Samsung’s latest Galaxy S24 smartphones have introduced a significant leap in Artificial Intelligence (AI) capabilities, with an emphasis on generative AI (GenAI) features. Leveraging the power of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC for Galaxy for on-device processing and super-fast 5G, and Google Cloud for hybrid AI functionalities, the Galaxy S24 lineup shows Samsung’s commitment to AI integration with Galaxy AI.
Using Gemini LLM’s AI capabilities, Samsung and Google are bringing new ways to search with the new ‘Circle to Search’ feature. Gemini Nano brings the new Magic Compose feature to Google Messages (the default messaging app on the Galaxy S24 series) enabling different messaging styles, completely on-device, without needing an internet connection. There is also the Gemini Pro which powers summarization features, cutting long stories short, in apps like Voice Recorder, Samsung Internet Browser, and Samsung Notes. Lastly, using Google’s Imagen2 with text-to-image diffusion technology, Samsung is bringing intuitive photo editing with the new Generative Edit feature. Both Generative Edit and Summarization features require an active internet, making them hybrid AI features.
There are also other features like Live Translation, instant slow-mo, and generative wallpapers that make Galaxy AI a differentiating feature, setting the Galaxy S24 apart from its competitors. We have been using the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra for over three weeks now, and we will summarize our experience and how to use all these Galaxy AI features.
Senior Analyst Akshara Bassi, who tracks HPC and the cloud market, said, “Integrating AI, specifically at the Edge through native and cloud integration, will spur AI adoption across consumers who have yet to see its use beyond the text and image use cases. This will bring a more personalized user experience supercharged through Google’s multimodal AI – Gemini Pro. Additionally, the cloud-enabled solution will allow the likes of Google to tap into other smartphone players by letting them experience AI, thus turning into AI proponents, and possibly nudging them to upgrade to native AI-enabled chipsets for smartphones.”
WATCH: Galaxy AI: All the GenAI Features on the Samsung Galaxy S24
How to use Galaxy AI Features on the Samsung Galaxy S24 Series
Circle to Search: A new way to search, shop and translate!
Search has been fundamental to our internet experience, and after more than two decades, Samsung and Google are changing how we search. Found something intriguing while scrolling through Instagram Reels, a website, or even a photo? Simply draw a circle around it, and Galaxy AI will pull up relevant information along with links, be it a product, place, or even a piece of artwork.
The new “Circle to Search” feature combines Google Lens and text search, and it is activated by pressing and holding the home button. Users can even draw a circle around text to quickly translate it. All this takes place on the same screen, without switching between apps.
Activate the Circle to Search feature by heading to — Settings > Display > Navigation bar > and then toggle “Circle to Search.”
Live Translate: Break language barriers to communicate easily
Traveling to a foreign country or chatting with your international friends? Language will no longer be a barrier to your communication. With real-time translations for both voice calls and text messages, you can have a seamless conversation on the go. This feature works across apps like the dialer for phone calls, voice recorder, text, and instant messaging apps, be it WhatsApp, Instagram, Telegram, and more.
The live translate feature is natively built into the keyboard app, so third-party apps are out of the picture. In the Samsung Internet Browser, you can also translate the entire web page to read comfortably in your native language. Users also get native interpreter mode for two-way voice translation. It is more like having a personal interpreter with you all the time. And as all this works on-device, even in-flight mode, your chats are secure without compromising on privacy.
Bonus: Users with Galaxy Buds TWS and S24 can speak directly into their Buds mic and listen to the translated voice without having to pass the phone back and forth.
AI Summarization: Save time by getting a gist of lengthy articles within seconds
No time to go through long-form text, lengthy articles and transcripts? The AI summarization works perfectly across web pages on Samsung’s Internet Browser, Samsung Notes, and the Voice Recorder app. Users will see a new Galaxy AI Star Icon on the browser tab of these apps, tapping the icon will provide a quick, short or detailed summary of the text in just a few, easy-to-consume bullet points. However, for the AI summarization feature, an internet connection will be needed.
Meanwhile, the Voice Recorder app can be used for transcribing voice to text, which also works in offline mode.
In the Samsung Notes app, users can get a quick summary of the notes in a few bullet points. The Galaxy AI can also correct spellings and translate text. What’s even more interesting is if you have jotted down meeting notes, the Galaxy AI can also format them with relevant headers and bullets and create a nice-looking cover image too. For these features to work, an internet connection and a minimum text length of 200 characters is required.
