Η φιλική ανταγωνιστικότητα στο καλύτερο της: Galaxy S24 εναντίον Pixel 8

Intro

Samsung and Google have been good buddies throughout the last few years, at least as far as the market for mobile tech goes, so it comes as no surprise that Samsung has taken some inspiration from the source of Android goodness. More specifically, the

Galaxy S24

(and the S24 Plus/Ultra) has many of its upgrades thanks to the implementation of on-device and cloud AI.

Heads-up: Samsung is giving a special offer to early customers by making each storage upgrade practically free! This means you can buy the 256 GB model for the price of a 128GB one, 512 GB at the price of the 256 GB, and even 1 TB at the price of 512 GB!

Table of Contents:

Design and Size

Block vs pebble

Besides the flat vs round edges, the S24 and

Pixel 8

are also differentiated from one another, of course, by their back panels. The former comes with three cameras with lenses protruding, whereas the latter has that iconic Pixel metal bar housing two cameras inside. One similarity the two share is the glossy (and fingerprinty) surface.

In terms of protection, the

Galaxy S24

comes with Gorilla Glass Victus 2 protecting its front and back, and the

Pixel 8

has the older version of Gorilla Glass. This shouldn’t a deal breaker at all, however, since the new generation of Victus is only ever so slightly more scratch and crack resistant. Both phones come with

IP68

water and dust resistance, or in other words the best you can get with flagships right now.

Display Differences

Google really stepped up its game as far as displays go when it announced the

Pixel 8

but Samsung keeps its reputation as the phone manufacturer with the best display tech by providing an even brighter and more power efficient.

Other than that, both phones’ screens measure at 6.2 inches and both have a 120Hz display refresh rate. The devil’s in the details though, as the

Galaxy S24

‘s display can go as low as 1Hz unlike the

Pixel 8

‘s, which cannot go lower than 60Hz. Having the ability to go as low as 1Hz should allow the S24 to save more battery and therefore be more power efficient.

Performance and Software

Higher performance vs longer support

As for RAM, the

Pixel 8

‘s base model comes with 8GB and so does the

Galaxy S24

has 8GB no matter which storage option you opt for.

As for software support, after Google announced 7 years of software and security updates with the

Pixel 8 it practically took the crown from Samsung for the longest software support out of all mainstream

Android phones

. It seems Sammy is here to level the playing field though, since the S24 matches those 7 years of software support and security patches.

Camera

The Pixel is no longer the only camera magician in the game

The

Pixel 8

comes with an outstanding camera system, as is tradition with Pixel phones. That being said, the

Galaxy S24

should prove to be no slouch either, and not only because it has an extra camera at the back, but also thanks to the numerous AI quirks and features that Samsung has introduced.

For starters, Samsung stated that its flagship lineup is now equipped with advanced noise algorithms that help the phone analyse gyro information to distinguish between movement by the person holding the phone and movement of the subject that’s being recorded. This is said to make images and video taken in low light conditions clearer with less grain.

What’s more, the overly saturated and contrasty look of Galaxy flagships is now much more balanced thanks to a dedicated color tuning solution. This means colors now appear more true to life and accurate.

Main Camera

The main cameras of the

Galaxy S24

and the

Pixel 8

both produce great images, but the two most visible differences we noticed are that the Pixel is a bit sharper, whereas the Galaxy has better HDR performance, with more detail in the darker areas.

That awesome HDR performance continues to show when taking photos during the night and in low-light conditions. The S24 has managed to capture much more detail both in the shadows and highlights in this case. What’s more, the

Pixel 8

‘s main camera has less sharpness in this case.

Zoom Quality

Despite not having a dedicated telephoto camera, the sensor crop of the

Pixel 8

manages to deliver some great results. It even shows more detail in the darker areas of the image. That being said, the S24 telephoto snapper produces better overall image quality and sharpness (although it is a bit blurry around the edges), which you can notice where there is text.

Ultra-wide

Here we see Samsung’s signature approach, or in other words, making its photos pop by increasing the vibrancy of the colors and the contrast. That said, it is not as as aggressive as before, and actually helps the photo look better. The Pixel is a bit more conservative and aims to bring a more balanced, neutral shot.

In low-light, however, the Pixel’s ultra-wide camera is clearly more capable, as it brings out more detail in the shadows. The S24’s ultra-wide also introduced more noise into the image, which reduces the perceived sharpness and quality.

Selfies

The front-facing camera on the

Pixel 8

manages to capture much more in the shot thanks to its wider field of view, compared to the S24. The image from the Pixel is significantly sharper too.

Video Quality

And above you can see a comparison of the video quality on these two.

Audio Quality and Haptics

The

Pixel 8

, on the other hand, while its speakers get loud and the sound is quite clear, lacks a bit of oomph compared to the S23, so we expect the situation to remain the same when we compare it to the

Galaxy S24

.

Both manufacturers tend to add powerful and precise haptic motors to their high-end phones, but we will let you know how that goes once we use the two phones back to back for a longer period.

Battery Life and Charging

Pixel might have longer battery life

The

Pixel 8

comes with a larger battery at 4,575 mAh compared to the

Galaxy S24

, which has a 4,000 mAh battery. That being said, Samsung says it has optimized the battery life even further, so we can’t wait to put this little rascal through our own battery tests to see how it stacks up against the

Pixel 8

‘s results.

As you can see from the results we got during our battery tests, the

Pixel 8

is the way to go if you want the most battery life. That being said, the difference is not that huge, only 1 hour in the video streaming and gaming categories, so this shouldn’t be too big of a concern when deciding between the two.

Charging-wise, we are still looking at a 25W of wired charging on the S24, which is slightly lower compared to the

Pixel 8

‘s 27W. That being said, because of the difference in battery size, both are listed to charge from 0-50% in around 30 minutes with the appropriate adapter. The S24 comes with 15W wireless charging, and the

Pixel 8

goes up to 17W, with the former sporting 4.5W reverse wireless charging and the latter 5W.

Specs Comparison

There you have it! The gist of it is a dedicated telephoto camera, faster storage, and a more power-efficient display. That’s about it if we were to look at what the

Galaxy S24

has over the

Pixel 8

with the two phones’ spec sheets next to each other.

Summary

One of Google’s main attractions so far was its unique approach to making a phone exciting and useful. The

Pixel 8

comes with witty features that might seem like gimmicks at first but are actually useful in a user’s everyday life. The trouble is that Samsung has somewhat stolen some of that Google thunder with the S24. If it wasn’t for all the new (to Galaxy) AI features on the S24, it would have been a rather boring upgrade for 2024.

The question, then, is which software and “style” feels more to your liking. We are talking about two of the greatest

Android phones

you can buy right now, and they are similar in more ways than a few. Bottom line is, you won’t go wrong with whichever one you choose.