Over the years, the lack of innovation in both hardware and software in newly-released smartphones have made them somewhat stale. Sure, one can always be excited with a device with the most powerful processor, ‘better camera’, or in Apple’s case, USB-C charging port. But as neutral tech reviewers, we crave for that X factor that excites us. And nothing have excited us more than the upcoming S24 lineup thanks to its trump card.

Understandably, trying to surpass a very capable device is not easy. A victim of their own success, one might call it. Samsung’s S23 series released last year ticked all the boxes that would send their rivals a run for their money. Sure, having hit the market in January 2023, other brands have caught up over time so what’s in the Korean giants’ 2024 playbook to remain ahead of the curve?

A.I.

Artificial Intelligence have been the buzzword for over three years now. While the concept itself isn’t new, its acceptance and public implementation has been a mixed bag. How does one capitalize on processing power and A.I to make the user’s life easier, without sacrificing the element of human touch? Generative A.I have gained flak over issues of unethical use especially when it comes to creative content. How would Samsung navigate itself to capitalize from this technology while at the same time, dodge and address these concerns?

In their flagship lineup of 2024, Samsung decided to focus on daily, relatable tech which can benefit from A.I. Sure, buzzwords are cool but you know what’s cooler? The ability to make your life easier and show off to your peers at the same time. By using A.I to simplify daily tasks such as translation and search, the S24 lineup brings significant upgrade to its predecessor; more than just a Titanium upgrade.

Take the instant translation feature for example. Sure, in the past, one is able to use Google Translate or Babelfish to translate a foreign language. But it was tedious, requiring copy and pasting texts back and forth. Samsung’s Galaxy A.I skips these steps and enables almost instantaneous translation, regardless of whether it is done via text or voice.

With over 13 language packs available at launch, you can have interrupted conversation with someone who does not share their native tongue. For example, I now am able to chat with my mother in-law seamlessly in Thai despite me not understanding a single word of Thai. Not sure if that’s a good thing though.

Anyways, it’s like having a portable, personal C-3PO minus the sass.

Expanding from this, those with basic to casual writing skills are now able to string proper sentences with the help of Samsung’s Galaxy A.I. By analyzing sentences word constructs, the S24 devices are able to form, reformat and even summarize longform texts for easier consumption. A godsend for those whose bane of existence involve transcribing and translating interviews and turning them into proper articles.

Of course this feature isn’t 100% flawless as the A.I may fail to capture nuances and local dialects but we see this is an area which can be fixed and improved very quickly thanks to machine learning. But the best part of this service is that all it requires is for the initiator of the call to own an S24 device. That’s one way to keep a feature exclusive to a brand without excluding others from benefiting from it. Yes. An S24 Samsung to non-Samsung call can benefit from the on-the-fly translation capabilities.

The Galaxy A.I is also being used to improve image editing with features such as omitting and filling in details as well as generative A.I and prompts for the S24 phones’ wallpapers. We foresee some trippy wallpapers coming out of this feature.

Of course, the S24 phones are more than just these slew of A.I capabilities. The new phones are lighter, sturdier and comes with improved hardware specifications all around. Calling them ‘incremental improvements’ would be a disservice and the furthest from the truth. We are currently testing some of these devices for a full-fledged review piece due soon so do stay tuned to Kakuchopurei.

In the meantime, allow us to concoct a method to mess around with scam callers using these on-the-fly translation feature. Imagine the hilarity.

The base S24 starts from RM4099.00, the S24+ at RM4899.00 while the big kahuna, the S24 Ultra with S-Pen included opens from RM6299.00

Set for release in early February, pre-orders for the S24 devices are now open. Bonuses include free upgrade to double up on storage space, e-voucher for in-store PWP deals and enhanced trade-in offers. Full details can be found on the Samsung website.