I've just bought a Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra

It's inevitable that sooner or later one's electronic equipment needs replacing, item by item. Technological developments make it a good idea; but lack of support for security measures, and apps that no longer work so well, or not at all, are generally more pressing reasons. For instance, I absolutely must replace my 2016-vintage Microsoft Surface Book - my laptop - by 14th October 2025, the date planned by Microsoft to withdraw support for all Windows 10 devices. But at the moment I still have plenty of time to consider which new laptop to buy, and I can certainly defer the purchase to mid-2025. That being so, I can spend my money this year on a new smartphone.

It doesn't seem so long since I replaced my Samsung Galaxy S8+ with an S20+. In fact it was almost exactly three years ago in January 2021. I'd watched Samsung's Galaxy Unpacked 2021 presentation and had been wowed by the S21 Ultra, the smartphone Samsung regarded as their new flagship model, to replace the Note line. But there were snags. First, the cost: I wasn't yet used to paying anything like £1,329 for a phone, however good. And that's what I'd need to pay for an S21 Ultra with 512GB of onboard storage - nothing less would do, because (this is the second snag) Samsung were no longer providing a way to add extra storage by inserting a microSD card. If I were going to keep the S21 Ultra for a long time, there was the real possibility that I would run out of storage. I certainly couldn't manage with only 256GB, at that time the standard amount of onboard storage. I needed more than this so that I could load my phone with my growing Most Important Photo collection, considerable back in January 2021, and now in January 2024 standing at over 67,000 pictures, representing about one-fifth of my Photo Archive. It was vital to allow for future expansion, especially as I intended to buy a new camera, leading to more shots and larger file sizes that would gobble up the available onboard storage. I did not want to run out of storage too soon, and be forced to buy yet another phone. So it had to be at least 512GB, at whatever cost.  

I was rescued from spending too much, however, because I couldn't complete the online purchase process. I guessed that the volume of pre-orders Samsung received was so great that anyone like me, who took too long to get through the purchase process, was bounced out in favour of slicker buyers. 

This in fact worked in my favour. I had time to reassess what I wanted. The previous year's best model, the S20+, did take microSD cards, and cards up to 1TB at that - which solved the storage problem. The S20+ was also 5G ready. It was moreover a lot cheaper to buy, being 'last year's phone'. So I bought an S20+ instead (that's my phone Prudence) and I've been very happy with it.

Fast forward to 2024. The new car (Sophie) was already in the bag. The laptop purchase was postponed to mid-2025. It seemed appropriate to make 2024 the year for my next smartphone. 

Although I'd owned Prudence for only three years, she was in fact four years behind the latest technology. Still perfectly good for ordinary needs, but not for the enhancements AI - Artificial Intelligence - could provide. I'd seen enough of the online leaks and speculations to know that the forthcoming S24 Ultra would be rather special, and probably the one to buy. So at 6.00pm yesterday evening, I sat down in front of my laptop screen and watched Samsung's Galaxy Unpacked 2024 presentation on YouTube. I wasn't disappointed. It confirmed my impression that the Ultra was the S24 model to go for, not the two smaller phones.

If I couldn't insert a microSD card, then I wanted a vast amount of onboard storage - 1TB - and only the Ultra had so much. 

I wanted the Ultra's extra-large screen for viewing my photos, working with spreadsheets, and studying my maps. A larger screen would make all that easier. 

It didn't matter that the S24 Ultra was too large for an ordinary pocket. I used pockets only for tissues. The Ultra would ride in my handbag, as all my phones had done. 

I didn't really need the improved camera, but it would be useful to have as a standby. 

Above all, I wanted those AI enhancements, to make my Google searches more productive. After all, a smartphone is one's personal mobile encyclopaedia: I'm looking up things all the time. I never want to stop learning and discovering and understanding. 

