Galaxy S24 Review

This post, originally trailed in July 2024, was unfortunately delayed by my being made redundant and sadly not being in a position to buy a new phone to replace my old Blackview BV6300 Pro, until now, but it is finally here!

Declaration of interest: I have no affiliation with any of the manufacturers or products mentioned in this review and have not received any incentive or inducement to write it.

How does the Galaxy S24 compare with other phones on the market?

I have added the S24, S25 and Pixel 9 to the comparison grid I created when I reviewed the Pixel 8a last year, to allow for a fair comparison with the latest flagship model from each range.

Key feature Comparison Summary

	S24	S25	Pixel 9	Pixel 8	Pixel 8a
OS Updates	Oct 2030	2032	Aug 2031	Oct 2030	May 2031
Security Updates	31 Jan 2031	2032	Aug 2031	Oct 2030	May 2031
Display	6.2" (6" rounded corners)	6.2" (6" rounded corners)	6.3"	6.2"	6.1"
Height	1470 mm	1469 mm	152.8 mm	150.5 mm	152.1 mm
Width	70.6 mm	70.5 mm	72 mm	70.8 mm	72.7 mm
Depth	7.6 mm	7.2 mm	8.5 mm	8.9 mm	8.9 mm
Weight	167 g	162 g	198 g	187 g	189 g
Rear Camera	50 MP	50 MP	50 MP	50 MP	64 MP
Front Camera	12 MP	12 MP	48 MP	12 MP	13 MP
Back	Corning® Gorilla® Glass Victus® 2	Corning®  Gorilla®  Glass Victus® 2	Corning® Gorilla® Glass Victus® 2 with satin metal frame	Edgeless Corning® Gorilla® Glass Victus® with matt aluminium frame	Scratch-resistant Corning® Gorilla® Glass 3
IP rating*	68	68	68 (pool)	68	67 (bath)
Battery Share	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Mics	2	2	3	3	2
Spatial Audio	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
RRP at time of writing	£699	£799	£799	£599	£399

As you can see, there is very little difference between the S24 and S25 but the release of the latter has made the former "last year's phone" and therefore £100 cheaper at the time of writing than the newer model. The extra £100 does buy you an additional 1-2 years of OS and Security updates, although you still get over 5 years with the S24, so I personally don't think that justifies the additional cost. I also got a good deal on the S24 because it was reduced to £599 when I bought it and I got a further 5% discount for buying it from the Samsung Shop app, reducing the price I paid to £569. That is obviously still £170 more than the current RRP of the Pixel 8a, but I do consider that to be justified for the reasons I'll get into in the course of the review; unlike the nearly £800 price tag for the Pixel 9, which in my opinion is extremely overpriced.

The main difference between the Galaxy and Pixel models is that the Galaxy 6.2" inch display is reduced to 6" by the rounded corners, making it smaller than the Pixels, but I really like the rounded edges, so I personally see this more as an advantage than a detractor, but that really just comes down to personal preference.

The one area where I did notice a real difference was in the depth and weight of the S24, particularly compared to my old Blackview, but even compared to my Dad's Pixel 8a, it just feels a lot slimmer, lighter and more comfortable to hold, especially given my small hands.

Initial Set-up & Migration

The initial set-up and migration was facilitated by Samsung's Smart Switch service, which installed most of my 270+ apps from my old phone within about an hour. I say most because it notably "forgot" apps that duplicate Samsung's own native applications, such as the Phone, Assistant and Clock, so I had to download and install them myself. While I can understand them wanting to encourage the use of their own apps, particularly their Bixby Assistant, which no doubt gathers a lot of very useful data about their users, I found the blatant failure to install their Google equivalents without even telling me, quite presumptuous, petty and annoying.

I could of course have used the built-in Samsung versions but my favourite "quick dial" contacts are saved to my Google Phone account, ensuring that calls from those numbers can get through, even when Do Not Disturb is enabled and I have absolutely no desire to use yet another AI Assistant, seeing as Google already know pretty much everything about me, so I immediately disabled Bixby.

