Samsung Galaxy S24+ is the middle handset of three flagships that carry more than just the next generation of hardware. The Korean telecoms giant throws their hat in the AI ring with Samsung Galaxy AI coming as standard in all three S24 devices. Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus is a 6.7-inch 5G handset with a pin-sharp 1440p AMOLED 2X display.
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The device is seemingly aimed at those who want a larger screen, but would prefer to drive a harder bargain than the Ultra model. And priced from €1,159 sim-free from Samsung, Galaxy S24 Plus represents excellent value, given the hardware and how its AI companion is so competently embedded in its daily life.
Visual Galaxy
The look of the S24 series iterates on S23 series. The newer Galaxy flagship design departed quite a bit from previous devices. Gone are the waterfall 3D curves and wraparound displays. In come straight edges with ‘friendly box’ overall design. The flat front and rear feature an abrupt interface with a brushed aluminium frame.
This aluminium frame features four rounded corners at each edge but are otherwise straight. Our Marble Grey review model features a pale grey frosted glass rear that is punctuated only for three large, matching lenses, and a solitary Samsung logo etched in gloss.
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The logo is subtle, and preserves the macro minimalist detail that the designers were going for. The edge presents a slim facet of the brushed aluminium frame, which presents a pleasing all-round detail.
The front is an all-screen affair with minimal bezel. The slim bezel, and that brushed aluminium frame, offer a pleasing contrast with the deep black of that AMOLED display.
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Our Marble Grey review Samsung Galaxy S24+ is a gorgeous device. The sparse and minimal detail is inherently elegant, while the meeting of pale grey, brushed silver and the screen present a pleasant visual balance to the device.
Power Without Equal
Samsung Galaxy S24+ features their own Exynos 2400 in Europe and its home markets, and the chipset is a beast. This year sees Samsung roll out their AI platform so the new devices are not just tackling app bloat and feature creep, but are expected to do a great deal of AI work, too.
The device has ample power to blaze through just about any non-AI task or app you’ll likely ever use. And it will do more than one of these demanding tasks at once, gladly. Samsung S24+ features some absolutely stunning UI and menu transitions and other visual effects as part of the One 6.1 UI, based on Android 14, and it never misses a beat.
The device can handle the most demanding AAA 3D gaming titles with ease. You can even set the device prioritise your games. This gives them all the resources and internets they need to keep the action swift.
Robust Build
Samsung Galaxy S24+ is built magnificently. So much so that the incredibly tight tolerances and premium materials add to the visual quality as well as giving the device a flagship feel.
Galaxy S24 Plus is slim at less than 8mm thick, but thanks to its form factor, brushed aluminium frame, and lightly frosted rear, it is easy to hold and manipulate in one hand. The slimline frame and 197-gram weight giving it a reassuring density.
ProVisual AI-Powered Imaging
Galaxy S24 series’s ProVisual Engine is a comprehensive suite of AI-powered tools that can be used to set up the perfect shot, then edit post capture.
Galaxy S24 Plus features a 3x optical zoom lens for some highly detailed shots a little further away than you might like. AI can use the 3x optical zoom in conjunction with the 50MP main sensor to wring out excellent shots out to 10x.
Samsung S24+ hybrid zoom approaches a native optical zoom in terms of aesthetic quality in the right light, and with the right subject. There will be loss of finer detail, but it’s hard to tell that hybrid zoom is involved.
Nightography sees similar progression, with AI support allowing more vivid and detailed images and video in darker conditions. Images, in particular, benefit from the boost. Photos snapped from a shaky hand or from further away than ideal keep more detail as the AI knits the long exposure frames together.
Samsung Galaxy S24+ AI Editing
Samsung Galaxy AI features an Edit Suggestion too uses to suggest suitable tweaks for each photo. By enabling, Generative Edit in setting, you can fill in parts of an image background using the tech. AI will autonomously will fill in the borders of crooked shots, suggest changes in tone or white balance, or centre shots on your intended subject.
Samsung AI can also ‘Remaster’ any image in Gallery, this clears up noise and recreates detail lost in lower-res images. Some more-involved tricks allow you to move objects or subjects around the image.
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The AI generates a blended background in its original spot and cuts objects out to pixel perfection with impressive regularity. Samsung AI can also remove shadows and reflections from images automatically, and can do so on any images in Gallery.
