobotics

    Makes me more 'human'

    What a load of marketing BS.

  11. munnoch Silver badge

    "identifies the item and offers links to more information or purchasing opportunities"

    Google seems to make the assumption that the primary use case for search is as a pre-cursor to consumption. One of the reasons their search results have gone to sh*t in a basket.

  12. spold Silver badge

    "features"

    >>>

    The tool lets users of the S24 range draw a circle on the screen to highlight whatever they fancy, whereupon Google search identifies the item and offers links to more information or purchasing opportunities

    <<<

    Such as when viewing pr0n?

  13. spold Silver badge
    Big Brother

    We know what you said and we are coming to get you

    >>>

    Samsung led those promos by showing off real-time voice translation, a feature made possible by AI

    <<<

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