There are precious few things Samsung’s S90D TV doesn’t do well. As one of the brightest and most advanced OLEDs, its picture quality is nearly unbeatable for the money, marked by perfect black levels, fantastic viewing angles, and endlessly engaging colors. It’s fully loaded for both console and cloud gaming, and its design is simple yet elegant, with a pedestal-style stand anchoring an impossibly thin panel.
The decked-out display’s most notable drawbacks are those inherent to all Samsung TVs, including a sometimes-annoying Tizen smart interface and a stubborn lack of support for common tech like Dolby Vision HDR, the more prevalent of the two most advanced HDR formats.
Those are certainly points to consider, but they wouldn’t hold me back from grabbing an S90D. From its impressively well-rounded performance to its solid features and premium looks, Samsung’s second-tier OLED is one of the Best TVs you can buy.
Simple Stunner
It may seem counterintuitive, but the fanciest TVs are sometimes the hardest to set up. Not so with the S90D; its screwless feet snap into place in seconds, while a faux-metal cover plate creates a pedestal-style center stand. It’s a bit wobblier than the hefty metal stand from the step-up S95D (8/10, WIRED recommends), but it’s sturdy enough and provides a subtle aesthetic upgrade over the dual-pronged stand from last year’s S90C. Like most center stands, it may get in the way of larger soundbars, in which case mounting may be necessary.
Photograph: Ryan Waniata
The hardest part of the hardware setup may be moving the S90D’s ultraslim panel, but lifting with care (and from the center back) ensures success. The 65-inch model’s relatively light weight of just under 50 pounds makes it easy for two to set it in place. Once done, you may want to take a beat to admire the style; the TV’s microthin panel is matched by a similarly slim bezel for a clean look on or off. Only a few TVs, like the exorbitantly pricey QN900C (8/10, WIRED Recommends) and its “floating screen” design, offer a noticeable upgrade there.
Next, you’ll be relying on Samsung’s sometimes clunky Tizen smart interface to get things up and running. A piece of advice: Don’t get duped into using the smartphone setup option. In the past four or five Samsung TVs I’ve set up, this has not worked for me once, due to an error partway through. Luckily, the onscreen option is quick, including near-instant scanning for broadcast channels and relatively speedy setup for apps, connected devices, and even room-based sound optimization for surprisingly solid performance.
I’ve had my issues with Tizen, but it has made subtle improvements over the years. The Settings layout is still too cluttered and you’ll want to disable the unhelpful Intelligent Mode and Eco settings, but it is speedy, and offers your choice of Amazon Alexa or Bixby smart assistants. My primary complaint remains the difficulty in adding new apps. App search is harder than it should be, and there’s no good reason to add an app and not add it to the home screen, which Samsung makes you do manually. Other than that—and some odd freezing of the Paramount+ app while rewatching Top Gun: Maverick—Tizen worked fine over several days.
Gaming Guru
Tizen’s best feature is its dedicated Gaming Hub, providing an attractive layout and console-free cloud gaming from services like Xbox, Nvidia GeForce Now, Luna, and others. Four HDMI 2.1 inputs provide topline gaming features like ALLM (auto low latency mode) and VRR (variable refresh rate) for tearfree gaming at up to 144 Hz with select PCs, or 120 Hz with PS5 and Xbox Series S/X.
Maybe that’s why Samsung’s obstinate Tizen interface feels so vexing? The system is easy enough to set up on the TV itself (it crashes every time I’ve tried to use the mobile setup option). It’s aesthetically pleasing and makes connecting and labeling devices a breeze. Yet its scattered layout can make some features feel inordinately difficult.
Adding the Peacock app, for instance, was twice as hard as it should be. It’s not featured in the app store and didn’t register in search until I typed it out completely. Once I found it, as with all new apps, I had to manually add it to the home screen or it lay hidden in the “Installed” window like a second-class citizen.
The main settings bar is similarly unintuitive, with various picture settings randomly interspersed between other settings. You can rearrange things, but it’s usually simpler to just click All Settings to access the legacy setup window. I also experienced a few odd Tizen quirks over a week or so of testing, like apps freezing and even some audio dropouts. Unplugging and replugging the TV seemed to fix things apart from a few minor video-loading issues.