I could perhaps have gone with the native Clock, but I thought an issue with my Transparent Weather widget showing the wrong "next alarm" was due to the Samsung clock, seeing as I didn't have a problem on my old phone, so I installed the Google version, only to find out that it wasn't in fact the clock that was the problem, but likely a bug with Transparent Weather mistaking a "routine" that I set up as an alarm. More on that later.

The other thing that I found slightly annoying was that the set-up process required me to register for a Samsung account, without any obvious way to skip. I had already signed up for an account when I purchased the phone but, because I'd bought it via the Samsung App, the password I used to register wasn't saved to my browser's password manager. I therefore had to reset my password, which involved sending me a code via SMS, which my old phone for some reason couldn't receive while it was performing the Smart Switch process. This left me stuck and unable to complete the set-up until my old phone had completed the Smart Switch and I was able to reboot it. If I had already switched my SIM card to the new phone, however, I'm not sure if I would have been able to proceed at all, less still if I had lost access to my previous phone and not been able to insert the SIM into another working device.

Having used Nova Launcher on pretty much every smartphone I've ever owned, I was keen to return to my trusted home screen and get my icons, widgets and folders back where they belong with a minimum of fuss. I therefore didn't spend any time exploring the native launcher and immediately restored my Nova backup file from my old phone, which I'd saved to a folder on Google Drive, making it readily accessible on my S24. I then just had to sign in to the apps for which I have widgets on my screens and I was back on familiar territory.

I was relieved to find the settings cog exactly where I expected it to be, unlike on the Pixel 8a

I was delighted to find that the settings cog on the S24 was right where I expected it to be - at the top of the notifications bar and not hiding down the bottom of the extended notifications screen, as it was on the Pixel 8a.

I also noted that the default navigation mode was set to "buttons" and not "gestures" as it had been on my Dad's Pixel 8a, which, especially when combined with the settings cog being very difficult to find, had made it almost impossible to discover how to get the buttons back. I am very grateful that Samsung seem to have realised that it is much easier for people that don't like buttons to switch them off, than it is for people unfamiliar with gestures to switch them on!

That said, the one gesture I did used to use - long pressing the Home button to summon the Google Assistant - rather annoyingly doesn't work on the S24, where that particular shortcut doesn't seem to exist at all; having been replaced by swiping from the bottom corner, which I'm getting used to. I was, however, at least able to change the default assistant for this gesture from Bixby to Google.

Notifications were a bit harder to set up. I was disappointed to discover that the list of apps for which I had granted permission to generate notifications had not been carried over and neither had my preferences as to which apps should display silent notifications vs. those that should sound an alert. Each time I opened an app for the first time, I was therefore asked if I wanted to allow notifications and then had to remember to go into the application settings via the menu and indicate if I wanted them to be silent or not.

There were inevitably some apps that slipped through this procedure, resulting in me being woken in the night by an unwelcome alert that the phone wanted to reboot to complete installation of an update. This is what led me to switch on Do Not Disturb overnight and consequently want to install my old Android Phone app to import my existing favourite contacts, without having to 'favourite them' in Samsung's native Contacts app. I have since discovered that you can actually sync them but, again, I don't see why I should give Samsung all my data when Google already has it.

Annoyingly, I found that Samsung make it unnecessarily difficult to change the alert sounds for each individual app and I ended up having to search online to find out how to do it, ultimately finding this YouTube video, which was very helpful. I also had to install an "Old Ringtone" app to get a ringtone that sounds like a phone, rather than background music in a shopping centre, which made me feel quite old, since most people these days probably don't even let their phone ring, instead relying on their smartwatch to alert them to new calls, but I didn't want to risk missing calls from my Dad's personal alarm service if my phone is out of range of my Fitbit or if I've forgotten to switch Bluetooth on.

All in all, the setup probably took a day or two to get me really happy with it, although I did parallel run my old and new phones for the best part of a week because I went to Crufts on the Saturday after I got the phone and didn't want to risk losing or damaging it while I was there, so I didn't actually fully switch until day 5. It is now day 12 at the time of writing and I'm no longer encountering things that still need setting up.

