Of course, this was exactly what Apple wanted. They want users to become so attached to their flagship product that trying to buy a competitor’s lamely named device (“Galaxy”) causes enough brain-on-fire friction. Destroy the few remaining parts that are not yet controlled by the iPhone.
Then, in February of this year, I received an invitation from a PR agency to try out the new Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra. Normally, I would just brush off such an invitation and ignore it, but this one came with an opening sentence that fit my interests so perfectly that I couldn’t ignore it. life? “
The pitch was so targeted that I laughed out loud. Yes, this is an email from Samsung’s PR agency. I’m wondering how AI (artificial intelligence) can integrate more seamlessly into my daily life. There are days when I hardly think about anything.
A few weeks after receiving the invitation, I was sitting next to a floor-to-ceiling window in a cool office on the outskirts of the city while a Samsung marketing representative used a Galaxy S24 Ultra to audio record our conversation. I watched in amazement as he did it. to instantly convert it to text with a single tap on the screen.
As a journalist who has spent entire days, even weeks, transcribing recordings, this feature alone makes me slam my maxed out credit card on the conference room table next to my S24 Ultra and ask for three more. It made me want to do it.
However, the execution was not completed. Tapping the screen again, she turned the transcription into a bulleted summary. I relaxed my jaw in delight. I wanted it, and I still want it.
Still, she wasn’t finished. She opened a web browser, navigated to a long article like this one, tapped the bottom of the screen, and the whole thing was distilled into a concise and possibly nice summary. She tapped on the photo to remove unnecessary elements and went through feature after feature. Tap notes to create summaries and translate phone conversations in real-time. Circle the image on your screen and your phone will automatically search for it on the web.
The world was changing before my eyes, and I was shocked to learn that Apple wasn’t the one making the change. The company has made vague promises about its AI capabilities, but as of this writing, nearly nine months later, they’re still just promises. The company whose most famous ad campaign advised us to “think differently” and become visionaries, heretics, and rebels is now writing checks it can no longer cash. looked terrible.
That was enough. I had a life to optimize and time to save, and Apple was no longer a reasonable choice to help me achieve those goals. So a few weeks ago, I did the unthinkable and started using my family’s hand-me-down Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra. This wasn’t the model I tested earlier this year, it was the generation just before that. But it used the same software, had the same AI features, and was significantly more advanced than my iPhone 8.
I was worried that I would lose all my valuable data and my specific understanding of the iPhone, but it turned out to be a ridiculously easy switch. I used a Samsung app that retrieved all the data from my iPhone and had my Galaxy S23 Ultra ready to use within minutes.
Sure, I had to flesh out some new swipes and taps, but I loved the phone so much that the initial fumbling was more exciting than frustrating.
I started using every AI feature I could get my hands on, including summarizing web pages, conversations, and notes, manipulating photos, transcribing recordings, and live translating phone conversations. What a time to be alive!
Yes, I had mild withdrawal symptoms from having my fingers embarrassingly glued to my iPhone, but I didn’t give in and within a week or two, I was using my new phone much more effectively and happily than before. Now you can use it. I’ve used my old one.
I was filled with excitement at all the rich and terrifying possibilities of technology that had been unfulfilled by Apple products for many years. Galaxy and I felt that together we could do something big and important, something that would move humanity forward and change the world.
The fact that we haven’t done that yet, that we’ve only edited photos for personal enjoyment or summarized conversations with our wives, is an important part of the Samsung S23 Ultra. It’s not a point or a drawback.
