Samsung’s big Unpacked event yesterday focused unashamedly on the company’s annual flagship phone update. No smart speakers, no tablets, no portables (almost…), just three more phones, each with completely different unique features. Just kidding: It’s mostly changes to cameras and screen size. As it has been since the Galaxy S20.
When presenting Galaxy S24, S24+ and S24 Ultrathe company hired streamer and YouTuber Pokimane to grace the brighter screens, while MrBeast Samsung couldn’t afford to be there in person? — showed off some of the flagship S24 Ultra’s camera tricks and features.
However, beyond the predictable specs, Samsung has gone to town with its AI features this year. And they’re interesting, surpassing what Google has been doing with the Pixel series for years.
Of course, the S24 has photography-enhancing features that sniff out unwanted reflections and shadows, but now generative AI will boost auto-fill features and expand the background of shots to help reframe unusual images. With video, the new feature will use artificial intelligence to generate more frames to create slow motion clips that aren’t actually shot in slow motion.
Samsung has added AI smarts beyond the camera, too, with new features for search, translations, note-taking, and message formatting. New transcription tricks When you’re recording meetings and other conversations, the S24 will split audio recordings into speakers and quickly format it. You can even share selected parts or get the smartphone to summarize meetings and notes for you. During my weekly meetings with the Engadget team, I’m very interested in seeing what’s important to my smartphone.
I’ll delve into the specs of the new flagship S24 below (it’s Samsung-heavy TMA), but this year it’s really about the software. The good news is that many of these features will make their way selected older Galaxy devices later this year.
– Matt Smith
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Titanium phones for power users.
The $1,300 Galaxy S24 Ultra is Samsung’s biggest AI bet yet. Of course, the hardware design hasn’t changed much, but there’s now a titanium bezel (available in colors other than monochrome, Apple), which makes the biggest flagship lighter and easier to use than previous iterations. The S24 Ultra’s telephoto camera is now based on a 50MP sensor (up from 10MP on the S23 Ultra) with 5x optical zoom. If you are interested in the features, you can remember the S23 Ultra which is equipped with 10x optical zoom. Apparently, the company chose this tweezer based on customer feedback and usage patterns that saw 5x as the most used zoom mode. Here are our first impressions.
Look, don’t touch.
Near the end of the Unpacked event, Samsung started talking about its health-focused software, Samsung Health, and the audience struggled to stay focused. Later, Samsung introduced a new small health-focused device, the Galaxy Ring. The health software suite will have many sensors and hooks. But that’s all we know.
But if Samsung is dabbling in smart rings, we can say watch out, Oura.
The company updated the disclaimer after settling the lawsuit.
When you open the Anonymous browser in Chrome, you’ll see a warning warning that other people using your device won’t be able to see your activity, but your downloads, bookmarks, and readings will still be saved. Now, Google has updated this disclaimer in Chrome’s experimental Canary channel. $5 billion lawsuit accusing him of stalking Incognito users. Plaintiffs in a 2020 lawsuit argued that by tracking users in Incognito, Google gave people the false belief that they could control the information they wanted to share. A new disclaimer in Canary said that Incognito Mode won’t change how websites collect people’s data.
He worked as COO for 14 years and as a member of the board of directors for 12 years.
Sheryl Sandberg is stepping down from Meta’s board of directors after 12 years, her last official position at the company. Sandberg spent 14 years as Meta’s CEO and senior lieutenant to Mark Zuckerberg, and 12 years on the company’s board. His tenure as a board member will officially end in May. “This feels like the right time to step away,” he said in a Facebook post, adding that he will continue to advise the company. Hey, at least he posted on Facebook.
