When I got the Flip 5, I also traded in my AW6 (for $200) and got the 47mm Galaxy Watch 6. I love it.
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The Samsung Galaxy S24 / Ultra
- Thread starter Tulani
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I've never owned a Samsung watch before. Not expecting much as I'm not really hardcore into watches. I plan to use it as a watch with some occasional health monitoring. I only used my AW for calls, messaging, music, and occasional heart rate monitoring. So I think I'll get on just fine with the Samsung watch as it should handle my basic needs.
welp, i’ve had the S24 Ultra for almost a week now, still have the 15 Pro Max because some of my apps i have subscribed won’t transfer over to android without having to buy again, plus 4.5% apple savings 😎.. So far no issues at all with the S24.. sure i’ll patiently wait for whatever update. I’ll still have to do extensive testing abroad. the issues i had with the S23 ultra freezing was enough to jump back to apple 15 PM but once again .. the iphone (while abroad) failed to take pictures without lagging out at key moments during my vacation, thus missing the memory completely and getting a smeared mess picture of my chin, or failing to even recognize the ability to be a hotspot (giving errors)
lets all pray the s24 ultra doesn’t have issues . i’ll be sure to give an update if anything stupid pops up.
apologies for the jumbled mess of a post ! cheers! 🍻
lets all pray the s24 ultra doesn’t have issues . i’ll be sure to give an update if anything stupid pops up.
apologies for the jumbled mess of a post ! cheers! 🍻
It comes down to details. Software details, image processing details, switching between lenses smoothly. 7 years of updates which she didn't mention.
The OnePlus 12 looks to be a great phone. In my experience though, small details that add up to small annoyances can lead to big dissatisfaction over enough time.
What people don't seem to understand is refinement of design is as important as initial design. Samsung has a lot of experience in refinement and details. Sometimes the ultra is full of gimmicks but it's overall design and refinement over the last 3 years have been really interesting.
Apple has taken a similar path for years. Invest in making a really good industrial design. Evolve slowly that sane design over several years, then after several years release a new design. It is a very wise strategy for several reasons. Up front cost is higher on initial design and materials. Then by using the same design and slowly evolving it over years it reduces manufacturing costs. It increases resale value as each year a radical new design language isn't introduced. Another advantage is that instead of creating a new device and like anything it may have a couple flaws or design tweaks that could make it much better but instead of making those changes a new design is released and a new set of problems arises but again they never get fixed and on to the next one. With the evolution process you can perfect a design over time which tends to deliver better overall satisfaction.
Let is take the s21 or s20 ultra and compare the design to the current S24U. They are all nice and functionally similar yet the s22 ultra looks like it came out of a different era. Then you look at the evolution from s22 ultra to s23 ultra to s24 ultra and while year to year they are subtle differences the difference between s22 and s24 ultra are pretty significant in the exact same design! I can safely say that a lot has changed but if someone had a s22 ultra they don't feel like they have an outdated device. Their devices still looks almost the same. Probably still works the same.
So while I think what OnePlus is doing is admirable I really don't think it is a good comparison. A better comparison would have been the S24 plus. That would have been closer both in terms of specs and design and cost. I think the s24 plus even with the poorer camera setup is a better choice than the OnePlus 12.
Me either. My first smartwatch was the free Pixel watch 2. I have mixed feelings about the Pixel but overall it is a great smartwatch. I got a pre order with the s24 ultra and the watch 6 classic. I added a few watches to the cart over the credit and it reduced the price on the classic to $100. I thought why not delete the other galaxy watch 5 pro and the classic watch 6 stayed at $97. So I got it with the phone.
I have to say I like it a lot more than the Pixel watch 2. The screen is a lot bigger. The bezels are small even with a rotating bezel. The stainless steel looks and feels great. The sapphire crystal is a nice touch. The performance seems just as good as the Pixel watch. Battery life seems about the same initially so I need to test more.
Honestly I like the watch classic. I don't have to pay any additional subscription. If I really wanted to track every second of my workouts the Pixel might be better but for what I do the galaxy is good enough. It is a much better looking watch as well.
It does pretty much everything the Pixel watch 2 does. Again, like everything with Google I mostly prefer Googles watch faces and UI but not to degree that would make me buy one over the other.
I like the galaxy watch so much, I might sell my Pixel watch 2? Not sure yet.
That's good to hear, thank you for the reply. Did not know about the sapphire crystal.
Your needs and what I use the watch for a very similar. I think the watch 6 will be a good choice. I like that when I swipe up from the bottom all of my apps in icons show up. With Pixel you just rotate the bezels which I also really like. But the graphical UI with icons just looks cool.
