Making a case for ‘mini’ smartphones
The S24 may not be the most powerful out there, but the relatively smallersized smartphone is plenty capable
About a year-and-a-half ago, we bemoaned the death of the iPhone Mini series; meanwhile, Asus has decided not to release its Zenfone smartphones—Zenfone 9 and Zenfone 10—in India. Does that mean (relatively) smallersized smartphones are dead? Emphatically, no, and it’s Samsung to the rescue with the Galaxy S24, the smallest in the S24 series that also consists of the S24+ and S24 Ultra.
The Galaxy S24 has a 6.2-inch screen— not small by any means but dwarfed by its own sibling, the Galaxy S24 Ultra, and its 6.8-inch screen. Samsung seems to understand that there is a market out there for “petite” smartphones, especially for elderly users and women, who don’t have large pockets to carry a super-sized smartphone in.
The Galaxy S24 has a squared-off aluminium design and comes with rounded corners with smaller bezels than before. It has a flat-edged frame, and along with the rounded corners, offers a comfortable fit. Overall, the build quality is superb and the whole package feels premium.
The Galaxy S24’s display looks great. The colours are bright and vivid, while outdoor legibility isn’t an issue. With an Exynos 2400 chipset, paired with 8GB
RAM, it flies through everyday tasks without a lag or a stutter. The operating system is the OneUI 6.1 (based on Android 14), and Samsung has promised seven years of major OS updates, which means you can theoretically keep your phone until 2031 with the latest version of Android.
From checking emails to watching YouTube videos and from snapping dozens of photos to attending work calls, the Galaxy S24 was a pleasure to use. Switching between apps and multi-tasking is a seamless affair. Gaming on the Galaxy S24 is also a fantastic experience. From Call Of Duty: Mobile to Genshin Impact ,it kept up with similarly priced devices out there
(it currently costs ₹79,999 on the Samsun website).
The Galaxy S24 now gets 4,000mAh battery (an increase 100mAh from the Galaxy S23). Having started my day around 9am and ending past midnight, I never had below 10% battery before calling it a day. The downside is that the Galaxy S24 supports only up to 25W charging speeds, much lower than most of its immediate rivals, though it is on a par with the iPhone 15 lineup from Apple.
The cameras are pretty much the same as those on its predecessor, the S23. There’s the 50MP main camera, a 10MP telephoto camera (with 3x optical zoom) nd a 12MP ultra-wide camera ith a 120-degree fieldf-view). On the front, u get a 12MP selfie mera. There are me updates nder the hood, ut the smarthone’s camas do take a hit dim lighting. ot of details are ssing, as well as arpness, and it s behind the Pixel 8 even the iPhone 15 in ight.
Samsung hasn’t reinvented the wheel with the Galaxy S24. It has just taken a great smartphone (Galaxy S23), made it better technically, and sprinkled many AI features on top. The result is a fantastic smartphone with assured updates for many years. It’s fast, fluid, looks premium, can be used one-handed, and doesn’t weigh you down. Sahil Bhalla is a Delhi-based journalist. He posts @IMSahilBhalla