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
There is nothing for them to fix. You want a vivid display like s23 then go into display settings. Scroll to adaptive color tone and turn it OFF. Select vivid and turn slider to cool or medium and you will have the same vivid display you are used too.
I'm glad you like the current display of the S24, but I'm not the only person on the entire internet complaining. Even with the settings you suggested to change, it's still the same.
Online review after online review raves about the S24 Ultra and its fantastic screen. Yet it took me about 2 minutes to see that the screen on the S22 Ultra and the S23 Uktra have more pop and brightness to them. Whike comparing my old S22 Ultra to the S24 Ultra, I simply googled " 4k sunset " and compared the pictures ( in both natural and vivid ). When I was in the vivid mode a person standing next to me asked if I were comparing my phone to an entry level Samsung phone,, which was both funny and sad at the same time. Now I know many people just use the Natural mode, but there are also millions of us that Samsung has gotten hooked on the Vivid mode. To use Vivid mode users especially, the phones screen is terribly washed out and dull,, yet very little if any of this is mentioned in online reviews,, WHY ? The side by side screen difference is shocking.
Online reviews also seem to not mention that the much touted new AI , may be just a one year free trial for us, and Samsung may monatoze it and start charging to use it at a later date after 2025. The same AI is already coming to other older Samsung phones, so exclusivity is not even a thing on the S24 Ultra.
Plus I have heard rumers of faulty cameras on the phone,, poor battery charging and that dreaded green line on the screen, yet once again the reviews say littke if anything about these items.
Its bad enough that online reviews say nothing, but even Samsung has not addressed these issues publicly. What we have so far about the vivid mode is that some guy, told some guy working for a telacomications company in Spain that the dull screen was done on purpose. IS THAT SAMSUNGS OFFICIAL STAND ON THE ISSUE - I dont know. I only hope Samsung has not abandoned their loyal Vivid Mide customers.
I think since the Samsung CEO during a big meeting with key people from many divisions saying the S24 Ultra is basically the S23 Ultra with AI sprinkled on it they all panicked and probably encourage online reviewers to maybe inflate while deflatingm*wink wink*.
This is really disappointing that Samsung has released THE flagship phone the S24 Ultra with so little fanfare. My S24 Ultra w/1TB showing up 3rd week of this month is more than likely being sent back. Currently I think my S23 Ultra 5g is Samsung's flagship phone. Really bummed out the S24 Ultra lacks the WOW factor my S23 Ultra did. Samsung better wake up.
