The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra Quick Review
10 min read
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra
Introducing the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra! When it was first unveiled, you might have thought it was just a small upgrade because, well, it looks similar.
The overall appearance hasn’t changed much. The edges are a bit squarer, giving it a boxier feel reminiscent of older Note models.
The camera rings are slightly larger, and it uses Gorilla Glass Victus 2 instead of Victus Plus.
However, when it comes to size, design, buttons, ports, and layout, it’s pretty much the same as before.
But don’t let that fool you! There are two significant improvements to this phone.
Remember, it’s replacing the Galaxy S22 Ultra, which was already an impressive big phone last year.
It had a fantastic battery, a stunning screen, and outstanding performance, making it excellent in every way.
So naturally, there wasn’t much that needed changing.
But here’s where the exciting upgrades come in—the things that can be changed in a phone: the SOC (system on a chip) that powers it and the cameras.
You might have heard about the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, which has proven to be a fantastic chip in other phones.
It offers excellent CPU and GPU performance, and it’s quite efficient, which means it’s good for battery life.
Now, this phone, along with the entire S23 lineup, features a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy.
It’s a customized version of the chip specifically made for these Samsung phones.
This means that now, I believe the S23 Ultra captures the best photos I’ve ever seen from a smartphone in most situations.
For the first time in a long while, an Android phone even outperforms the flagship iPhone in GPU performance.
However, there are still some aspects of this phone that I wish were improved.
Galaxy S23 Ultra Design
The design of the S23 Ultra is certainly an improvement from last year, featuring a less curved screen.
When compared side by side with the S22 Ultra, you can clearly notice the difference.
While it retains the advantages of a curved screen, such as smooth swiping gestures, there’s less curvature this time.
This means the edge of the screen is less affected by the curvature, resulting in less darkening.
Additionally, holding the phone feels more comfortable due to the combination of the curved screen and the curved back, especially when compared to the iPhone 14 Pro Max, which has sharp angles on the sides.
However, unlike the iPhone’s rounded bottom, the S23 Ultra has pretty sharp 90-degree angles here.
If you often hold your phone horizontally, it might be a bit uncomfortable because it cuts into your hand.
It seems designed this way to better accommodate the S Pen.
While I like the inclusion of the S Pen for its convenience—I can pull it out and immediately start writing on the screen with a feature that works even when the screen is off—I hope the sharp angle is softened in future models.
Apart from the curvature concern, the phone boasts one of the best screens on the market.
It’s a 2K-plus display with an adaptive 120Hz refresh rate, although it still falls slightly short in brightness compared to the iPhone, topping out at 1750 nits.
This difference is not significant, especially considering that brightness is measured on a log scale.
However, on super-bright sunny days, more brightness could be beneficial.
The S23 Ultra is just a tad heavier than last year at 234 grams, making it almost as heavy as the iPhone 14 Pro Max.
It’s a phone you definitely don’t want to drop on your face.
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra Phone Colors and Reliability
The overall design of the S23 Ultra hasn’t changed much from last year.
It retains its individual camera cutouts, which are slightly larger.
The phone uses Gorilla Glass Victus 2, known for its toughness. In hand, it feels pretty much the same.
The back features a well-textured matte glass that’s fairly resistant to fingerprints.
In terms of design, the S23 Ultra is clean-looking and is available in four different colors: cream, black, lavender, and green.
The cream color, when compared side by side with the white iPhone, appears more off-white.
The S23 Ultra maintains its IP68 water and dust resistance and includes the same ultrasonic fingerprint reader as before.
The speakers have also been slightly improved to deliver more bass, which is a nice addition.
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra Performance
One of the significant upgrades this year is a new SOC, called the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2.
It marks a substantial improvement in performance, especially since it uses the same TSMC four-nanometer manufacturing process as the A Gen 1.
The single-core performance is almost 30% faster, and the multi-core performance is 50% faster, which is quite impressive.
This improvement is partly because the S23 Ultra’s CPU has a slightly higher clock than some other phones with the 8 Gen 2.
However, it’s still a bit behind the iPhone in terms of performance. But what really stands out is its GPU performance.
For the first time in a long while, it outperformed the flagship iPhone by 10%, and it seems to have better cooling than the iPhone as well.
If thermal throttling is less than that of the iPhone, the S23 Ultra maintains very high performance for noticeably longer than both the S22 Ultra and the iPhone 14 Pro Max.
Right after running a 20-minute benchmark, the S23 Ultra did measure a few degrees hotter than the iPhone, but I couldn’t really feel this difference with my hands.
So, if you’re a mobile gamer and the game you play has similar graphical settings on both Android and iPhone, you’re likely to have a much better experience on the S23 Ultra.
Furthermore, if you’re upgrading even from the last generation, this phone might be over 50% faster in some games, making it a significant improvement.
Additionally, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 will be in the S23 Ultras worldwide.
This makes it an even more substantial upgrade for those who were using phones in the Exynos region before.
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra Battery and Battery Life
The Galaxy S23 Ultra has a battery just like the one in the Galaxy S22 Ultra.
It has a capacity of 5,000 mAh, which means it’s supposed to last longer than last year’s model.
Hopefully, the new Snapdragon chip will help with that.
When it comes to charging the Galaxy S23 Ultra, you’ll still need to use a wired connection and a compatible charger.
The charging speed remains at 45W, which means it can charge pretty quickly.
However, it’s important to note that the Galaxy S23 Ultra will not come with a charger included in the box, so you’ll need to make sure you have a compatible charger to use with it.
The new SOC on the S23 Ultra is much better at conserving power.