Credit where it’s due, Tizen is packed with extras, from its swath of health and fitness apps to split screen features. There’s even a handy Game Hub with built-in cloud gaming from apps like Xbox Cloud Gaming, NVidia GeForce now, and Amazon Luna. Like most competitors, there’s also a dedicated gaming bar for on-the-fly adjustments.
A (Mostly) Loaded Package
Samsung’s Gaming Hub complements the S95D’s stout collection of gaming features, including VRR (Variable Refresh Rate) and Freesync Pro for buttery high-frame-rate gaming, and ALLM (Auto Low Latency Mode) for speedy input response. All four HDMI 2.1 inputs support high refresh rates at up to 144 Hz to match high-frame-rate gaming from PCs, and there are a slew of game-oriented picture modes, making it easy to lock in a gorgeous picture.
The TV’s 4.2.2-channel audio system provides surprisingly solid sound. There’s some moderate punch in the lower midrange and fantastic overhead expansion (especially for a TV this thin), shooting Dolby Atmos effects overhead and side to side. Adding a newer Samsung soundbar with Q-Symphony lets you utilize both devices in concert.
Other features include options like Amazon Alexa or Samsung Bixby voice control, Apple AirPlay streaming, and support for HDR10, HDR10+, and HLG (Hybrid Log Gamma) HDR formats.
What you don’t get here is Dolby Vision HDR or, bizarrely for a company that makes Android phones, Chromecast streaming support. These omissions are pretty common across Samsung devices, but each year I hold out hope they’ll eventually cave and add them.
The main advantage of omitting Dolby Vision is one less picture setting to mess with, not that you’ll need to do much to the picture settings anyway. The TV looks almost flawless out of the box in the Filmmaker mode, requiring only minor tweaks. For those who like a slightly brighter picture, the Movie mode is also solid, though you may want to turn off settings like motion smoothing. Whatever your settings, you’ll want to ensure the oddly inaccurate Intelligent Mode is off.
Inner Reflection
Samsung’s new anti-glare screen technology is the S95D’s most exclusive feature and works phenomenally well compared to other such options. As previewed at Samsung’s TV event in March, the matte surface is incredibly effective at reducing reflections, even with lights aimed directly at the screen from mere feet away.
There is a trade-off for killing the glare. Part of the beauty of a perfectly black screen on which pixels only pop on demand is just that: perfect black. With the matte screen, lights or reflections aren’t the conspicuous eyesores they are with traditional screens, but they don’t all disappear completely. The screen diffuses but also expands some reflections across a broader area, raising its backdrop from glossy obsidian to lighter charcoal.
The optical in-display fingerprint scanner is quick and reliable, and while there’s no headphone jack on this handset, you get a microSD card slot to expand on the base 128 GB of storage. The Galaxy A35 is IP67 water resistant, so it’ll be OK if you accidentally drop it in the pool, and it supports contactless payments—I’ve been using Google Wallet to pay for pretty much everything these past few weeks.
Problems start with the performance. The Samsung Exynos 1380 chipset inside is paired with 6 GB of RAM, and while it bested the Moto G Power 5G’s benchmark scores, my real-world testing has been noticeably laggier than Motorola’s phone, with far more stutters in daily operation. I can do everything I usually do with flagship smartphones, but apps load slowly, switching to another app can feel stuttery, and the interface can feel janky with the slowdowns.
It’s not frustrating like the Galaxy A15’s performance, just annoying. It’s not always like this; there are periods when it feels smooth and fast when I’m siloed in one app for a while (like doomscrolling on X before bed).
Battery life is also nothing to write home about. There’s a 5,000-mAh cell. With average use, I usually ended a full day with around 40 to 30 percent left. But on a few occasions, if I used it more rigorously—for GPS, music streaming, browsing Instagram, and taking pictures (around five and a half hours of screen-on time)—I’ve had to recharge it by 5 or 6 pm.
Strong Points
Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
There’s a triple-camera system on the A35, but you should stick to the main camera. It’s a 50-megapixel primary sensor joined by an 8-MP ultrawide and a 5-MP macro. Over on the front is a 13-MP sensor. Selfies look sharp—no qualms there—and I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the photos out of the main sensor.
