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
Not only can't I brighten my AOD screen, I haven't been able to change the photo on AOD either...I miss my S22 Ultra (had a broken lens - got a 24 Ultra to replace it...so far I am not impressed...sigh
I just want a very dim AOD option, my S22 also had the option to just right the time and date and battery on the right side only. I only want this feature to find the phone in the dark.
I also need my swipe up nav gestures back. The new nav gestures are terrible and are interfering with googles gestures.
What is the use of an always on display if it's too dim to see??? Where is the brightness slider at as all other galaxy phones have. Does the future update contain the brightness slider? This isn't a good decision on the part of Samsung. The primary change made to the always on display mimicking apples version of always on display was awesome. However to leave out the control of the brightness isn't. The clock and notification icons aren't bright enough to see in a dark room. I have the s24 ultra and the phone is in the top of the flagship class. This is an important issue for me and I'm sure others. Matter of fact anyone who leaves their phone on charger at the end of the day and the always on display servers as a replacement for digital clocks on the nightstand. Not being able to adjust the brightness is almost like not having the feature at all. It's bright enough in the light but in a darker setting you can't even see the clock face and the notifications icons are invisible. Please Samsung put the brightness slider back.
I am not even sure why Samsung wants to mimic Apple. I choose Samsung because it is Samsung. I like my AOD as it is. I am not sure why the need for all the change. If you want to upgrade a phone, upgrade it, but don't take away things that weren't broken.
