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
The best way I can describe it is when looking at color gradients, it's something that is blurred, where the colors slowly shift to another color, the transition looks blocky. Testmyscreen.com is great at showing color gradients, and on the s24 color banding is pretty extreme. If you set your wallpaper to anything blurred too, you might notice it looks like More pixilated around the blurred color transitions
Okay the Feb. Update has indeed taken care of the vivid issues and most camera issues. However the AOD issue hasn't been solved yet. On the s24 ultra the AOD brightness control isn't there. Because of this the AOD isn't visible in a dark room. What's the point of having an ALWAYS ON DISPLAY if you can't see the display in a dark environment??? I use the AOD instead of a digital clock at the side of my bed or rely upon my phone's AOD in any dark place. At a glance I was able to see the time and any missed messages. The AOD has always been very useful. In the middle of the night. While laying in bed I would glance over to see the time. Instead of this convenience. I now actually have to get up to touch the phone!!! The AOD is too dim to read from more than a couple of inches. The solution is very easy to make. Just put back the brightness slider on the AOD two taps and you are able to adjust the brightness like it has always been on previous galaxy phones that had the AOD feature. Otherwise it is almost like not having an AOD at all. I believe that being able to see the AOD in a dark room was the primary reason for the AOD in the first place. I know that it's my primary way to use the AOD. Samsung please bring the brightness control slide back to the AOD. This feature is clutch for my personal use case and many others too.
My S24U (and probably most/all of them) have worse banding than older Galaxys, but that vertical banding on your phone seems to kick the issue up a couple notches.
Having a consistent issue (across all units of the same model) is one thing, but having inconsistent degreesof an issue, well, that just sucks. What kind of QC is Samsung doing on their phones?
I hate what Samsung has done to the AOD. I hate it especially when I glance over at my iPhoneās AOD and I can see the time. I can see the time on my spouseās S23 Ultra, but on mine I cannot see the time, date, notifications, nothing at all! I am so disappointed in this phone. I have never been so disappointed in a Samsung phone since the Note 5. Any who, onto the positives. I never had any issues with the camera or display thank goodness. I do prefer the flat display, but the edge panel handle (even when changed to thick) sometimes doesnāt register my touch.
yes they have set it up **bleep**-backwards. The AOD should get brighter to see it in a dark room. The way it is now is useless when using in room that is dark while watching TV. It should be darker in a bright light room...............
