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
I just got threatened with a permanent ban by Samsung for posting about the grain/screen issues. I dont think samsung will be of any help at this point.
Edit: they also removed my other post but failed to mention it in the message
Yeah fortunately my phone doesn't have the grain issue. But I sympathize with you for Sammy not building reputation of standing behind their products or listening to their loyal base. I called in to see if they could trade in my s24 for an s23 and they said no. Haha that right there shows š¤£ the issue! Anyways I've kept messing with the settings and when it's bright it works better. I shouldn't be on my phone at night anyways so in the end just hope the s25 is better. For now maybe updates can help but Idk why they constantly remove advanced settings. This is what sets android apart from iphone. Hope you figure out the grain issue. I know for me things were pixilated and it helped adjusting a bunch of display settings
I've been watching all sources about this issue and I've seen the 4 other threads that Samsung has merged with the totally unrelated resolved one. Hopefully they won't do that to this one, but so far their response has been sweeping it under the rug.
I have my S24 Ultra but I switched to my S23 Ultra because I like dark mode. No biggy and I'll probably send the S24 Ultra in as the trade-in for the S25 Ultra months after that release to avoid stuff like this again.
Yeah with the lack of response I think I'll return my S24u and stick with my S21u. Maybe I'll follow your lead and "upgrade" to a S23u haha. The last ultra phone with a reliable screen
It was a quick switch back for me, I started seeing the grain in any brightness so I immediately switched back to my S23U. Haven't really needed any of the S24U AI things either.
Honestly, after using the S23U for a bit again the only thing I really wish I had from the S24U would be a similar case (I really liked the Ringke Fusion Bold magnetic case) and a glass screen protector with no camera cutout.
Good for you. So far not a single report of a replacement unit being free from the defect. I have my budget A54 right next to S24U and even that cheap phone outperforms S24 in terms of display quality. It's even brighter outside, no joke. There's something wrong with this batch or entire model year.
This year's release convinced me that the even numbered generations after the S10 (S10 was great) aren't good and the odd numbers are the notable ones. I'm hoping Samsung doesn't subvert my expectations next year. But my S23U is still going strong, might need to have the OIS checked but it's still good. S23U is still an amazing phone and I'm really just getting a new case to refresh the in-hand feel for myself š