The AI can also work its magic on video. One very neat trick, Instant Slow-mo, can generate additional frames of video to slow down action-packed moments. Instant Slow-Mo works best on well-lit shots with the subject close to the camera, but makes some striking clips from most video.
It’s worth noting that anytime a Galaxy S24 series device deploys generative AI to alter an image, a watermark will appear on the image and in metadata. This allows others to know that image has been altered in such a fashion.
AI Translation on Device
Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus features two real-time translation services. One to use while on the phone, Live Translate. And one to use in real-time and in person, Interpreter. You will need to download the appropriate language pack for whichever of the 13 languages you intend to translate in advance.
In return for a 400MB-per-language pack download, both services translate using AI on the device. This means its more secure and private than sending it to the cloud for translation there.
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This also means you can get the full translation services with no WiFi or mobile data. Cloud-powered AI is something that created some confusion and disappointment when Google introduced AI on their Google Pixel 8 series of devices.
Samsung S24’s ability to limit AI processing to the device itself avoids those conversations, but also shows how powerful S24 series devices are in terms of NLP. It’s worth noting that by default, the AI may use the cloud to process data, and you will need to restrict this to ‘device only’ within the AI Assistant menu section of the phone’s settings.
Samsung AI also allows two-way, real-time voice translation of phone calls using Live Translate, which you access in the Call Assist menu. This works really well as Live Translate keeps pace, even over a less-than-perfect line.
There are several different voices you can choose from within the Call Assist menu, where you’ll find Live Translate services. It’s worth noting that you will have to turn Live Translate on within your phone’s settings.
Text Translator
You can also get a text translation of messages through Live Translate, which is almost perfect for short conversations or simple concepts.
For longer sentences with more complex thoughts and tenses, you’ll need to meet it halfway a little more often. With some context, and some patience, translated interactions will always get the message through. And that is not bad for a first try.
Samsung AI Interpreter translates speech on a split-screen view. This allows people standing opposite each other to read a text transcription of what the other person has said. There is also an AI voice that can read your Interpreter’s translation. However, it’s almost always quicker for someone to simply read the translation rather. You can turn one half of the interpreter screen upside-down so you can converse face-to-face.
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Samsung AI currently offers 13 languages, with a total of 18 including global variants. Mexican, American and OG Spanish are supported, for example. However, there are some hiccups. For example, Samsung AI doesn’t recognise ‘Vinny’, transcribing my name as ‘Julie’, ‘Baby’ and ‘Deansy’ across Live Translate and Interpreter. And, for Irish names, people and places, the AI could occasionally be spotty, too.
Samsung Keyboard Assistant
Chat Assist can be used with Samsung Keyboard across numerous apps to perfect conversational tones and produce notes within various conversations. Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus does a great job at making sure the messages are in the correct tone, as well as strong-arming your punctuation and spelling.
The notes are also well formed, and seem to take the most important details into their summaries. The language can be a bit terse and contextual, but you’ll always get the pressing stuff down.
Samsung Keyboard’s translation AI can also translate messages, emails and more in real-time in 13 languages. This works about as well as the Interpreter and Live Translate. Simpler messages are practically flawless but the more complex and lengthier thoughts can be less fluid.
Samsung Secretary
One of the low-key game changers in Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus devices is Text Call. An AI voice of your choosing answers the call and informs the caller that they’ll be speaking to you via a Text-to-Speech convertor. Your caller’s speech is converted to text for you to read, then you can reply via text, which is read to your caller by the AI voice.
Samsung Notes now hosts Notes Assist, a powerful tool to create AI-generated summaries. The free-standing notes can be a little terse and contextual, like with the Samsung Keyboard implementation, but you can also add templates that help formalise the style and necessary content. You can access your notes via text or have them read aloud.
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Summaries can be created from bodies of text in a host of formats, and can be used on webpages using the Samsung Internet app.
However, some of the more in-depth functionality, like summaries and note-gathering, can only be used if the user allows data to be processed in the cloud. This may be an issue for a professional in a low-reception area, or is light on roaming data.
Going Full Circle
Another AI feature you will definitely need some data for is Google’s ‘Circle to Search’. Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus is, in fact, the first phone to feature the gesture-driven Circle to Search.
