Samsung Galaxy S24 and S24 Plus First Impressions: Same-Same, But Different

It’s that time of year again when Samsung launches the Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema, and Cristiano Ronaldo equivalent of the smartphone world — the Galaxy S24, S24 Plus, and the S24 Ultra. It’s a trio that sets the bar for the upcoming wave of flagship smartphones throughout the year. But, like the (ex) Real Madrid triad, can these phones deliver consecutively good results?

Samsung allowed us a limited time to experience these devices, and in this article let’s take a gander over the S24 and S24 Plus, since they share some commonalities. Like the S24 Ultra, both these devices also have Galaxy AI, making boring tasks easier and interesting for the end user. We’ll get into that and a lot of other things in this first look at the Galaxy S24 and S24 Plus.

Samsung Galaxy S24 and S24 Plus Pricing and Availability in India

The new design and colours feel refreshing

With the Galaxy S23 and S23 Plus, Samsung parted ways with the camera island giving all the individual lenses dedicated rings — bridging the design gap between the Ultra and the vanilla. The same design language has been followed here with the S24 duo but with quality-of-life changes.

Firstly, gone are the rounded aluminium frames, and in come the flat ones with a mild chamfer, which remind me of the iPhone 15 series. However, I believe these have slightly better ergonomics. Both the phones now have a matte finish, and it feels premium to hold. The S24 has also lost a gram of weight, while the S24 Plus has gained one, compared to last year. The weight distribution is balanced, and fans of compact phones can still rejoice.

If you want something vibrant and flashy, the Cobalt Violet colour variant is the correct choice.

Else, both devices remain mostly the same. You’ll find the usual set of power and volume buttons on the right side of the frame. The USB Type-C port, SIM tray, and speaker grille can be found on the bottom. The phones are still IP68-rated, which is always good to see.

Taller and brighter displays

The Galaxy S24 sports a FHD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2X display, while the S24 Plus features a QHD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2X. Both displays are a bit taller compared to last year. The S24 now comes with a 6.2-inch panel (up from 6.1-inch), and the S24 Plus gets the same treatment with a 6.7-inch panel (up from 6.6-inch). The bezels on these devices are slightly thinner, giving a more distraction-less experience.

Both devices see a massive upgrade in the brightness department, reaching a peak brightness of 2600 nits, up from 1750 nits. You also get a separate toggle in the display settings to enable extra brightness, this should help with legibility under the sun.

On the Plus variant, you get to switch between FHD+ and QHD+ resolutions to help save battery in dire situations. Speaking of which, while the refresh rates remain the same at 120Hz, the adaptive values go through a massive change. Now, it can go to a minimum of 1Hz to save battery life. The displays are protected by a layer of Gorilla Glass Victus 2.

If the cameras aren’t broken, why fix it

The camera setup remains largely the same. You get a 50-megapixel main camera, a 10-megapixel telephoto camera with 3x optical zoom, and a 12-megapixel ultrawide angle camera. For selfies, you are offered a 12-megapixel camera.

As for zoom levels, Samsung is introducing a lossless optical quality zoom of up to 2x and a maximum digital zoom of up to 30x. Features such as Dual Tele Zoom System, Super HDR, and Nightography can also be found here.

Exynos makes a return

Unlike the US markets, the Galaxy S24 and the S24 Plus are powered by the Exynos 2400 in India. It’s a 10-core CPU that’s paired with the new Samsung Xclipse 940 GPU which is based on AMD’s RDNA 3 graphics architecture. Now, Exynos hasn’t had a good reputation in the past, but we’ll have to wait and see if the comeback is worth it. The phones are available in three storage variants, but the 8GB RAM remains constant. We’ll be testing the S24 and the S24 Plus rigorously in the coming weeks, so stay tuned for our in-depth review.

While changes on the hardware front are appreciated, the visuals in the software are what caught my eye instantly. The entirety of the S24 series now runs on One UI 6.1 based on Android 14.

Samsung follows in the footsteps of Google by promising seven years of OS upgrades, which is a massive win in our books.

And, that’s not even the best part. One UI brings along some visual changes that my eyes have been dying for. The quick settings panel gets an overhaul with a cleaner layout. The Wi-Fi and Bluetooth settings get bigger icons, for easier access. The brightness slider also appears on the first swipe, which makes things easier.

The Galaxy S24 is backed by a 4,000mAh battery, which is a minor upgrade over the 3,900mAh battery on the S23. The S24 Plus gets a 4,900mAh battery, 200mAh more than last year. All these combined with better adaptive refresh rates should help serve more battery life. The charging situation on both devices is sadly still the same. The S24 maxes out at 25W, while the Plus variant can go up to 45W — both speeds are nowhere close to industry standards. You do get support for wireless charging.

Galaxy AI is fun

This year is going to be all about AI. And, Samsung being Samsung, wanted to be at the forefront of this.

So, it infused their already powerful devices with AI — or Galaxy AI. I won’t go into much detail about them in this first impression, because all of these are mentioned in the Galaxy S24 Ultra first impressions — go on, read that too. It’s worth highlighting the fact that many of these AI magic tricks can be performed directly on your phone — and that’s just bonkers.

Initial thoughts

The Galaxy S24 and S24 Plus are two interesting devices. The S24 will still entice compact phone lovers, while the S24 Plus will be eyed by people looking for a reliable battery phone. The subtle design upgrades, vibrant colour choices, slight battery improvements, and Galaxy AI are major takeaways from both phones. But, with performance-focused phones such as the iQOO 12 already out in the market, and the OnePlus 12 slowly creeping in — it will be interesting to see how the Exynos 2400 fares in this fight.

The Galaxy S24 and S24 Plus have a good and reliable camera setup, but there are no major improvements here from the previous generation. Besides that, the slow charging speeds are still upsetting. However, it’s good to see Samsung making strides in the software department with a seven-year support promise and design revamps.

Overall, the Galaxy S24 duo look like a reliable set of phones, but we’ll test them further for our full review. Stay tuned.