Look and Feel

At the risk of sounding trivial and "girlie" I think what I like best about the S24 is the colour palette. Being a lover of all things purple, I obviously ordered the Cobalt Violet model and was able to choose a highly complementary UI colour palette, which seems to give everything a beautifully lilac hue. Of course, this may not be to everyone's taste, but other colour palettes are available!

Furthermore, I was finally able to take advantage of the live weather wallpaper, one of the features of the paid version of the Transparent Weather app, which hadn't worked on my old Blackview. Yes, I hear you say, this may prove be a battery sucker, but I so far haven't found it to be a huge problem, since I don't spend ages staring at my home screen and it seems no worse than any other apps that use the display, such as news or Facebook, which I do (sadly!) spend more time staring at!

The down side of the live weather wallpaper, however, was that once the sun went down, my screen background became almost entirely black, with a lone moon sitting at the top of the screen! This led me to discover the Modes and Routines feature, which enabled me to set a static, plain (unsurprisingly purple!) background at sunset and have it revert to my live wallpaper at sunrise. This probably also helps with battery use, seeing as I tend to use my phone more in the evening now I'm (thankfully!) working during the day.

I then discovered that Transparent Weather was, for some reason, displaying the wrong time for the Next Alarm on my home screen widget, insisting that my next alarm was set for some random time e.g. 18:08! This is what caused me to abandon the Samsung Clock, in favour of my tried and trusted Google one, thinking it was a bug with the alarm. I then realised that it was in fact displaying the time the sun was due to set, likely because it was misinterpreting my "routine" as an alarm! I will of course report this to Transparent Weather and request a fix (especially since I'm paying £12.99 per year for the pro version) but, in the meantime, I wanted to be able to easily check that I've set my alarm before I go to sleep.

It was then that I discovered the rather handy and highly customisable lock screen widgets, which allow you to display the time, date, current weather and temperature, as well as up to 3 mini widgets e.g. the % chance of rain, next alarm, next event, remaining battery, etc. This appeared to solve my next alarm problem, except it didn't, because I found that it only works with the built-in clock! I therefore had to revert to the Samsung clock, not that I minded, seeing as it adopts my favoured purple theme and helpfully tells me the time remaining until the alarm is due to go off,

Setting the lock screen widgets up, however, was a bit fiddly and not at all intuitive. There is a setting in the Always on Display (AOD) menu, enticingly titled "Widgets" but that in fact refers to the full-size 'card' widgets (e.g. music, weather, etc.) that are displayed when you tap the clock on the lock screen, or when music is playing on the device.

To change what is displayed on the lock screen, without having to tap, you in fact have to go scroll all the way to the bottom of the Lock Screen and Always on Display (AOD) menu, past the tempting "Widgets" setting and tap Edit Lock Screen in the suggested menu items. You can then change how the clock is shown and edit the mini widgets, but this isn't at all obvious at first glance.

This brings me on to my one fairly major gripe with the phone, which is that some features and settings are buried so deep within menus and sub-menus that they can take some time and even require Google searches to discover. There are helpful "looking for something else" suggestions at the bottom of some settings menus, but the fact these are needed at all suggests to me that the UI is insufficiently intuitive.

Otherwise, I'm generally pretty happy with the look and feel of the phone. The touch screen is very responsive (much better than my Dad's Pixel 8a) and I got used to the in-display fingerprint sensor much quicker than I thought I would, having previously always had the sensor on the back. The fingerprint (or rather thumbprint!) recognition seems pretty good and I've had very few problems with it recognising my thumbs, which again is something I know can be an issue with the Pixel range.

Hardware

As I mentioned earlier, the phone is a nice size and lighter and thinner than my old Blackview, which I like because I have petite hands, so I definitely wouldn't want it any bigger. This for me is the main advantage of the standard vs. "Ultra" models of the Galaxy S range or "Pro" versions of the Pixel and why I definitely wouldn't consider paying more for them.

The S24 does however have a "hole-punch" camera in the middle of the top of the display, which I despised when they first came out, but they are now pretty much unavoidable and I do like the edge-to-edge display, which of course you don't get if you have a giant bezel for the front-facing camera. There is an option to make it "invisible", by placing a black bar along the top of the display, but you then lose the edge-to-edge effect, which I now quite like and wouldn't want to go back.