I doubt it will come close to the Apple watch but it should do everything you need just fine.
Yeah, I was hoping for more than Gorilla glass 5 on the Pixel watch two since the entire top of the watch is glass and prone to bumps and knocks. GG5 is not super scratch resistant. Sapphire is very scratch resistant so that is a big plus, the bigger and better display, no paying for subscription, very good performance.
It is not perfect by any means but it is competitively priced. I am sure since they are selling these discounted that a watch 7 is around the corner..
Did you get lime or green? Love to see that color in real life. Congrats and enjoy!
Yeah, got the green. I'll post a Pic later.
Sweet. Does it look green to you or is more subtle than the pictures? Just curious?
In order to give an opinion that may or may not help people thinking of buying the s24 plus or the Ultra I bought both on pre-order and am returning one so I will give my thoughts.
There is a big difference in size. The Ultra has a .1" screen size difference but it translates into a much larger screen and footprint on the Ultra. The screen and Phone on the ultra is rectangular vs rounded and you get a feeling of more screen overall. However the bezels on the s24 plus are almost non existent. While the Ultra has maybe a 50% bigger bezel all the way around but at least they are uniform this year. Then there is the AR coating on the Ultra and it makes a significant difference.
The specs on the models I got were identical. However gamers should note the performance on the Ultra was significantly although not hugely better on the Ultra in GeekBench 6. Also thermals are better on the Ultra.
Speakers are roughly the same. Haven't been able to test battery life completely yet.
Cameras are better on the Ultra. The plus isn't bad but smooth switching between lenses and little better mp and optical zoom add up. Camera software seems better across the line.
The Ultra is not only bigger but it is thicker.
Screen seems brighter on the plus, just more vibrant. Don't know if the AR coating has anything to do with it.
So now we come down to cost. $300 more MSRP. Is it worth it? Yes and no. If you are really on a tight budget and the extra cost is just not doable I think the s24 plus is a great choice with bezels that will be the envy around town. It has wonderful build quality and Armor Aluminum in Purple is to die for...If you want a large screen with a small footprint the s24 plus gives little compromises this year.
BUT if you can spare the cash I think the extras make a strong argument for spending the extra money. But it is very subjective this year as it really depends what you prefer. Sometimes the Ultra is just too big for me. But then, when I don't have a laptop or tablet and all I have is my phone I am glad it is an s24 ultra....If you are a phone nerd the Ultra has just about everything but darn if that plus is not a looker. Just on looks I would almost go plus.
But then that Titanium on the Ultra is pretty nice looking. I got the blue and at first I almost just put it back in the box I was so upset because it barely looked blue. I set it up. Looked again. Okay it looks blue. Just not as blue as I would like but the more I look at it the more I tend to like it. I like Purple but the Ultra Purple and the Titanium looked odd together to me. The Blue looked more balanced and so did the green. The orange was also interesting.
So I am going to use both phones for a few more days just to be certain because it is about double the cost for the Ultra over the Plus with my trade in. It is hard to justify double the cost even if it is not that bad compared to MSRP. If the screen weren't better in micro scratch resistance and truly at least 50% but I believe the 75% reduction in glare. It is a huge difference side by side. Since I look at the screen so much this is the kind of feature to make a significant quality of life difference. You would be surprised what a decent anti-reflective coating can do. Add in the more unique look, the larger screen, better cooling, and better battery life by a few hours, better cameras, and s pen and the differences are a lot more significant than on paper. We also have a frame redesign. So there is a lot that make the Ultra more costly but whether it is worth it only you can determine.
Right now I am leaning on Ultra........
There is a big difference in size. The Ultra has a .1" screen size difference but it translates into a much larger screen and footprint on the Ultra. The screen and Phone on the ultra is rectangular vs rounded and you get a feeling of more screen overall. However the bezels on the s24 plus are almost non existent. While the Ultra has maybe a 50% bigger bezel all the way around but at least they are uniform this year. Then there is the AR coating on the Ultra and it makes a significant difference.
The specs on the models I got were identical. However gamers should note the performance on the Ultra was significantly although not hugely better on the Ultra in GeekBench 6. Also thermals are better on the Ultra.
Speakers are roughly the same. Haven't been able to test battery life completely yet.
Cameras are better on the Ultra. The plus isn't bad but smooth switching between lenses and little better mp and optical zoom add up. Camera software seems better across the line.
The Ultra is not only bigger but it is thicker.
Screen seems brighter on the plus, just more vibrant. Don't know if the AR coating has anything to do with it.
So now we come down to cost. $300 more MSRP. Is it worth it? Yes and no. If you are really on a tight budget and the extra cost is just not doable I think the s24 plus is a great choice with bezels that will be the envy around town. It has wonderful build quality and Armor Aluminum in Purple is to die for...If you want a large screen with a small footprint the s24 plus gives little compromises this year.