It’s been a long time since I’ve used a laptop with a screen larger than 13 or 14 inches for any length of time. It’s so refreshing to have the room to spread my apps out … even if the machine no longer fits in my backpack. Maybe being able to fit your bag under the seat in front of you is overrated.
Compared to the cavalcade of 13- and 14-inch laptops that cross my desk, the Samsung Galaxy Book4 Ultra, with its 16-inch touchscreen (2,880 x 1,800 pixels), is a behemoth. Weighing in at 3.9 pounds (but only 19 mm thick), it has a heft that’s backed up by its top-shelf specs, which include 32 GB of RAM, a 1-terabyte SSD, and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 graphics card. The centerpiece is the new Intel Core Ultra 9 185H processor, the current top-of-the-line processor in Intel’s Core Ultra CPU lineup.
Photograph: Samsung
As benchmarks go, the Galaxy Book4 ran rings around all the other Core Ultra laptops I’ve tested in the last few weeks since the new chips launched, though none of those had an Ultra 9 or a discrete graphics processor. On some CPU-based tests, the system doubled up on the performance of the Lenovo X1 Carbon, and on graphics-based tests, I was regularly able to get three to five times the frame rates I saw on machines that used the Core Ultra integrated graphics processor. The Book4 is certainly credible for use as a gaming rig if desired. Plus with 12 hours and 43 minutes of battery life, as tested via my full-screen YouTube rundown test, you need not fret about being away from an outlet all day.
The larger chassis gives Samsung room to squeeze a numeric keypad into the picture, though I longed for full-size arrow keys when working with the device. The responsive keyboard is paired with one of the largest touchpads I’ve ever seen on a laptop. At 6 x 4 inches, it’s considerably bigger than a standard passport—arguably too big, as there’s barely room on the left side of the touchpad for your palms to rest. I generally disliked working with this touchpad, as I found it both missed clicks and inadvertently registered unintended taps much too often.
I returned the next day and the most blatant issues had abated, but the TV’s lack of contrast and black levels when compared to last year’s excellent QN90C (8/10, WIRED Recommends) made me confident I wasn’t getting the full picture (literally). A few colleagues also said the TV looked great when they viewed it earlier this month. As such, I’m reserving judgment until the full review.
What I can say is the TV showed the same excellent off-axis viewing that gave its predecessor a leg up over many backlit LED and QLED TVs, and I expect it to once again be a top contender in its class when the final version arrives. Even so, Samsung has its work cut out this year, as competitors are promising big things, including massive upgrades to lower-priced models like Hisense’s U8N and TCL’s QM8 that double their peak brightness (or more) over last year. That should make for an exciting QLED showdown in 2024.
Sonic Framework
Samsung’s Frame TVs have always been more about style than performance, though they’ve offered enough 4K brilliance to become a popular mainstay. That’s what makes the new Music Frame speakers such an interesting addition to the party. They’re designed to be both standalone wireless speakers and extensions of Samsung TVs and soundbars over Q-Symphony. The question we’ve had since CES 2024 is, do they sound any good?
Photograph: Ryan Waniata
The answer in my brief time with a pair of them is, somewhat surprisingly, yes. The solid bass provided by dual woofers along the back panel lends some body and punch to the sound, while the midrange and treble drivers are suitably clear and engaging, if not pristine. That’s better than you’d expect from picture frames that spill out sound from small creases along their sides.
The Music Frames can sit on stands or be wall mounted, and we only got to hear them in the former position where their sound was freer to expand in the lower frequencies. Still, I walked away impressed by their clear and accessible sound and I’m looking forward to hearing more.
Earlier this year at CES, Samsung announced its 2024 TV model lineup, which includes screens with Mini LED displays, quantum-dot-enabled OLEDs, and other, more affordable TVs. We like what we’ve seen so far, which makes Samsung’s current TV promotion pretty exciting if a new TV is in your budget for this year.
If you preorder a select Samsung screen between now and April 11, 2024, you can qualify for a free 65-inch Samsung TU690T Crystal UHD model while supplies last. Full disclosure: We have yet to test any of the upcoming 2024 models, but we have spent years testing Samsung TVs and recommend several in our Best TVs buying guide.
