Samsung Galaxy AI's coolest feature stopped my dentist in her tracks and gave me a break from the drilling

Samsung Galaxy AI on the new Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 has at least one trick that can surprise and delight friends, family, and – apparently – my dentist.

My nerves are such at the dentist that I'm always searching for distractions, things that will help me forget that I'm reclined in a dentist's chair with my mouth wide open. So when my dentist casually asked how I was doing and what I'd been up to, I told her that I'd just returned from Samsung Galaxy Unpacked in Paris.

She smiled behind her mask, and with me not caring if she was feigning interest or genuinely interested, I quickly pulled out the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 from my pocket. She, along with my hygienist, who was standing on the other side of my chair with her tool-filled hands poised over my mouth, stopped and marveled at the foldable Android device. Foldables are not particularly popular or prevalent in my part of the world, and I realized that this might be the first time they'd seen one.

Now that I had their attention and had temporarily distracted them from the business of drilling my mouth, I quickly unfolded the phone's 7.6-inch flexible display and started babbling about artificial intelligence. The dental hygienist, though, was more interested in what I think was the most fascinating Android phone she'd ever seen. An avowed iPhone fan, she was intrigued by this usually fungible device.

I plowed on, and started explaining all the AI features as the hygienist told me she thought the phone was cool, but she wasn't giving up her iPhone for it. A demonstration, I thought, might change her mind – and further postpone my dental work.

There are quite a few 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 fast, visual, and fun, and settled on Sketch to Image.

Sketch to Image lives in the Notes app and it's quite simple: you open a blank page and sketch a basic image with your finger, or with a proper Galaxy Z Fold 6 S Pen, if you have one. Then you select the Galaxy AI button, marquee what you want the generative AI to transform, and wait around 10 seconds for the result (Samsung uses a hybrid model for its AI, with some features working locally on your device, but Sketch to Image needs a cloud connection).

Lying in that chair, I knew I was running out of time. My dentist couldn't chat with me all morning – other patients were waiting. Even so, I realized I was doing an excellent job of putting off the inevitable.

I opened Notes and explained what I was about to do. The thing 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 balked at more complex sketches with too many details, which is why my Notre Dame drawing will never be touched by Galaxy AI's digital hands.

I settled on the most obvious idea given the circumstances: a tooth. It was not a great drawing, though my dentist kindly told me it was "not bad". I did not write the words "this is a tooth" underneath, or give Sketch to Image any other guidance. I selected the drawing, hit generate, and seconds later my dentist and hygienist squealed in delight. (They were so loud I almost jumped out of the chair... okay, maybe I just wanted to leave).

"Wow!"

I had to agree, this was a great depiction of a single tooth.

The hygienist collected herself and then told me she might now consider this Android phone, but also admitted that for as cool as it is, she had no idea how she would use Sketch to Image. Ah, the age-old AI problem: impressive solutions in search of problems to solve.

I was going to tell them about the price, but by then my audience had returned to the task in hand, and were gently titling back my chair and asking me to open wide…

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