The Samsung Galaxy AI on the new Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 has at least one trick up its sleeve that can surprise and delight friends, family and – apparently – my dentist.
I get so nervous at the dentist that I always look for distractions, things to help me forget that I’m lying in the dentist’s chair with my mouth wide open. So when my dentist casually asked how I was doing and what I’d been doing, I told her I’d just gotten back from Samsung Galaxy Unpacked in Paris.
She smiled behind her mask, and not caring whether she was feigning interest or being genuinely interested, I quickly pulled the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 out of my pocket. She, along with my dental hygienist, who was standing on the other side of my chair with her hands full of tools over my mouth, stopped and marveled at the foldable Android device. Foldables aren’t exactly popular or common in my part of the world, and I realized this might be the first time they’d seen one.
Now that I had their attention and temporarily distracted them from drilling into my mouth, I quickly unfolded the phone’s 7.6-inch flexible display and began babbling about artificial intelligence. The hygienist, however, was more interested in what I think is the most fascinating Android phone she’s ever seen. As an avowed iPhone fan, she was intrigued by this typically replaceable device.
I went ahead and started explaining all the AI features while the hygienist told me she thought the phone was cool, but she wouldn’t give up her iPhone for it. A demonstration, I thought, might change her mind—and further delay my dental treatment.
There are a fair number of Samsung Galaxy AI features on this phone, and on the Galaxy Z Flip 6 and other Galaxy phones, like live translation and Circle to Search, but I knew I needed something quick, visual, and fun, and went with Sketch to Image.
Sketch to Image lives in the Notes app, and it’s pretty simple: you open a blank page and sketch out a basic image with your finger—or a proper Galaxy Z Fold 6 S Pen, if you have one. Then you select the Galaxy AI button, highlight what you’d like the generative AI to transform, and wait 10 seconds or so for the results (Samsung uses a hybrid model for its AI, where some features work locally on your device but Sketch to Image requires a cloud connection).
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Lying in that chair, I knew time was running out. My dentist wouldn’t be able to chat with me all morning—other patients were waiting. Yet I realized I was doing an excellent job of delaying the inevitable.
I opened Notes and outlined what I was going to do. The problem is, I wasn’t sure what to draw. Since I started testing the phone, I’ve found that Sketch to Image works best on simple line drawings. It didn’t work for more complex sketches with too much detail, and as a result, my Notre Dame drawing will never be touched by Galaxy AI’s digital hands.
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I went with the most obvious idea given the circumstances: a tooth. It wasn’t a great drawing, although my dentist kindly told me it was “not bad.” I didn’t write “this is a tooth” underneath it or give Sketch to Image any other directions. I selected the drawing, clicked generate, and seconds later my dentist and hygienist were squealing with delight. (They were so loud I nearly jumped out of the chair… okay, maybe I just wanted to leave.)
“Wow!”
I had to admit this was a great representation of a single tooth.
The hygienist recovered and told me she might consider this Android phone, but also admitted that as cool as it is, she had no idea how she would use Sketch to Image. Ah, the age-old AI problem: impressive solutions looking for problems to solve.
I wanted to tell them about the prize, but then my audience was back to the task at hand. They gently pushed my chair back and asked me to open my mouth wide…