I fully charged the S23 Ultra and then played videos on it for nine and a half hours to get a more accurate result.
By the end of it, it still had 30% of the battery remaining. That’s eight percent more than the S22 Ultra in the same test.
This is quite impressive, especially when you consider that both phones have the same 5,000 milliamp-hour battery.
However, the iPhone still has the best battery life.
Even though the 14 Pro Max has a smaller 4,300-something milliamp-hour battery, it ended up with 35% in the same test, outperforming the new S23 Ultra by 5%.
When it comes to playing graphics-intensive games, those impressive numbers on the S23 Ultra come at a cost.
In a one-hour-long test running a benchmark loop, the S23 Ultra used up 31%, which is three percent more than the previous S22 Ultra and 10% more than the iPhone 14 Pro Max.
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra Storage
Regarding storage, this year, the baseline for the S23 Ultra is now 256 gigs.
Since the starting price has remained the same, in a way, the S23 Ultra is more affordable than the previous generation.
The base storage capacity has actually increased from 128 to 256 gigabytes, and it now uses faster UFS 4.0 storage technology.
I believe, especially for a camera-focused phone like this one, that having 256 gigabytes as the starting storage makes sense. High-resolution photos take up a lot of space.
However, it’s important to note that the 256-gigabyte version only has eight gigabytes of RAM instead of 12.
I don’t think this will be a significant difference, but I also haven’t had the chance to test them side by side.
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra Camera
Moving on to the 3x telephoto, which was a weaker aspect of the S22 Ultra, the S23 Ultra unfortunately didn’t receive an upgrade in this department.
In the comparison photo, it’s still not as sharp as the iPhone’s equivalent.
However, what’s interesting is that digitally zooming in three times in the 200-megapixel mode is only slightly worse than using the current three-time telephoto lens.
This leads me to think that it might have been more practical to have a telephoto lens with a five-time zoom, similar to the Pixel 7 Pro.
This adjustment would ensure better performance throughout the entire zoom range for the S23 Ultra.
Now, let’s talk about the ultra-wide lens, which remains the same as in the previous model.
However, this presented an excellent opportunity to showcase the new processing capabilities against the S22 Ultra.
The photos taken with the new phone exhibit more toned-down colors, offering a more natural and iPhone-like appearance. For this shot, I believe it strikes a great balance between the two and looks the best.
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra Software
What really matters for the user experience are the operating systems of these phones.
The Galaxy S23 Ultra comes with One UI 5.1, which is based on Android 13.
I recently compared Samsung’s One UI 5 with iOS 16 and stock Android 13 on the Pixel, and when it comes to customization, One UI stands out as the best.
Additionally, with this phone, you receive up to four generations of One UI and Android upgrades and five years of security patches.
Samsung has the best update policy among Android smartphones, and they continued this tradition with the release of the Galaxy S23.
The S23 Ultra comes with a slight update when you buy 5.1, introducing a few additional small changes.
Specifically, One UI 5.1 is a modest update, and it does include a few interesting features.
For instance, there’s a new battery widget that looks quite familiar.
Moreover, you can set different wallpapers on the lock screen and home screen to change with different modes, which may also feel familiar.
One noteworthy feature is the Gallery app’s ability to create shared family folders.
When the app recognizes family members, it will automatically suggest sharing pictures with them.
This makes it easier to share special moments with your loved ones.
Another cool feature is Bixby text call, which utilizes Samsung’s personal assistant.
With the Galaxy S23 Ultra, you can have Bixby answer calls for you.
It will provide a live transcript of what the caller is saying, allowing you to read it in real-time.
You can even reply to the caller using text, and Bixby will read out your response.
This feature is similar to Google’s Call Screen feature, which helps you manage your calls more conveniently.
Stylus Pen (S Pen)
Talking about the Stylus Pen, it looks like it’s sticking around with the Ultra line, and I really enjoy using it.
The pen is lightweight, and even though it’s quite flat, it still feels super comfy for writing.
The tracking is excellent, especially in Samsung’s own Notes app—it’s almost perfect, with the line always right under the pen tip.
In other apps, the tracking isn’t flawless, but writing with it still feels fantastic, without any delays.
Now, the shape of this phone doesn’t make it ideal for writing, so I wouldn’t call it a replacement for a tablet.
However, if you need to jot down quick notes, add some drawings to your screenshots, or doodle on your pictures, the S Pen is perfect for those tasks.
There’s even a button on it that works as a remote shutter for the camera, which I find very handy.
While not everyone may need the S Pen, it’s still a fun and useful tool to have around.
Price of the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra
The price for the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra starts at $1,199.99 for the 128GB model, while the 512GB model costs $1,828.
In Nigeria, the Galaxy S23 Ultra is available for 948,500 Naira, and in Kenya, it is priced at 187,000 KES.
Final Note
The Samsung S23 Ultra stands out as the most interesting phone right now.
It brings a pen and a 10-time zoom lens, which is really unique and fun. Combined with the great display, it offers a really nice experience.
Even though you could argue that these features were already on the S22 Ultra, I believe the substantial increase in speed and efficiency alone makes this a significant upgrade.
Not to forget, the new main and selfie cameras, likely the two most commonly used cameras on a phone, have received notable upgrades as well.
For gamers, Android has finally become a close match against the iPhone in raw performance.
So, although the S23 Ultra might appear a bit boring initially, I see it as an extremely solid upgrade over the last generation.
However, part of me feels like it isn’t complete in its evolution, especially with a somewhat mediocre three-time zoom that should have been swapped for a five-time zoom lens.
If you’re interested in getting this phone, you can explore different online platforms like Amazon or visit the nearest store in your area.
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