By no means will the free model be as nice as your preordered screen. The TU690T usually hovers around $500, and it doesn’t have modern features like local dimming, which helps make blacks appear darker and whites look brighter, and improves the contrast of the screen. But a free 65-inch TV can be a fantastic way to upgrade a friend or loved one’s aging TV set, or you can put it in a spare bedroom, work area, garage, or any other space where you might’ve wanted a screen but didn’t want to spend the money for it.
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The Nitty Gritty
Photograph: Samsung
How is Samsung able to give away free TV sets as a part of this promotion? We reached out to Samsung for comment but it hasn’t given us an answer yet. But hey, free TV! Here are the 2024 TV models that qualify for the deal:
Pak says the ring will use Samsung’s “leading sensor technology” and long battery life to deliver advanced sleep insights that include heart health monitoring.
One of the core features is the My Vitality Score, which purports to show your mental and physical readiness for the day. It’s based on a clinically validated model from the University of Georgia that initiates a “cognitive load test” to see how ready you are when you wake up for the day—not unlike the Daily Readiness Score on Fitbits and Garmin’s Body Battery. This feature will be making its way to Galaxy Watches, too.
This is paired with Booster Cards, which will offer “scientifically-backed insights” for ring bearers to stay boosted and energized throughout the day, with recommendations for better habits, too. Watchmaker Citizen attempted to introduce a smartwatch last year that had a similar feature, but the device was pulled from shelves as it had numerous bugs and issues.
The Galaxy Ring is surprisingly lightweight and comfortable, but no word yet on battery life.
Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
I got a chance to touch and hold the Galaxy Ring, and it’s surprisingly lightweight and comfortable. There are several sizes from which to choose, and there will be a fitting process to dial down the ring option for your fingers. Samples on show were available in gold, silver, and dark gray, but Samsung reiterated that things were subject to change. Pak was also coy about sharing what materials the ring is made from, but says Samsung has durability in mind.
The Galaxy Ring will have 24/7 health tracking, but Pak couldn’t share exact battery life estimations. He says there’s a certain expectation of “more than a couple of days” when it comes to smart rings, but Samsung is working right now to extend the battery life as much as possible. The Oura Ring, for context, can get anywhere between three to five days in our testing; the Ultrahuman Ring Air lasts roughly four days.
The Galaxy Ring only works with Android phones (sorry iPhone owners), and while it currently has a complementary relationship with the smartphone and the Galaxy Watch, Pak repeatedly mentioned that Samsung is exploring how the Ring can be incorporated with other Samsung hardware and appliances. We’ll have to wait and see how that plays out.
We test a ton of Android phones. We like the ones below, but you’ll be better off with one of the options above. If you haven’t yet done so, check out our Best Cheap Phones guide for more.
Samsung Galaxy S23 FE for $600: I used this phone for several weeks and found it was more than enough to meet my needs. The cameras are surprisingly decent—you even get a usable 3X optical zoom, though its results are not as excellent as the ones from the Galaxy S23. The performance gave me zero issues, and the battery often lasted me a little more than a day with average use. The 6.4-inch screen is a pretty nice size that’s not too big and not too small, and you still get perks like wireless charging and a 120-Hz screen refresh rate. It has dipped as low as $400 during Black Friday, so I highly recommend you wait for a sale.
Samsung Galaxy S23 Series ($700+): It seems like last year’s Galaxy S23 range (9/10, WIRED Recommends) may be disappearing faster than usual, as stock is low across a variety of retailers. If you can find them, the 6.1-inch Galaxy S23, the 6.6-inch S23+, and the massive 6.8-inch S23 Ultra are full of high-end features, from the powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset that keeps even the most demanding games running beautifully to the fluid and bright 120-Hz AMOLED displays. Battery life has improved across the board, with the S23 comfortably lasting more than a day and the S23 Ultra hitting nearly two full days with average use. The triple camera systems are the highlight, delivering remarkable results whether it’s day or night. The S23 Ultra has the special 10X optical zoom camera, which is no longer available on the latest S24 Ultra, and I miss it. It was nice being able to capture sharp photos of objects far away. It’s the only phone in the trio with the embedded S Pen stylus if you like to doodle. Try to avoid the MSRP since they’re a year old; sometimes, these prices match the latest models, which is a bad deal.
