Galaxy AI promises real-time translations, summaries of meetings and articles, and the ability to craft messages from prompts. But do they work as intended?
Unsurprisingly, this year's smartphone announcements have largely focused on AI integrations. Following the success of ChatGPT, smartphone manufacturers have raced to supercharge their smartphones with time-saving AI tools and those that allow users to have more fun.
Samsung debuted its “Galaxy AI” tools at the beginning of the year with the launch of Galaxy S24 and later expanded them with more recreational features, like Sketch to Image.
These features are available via Samsung’s UI 6.1.1 update and will run on premium devices released in the last two years, along with a few mid-range smartphones that have yet to be announced.
I’ve spent the last few weeks testing the new tools and Samsung’s Flagship Galaxy Z Fold 6. While I found useful time-saving tools, such as summarizing content, most aren’t perfect yet and have room for improvement.
Summaries of meetings and articles
Galaxy AI allows users to summarize or translate articles and other written content in their browser. To do this, however, one must use Samsung’s internet browser, which isn’t the first choice for most consumers.
A summary's result is similar to copying the text and pasting it to a tool like ChatGPT. But with Galaxy AI, you get summaries with a click of a button.
Galaxy AI-supporting devices also allow transcribing and summarizing recordings, such as meetings and lectures, conveniently differentiating the voices of up to 10 people.
I found these tools to be the most beneficial and time-saving of all, though sometimes I ran into unexpected issues.
For example, summarizing articles isn’t available on websites behind a paywall, which is quite understandable. But once, the tool refused to summarize content on a website, claiming it was under a paywall when it wasn’t.
And when I wanted to transcribe a meeting entirely in English, I was suggested to install a Vietnamese language pack.
The translation tools
Two Galaxy AI tools, Interpreter Mode and Call Assist, aim to provide real-time translations.
To use them, one needs to download specific language packs, and the quality of translations will depend on the language pack you’re using. Now, Samsung supports 16 languages translated right on your device, while most of Samsung’s AI tools will require the data to be processed in the cloud.
The Interpreter Mode enables translations by providing a transcript on a screen. Users of Samsung’s six-generation foldables can also see translations on the cover screen, offering added convenience. Meanwhile, Call Assist enables real-time translations and written transcriptions when you speak via a cellular network.
When I first heard of these tools, I was excited and eager to try them. However, my experience revealed that they still need improvement.
I’ve tried these tools with a few language packs, including German, and noticed that it often picked up various noises and interpreted them as words, making translations inaccurate. Sometimes, it just misunderstood words.
Because of these potential errors, it wouldn’t be a good idea to use these translations in a business meeting where accuracy may be crucial. However, they can be quite handy if you are traveling abroad and need to exchange a few words with a foreigner.
Prompted messages and Circle to Search
With Galaxy AI, one can write messages based on a prompt, change their writing style, or correct spelling and grammar.
On the keyboard, there is a Galaxy AI icon. After pressing, one can select a certain writing style, such as polite, professional, or casual, and tailor a message to social media or email platforms.
Once again, the idea of the feature is excellent. Prompts should help you write and edit messages much faster. But in practice, I found it much quicker to write my own text instead. Unfortunately, the results from the prompts were far from what I would normally use.
Hopefully, we will see these improved in the future when the device can learn from your texting and adapt messages to your writing style.
Additionally, Galaxy AI-supporting devices offer a handy tool from Google, which was first announced for Pixel smartphones. You can highlight specific text or images by pressing the home button for relevant search results.
This can be particularly useful if you see a picture of a dish and want to find the recipe or if you want to explore options for an item you noticed in a photo.
Sketch to image and photography
Not all Samsung AI tools are designed for practicality – some are geared toward making drawing and editing pictures fun.
The Sketch to Image tool turns your drawings into more sophisticated ones. It reminded me of typing a prompt into Midjourney or another image-generating app when you have an idea of what you want to see but can never guess the result. And usually, the results of Sketch to Image were quite exciting.
This tool can also be used for editing pictures, adding an extra layer of creativity to your photos.
Another entertaining feature is Portrait Studio mode, which turns a selfie into a comic or more artistic picture, such as a 3D cartoon or sketch.
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