Samsung Galaxy S24 hands-on: the mini flagship

The best and most powerful smartphones usually have more than 6.5 inches. If you wanted a real flagship that was both powerful and handy, you had to make compromises until now. The Galaxy S24, with its 6.2 inches, hits exactly that sweet spot. It surprised me for two reasons.

Performance and battery

First, I hadn’t expected Samsung’s own Exynos 2400 to keep up with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 in the Galaxy S24 Ultra. Second, partly thanks to the processor, the 4,000 mAh battery gets me through more than a full day with 4 to 5 hours of screen-on time, and by the end of the test almost through a day and a half. With the S23, battery life was awful, and I didn’t even make it through a day.

That sets the S24 apart from roughly equally sized competitors like the Pixel 8 and the iPhone 15. The iPhone 15 still has a 60 Hz display. I no longer see that as competition for Google and Samsung devices. At 60 Hz, you could tie your shoes between frames while scrolling.

Design and display

The S24 now looks extremely similar to the iPhone 15: angular, matte aluminum frame, completely flat display, matte glass back. The result is a premium look on Apple’s level, and I find that entirely positive. At 167 g, it is the lightest of the three models. With a maximum brightness of 2,600 nits, the display is also 600 nits brighter than the competition.

Camera

Here the S24 is no flagship. It has changed next to nothing compared to the S23, and it has fewer lenses than the S24 Ultra, just one 50-megapixel main camera. Still, in my view the everyday photos are quite impressive and more than enough for the average user.

What’s new is that the Galaxy S24 devices are the first smartphones to support HDR photos directly in the Instagram app. Nightography and electronic image stabilization are also available in third-party apps such as Instagram, TikTok and WhatsApp. In the past, shots taken directly in Instagram were unusable, so you had to shoot with the Samsung camera and upload. Now the shot in the app has the same quality. If you post regularly on social media, you’ll be happy about this.

Galaxy AI and other features

When Samsung introduced Galaxy AI, I thought it was only coming to the S24 Ultra. But everything is also available on the S24 Plus and the small S24: AI-powered photo editing, Live Translate for phone calls and an offline interpreter on vacation. On top of that come:

• Ultrasonic fingerprint sensor, more secure than the optical one on the Pixel 8
• Reverse wireless charging
• Samsung DeX
• seven years of guaranteed updates

What I don’t like

I made an effort to find negative points. With the S22 and S23, that wasn’t hard. With the S24, I first thought the Exynos would give plenty of reason for criticism. Then I set up the device and couldn’t notice any difference from the S24 Ultra. Then the battery, then the camera, but the results there were very good.

The only thing I noticed on all three models is the speakers. They are loud, but on the S24 series they sound pretty tinny above a certain volume. So I prefer to use my devices with headphones, and I hope this gets fixed quickly with an update.

Verdict

For me, the S24 is a pocket flagship: a smaller battery that still lasts long enough, a scaled-down camera that still takes excellent photos and videos, perfect for one-handed use, light and full of power. It is the device for everyone who wants a flagship in a handy format.