The pictures that follow are my photographs of the laptop screen, and not mere laptop screenprints. All were shot with LXV, my Leica X Vario. Which may strike you as ironic, using such old tech to record the arrival of this year's new tech. LXV was made in November 2013 and is now over ten years old. That's very old in tech terms. Its photo specifications are minimalistic compared to those of my S24 Ultra. But I will continue to use LXV for nearly all my photography because (a) LXV is camera-shaped, not a flat slab, and therefore my grip on it is secure and comfortable; (b) LXV is a Leica, so it has presence, and is clearly a serious imaging device. I don't look like a run-of-the-mill tourist when I take my pictures, which sometimes helps to get me shots denied to ordinary shooters. My new Ultra will look stunning, but it's still only a phone. Any punter with the cash can have one and use it, regardless of their photographic skill or lack of it.    

Let's get on with what I saw. AI was certainly the Big Thing on offer. 

Samsung had sensibly teamed up with Google to deliver all kinds of tricks, and the main presenter, TM Roh (his name is actually Roh Tae-moon) - President of Samsung Communications - was almost bursting with pride and enthusiasm for this year's offerings. He made the introductions on a gigantic stage with huge background projections. 

That's him, the tiny figure lower centre in the shot just above. Everything else is a dynamic background projection. 

Early on he made an important announcement: starting with the S24 series, Samsung would provide seven years of OS updates. That's wonderful. It means that, subject to some future development that would require a different type of device, any S24 series phone bought now will be future-proofed for seven years to come. So although the initial cost of buying one might be high, you would get longevity and therefore your full money's worth. (At last)

On to the headline AI enhancements. Although I couldn't see myself using it, Samsung's flavour of AI aims to demolish language barriers with Live Translate. One could text a person who didn't know your language, and that person would see a simultaneous translation in their language of your English text. An idiomatic translation at that. Pretty good. But you could do the same thing when speaking over the phone: they would hear a translation of your English words. So phoning abroad to make a hotel reservation should now hold no terrors. Potentially amazing.

Even if there is no language barrier, and you are engaged in ordinary texting in English, Chat Assist can improve the tone and wording of your message with AI so that it won't be inadvertently ambiguous or offensive.

Or say you have been taking quick-and-dirty notes at a meeting or lecture, either by typing on the screen, or in your own handwriting using the S-Pen (a stylus) that comes with the Ultra. AI will tidy up those rough notes for you, and convert them into a neat, grammatical and nuanced narrative - in various styles that you can select, to suit the particular readership. AI can also summarise the main points, with bullets if you like, and you can swap between those styles at will to see which you prefer. What a boon.

But they revealed more. AI could now help with Google searches. This is the thing that will be most useful to me. It's called 'Circle to Search', glimpsed already on Google's Pixel phones. Suppose you came across something in a picture, wanted to know what it was, but didn't know what words to use to frame a question. Using a finger, or the S-Pen with the Ultra, you can ring, outline, or scribble onto whatever it is in the picture and AI will identify what the thing is and tell you. And if it's something you can buy, AI will show you where to buy it. This works with anything that AI has knowledge of. Such as this yummy South Korean snack:  

I often spot curious things as I go about my day. Now I can use this facility to get instant information about them. It will be very interesting to find out just how much information. I imagine that AI - as implemented for personal phones - won't go so far as to identify unknown people. But it surely will help to identify unknown places shown in pictures, and give the background on a host of objects one might come across. Such as, who painted this picture? And if it's listening, what musical work is this? (I hope this is true)

Clearly, with AI to boost it, the smartphone is set to become even more central to modern life. 

This clever young lady is now properly equipped. She's popping her Ultra in her bag. It's almost all she needs. 

I wish I had a bag that had that kind of bright internal illumination - how handy would that be at night?

Of course the Ultra's camera - cameras rather - were a major topic! Those prominent lenses were, after all, the eyes through which the AI will be seeing one's world. As I said above, I'm not personally relying on my Ultra for more than the odd shot. But most people will use the camera extensively, in combination with AI. 

The presentation imagined being let loose in a picture gallery.