BUT if you can spare the cash I think the extras make a strong argument for spending the extra money. But it is very subjective this year as it really depends what you prefer. Sometimes the Ultra is just too big for me. But then, when I don't have a laptop or tablet and all I have is my phone I am glad it is an s24 ultra....If you are a phone nerd the Ultra has just about everything but darn if that plus is not a looker. Just on looks I would almost go plus.
But then that Titanium on the Ultra is pretty nice looking. I got the blue and at first I almost just put it back in the box I was so upset because it barely looked blue. I set it up. Looked again. Okay it looks blue. Just not as blue as I would like but the more I look at it the more I tend to like it. I like Purple but the Ultra Purple and the Titanium looked odd together to me. The Blue looked more balanced and so did the green. The orange was also interesting.
So I am going to use both phones for a few more days just to be certain because it is about double the cost for the Ultra over the Plus with my trade in. It is hard to justify double the cost even if it is not that bad compared to MSRP. If the screen weren't better in micro scratch resistance and truly at least 50% but I believe the 75% reduction in glare. It is a huge difference side by side. Since I look at the screen so much this is the kind of feature to make a significant quality of life difference. You would be surprised what a decent anti-reflective coating can do. Add in the more unique look, the larger screen, better cooling, and better battery life by a few hours, better cameras, and s pen and the differences are a lot more significant than on paper. We also have a frame redesign. So there is a lot that make the Ultra more costly but whether it is worth it only you can determine.
Right now I am leaning on Ultra........
Keep the Ultra, the top dog. Don't regret later you settled with the smaller phone with not as premium features.
Well, to be honest, I wish it was a bit more vibrant like the silicone case but it's fine. If I would have gotten the violet case, I would also been happy. For now, I'm using the clear case I got from Amazon. However, I'll switch it and see how I like the other two cases.
Just to say, I don't in any way find the screen washed out. It's great. As for the camera, I'm still working on it.
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The reason most get blurry photos and a feature conveniently left out by these reviewers is they are not using burst mode (Press and hold shutter and slide right)
Samsungs have the fastest burst mode 30 FPS, Iphone only 10 FPS and the P8P does not have it
The P8P has the fastest Top shot at 30FPS where Samsung Action Photos and Apple Live photos are down in the 15 FPS, but these are video clips and 1 photo
In the reviewers example of his kid jumping of the sofa, burst mode not only would of caught the action but he would of had a choice of multiple photos to pick from
Shooting at 30FPS your already at synthetic shutter speeds of nearly 3x the old 1/125th flash speed to freeze action. All this reviewer is showing is on a lucky single shot trying to catch an action photo Samsung is more aperture bias and it's the wrong method to use.
Trying to capture an action single shot is hit and miss on any camera
This is the same as miss information on shutter lag, There are no shutters on digital cameras or prisms or mirrors folding back. Again all the reviewers are showing is that when shooting using the largest sensor 200mp and biggest file size its not as fast with small image, Note all the sensors are working at 10,000ths of a second or more on image info.
Nova Launcher (Beta) works a lot better on Samsung phones than on Pixels it seems.
On Pixel the animations look worse and there are graphical glitches when going closing an app.
Even though the stock launcher offer some customization it's not as good as Nova.
On Pixel the animations look worse and there are graphical glitches when going closing an app.
Even though the stock launcher offer some customization it's not as good as Nova.
Looking good. I like it a lot.
The blue and green special colors are a little more subtle but they play with light nicely.
To each their own lol 
Nova runs circles around the stock ..but you do you 
Nova runs circles around the stock ..but you do you 
I ran the older Nova release on Pixel 8 Pro and attributed choppiness to other aspects of the device than the launcher. App and web site scrolling were not as smooth compared side-by-side to my S23+ daily driver (using the same Nova launcher release). Nova behaved fine otherwise for me...
Some of this may be due to sub-optimal throughput on Pixel mobile and wifi radios.
Scrolling and general UI navigation are even better on the S24+.
S24 ultra has my work sim in it and I do realise how bulky it is compared to the pixel 8 pro. the pixel far more enjoyable to use in the hand but the stuff you can do on the ultra is very impressive. the pen comes in handy for work notes I must say.
Is this just a 1 liner click bait or would you care to share more
Most reviews feedback seem to indicate improvements overall and equal or better in some instances than the competition
The S24+ is night and day compared to the Pixel when it comes to choppiness. Play store, Google news feed, Reddit to name a few. Scrolling is very choppy on the Pixel, not an issue on the Galaxy.