Samsung Galaxy S24+ review: Reliable flagship phone

Like the previous iterations, Samsung has positioned the Galaxy S24 Plus variant as a middle ground between the regular Galaxy S24 and the feature-packed Galaxy S24 Ultra at the top end.

The S24 offers a larger display and battery capacity than the standard S24, making it ideal for users who binge on OTT content for long hours.

The Galaxy S24 Plus may not have a more versatile camera system or the S Pen support of the S24 Ultra, but the former strikes a balance between affordability and features. But, does it deliver the goods? Let's find out.

Design, build quality and display

Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus retains the design language of its predecessor. It flaunts trademark metal-ringed camera islands with LED flash at the back.

Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus.

On the front, it sports a punch-hole display design with a tiny camera at the top.

As far as improvements are concerned, the 2024 series model comes with enhanced build quality and also thinner uniform bezels with a 91.6 per cent screen-to-body ratio.

It features Armour Aluminium (2nd Gen) frame and comes with an IP68 certification. It is capable of surviving accidental drops not just on hard surfaces but also in a swimming pool for up to 1.5 metres (approx. five feet) depth for close to 30 minutes.

The new Galaxy S24 Plus also features Corning's Gorilla Glass Victus 2 on the back and front panels. They come in handy to protect against scratches when kept in pockets and backpacks.

Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus.

Samsung's new phone sports a 6.7-inch QHD+ (1440 x 3120p) Dynamic AMOLED 2X Display with a pixel density of 513 ppi (pixels per second) and support variable refresh rate (1~120Hz).

Galaxy S24 Plus has one of the best displays in the industry. It is just one rank below the S24 Ultra, which features a special anti-glare coating.

In other key aspects such as colour accuracy and browsing experience, Galaxy S24 Plus delivers better than rival brands in its class.

Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus.

It also boasts the next-generation Vision Booster feature. It works with ambient light sensors of the phone to automatically brighten the screen to the maximum level when viewing content under direct sunlight. It can offer up to 2,600 nits peak brightness.

The in-display fingerprint scanner works with a lower rejection rate if the finger is neat and dry.

Performance

The Galaxy S24 Plus is powered by Samsung's proprietary Exynos 2400 deca-core processor (3.2GHz Cortex-X4 x 1 core + 2.9GHz Cortex-A720 x 2 cores + 2.6GHz Cortex-A720 x 3 cores + 1.95GHz Cortex-A520 x 4 cores) with Xclipse 940 GPU.

[Note: In global markets, all three Galaxy S24 models come with Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. In India, only the S24 Ultra feature the Qualcomm chipset and the other two—S24 and 24 Plus—feature the aforementioned Samsung Exynos chipset]

Samsung 4nm-class Exynos 2400 processor can clock a maximum CPU speed of 3.2GHz.

Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus' CPU and GPU performance score on Geekbench 6.0 app.

As advertised, the phone managed to deliver smooth performance in terms of day-to-day operations such as loading apps, operating cameras and playing games.

However, there is a noticeable lack of efficiency in terms of heat dissipation compared to the S24 Ultra.

Though, all phones which are made of glass and metal exhibit similar behaviour, Samsung did a fine job with S24 Ultra. The big vapour cooling chamber played a crucial role in ensuring the device remains cool even during long gaming sessions.

But, this is not the case with S24 Plus. The latter warms up pretty fast even when recording high-resolution videos. If the phone is protected by a soft silicone-based cover case, one wouldn't notice this issue much.

The highlight of the new Galaxy S24 series is the Galaxy AI feature. The latter is powered by Google's Gemini generative AI large language model (LLM). Samsung says it can help phone owners improve their productivity and also play around with photography tools to create fun multimedia content.

For the uninitiated, the Galaxy AI relies on Gemini Nano for activities such as language translations, live transcriptions, and several other value-added services with minimal effort on the device and doesn't need internet connectivity.

For activities such as Circle to Search, Generative Edit (including creating custom wallpapers and themes with text prompts), Instant Slo-mo (on camera), and others, that need cloud server connectivity, the Galaxy AI feature rely on Gemini Pro to perform required tasks smoothly.

Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus' Galaxy AI feature can help with instant language translation from Hindi to English and vice-versa.

In reality, the Galaxy AI feature works fine only up to an extent. It fares well with 'circle to search', translating messages, but there is room for improvement when transcribing long-form audio content.