OnePlus Open for $1,700: The OnePlus Open (7/10, WIRED Recommends) is the first folding smartphone from OnePlus, and it’s surprisingly good. OnePlus has some clever software trickery to make multitasking on this booklike foldable simple and effective. The camera system delivers good results, the screens get plenty bright, and the battery life is excellent. I just wish the water resistance was better and that it had wireless charging.
Google Pixel 6A for $349: Google’s continuing to sell the 2022 Pixel 6A (8/10, WIRED Recommends) at a marked-down price. It’s still excellent value and a worthy purchase. It’s powered by Google’s first-gen Tensor chip, which means you’re getting some of the best performance for the money, and it supports all the same great (and helpful) software smarts as the flagship Pixel 6 series. It’s got an OLED screen, a decent camera system, and lengthy software support. There’s no wireless charging and it has a 60-Hz screen.
Xiaomi Poco X6 for £319 and X6 Pro for £369: Not in the US? You should take a look at the Poxo X6 or Poco X6 Pro (7/10, WIRED Recommends). These are speedy phones considering the low prices, with great displays, and decent battery life, plus the X6 even has a headphone jack! It’s a shame there’s a lot of bloatware, limited water resistance, and the cameras are lackluster.
Google Pixel 7 Pro for $600: The 2022 Pixel 7 Pro (8/10, WIRED Recommends) is a good buy if you can find it at this price (or lower). You get a 6.7-inch screen with a 120-Hz refresh rate. There’s Face Unlock, but this isn’t secure like the version on the Pixel 8, so you’ll have to rely on the fingerprint sensor to access sensitive apps. Cameras are a big part of Pixels, and the Pixel 7 Pro remains one of the best with an upgraded ultrawide with autofocus, enabling a Macro Focus mode for close-ups. Its telephoto camera has an excellent 5X optical zoom too.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5 for $1,499: The Fold5 (7/10, WIRED Recommends) remains an excellent big-screen folding smartphone. The cameras can take some great photos, the displays can get shockingly bright, and Samsung promises lengthy software support. But the introduction of the Pixel Fold has shown me how much more I prefer the wider front screen. The Fold5’s external screen feels too narrow, and some apps feel squished (though it’s a little easier to grasp when closed). It’s frequently available for $1,499 so try not to pay more.
Samsung Galaxy A54 for $453: Samsung also has a great A-series mid-range phone, the Galaxy A54 5G (8/10, WIRED Recommends). It’s a nice alternative to the Pixel 7A or OnePlus 12R. The 6.4-inch AMOLED screen can ratchet up the brightness like crazy, so you never have to squint, and the screen reacts more smoothly thanks to the 120-Hz refresh rate. It matches the Pixel on security updates but it offers an extra year of OS upgrades for a total of four. The reason why it’s not above? Performance is good, but things can get a little stuttery when you try to juggle many apps at once; the Pixel 7A and OnePlus 12R easily beat it in speed. The A54’s battery can last more than a day at least, and the camera system holds its own. There’s no headphone jack on the phone, no wireless charging, nor is there a charging brick in the box, but you do get a microSD slot if you want to expand the 128 GB of included storage.
Sony Xperia 1 V for $1,398: Sony’s latest flagship phone (7/10, WIRED Review) is super expensive. But it’s one of the few smartphones with a 4K OLED screen, and it’s rare to see a high-end phone with a headphone jack. There are a lot of toys for camera nerds, whether you want to capture a photo with manual settings or use Sony’s Cinema Pro app to capture cinematic footage. You can even use the phone as an external monitor for your camera. It’s a shame Sony has a short software update policy, and its camera system is still too clunky.
Motorola Edge+ 2023 for $600: A Motorola smartphone with contactless payment support, 5G, wireless charging, plus a promise of three OS upgrades and four years of security updates? Say it ain’t so! The Motorola Edge+ finally matches its peers on several counts and exceeds them in some ways. It has a bright 165-Hz OLED screen, it’s lightweight, and its 5,100-mAh battery easily lasts two days. The downside? The cameras are not as good as the cheaper Pixel 7A. Read our Best Motorola Phones guide for more picks.
