I've just got my S24+ today to upgrade my trusty but ageing S10+ having not strayed from Samsung for almost 10 years. Naturally I was hoping it would be an upgrade in all departments but although on the whole it is, there's several annoying and unexpected downgrades that are making me seriously question whether it's actually worth spending quite a bit of money to change.
Firstly, the screen although pin sharp is really washed out. Even in vivid mode the colours are dull and the blacks are significantly more grey than the S10 screen, and even look washed out when put alongside my wife's budget spec A52! I've played around with brightness and colour tone etc but I can't dial it out, and my cousin who's got an S24 Ultra said exactly the same when comparing it against the S22 it's replacing.
Then there's some bizarre features missing from OneUI 6.1, the ones I've noticed so far are specifically in the Always On Display settings. I use AOD to display as a bedside clock, with my S10 and also in OneUI 6.0 / Android 14 on the A52 you can rotate the AOD to landscape orientation and control the brightness, you could even do the latter from the AOD lock screen by tapping twice on the clock to access the brightness slider. In OneUI 6.1 unless I'm missing something it seems all that functionality is missing, the brightness of the AOD is linked to the main screen brightness setting which is far too bright for overnight use, and you can't set it to landscape mode which I'd prefer when on it's horizontal night stand next to the bed. Why this functionality would be omitted I have no idea, but it's really annoying! Please someone enlighten me to some hidden menu somewhere that fixes all these issues?! š
S24 user here, same thoughts as others': the phone's supposedly superior display looks absolutely garbage when put next to my good old S21. I get that the saturation was not exactly natural on previous devices, and this change of Vivid mode does make some sense in a way, but it must be made optional, so people have the choice to choose what settings they like more.. I'm sure some would prefer this to the more saturated one. BUT forcing this on users is the worst manufacturing decision I've ever seen.
I hear the new Natural mode is also less vivid now than on previous galaxies, which would mean that they downshifted the vividness across the board to a degree. The other issue is that looking at a phone screen is not at all "natural" and we want that little area to stand out and so the idea of making the display more natural (after they themselves recognized the importance of vivid over all phone generations till now, AND having conditioned us to expect and like that) does not hold water given the usage scenario and history of the phones themselves.
It astounding how Samsung is losing their behind on this one. Whoever approved this change (if indeed intentional) and then decided not to offer the classic vivid mode, is very out of touch with the user base and frankly their own product.
This is sadly my first time sending back a samsung phone since my failled motorola and when i got my first note 5....... i don't understand I KNOW thoses display are oversaturated but seriously i got a note 5, s9+ , note 10 + and an s22 ultra all of theses are great vivid and i like thems all. the s24 ultra if this is a true statement they choose to make vivid 2% more saturated than the natural color ain't no way i will keep an s24 ultra at this pricetag.... i initiated my return within' my carrier after speakin on the phone this morning i still have 3 weeks to send it back once i get the label. i will see still on the edge of keeping it if something change about this vivid situation
because my unit has no grain issue, has maybe 2 dark line on the deep dark gray at very dim brightness wich seems to be on more than my unit. a friend of mine has thoses too. still have no idea if this is a display QC issue or just the way the new glass react. but on the other hand. i feel really sad to give up on such of a device.
Do You have death wish Samsung? Why did you tweak the display? Who even asked for this? There was nothing that needed to be fixed. Were you tired of selling too much phones and making money and decided to ruin the phone to take some break? I don't get the logic behind this.
Paid reviews..... I also wonder till today none of these influencers mentioned it. I knew they are not neutral... But seems they even sold their last 1% neutrality (which I thought they might still have).
I am clearly a Samsung fanboy... But now I just think this change of display quality drives me to Apple soon. Now I understand why Apple is so successful... They don't need to do anything because others fail.
Samsung Team - tell us you fix this else you get thousands of phones back... Let's check next quarterly earnings.
