S24 Ultra

[snuffy]

I do like a nice shiny new toy - a lovely yellow one will be with me in 7 days time !

[bunchofkeys]

I've not yet seen the showcase. Worth watching or were the Samsung information leaks spot on?

[x5tuu]

9to5google are actively saying that the Ultra is the worst buy of the lot …

[Shiv_P]

Just ordered to replace my S23 Ultra. Couldn't hold myself back. £411.65 plus topcashback, sell the free galaxy watch should mean it's around £250-300 to upgrade. Not bad

[TameRacingDriver]

Think I'll stick with my S21 Ultra for another year. Phones are getting really boring now, I guess we've reached peak smartphone a few years ago. The design is much the same, and in day to day use, the experience will be more or less the same. Plus my S21 with its cracked screen is now worth sod all, so balls to paying over a grand for much the same experience.

I must be getting old, as I used to upgrade every year without fail

[Xenoous]

TameRacingDriver said:

Think I'll stick with my S21 Ultra for another year. Phones are getting really boring now, I guess we've reached peak smartphone a few years ago. The design is much the same, and in day to day use, the experience will be more or less the same. Plus my S21 with its cracked screen is now worth sod all, so balls to paying over a grand for much the same experience.

I must be getting old, as I used to upgrade every year without fail

Much the same here. My S21+ isn't cracked and still works fine. I thought I'd take a look at the Ultra, and other phones such as a pixel pro as I do like a new toy, then took a step back and thought 'what would I actually gain by upgrading?'. Answer: nothing.

I'll keep the S21+ for a bit of time yet.

[snuffy]

I've had my S21U for spot on 3 years (12 month SIM only contract has just come to an end), so now is a opportune time to upgrade. Plus the missus will get my S21U, so she'll be pleased with that.

I already have a Samsung Smart watch (Watch4), so I will keep the Watch6 as I quite like smart watches.

[_Rodders_]

Actually think the S21 is a significant downgrade on my S10 in many respects.

The screen in particular. The S10 screen never showed even a hint of screen burn even after literally 1000's of hours of use whereas the S21 that replaced it had noticeable screen burn within a year.

It's put me off getting another Samsung for now.

[gangzoom]

I actually ended up having to buy a temporary slab phone when my Fold 4 played up just before Xmas and had to sent it for repair. Ended up with a cheapish Chinese brand that scored as well/higher than the S23U in the camera reviews…..imagine my disappointment when in reality the pictures it produce was all but identical to the camera on the Fold 4 which is suppose to be rubbish.

Apart from the saturation honest cannot tell them apart, it made me realise smart phone camera tech has pretty much hit a flat line for the last few years, so the appeal of a £1000+ camera phone is very much less no than before when a £500 phone will produce just as good pictures.

I might upgrade the Fold 4 to 6 if there is a big jump in battery life. The S24U looks essentially same as the S21U, shame Samsung cannot bring themselves to come up with something different for the slab phone design.

[Xenoous]

_Rodders_ said:

Actually think the S21 is a significant downgrade on my S10 in many respects.

The screen in particular. The S10 screen never showed even a hint of screen burn even after literally 1000's of hours of use whereas the S21 that replaced it had noticeable screen burn within a year.

It's put me off getting another Samsung for now.

Never had this issue on mine. Nearly had for 3 years now, fairly heavy usage (that's probably not a good thing) and no sign of screen burn. Bad batch? Is it a common issue?

[TameRacingDriver]

Xenoous said:

Never had this issue on mine. Nearly had for 3 years now, fairly heavy usage (that's probably not a good thing) and no sign of screen burn. Bad batch? Is it a common issue?

Me neither and my phone has had a LOT of use.

[Jazoli]

Xenoous said:

TameRacingDriver said:

Think I'll stick with my S21 Ultra for another year. Phones are getting really boring now, I guess we've reached peak smartphone a few years ago. The design is much the same, and in day to day use, the experience will be more or less the same. Plus my S21 with its cracked screen is now worth sod all, so balls to paying over a grand for much the same experience.

I must be getting old, as I used to upgrade every year without fail

Much the same here. My S21+ isn't cracked and still works fine. I thought I'd take a look at the Ultra, and other phones such as a pixel pro as I do like a new toy, then took a step back and thought 'what would I actually gain by upgrading?'. Answer: nothing.

I'll keep the S21+ for a bit of time yet.

Same here too I see no reason to upgrade when my S22U is almost exactly the same in reality, and I only got that as my wife bought an iPhone otherwise I'd still have my S21, phones peaked long ago.

[JagYouAre]

Shiv_P said:

Just ordered to replace my S23 Ultra. Couldn't hold myself back. £411.65 plus topcashback, sell the free galaxy watch should mean it's around £250-300 to upgrade. Not bad

Out of interest what features made you feel the need to upgrade?

I just had a look throught the features and aside from a mild processor bump, titanium and one of the cameras being very slightly different, everything else (like the AI) is set to trickle down to the S23 in due course. I couldn't see anything that would make me want to change from S23U, but I may have missed something.