OnePlus Nord N30 5G for $300: This OnePlus phone (6/10, WIRED Review) doesn’t break the mold, and you should pay up for a Pixel 6A or any of the phones above if you can. But if your budget is tight and this phone goes on sale, it does the job. Performance is good, and there’s two-day battery life.
There are a few more handy settings that aren’t enabled by default that you can enjoy by tapping on Advanced settings in the notifications hub. The first is to turn on Show all notifications. Instead of a measly three notification icons on the top left of the screen in the status bar, you’ll see all the notifications you’ve yet to acknowledge. You should also turn on Notification history—handy for the times you accidentally swipe a notification away before you read its contents. I also like using the snooze function to remind myself about notifications later in the day, and you can tap the Show snooze button to turn this on. (You’ll see a little bell icon on the bottom right corner of your notifications; press that to snooze them.)
Keep the Always-On Display … Always On
The Always-on Display is there to let you quickly see the time or any pending notifications when you glance at your phone, but by default this feature is set to Tap to show, meaning you need to tap the screen to see the Always-on Display. Bizarre. To fix this, go to Settings > Lock screen and AOD > Always-on Display and choose Always under When to show. This does drain some battery life, but it’s marginal. Make sure you toggle off Show Lock screen wallpaper as this will drain battery life faster. Head back to the lock screen and AOD settings page to further customize the look of the clock on the lock screen and add some widgets.
Wake the Phone When You Lift It
You can wake your Samsung Galaxy phone when you lift it instead of requiring a tap on the screen. You can also double-tap the home or lock screen to wake the display and double-tap it again to turn it off. What about if you read a web page and the screen times out and turns off? There’s a fix for that too. Go to Settings > Advanced features > Motions and gestures and toggle on Lift to wake, Double tap to turn on screen, and Double tap to turn off screen. Also, head to Settings > Display > Screen timeout and toggle on Keep screen on while viewing. Now the screen won’t turn off as long as you’re staring at it head-on.
Disable the Samsung Wallet Swipe Up
Samsung via Julian Chokkattu
If you turn on gesture navigation, you’ll immediately realize how annoying it is that Samsung Wallet, by default, comes to life when you swipe from the bottom edge of the screen. Sure, it’s a fast way to access your credit cards, but it’s so easy to accidentally trigger when you just want to see your recent apps. If you use Samsung Wallet, you can turn this off by heading to the Menu tab in the app and tapping the gear icon, and then Quick access. Tap Swipe up gesture and toggle off Lock screen, Home screen, and Screen off. Don’t use Samsung Wallet at all? Just press and hold the icon in the app drawer and tap Uninstall.
Get Rid of Folders in the App Drawer
Seeing folders in the app drawer annoys me. When I’m quickly searching for an app and I don’t find it in the list, it’s usually because it’s in a folder. One of the first things I do when I set up a new Samsung phone is sort the app drawer alphabetically. To do this, swipe up from the home screen to access the app drawer and tap on the triple-dot icon at the top right. Tap Sort and choose Alphabetical order. If you like folders in your app drawer, just press and hold an app and drag it on top of another to create one. But if you don’t want them, press and hold any folders you find in the app drawer and tap Delete folder.
Turn off the Edge Panel
See that translucent pane on the right edge of your screen? Have you accidentally opened it when you meant to swipe back and go to a previous page or app? Me too. This is called Edge Panel, and it’s a tucked-away panel that lets you get immediate access to a set of apps (of your choice). It’s like a persistent dock.
This can be immensely useful, so I encourage you to play around with it first. Pull it open and tap the pencil icon at the bottom to customize it and choose the apps you want. You can also go to Settings > Display > Edge panels > Panels to add different kinds, like a weather panel, a reminders panel, or a clipboard panel. Tap Handle in the Edge Panels settings page to tweak the position of the panel and change the transparency, size, etcetera, which might make it harder to accidentally trigger. If you just want to turn Edge Panel off, head to Settings > Display and toggle off Edge panels.
Reorder Your Quick Settings Tiles
Samsung via Julian Chokkattu
The Quick-Settings tiles when you pull down the notification drawer are helpful, whether you want to quickly turn on the flashlight or use Do Not Disturb mode. The layout can be a little strange when you first set up a Samsung phone, but don’t worry, you can reorder it. Swipe down from the home screen twice until you see a pencil icon. Tap this, then Edit either the Top pane when you first pull down the drawer or Full when you pull down the whole thing with two swipes. You can press and hold any of the tiles to move them around, even remove ones you don’t use (and find hidden ones you might). Press Done. There’s also a handy setting called Quick settings instant access where you can enable the right corner of the screen to instantly open the full drawer instead of just the top pane.