With a long press on the home button, you can circle, highlight, scribble on, or tap anything on Galaxy S24’s screen to find out more, or buy whatever you are aiming at. Like other AI features, it works extremely well with common objects or logos but can be tripped up with landmarks off the beaten track, or objects more common regionally than globally.
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Circle to Search also has some difficulty with identifying objects on external screens, be it your TV or monitor. Grabbing objects on your phone’s display fares much better, with object recognition and the suggested actions hitting the mark far more often than not.
Overall, Circle to Search is impressively implemented on Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus. When it works, and it mostly will, it’s a marvel of object recognition and a parlour trick that will excite your friends. How useful you find it will vary, of course, but it’s while on holidays or while quickly passing shops that Circle to Search will likely see the most use.
S24+ Stamina and Charging
A moderate user will probably get to bed on day two on a single charge of Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus. The 4,900mAh battery and some intelligent power management give the device plenty of stamina to go with its raw processing grunt.
Power users will likely get their workday done as the device has ample power with which to crush even the most demanding tasks. Samsung Galaxy S24+ seems to find streaming video and high-bitrate audio a bit easier than other smartphones, and can run for hours at a time without taking massive chunks of battery – particularly noticeable, and welcome, on longer trips or for days on the go.
Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus features 45W charging via USB-C using the PD3.0 standard. The PD3.0 standard allows different chargers from the various brands who adhere to the specification to charge compatible devices of any brand at higher speeds.
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We’ve had a few devices over our desk that have PD2.0 or PD3.0 compatibility, and it’s a quality of life bump to no longer have to find a particular charger just to speedily juice up. And, with many makers now omitting a charger this cross compatibility will only become even handier.
45W wired is not a huge figure, but at around one hour to charge from 0-100% it’s still a convenient recharging process. The advertised 0-65% in 30 minutes is perfect for a last-moment charge, especially given the stamina of Galaxy S24+.
Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus Specifications
| Chipset: | Samsung Exynos 2400 (4 nm) (reviewed) OR Qualcomm SM8650-AC Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 (4 nm) CPU – 10-core: 1×3.2GHz Cortex-X4, 2×2.9GHz Cortex-A720, 3×2.6GHz Cortex-A720, 4×1.95GHz Cortex-A520 (reviewed) OR – 8-core: 1×3.39GHz Cortex-X4, 3×3.1GHz Cortex-A720, 2×2.9GHz Cortex-A720, 2×2.2GHz Cortex-A520 GPU – Xclipse 940 (reviewed) OR – Adreno 750 |
| RAM: | 12GB |
| Storage: | 256GB (reviewed), 512GB |
| Display: | 6.7″, 1,440 x 3,120 pixels, 19.5:9 ratio AMOLED 2X, 120Hz, HDR10+ |
| Camera: | – 50 MP, f/1.8, 24mm (wide), 1/1.56″, Dual Pixel PDAF, OIS – 10 MP, f/2.4, 67mm (telephoto), 1/3.94″, PDAF, OIS, 3x optical zoom – 12 MP, f/2.2, 13mm, 120˚ (ultrawide), 1/2.55″ Video: 8K@24/30fps, 4K@30/60fps, 1080p@30/60/240fps, HDR10+, Super Steady video, gyro-EIS |
| Selfie Cam: | Photo: 12 MP, f/2.2, 26mm (wide), Dual Pixel PDAF Video: 4K@30/60fps, 1080p@30fps, HDR10+, Dual Video |
| OS: | Android 14, One UI 6.1 |
| Battery: | Li-Po 4,900 mAh |
| Charging: | – 45W wired, PD3.0, 0-65% in c. 30 mins. – 15W wireless – 4.5W reverse wireless |
| Connectivity: | – Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6e, tri-band, Wi-Fi Direct – Bluetooth 5.3, A2DP, LE – GPS, GLONASS, BDS, GALILEO, QZSS |
| Dimensions: | 158.5 x 75.9 x 7.7 mm |
| Weight: | 197 grams |
| Colours: | – Marble Grey and Amber Yellow available in Ireland and worldwide – Cobalt Violet, Jade Green, Sandstone Orange, Sapphire Blue and Onyx Black available in other |
Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus is available SIM-free in Ireland from €1,159 for the 12GB RAM and 256GB ROM model. Galaxy S24+ is available in the US from €999 sim-free and in the UK from £999 sim-free.
