2024-01-28 14:28:56
technological test
How can digital services be improved? What new products are there on the market today, and what is their quality compared to the competition? How are technological problems solved? Every week the section will try to answer these and similar questions. If you have encountered problems and need help, or you would like us to review certain products, you are welcome to contact the email: [email protected]
Artificial intelligence is taking over our lives, and day by day we discover how it can miraculously improve our lives. Systems, software and applications that use generative artificial intelligence capabilities offer us a new world.
● The era of AI is coming to the smartphone: first impressions of Samsung’s new flagship devices
● The intriguing innovations worth knowing: special coverage from the world’s largest technology exhibition
This month, the Korean technology giant Samsung launched its new flagship devices, the S24 series, which puts AI at the center with built-in capabilities. We tested the S24 Ultra, the company’s biggest “monster”.
The main innovation: features with AI
Samsung has pompously announced that smartphones are facing a new era, thanks to the ability of generative artificial intelligence to improve their performance and capabilities. However, despite the brilliant thought direction, the execution is still not cooked enough.
Among the new features: the device allows you to summarize texts, such as the article you are currently reading, of variable length according to your choice. The feature is very accessible, with the click of a button you get a summary of the entire page. The performance is good, but it seems that Hebrew is not among the languages that the system manages to operate on its own – as if the system has to translate into English and perform the summary, then translate back into Hebrew. And so, the result we got is broken translations.
Second, Samsung allows you to type text, then turn on a spelling and grammar option that corrects syntax or spelling mistakes. The next step is to receive several suggestions for writing styles: original, professional, everyday, polite message, text for social networks (which includes hashtags) and a combination of emojis.
The suggestions are certainly nice, and the feature also works in the Hebrew language, although there are a few glitches. But the real problem is that Samsung can’t convince that it’s really a useful feature. In a demonstration held for Globes, it was mentioned that this feature can turn teenagers into businessmen at the push of a button.
So it is true that the feature significantly helps express young people who do not excel at it, but the whole process is too long for those who want to send a quick message – writing the message, passing a spell check, and then activating the writing styles feature. During this time you can watch 2-3 Tiktok videos.
What then is the next step, which can make these tools great? The processing of the text will be done not in the cloud but on the device itself, and while writing the message the device will recognize the tone and offer to improve it.
Another nice feature is live translation – a voice conversation that takes place through the voice assistant, when she translates into another language for the other party. It’s impressive, but not yet available in Hebrew, so it’s hard to really test these uses.
The limitation: only in the official tools
A particularly brilliant move by Samsung is to enable all the new tools, such as the summary and corrections to existing texts, only through its keyboard and browser. Meaning, in order to activate these features, you must use its tools.
This decision can be a significant obstacle for those who are not used to using Samsung’s browser or keyboard. The company will have to improve its capabilities and attract more consumers, so that they don’t give it up in the long run.
The surprising feature: surround and search
One of the ripe and packed features comes from Samsung’s collaboration with Google, and is called Circle to Search – to circle in order to search. If you press the home button for a long time, the screen will be painted with a layer with Google’s branding, which will allow you to mark any object on the screen that you want and within a single second a customized Google search will be performed.
This feature works great, executes very quickly and is completely modular. This means that if you attack, for example, an ambulance that is in the image, or even a part of the image, Google will immediately bring up ambulance options. If you decide to mark a text, Google will recognize where it begins and ends, and will search for the text in question in the search engine. Great execution and concept.
Camera: Improvements and AI editor
The camera setup in the device is square, with a 200 megapixel main camera, a 12 megapixel ultra-wide camera and two 50 and 10 megapixel telephoto lenses. True to Samsung’s reputation, it manages to deliver a good photography setup. The pictures come out full of colors and full of animals. However, it should be mentioned that Samsung likes to “spice up” the photos, by adding more color or sharpness that doesn’t really exist, and there are those who prefer the exact reality without additions.
The change in hardware is not the big story in relation to the device, but the fact that the company allows editing photos with the help of artificial intelligence. If you want to change the position of an object in the image or delete it, you can use an AI-based editor. But like the other AI tools on the device, it still doesn’t work well.
In several attempts we moved objects that appeared to be marked accurately, with outlines or parts of them left behind. The completion of the gap due to the transition also did not work as it should, so Samsung needs to work a lot more so that the result is not distorted.
Performance: Like any ultra
Due to the fact that this is Samsung’s flagship device, and due to the company’s choice to frame things so that the big story is the artificial intelligence, there is really no significant news here.
The device, which uses the latest Qualcomm processor, works great. It includes a running memory of 12GB, and three storage options: 256/512GB or 1TB. The battery lasts a whole day, and the charging itself is also fast.
The device itself is massive and huge – a 6.8-inch screen with a peak brightness of 2,600 nits. The graphics are sharp and great and you can see the details excellently outside, in sunlight. Unlike previous devices, it is made of titanium, but this does not make it lighter, on the contrary: the feeling is that it is more monstrous.
Bottom line: a gimmicky monster
There is no doubt that this is an impressive device, perhaps the best in the Android category. However, the new artificial intelligence capabilities are not mature, and do not pass the test. Samsung is riding a trend, and the features it presents are more of a gimmick than a truly purposeful display.
The devices will arrive in Israel on 1.2, and due to the fact that the price starts at NIS 5,200 for the low storage space (and can increase by NIS 1,500 for the high model), it’s worth thinking about it for a moment. If you have the previous generation, S23 Ultra, you will get the AI capabilities for the device (in a software update), so it’s a shame to buy a new one. In any other transition, you might enjoy nice capabilities, but it’s worth waiting to get Samsung’s monster a little more mature.
Full disclosure Samsung provided us with the devices for testing
For your attention: The Globes system strives for a diverse, relevant and respectful discourse in accordance with
code of ethics
appearing
in the trust report
according to which we act. Expressions of violence, racism, incitement or any other inappropriate discourse are filtered out automatically and will not be published on the site.
#tested #Samsungs #flagship #device #capabilities