Turn on the Color Palette
Want to match your phone’s system theme with your wallpaper? Press and hold anywhere on the home screen until you see the home screen settings menu, then tap on Wallpaper and style. Tap Color palette and toggle it on. You can choose from a set of colors it pulls from your wallpaper, or a set of basic colors. Toggle on Apply palette to app icons for a more cohesive look, though this works only if an app supports the feature (most first-party apps do).
Expand Your Grids
Want to add more space to your home screen? You can tweak the grid layout to add more rows and columns so you can fit more on the screen. Press and hold anywhere on the home screen to see the Home Screen settings menu. Tap Settings > Home screen grid and play around with the different grid sizes to see what works. I prefer the 5×5 layout. You can do the same for the app drawer and even your folders by going to the App screen grid and Folders grid, and I prefer 5×5 and 4×4 for those, respectively.
Turn on Battery Protection
Samsung via Julian Chokkattu
If you intend to hold on to your smartphone for several years (as you should), then you’ll want to protect the battery at all costs. Try to keep your phone between 50 and 80 percent charged, as depleting it completely or keeping it topped up all the time can decrease the battery’s efficiency over time. Samsung has a feature that can help with this—head to Settings > Battery and toggle on Battery protection. You can choose between Basic, Adaptive, or Maximum. For the latter, it will limit the maximum charge to 80 percent, thereby extending the life of your phone. This does mean permanently losing 20 percent per day, but try it out for a few days to see how severely it affects your use. The Adaptive option puts your phone on the Maximum setting when you’re sleeping and charging, and switches to Basic when you wake up, getting you closer to 100 percent. You can find tips on how to save smartphone battery life here.
Turn on Dolby Atmos Sound
Samsung brags about how its phones support Dolby Atmos for richer-sounding audio, but this feature is off by default. To turn it on, head to Settings > Sounds and vibration > Sound quality and effects. Toggle on Dolby Atmos and Dolby Atmos for gaming. I usually set the former on Auto, and there’s a slightly noticeable difference in audio quality with it turned on—music sounds a little louder and more robust. You’ll find other sound settings you can play around with here like the Equalizer and Adapt Sound features to tweak the audio for your ears.
Enable Samsung’s New Galaxy AI
Samsung via Julian Chokkattu
Only available on newer Samsung devices, Galaxy AI is the catch-all name for a few new smart features powered by Google’s Gemini artificial intelligence model. You can look at all of them at Settings > Advanced features > Advanced intelligence. There’s Live Translate, which in the Phone app lets you talk to someone else in another language and translate what they say. In Samsung Keyboard, you can turn on Style and grammar to get some AI help in the tone of your sentences or with punctuation. We’ve got the full list of new software tricks here, but feel free to run through all of them and see how they work.
Get Rid of Bloatware
Years ago, Samsung didn’t let you uninstall a lot of bloatware—apps that were redundant or that you never wanted to use. Nowadays, you can uninstall most of these apps. Just tap and hold the app in the app drawer or home screen and press Uninstall. If you can’t uninstall them, you can at the very least Disable them so they disappear from view. This now works with Samsung’s Calendar app, which was previously difficult to get rid of.
If you can’t uninstall or disable an app, your next best option is to hide it. Open the app drawer, tap the triple-dot icon at the top right, tap Settings, and scroll down to Hide apps on Home and Apps screens. Tap on the app you want to hide, and that’s it!
Enable Link to Windows
Got a Windows PC? You can connect your Samsung phone to make and take calls from your machine, see texts and photos, and even use your phone apps in Windows. On Windows, open the Microsoft Store app and search and install Phone Link. On your Samsung device, head to Settings > Connected devices > Link to Windows. Follow the prompts on the screens to pair the two devices via the QR code.
