I was a little skeptical about the Pixel 8 Pro’s AI-assisted features when I first checked them out a couple of months ago for my review of Google's flagship phone, but I’ve since changed my mind. They’re fantastic, though not without their own set of faults. For that reason, there's an opening for the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra to take the lead on AI, especially since phones in 2024 figure to be packed with features powered by artificial intelligence.
While I’ve expressed what I’d love to see in terms of AI video editing tools with the upcoming Galaxy S24 Ultra, there are other features that could potentially see a potential boost with AI. Samsung’s making a bigger commitment with artificial intelligence in 2024, already teasing the potential of its generative AI model in Samsung Gauss — while the latest OneUI 6.1 leak reveals AI features that could make it to the flagship.
I’ll be the first to admit that the Pixel 8 Pro offers several practical AI-assisted features that I use religiously, but there are shortcomings with all of them. Here’s how the Galaxy S24 Ultra could improve upon the AI-powered phone features that are out there.
Best Take — no need to take multiple photos
If you’ve watched commercials for the Pixel 8 Pro, then you’re already familiar with the magic behind the phone's Best Take AI feature. You can “fix” faces in your photos later on, resulting in everyone having picture perfect smiles all the time. However — in order for Best Take to actually work — you need to take a burst of photos, giving the AI images to choose from.
The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra could easily use generative AI to modify the faces without the need to capture several takes with the camera for group shots. One snapshot, that’s all. From there, the Galaxy S24 Ultra could generate different faces for you to choose.
Additionally, the other shortcoming to the Pixel 8 Pro’s Best Take feature is that it’s limited to four faces — if you have five or more people in the shot, you can only change four of the faces. The Galaxy S24 Ultra could expand this to include all faces.
Call Screen — more proactive actions
In my opinion, the coolest AI feature in the Pixel 8 Pro is Call Screen, the feature that lets Google Assistant take phone calls, transcribe the conversation, and provide intelligent responses to incoming callers. So far, it's been outstanding, but there’s just one thing: Google's feature fails at follow ups.
I want to see the Galaxy S24 Ultra implement a similar feature to Call Screen, but I want it to also take proactive steps to remind me about necessary actions based on those conversations — like nudging me later on to call back someone. Furthermore, it would be swell if Samsung's AI could automatically create calendar appointments on my behalf based on the conversation in the Call Screen.
Magic Editor — better generative AI
Magic Editor is like having a reliable photo editor on my Pixel 8 Pro to resize or move subjects in my photos with ease, but I’ve sometimes found it falls short. Specifically, Magic Editor has trouble in busy scenes where I resize a subject and move it elsewhere, resulting in the generative AI failing to mask the exposed area properly with something believable — like the strange disembodied cat in the gallery above, which was the result when I resized my black cat to look smaller on top of the robot vacuum.
The Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra would need to analyze the photo properly to identify everything and possibly extract depth information from the phone’s camera to better deliver generative AI results. That way, it can tell foreground subjects from the background, so that it can realistically create images. And if the S24 Ultra turns out to have an on-device generative AI model, I would love to type what changes I want in my photos.
Audio Magic Eraser — multiple audio recording at different gains
Google claims its Audio Magic Eraser can effectively eliminate background noise, but in my experience, the end result tends to sound more artificial. It’s worse when there’s a lot of competing sounds in a video, which makes it tougher for Audio Magic Eraser to eliminate those unwanted sounds.
The Galaxy S24 Ultra’s going to need to rely on better artificial intelligence to greatly improve this capability, along with more microphones. If the phone ends up having three microphones, it could record audio in three different gains to better draw out details from near, far, and nearby audio sources. AI could then better discern all sounds and eliminate background noise much more effectively.
Summarize — expand it to video
Even though Summarize is the least AI-assisted feature I use on the Pixel 8 Pro, I think the Galaxy S24 Ultra could expand on the function. Summarize provides a short, three bulleted list to summarize web pages you have pulled up in Chrome or search results in the Google app with the Pixel 8. That’s all.
If you’re like me and watch a lot of videos, then you might find it handy for a similar feature for video. Rather than scrub through a video, whether it’s on YouTube or some other video platform, the Galaxy S24 Ultra could leverage AI to produce a short summarization — so you don’t have to sit through watching the entire thing.
