One of the key features of the Samsung Galaxy S24 series is the use of AI inside the phones. These AI features are indeed cool. And because they are cool, chances are they will soon also be coming to other smartphones in the market, most likely with third-party apps.
New Delhi,UPDATED: Jan 25, 2024 20:28 IST
The smartphone industry is on the brink of a revolutionary transformation with the advent of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI). While the concept of AI in phones isn’t new and dates back to 2017 when Honor launched its View 10 in India, smartphone manufacturers are now hustling to be the king of the hill in the 'AI phone' category. One of the reasons they are scampering for powerful chipsets to drive their AI engines and make smartphones, ‘smarter’.
While most AI experiences on phones are being offered thanks to the seamless 4G and 5G connectivity through the internet, Samsung's latest flagships, the Galaxy S24 Ultra, the S24 Plus and the Galaxy S24 have something special — at least for now. This special part of the new Galaxy phones has been enabled by AI, all thanks to Google’s Gemini.
Here is what Google said at the Galaxy S24 launch: “Today at Galaxy Unpacked in San Jose, we shared how Google AI is creating new possibilities on Android with our long-standing partner, Samsung. The new Samsung Galaxy S24 series will use Gemini, Google’s best-in-class foundational models, to power the next generation of AI capabilitiesâ€æ On top of that, Galaxy S24 users have a whole new way to search on their phone, along with new features for Google Messages and Android Auto.”
So what all is Google Gemini doing in Galaxy S24? Quite a lot.
Live-œbersetzung auf dem S24 Ultra | Live Translation on the S24 Ultra
One of the best AI features of the Galaxy S24 Ultra is the Live Translation feature. Basically, it breaks the language barriers between two individuals, offering real-time voice and text translations within the native Phone app and you don’t need an internet connection for this to work. I tried the feature and was impressed by how quickly it was able to translate Hindi to English (with close to 80% accuracy). However, for this feature to work, you need to ensure that you have downloaded the language dataset on your device which is currently restricted to 13 languages including Hindi, German, French and more.
You can also get live translations on text messaging apps like WhatsApp or Instagram and all of this is happening on the device which means none of the data leaves the device. To make sure that Samsung’s ‘offline’ experience claim was true, I turned off mobile data on the phone and made a phone call to check the Chat Assist feature. And it worked.
The Chat Assist feature also helps draft custom messages in different tonalities. It could be a polite work reminder message to the boss or a catchy social media caption for your Insta post. Just be smart when you feed it the prompt to write the message else you might end up confusing the AI.
The AI integrated into Samsung Keyboard translates messages in real-time across 13 languages. Even in your car, the AI syncs seamlessly with Android Auto to summarise messages. I mean, texting while driving is never a good idea so let the AI take care of it.
Organisational Prowess with Notes & Transcript Assist
Organising text content on your phone receives a significant boost with AI-generated summaries and template creation in Samsung Notes. There are pre-made formats for notes where I used the features to summarise some of the lengthy text articles I spotted online but didn’t have the time to read a 1500-word piece. This works similar to how ChatGPT or Google Bard can summarise the articles, but the key part here is that this is all available directly on phone without needing a new app.
Transcript Assist uses AI and Speech-to-Text technology for voice recordings with multiple speakers to transcribe, summarise, and even translate recordings, enhancing accessibility and usability. This is similar to Google Recorder app, which has been all this while exclusive to Pixel phones. These could be handy features for those long business meetings where half of the jargon flies over your head or you just drift away thinking about the next football game on the weekend.
‘Circle’ of Search Redefined
Perhaps one of the best AI features on the Galaxy S24 series is the gesture-driven Circle to Search feature in partnership with Google. Here, I was able to use the S-Pen or my finger to circle, highlight, scribble, or tap anything on the screen to receive related search results without leaving the current app. A separate window slides up and displays images and texts and you can even click to reach the source of the content as well.
So, if your favourite influencer is wearing a particular dress in a video you really liked, you can just use the circle to search feature to know the exact price of the dress online and where you can buy it.
This whole process eliminates the need to download any images or screenshot texts to reverse search on Google. I think this is a good addition and ups the search game on the Galaxy S24 series, although on Thursday Google announced that it is rolling out the same feature on Pixel 8 phones.
Photo editing using AI
Last but not least is the photography enhancements on the S24 series thanks to Samsung’s ProVisual Engine. This is a comprehensive suite of AI-powered tools that can be used for image capturing. The Quad Tele System on the S24 Ultra comes with a new 5x optical zoom lens and a 50MP sensor with Adaptive Pixel Sensor, promising optical-quality performance at various magnification levels. This implies that even if you’re shooting subjects from a distance and zooming into them, you will be able to retain the quality of the image as the device will use generative AI to fix the pixels to give a better result.
I was impressed by some of the AI editing tools, including Edit Suggestion and Generative Edit, added in the S24 Ultra. While I had fun playing around with it, cutting people out of frames and putting them in awkward scenarios as you can see in the image below, I believe people who have better creativity than I do will benefit from these additional AI features.
Conclusion
Okay, so is the AI worth all the moolah you’re putting into these new Galaxy smartphones? I’d say the verdict is still out on that.
Since it’s early days in 2024, the new Galaxy phones have been in the market only for a few days, therefore it’s impossible to quantify the AI’s actual value to these phones considering third-party platforms will launch similar versions in the few days to come. Will the Samsung AI’s be as ‘special’ then? I think till the AI works offline on the device, Samsung will have bragging rights.
These are great features to have on your smartphone if you ask me. Though some of them such as live transcribe and object remover have been available on Pixel phones for years. But these are not the top reasons one should go out in the market to buy an AI phone. While my overall experience with Samsung’s AI has been good, I’d suggest you tread with caution and analyse whether you really need these AI features on your phone before making the final buying decision.
Published On:
Jan 25, 2024
English (US) ·