Switch Your Keyboard
Samsung via Julian Chokkattu
If you’re often frustrated with Samsung’s default keyboard, you’re not alone. I much prefer Gboard, Google’s keyboard app. The good news is that it’s easy to swap keyboards! Once you download the keyboard you want, whether it’s Gboard or some other third-party app, head to Settings > General management > Keyboard list and default and tap on Default keyboard. You might need to toggle on your new keyboard in this menu first. Head back to General management and tap on Gboard settings to customize it to your liking.
Turn on Extend Unlock
Android has long had a feature that keeps your phone unlocked when you’re connected to another device with Bluetooth (like a car or smartwatch), or if you’re in a specific location, like your home. Don’t turn this on if you feel uncomfortable having your phone unlocked in these scenarios, but if you find it convenient, you can head to Settings > Lock screen and AOD >Extend Unlock to play around with it. I usually prefer turning on Trusted devices and choosing my smartwatch or car so I don’t need to fuss with a passcode or fingerprint when I’m driving (not that I’m actively using my phone while driving). But I prefer using Extend Unlock’s Trusted places function to essentially disable the lock screen passcode when I’m home.
Add Emergency Contacts and Emergency Sharing
It’s smart to put your emergency contacts on your smartphone. To add people, you can go to Settings > Safety and emergency > Emergency contacts and add friends and family from your contacts list. Head back to the previous menu and make sure Emergency SOS is toggled on. This lets you press the power key five times to start a 10-second countdown that will dial emergency services. Toggle on Send SOS to emergency contacts to keep them in the loop, and this will take you to Emergency sharing settings. You have the option of allowing the phone to send pictures from the front and rear cameras as well as an audio recording when it sends your location to your emergency contacts. It’ll also add a warning if your Galaxy phone is nearly out of battery.
Create AI-generated Wallpaper
Samsung via Julian Chokkattu
Some newer Samsung devices can create AI-generated wallpapers. If you’re struggling to find a good wallpaper, give it a try. Tap and hold the home screen until you see the home screen settings menu, then tap Wallpaper and style. Tap Change wallpapers and scroll down to Creative. Tap Generative and now you can choose one of the genres to get started. From there, tap on the words to change the subject, then press Generate. Swipe through the AI-made wallpapers to find one you like, and apply it to the lock screen or home screen!
Samsung swapped the 10X optical zoom for a 5X optical zoom on the S24 Ultra, and I don’t like the change. Sure, the sharpness is relatively close when you use the 10X digital zoom on the S24 Ultra, but things are still a bit fuzzier. Colors, contrast, and white balance were all a bit off, compared to the same results from the S23 Ultra. It was super unique to have such a high zoom level, especially when you still have 3X optical zoom. Too bad. Thankfully, the 5X is still a nice option to have, and its results are usually sharper than that of 5X zoom on the Google Pixel 8 Pro. As usual, Samsung tends to pump up the colors a bit.
I prefer the quality of the Pixel 8 Pro’s ultrawide over the ultrawide on the S24 series; it has sharper details and colors are more natural with better white balance. The 3X zoom seems to be sharper on the S24 series over its predecessors by a hair, and these are still some of the best selfie cameras on a smartphone.
Video performance, as usual, is excellent, but my favorite new feature is Instant Slow-Mo. In the Gallery app, just press and hold any video to instantly turn part of it into slow motion. As someone who routinely forgets that slow-mo is a feature on the camera, this lets you apply it with any clip as it generates new frames in between real frames to make the footage appear smooth. The quality is not going to be nearly as good if you had actually shot in slow-mo, but it’s good enough for social videos for when you inevitably forget to film in that mode.
Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
Photograph: Julian Chokkattu
Generative Edit is another smart software feature available for your photos. Like Google’s Magic Editor, you can resize subjects, move them around the frame, and the AI will fill in the rest. I don’t have a massive Psyduck plushie, just a small one, but I resized it to look almost like a realistic large one. Did I fool you?
In a nutshell, the Galaxy S24 series marries the best hardware in Android with Google’s smarts. However, I find Google’s Pixel phones to have more helpful day-to-day software features, so there’s still some work to do for Samsung to catch up. If you still prefer the exceptional Samsung hardware though, you’ll still have to deal with the price. The S24 ($800) and S24+ ($1,000) are priced well, but I’m just not seeing the justification for the $100 price jump of the Ultra at $1,300. Try to catch them on sale.