Chat Assist: Improve your conversational tone in messages and chats
Chat Assist enhances messaging across various apps, offering tone customization, spelling and grammar checks, and more. As these features are a part of hybrid AI, they need an internet connection to work.
Users can improve their writing style by choosing between different conversational tones (professional, casual, polite, or using emojis). This feature can come in super handy when communicating over messaging apps with your boss, colleagues, friends, and family. Users can also use AI to do a quick spelling and grammar check. As it uses hybrid AI, these features need an internet connection to work.
Magic Compose: Say goodbye to writer’s block!
Struggling to compose a text message? Magic Compose in the messaging app can offer context-aware, AI-generated suggestions and pre-composed replies for messages. When composing a message in the messaging app, users will see a sparkly pencil icon to pull up the Magic Compose option.
Users can keep changing the style of the auto-generated replies until they find the right words that fit the tone. They can choose between presets like formal, chill, lyrical, and even a Shakespearean tone. All this happens on-device, and the auto-compose features work even when there is no internet connection.
Generative Edit: Unleash your creativity and photo editing wizard with AI editing
Most of us capture a lot of photos using our smartphones and sometimes wish we could remove unwanted objects or people from the frame. Other times, we wish the frame was a bit different or the subject could have been slightly away from the center. Generative Edit can make that happen.
The Generative Edit is one of the most interesting GenAI features on the Galaxy S24 lineup. Using Google’s Imagen 2 text-to-image diffusion technology deployed on Vertex AI, Generative Edit brings some nice and intuitive photo-editing capabilities similar to Google’s Magic Eraser and Adobe’s Generative Fill.
Simply go into the Gallery App > Select the photo > Tap edit > then select Generative Edit, the blue circle with three stars. Next, using your finger (or S Pen), select the subject, and move around the screen or erase it. You can also pull up a subject from a different photo and add it to the edited one, thus creating a completely new photo. The editing is not always flawless, but the trick just works most of the time. This feature needs an internet connection to work though. Another thing to note is that photos edited in generative edit mode have a watermark on the bottom left and also add metadata, suggesting that it is an edited photo.
There are two more features in the Gallery App and they do not require an internet connection to work. When you select a photo in the Gallery App and tap on the “i” icon at the bottom, the AI will analyze the photo and offer suggestions to remove reflections and shadows from the photos. It works quite well, though sometimes the shadow removal feature could make the photos look washed out.
Instant Slow-mo: Add drama to your regular videos
As the name suggests, this GenAI feature lets you slow down your ordinary videos by adding a slow-motion effect. It works on videos shot between 720p to 4K resolution by filling in the gaps between frames using generative AI. In the Gallery App, users simply need to tap and hold the video to see what the effect will look like, and then tap on the edit button, select the portion that needs to be slowed, adjust speed, and save the video.
If your video was shot at 30fps, it can be slowed down to half or quarter speed, whereas 60fps videos can be slowed down up to one-eighth speed. We tried recording some videos at different resolutions and frame rates and noticed that videos shot at 60fps offer better results.
Generative AI Wallpapers: Create your own, unique wallpapers
A lot of us like to personalize our smartphones with different wallpapers and themes. Now, with generative AI, users can create their custom wallpaper using different themes such as Imaginary, Mineral, Terrain, Painting, and more. Each theme has a pre-defined key phrase where one can change up to three keywords to better describe an image they are looking to generate.
Users can let their imaginations run wild with the text prompts, but they cannot be changed beyond the pre-defined ones. Still, there are enough keywords and themes available to generate interesting wallpapers. The Generative Wallpapers can be created by heading over to Settings > Wallpaper and Style> Change Wallpapers > Generative (inside the creative category).
Initial thoughts
AI has existed on smartphones for more than half a decade now, but with on-device GenAI capabilities, smartphones have now become even smarter and more supercharged. The impressive new AI features will help boost productivity and creativity. We are only just scratching the surface, but as more OEMs and app developers start integrating more intelligence into their apps, the experience can be further redefined.
However, the Galaxy AI features are not perfect. Sometimes the translation is not accurate. The photos edited using generative edit are not pixel-perfect, but all these are still early examples, and with more data, new use cases, and wider adoption, it will likely improve, especially considering everyone is putting their efforts into AI.
Following its launch, the Galaxy AI features will be free until 2025. Although Samsung has not revealed its future pricing plans, it may go for a subscription model which could very well be an additional source of revenue via software services.