Also, it will be more useful if Samsung expands its translation capability to other Indian languages. Currently, only Hindi-to-English and vice-versa are available on the phone.

The device runs on the latest Android 14-based One UI 6 OS. It is guaranteed to get seven years of Android OS updates. This is a welcome move by Samsung, as it ensures the device gets new features every year and, there will at one less reason for the owner to get a replacement for at least five years, provided the device is protected against physical damage.

The Galaxy S24 Plus houses a 4,500mAh battery. It consistently delivered a full day battery life under normal usage. It should be noted that the device, like another phone drains faster if it is dependent fully on cellular data for streaming, gaming or consuming content on social media apps such as Instagram or X (formerly Twitter).

If you happen to have a Wi-Fi connection at home and the office the Galaxy S24 Plus can easily last a day with at least 20 per cent juice at the end of the night.

The Galaxy S24 Plus supports 45W wired charging speed. It can power up from zero to 65 per cent in under 30 minutes. It can reach the 100 per cent mark in less than an hour. The Samsung phone also supports 15W wireless charging speed and 4.5W reverse wireless charging through the PowerShare feature.

Photography

Samsung's premium phone houses a triple-camera module-- main 12MP ultra-wide camera (f/2.2, 120-degree Field-Of-View 120) + 50MP wide camera (with OIS: Optical Image Stabilisation, f/1.8, 85-degree FOV) + 10MP telephoto camera (with 3x Optical Zoom, f/2.4, 36-degree FOV) with LED flash.

Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus' camera sample.

Over the years, Samsung has raised its game in the photography department. It has a better performance compared to iPhones and is capable of matching Pixel phones in terms of smart camera tools such as object eraser, 'Erase Reflection', Photo Remaster and motion photos.

The Galaxy S24 Plus excels in all lighting conditions. It takes brilliant photos with clear details even under shadows.

Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus' camera sample.

It does boost the colours of the subject, especially flowers, but they come off pretty, worthy to be posted on social media platforms.

The portrait mode does an amazing job with a sharp focus on the subject and delivers a natural bokeh effect in the background.

The Galaxy S24 fares well with close-up macro shot mode too. It manages to get minute details clearly on the frame.

Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus' camera sample with Portrait macro mode turned-on.

Samsung's new phone supports ultra-wide angle field-of-view with up to 120-degree. As you can see in the sample photo, it accommodates a vast area of the lake in a single frame and also the colours are natural.

Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus' camera sample with ultra-wide-angle option turned-on.

It also supports 3X optical zoom. Here too, it successfully manages to retain pristine photo quality. Even 10X digital zoom looks good even on a computer screen.

Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus' camera sample.

Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus' camera sample with 3X optical zoom option turned-on.

However, the photos begin to accumulate noise and lose sharpness beyond it. The device supports 20X and 30X digital zoom.

With night mode on, Galaxy S24 Plus can give Pixel phones a run for their money. Also, it supports Astrophotography mode, but for that, you have to download the Expert RAW app from the Galaxy Store and a tripod to get a beautiful starry sky with a dramatic timelapse effect.

On the front, it houses 12MP (with f/2.2, 80-degree FOV). It takes brilliant selfies in natural sunlight and at night with less light, the photos are decent. It can record 4K and full HD (1080p) quality videos at 30/60 frames per second (fps).

Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus' camera sample.

The triple camera on the rear side can record up to 8K at 24/30 fps. The video quality are really good and stable thanks to the gyro-Electric Image Stabilisation (EIS) feature.

Final thoughts

Samsung's Galaxy S24 Plus lives up the expectations in terms of balancing the features and its asking price.

As far as the Gemini-powered Galaxy AI () feature is concerned, it has room for improvement. This is not just not limited to S24 Plus, but also to S24 and S24 Ultra too.

In terms of photography aspects, the S24 Plus excels in all lighting conditions. Even tools such as object erasers, work as advertised, but like on Pixel phones, there is noticeable lag.

Samsung Galaxy S24 Plus.

As noted earlier, the S24 Plus (& even the regular S24 model) gets warmed up when playing games and operating camera. It is normal for phones made of glass and metal, but the S24 Plus is not efficient in terms of heat dissipation compared to the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3-powered Galaxy S24 Ultra.

The Galaxy S24 Plus is available in two configurations-- 12GB RAM + 256GB and 12GB RAM + 512GB storage -- for Rs 99,999 and Rs 1,09,999, respectively.

The company is offering the device two colours--cobalt violet, and onyx black.

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