Page 50 - The Book For Men Spring/Summer 2024

Smooth Sailing
Timberland’s signature 3-eye Boat Shoes get the spring treatment, and a new silhouette
WHETHER IT’S A COLLABORATION WITH AIMÉ LEON DORE
or Supreme, Timberland continues to reimagine its iconic footwear in fresh new ways. Introduced in the spring of 1978, Timberland’s 3-Eye Lug Boat Shoe was the first of its kind, quickly establishing itself as a signature style in the casual shoe category thanks to its rugged appearance. Last year, the original style celebrated its 50th birthday — and is still a sartorial mainstay for style enthusiasts.
This season, Timberland has unveiled a collection of its classic boat shoes in fresh spring colourways. New to the 3-eye Boat Shoes collection is a wedge-soled style, featuring waterproof leather uppers and traditional hand-sewn stitching. Crafted from Timberland’s responsibly sourced materials and constructed using the shoemaker’s patented comfort technologies, there are few shoes more durable, supportive, and ready for the season ahead.
Learning Curve
Samsung’s new AI-enabled Galaxy S24 Ultra puts the ‘smart’ in ‘smartphone’
THE NEW SMARTPHONE FROM SAMSUNG HAS TOUCHED DOWN — AND
it’s showing signs of intelligent life. That is to say, the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, the largest and most powerful model in the newly launched S24 collection, has harnessed the horizon-broadening, possibility-creating power of AI. “Together with Galaxy AI,” says Samsung’s head of mobile business, Raj Doshi, “the latest Galaxy S devices mark a new era in everyday mobile innovation.”
So what exactly does this entail? The Galaxy S24 Ultra is a touch slimmer than its predecessor, sports a 6.8-inch screen, and can charge to 65 per cent battery capacity in just 30 minutes. It’s also been made im- measurably more capable on the software side thanks to the introduction of AI. Take the translator, for example: the S24 Ultra offers instantaneous, two-way translation across all voice and texting apps. It can also transcribe, has perfected conversational tone, and can even suggest relevant replies and actions.
New gesture-driven technology also puts the latest Galaxy among the most ergonomic smartphones on the market. Users must just hold down the home button to trigger its new search function, then either draw a circle around or highlight a section of the screen to spark a new search — sending the AI assistant off scouring the internet and returning with results within the blink of an eye.
There are major updates elsewhere, too. The S24 Ultra is packed with a suite of editing and recording apps for content creators, and post-production capabilities include camera shift correction, which allows users to alter the angle from which a photo was taken — after it’s already been snapped. There’s also generative-fill, blur stabilization, and “Nightography,” which facilitates clearer image capture in the dark. It has five cameras, with a maximum megapixel count of 200.
So, although AI has proved a contentious topic this last year, Samsung seems to have a handle on the benefits it may bring to our lives, and the streamlined solutions it will offer in the future.
50 BFM / SS24 PORTFOLIO
LEARNING CURVE: TEXT BY CORMAC NEWMAN; SMOOTH SAILING: TEXT BY SAHAR NOORAEI