[Shaoxter]

I currently have an S22 Ultra and would not buy an Ultra again, it's just far too big. Only reason I got it was for the 12GB RAM which the S24+ now has so I would probably opt for that if I was upgrading.

Don't see an offer for a free watch anywhere, there's a storage upgrade if you pre-order but not really any great incentives atm.

[bunchofkeys]

I'm still on the Note 10 Plus 5G. Is the 24 Ultra worth it now in terms of hardware?
Although the battery doesn't really last a day anymore (I carry a slim battery pack when I'm out), it still does pretty much every I want from it, it's just a bit tatty.
Also, having to reinstall all the apps again seems like a right pain in the arse. I think the only real reason to move over is the lack of phone security updates.

[QuartzDad]

TameRacingDriver said:

Think I'll stick with my S21 Ultra for another year. Phones are getting really boring now, I guess we've reached peak smartphone a few years ago. The design is much the same, and in day to day use, the experience will be more or less the same. Plus my S21 with its cracked screen is now worth sod all, so balls to paying over a grand for much the same experience.

I must be getting old, as I used to upgrade every year without fail

Same here too.

S24U v S21U

https://www.gsmarena.com/compare.php3?idPhone1=105...

Differences I can spot:

Titanium vs Aluminum
bit brighter
fewer screen pixels(!!)
better CPUs
camera has more pixels
selfie camera has fewer pixels
Wi-Fi 7 support
45W charging vs 25W

I'll survive without those.

[Billy_Rosewood]

Shaoxter said:

I currently have an S22 Ultra and would not buy an Ultra again, it's just far too big. Only reason I got it was for the 12GB RAM which the S24+ now has so I would probably opt for that if I was upgrading.

Agreed on the size thing. I HATE the size of my S20 ultra. Before that I had an S7 Edge, which was the perfect size at 5.8" vs 6.9"? (and a far superior fingerprint sensor - no failures and far quicker).

The only problem is the zoom lenses are only available on the Ultra phones

Edited by Billy_Rosewood on Thursday 18th January 10:49

[TameRacingDriver]

Shaoxter said:

I currently have an S22 Ultra and would not buy an Ultra again, it's just far too big. Only reason I got it was for the 12GB RAM which the S24+ now has so I would probably opt for that if I was upgrading.

One thing to bear in mind, if it matters, is that the lower models have the Samsung Exynos SOC rather than the Qualcomm Snapdragon SOC in the Ultra. In the real world I doubt it makes any real difference but I notice that's really annoyed some of the nerds on Reddit.

Oh, and the poster above me has pointed out you don't get the telephoto lenses on the lesser models either.

bunchofkeys said:

I'm still on the Note 10 Plus 5G. Is the 24 Ultra worth it now in terms of hardware?
Although the battery doesn't really last a day anymore (I carry a slim battery pack when I'm out), it still does pretty much every I want from it, it's just a bit tatty.
Also, having to reinstall all the apps again seems like a right pain in the arse. I think the only real reason to move over is the lack of phone security updates.

I think the point where my battery didn't last a day in normal usage would likely be the day when I decided to upgrade. Mine sometimes runs out but only when I've used it virtually non stop all day, which isn't typical use.

Don't quote me on this but if you use the Samsung backup you shouldn't have to reinstall all your apps, it should do it for you.

QuartzDad said:

Same here too.

S24U v S21U

https://www.gsmarena.com/compare.php3?idPhone1=105...

Differences I can spot:

Titanium vs Aluminum
bit brighter
fewer screen pixels(!!)
better CPUs
camera has more pixels
selfie camera has fewer pixels
Wi-Fi 7 support
45W charging vs 25W

I'll survive without those.

Yep there's not enough there to make me upgrade for sure. In fact one could argue losing the 10x zoom in favour of a 5x zoom is a downgrade in some respects.

[FezOnYourHeadFezOnMyDrive]

Shaoxter said:

I currently have an S22 Ultra and would not buy an Ultra again, it's just far too big. Only reason I got it was for the 12GB RAM which the S24+ now has so I would probably opt for that if I was upgrading.

Don't see an offer for a free watch anywhere, there's a storage upgrade if you pre-order but not really any great incentives atm.

The offer for the watch is via the Samsung Shop app with the code 'S24GW'. Also via the app use 'APP5' and it'll give another 5% off.

I've upgraded as my S10+ is dying so opted for the S24+ with 512gb of storage - that'll last me the next 5 years.

[JagYouAre]

TameRacingDriver said:

One thing to bear in mind, if it matters, is that the lower models have the Samsung Exynos SOC rather than the Qualcomm Snapdragon SOC in the Ultra. In the real world I doubt it makes any real difference but I notice that's really annoyed some of the nerds on Reddit.

To be fair S22U had Exynos and S23U had Qualcomm (pretty much my primary reason for upgrading at that time) and the difference in the two in terms of performance was night and day.

YMMV of course, depends what you use it for, but as someone who uses the phone for pretty much everything except the few things I have to use a PC for, it was noticable.

It's possible newer Exynos chips are better of course - I never plan to find out.