Each shot was now aided by AI, so that different parts of the picture were each independently assessed for whatever was needed to bring out colour, contrast, texture, and above all crisp detail, with options to morph the background and shift the subject around. Here's a black and white example of a statue:

In this colour shot, each area of differing texture and pattern would be analysed by AI to give the best possible rendition:

Samsung obviously want Ultra users to grin with delight at every picture they take!

I missed the part where the new Galaxy Ring (a forthcoming health-monitoring device) was being shown. I couldn't give it any attention. I was instead busy placing my order for the 1TB version of the Ultra. If pre-ordering, I could get a 1TB version for £1,349 instead of £1,549, the official launch price from the end of this month - in theory a £200 saving, although whether one will ever in fact need to pay as much as £1,549 remains to be seen. I added £9.99 for delivery by DPD before 10,30am on 24th January, the earliest delivery date available. So it was £1,358.99 altogether. This time I managed to complete the online payment process successfully. I have confirmation by email.  

The S24 Ultra has a titanium case and comes in several colours, three of them available online-only. I'm having the green one - it's a light metallic green, with dark grey accents. 

Pre-ordering also secured me a nice freebie: a Samsung Galaxy Watch6. This was the smartwatch Samsung launched last August. It's had good reviews, and seems to be considered the best Android smartwatch, but like all similar smartwatches it requires frequent, probably daily, recharging. Can I somehow work that into my routine? Or will daily charging be an irritating bind? Will it be as nice to wear and use as my Fitbit Versa 3? Or just too complicated for my simple needs? The Fitbit has two big advantages: it is primarily a fitness-centred watch, and its battery lasts me eight days. Also, I love the Fitbit app and the way it present my fitness statistics. 

Well, I'll see what the Watch6 is like, and how it compares with the Fitbit, and whether daily recharging (at home in the evening, say, so that it's fully charged for monitoring my sleep) is a deal-breaker or not. I suspect it will be. I might not even unpack it. 

My Ultra arrives in six days time. Between now and then I will need to decide whether I'll buy a protective case for it. I might not. Any protective case would to some extent obscure or conceal my new phone's classy green finish, and hide the fact that this is Samsung's top-of-the-range smartphone. It'll be the best handheld device I've yet bought. I want to show it off, not swathe it in plastic, clear or otherwise. Besides, the Ultra is made of titanium, and ought to withstand accidental knocks. Then there's the size of the thing. I've cut out a dummy plastic rectangle to see how it would fit into my not-so-big left hand. It's fine; but any any protective case would add girth, and then it might not be fine any longer. Then again, if I don't fit a protective case, I can't attach a lanyard to go around my wrist, as an extra precaution against dropping it. Hmm. 

I will in any event make a snug leather sleeve to slip the phone into, similar to the one I made in 2017, and still using (although it looks a bit tatty nowadays). That'll not only keep it unmarked and cushioned while in my bag: it doubles as a resting-pad when I place the phone on a table - or indeed on any surface that might scratch it. 

Another thing: my new phone will need a name. That will definitely need much careful pondering, as I don't want to choose an unsuitable name for a phone that I'm likely to keep for quite a long time. I could choose a name that salutes not only my Ultra's green case colour, but its Korean origins, such as Jade Tiger, or Meadow Dragon. Or go green and eco with Leaf. Or continue the long run of old-fashioned but serious female names with Eleanor, Antonia, Constance, Olivia, or perhaps Martha. (Of these I rather like Olivia) Well, I'll be mulling this over. 

Update on 21st January

Unless the gods decree otherwise, it will be Olivia. And I've ordered a clear plastic Evo case from Tech21, whose transparent cases on previous Samsung phones (Tigerlily my Galaxy S8+, and Prudence my Galaxy S20+) have proved excellent. I'm not saying I'll necessarily fit it - I don't yet know how slippery Olivia will feel in my grasp, nor how eager she'll be to kiss the ground - but I will now have a very good remedy against such tendencies. And as before, I can attach a lanyard if I want to.