The "hard" side buttons have a nice, solid, metallic feel, instead of rubber or plastic and I like having separate + and - volume controls, rather than a rocker, because I find it makes it a lot easier to know which one you're pressing. The haptic feedback for on-screen buttons is also very pleasant.

The camera is definitely an upgrade on my previous phone and one of my main reasons for choosing a Samsung, having been impressed by photos taken by a friend on hers and I so far haven't been disappointed.

Photo taken with the Samsung S24 50.0 MP + 10.0 MP + 12.0 MP Rear Cameras with 3x optical zoom

The camera on the Pixel range is supposedly higher spec but I haven't spent enough time using my Dad's Pixel 8a to be able to tell the difference. I guess one advantage to the Samsung device is that you have the option of using the built-in camera and Galaxy photo editor or Google Photos, but I'm very used to using the Google Photos editor, so I haven't tried the built-in software yet. To use the native editor, you also have to allow Galaxy AI to collect and process your data, which again I'm not too keen on, so I will probably stick with Google Photos for now.

Battery Life

The battery life isn't anywhere near as good as my Dad's Pixel 8a, which he doesn't even need to charge on a daily basis, but it is on par with my old Blackview BV6300 Pro, which usually lasted a full day of my typical use. It may well be better without the live wallpaper during daylight hours but I refuse to believe it would make a significant difference.

During the first few days of intensive use, while I was setting things up, I did find I needed to charge it by early evening but, since then, it has happily lasted all day and only be down to about 40-50% by the time I go to bed.

Wireless charging does work well, albeit more slowly than wired and I have found that the phone gets very warm while charging wirelessly, so I generally opt for overnight wired charging. This is much easier and more reliable with the S24 than my old Blackview or my Dad's Pixel 8a, both of which developed temperamental USB-C ports, making it difficult to maintain a wired connection.

Since I do tend to charge the phone overnight, I have activated the adaptive battery protection feature, to prevent the phone sitting at a 100% charge for too long, but am reluctant to go so far as to have it stop charging at 80% for fear of running out of charge before the end of the day. I guess only time will tell if this proves to be a mistake, but I'm happy enough with it for now.

Bloatware

My main reservation about buying a Samsung phone in the past has always been the bloatware that comes with it but, other than having to install the Google Assistant and deactivate "Bixby", I haven't found it to be a huge problem. Having experienced my Dad's Pixel 8a, it seems that not even Google has what I would call the "Vanilla" fully customisable Android experience any more, so the advantage of going with one of their own brand phones seems to have been lost, as I still end up needing to install my own launcher, so the base firmware actually makes very little difference.

Summary

Overall, I am really happy with the S24 and have no regrets in buying it. I don't feel that the fairly minor differences between it and the other, more expensive, phones in the Galaxy S range justify the additional cost, but I do prefer a smaller device and am not a professional photographer, so the upgrade in specifications may be somewhat lost on me, but I wouldn't say I'm an atypical user.

I do however find the difference in price between the Pixel 8 and S24 (c. £100 at the time of writing) to be justified. The improvement in touchscreen sensitivity and fingerprint recognition alone make it worthwhile, as they do materially affect your day-to-day experience. I definitely wouldn't pay £100 more for the Pixel 9, as it doesn't offer anything that I want that the S24 doesn't and may well have inherited the known problems with the Pixel 8, such as the flaky fingerprint sensor, although that is rumoured to be better now it is using an ultrasonic sensor, similar to that on the Galaxy 21-25 series, but why risk it when it costs more?

If you're looking for a mainstream Android phone under £500, the Pixel 8a is probably a reasonable option, especially if battery life is important to you. If you're looking for a more seamless day-to-day user experience, however, I would recommend waiting for the S24 to come down in price, or be on the look out for a good offer.

Edit: as I bought the S24 before 1 April 2025, I since discovered that I qualified for a set of free Galaxy buds and Galaxy Fit 3, which I'm told will be delivered before 23 April, so I am looking forward to trying and reviewing them soon.