So this is the brand new Galaxy s23 Ultra and a lot of people in others posts are saying that this is not much of an upgrade compared to the previous year and it shouldn’t be I mean that’s where we are with smartphones right now you don’t get big updates anymore even in the foldable space the updates are not as significant as it used to be if you look at something like the iPhone 13 to 14 that was probably the smallest update I have seen to a phone in years like all they did was change a few things but still using the same processor but you have to understand something these updates are not for the tech enthusiasts like us you know we always expect something big to happen every single year these updates are for the normal consumer.
All these little refinements add up when you’re upgrading from a phone that’s three to four or even five years old not from a device that you just bought 12 months ago but the thing is out of all the Samsung devices I’ve used in a very long time this is the most consistent solid Samsung phone I have ever used it’s that good now granted they did change a few little things in terms of the design like for example the cameras still stick out but the rounded circle is a little bit more refined on the back yes it still Jiggles on the table because the camera is protrude but even though this is a boxy device in fact even bigger and wider than the iPhone 14 pro Max.
I still prefer the way the s23 ultra feels in the head because they’re using these rounded edges they’re not sharp like they are on the iPhone. They just feel more comfortable to hold especially if you’re holding this thing all day. Now granted this is not a big deal if you put a case on your phone but if you’re one of the few crazy individuals, who are rocking this without one then you’re going to appreciate the way this thing feels. The other thing is it still has an S Pen on the bottom of the device.
So this is technically the note to get and even though it’s the exact same color as the previous S Pen. I still would have loved to see them match the color of the body. I really love this green and I would have loved to have a matching green S Pen to go with it but the kicker is because they flattened out the edges of the display you have a bit more room to write on which also means if you’re typing on the phone it’s going to feel better instead of having deeper edges on the side your type c port’s.
Still on the bottom this is your sim card tray no there’s no micro SD card available for this device. The lines are the antennas for The Cellular Connection and you have two external speakers for a stereo pair. Now this is one area they did update I compared the speakers to the iPhone 14 pro Max and the sound quality is actually better on the s23 ultra. It’s not massive you probably have to put headphones on to hear the difference but they are better this year. Which is really impressive.
The other big update comes down to Hardware features so the Snapdragon 8Gen 2 which is the fastest Snapdragon process you can buy right now is a massive upgrade compared to gen 1. Not only does it make everything a bit more efficient which helps with battery life it’s also significantly faster. Especially when it comes to GPU performance like I was playing games on this thing I didn’t get any stutters.
Frame rates were always good it was just a solid experience. Plus if you’re copying files or moving files or loading up an app it’s now using UFS 4.0 storage. This stuff is really really fast and a lot of people who are copying stuff back and forth from their smartphone or if you’re just like loading something. you’re going to notice the speed Improvement compared to previous versions of that storage but the display even at 6.8 inches and still using the same panel as last year’s s22 Ultra.
They did do a bit of fine tuning it feels a bit more color accurate when you have it on natural mode. Now granted I do like the Vivid mode they have in their settings which just makes everything look nice and Punchy. So it’s a nice little contrast compared to the more color accurate version that you get on the iPhone. If you’re watching a lot of content and movies leaving it on that Vivid mode just makes everything look so much better. Plus the fact that the screen can ramp up from 1 to 120 hertz depending on what you’re doing. Just allows you to have more efficient battery life.
In fact I’m just going to talk about battery life now you know this battery life is really really good I’ve only used it for three to four days but I’m getting the exact same battery life that I’d get on the iPhone 14 Pro Max. Now some of you might say that’s ridiculous because the 14 pro Max battery life is not as good as the previous year but it’s still all day battery like. I can confidently use this phone the camera everything and finish the day anywhere from 50 to 60 percent left. If you’re a hardcore heavy user you’ll easily get through the entire day and still have juice before you go to bed.
Now they don’t have the fastest fast charging on this phone like it’s only 45 Watts but it’s paired with wireless charging and 45 watts to me is more than fast enough. Especially from someone who also uses an iPhone but the software experience is really improved. Like this Samsung one UI especially 5.1 which happens to be the first phone that it’s on feels great. It’s just Snappy the software looks fantastic the icons look nice and smooth there’s nothing jarring that sticks out at you to bother youwhile you’re using your phone.
It just feels super clean the only thing that’s not is typical Samsung stuff like they tend to have a lot of duplicative apps. Even little things like going into the camera for example and going into more like there’s a pro video mode and then there’s an expert raw mode. I know one is raw photos or video and the other one is pro mode which lets you Tinker with the camera but those two things kind of go hand in hand. So I still think Samsung needs to kind of clean up what’s available and also remove duplicative apps because for a new user starting off on this device it can be a bit confusing.
But what’s not confusing is how fast this fingerprint scanner is. I’ve used a lot of ultrasonic fingerprint scanners and this is the fastest one I have ever used. I just know where my finger needs to go and it is ridiculously fast. Previous Samsung devices I always found that it was kind of Hit or Miss. like it was accurate but it wasn’t as quick and sometimes it was a little bit finicky but this is just like perfect.
like look how fast this logs in now the camera is all the talk that’s what the live stream truly focused on and this year we’re getting a 200 megapixel sensor that means you can bend 16 pixels to one and get way better low light performance at least in theory. But I really wanted to compare it to the iPhone 14 pro Max because that’s what a lot of people are going to be curious about and it really depends on the situation for the most part. I prefer the photos on the s23 ultra but there are certain situations where the iPhone does do better.
For example if you’re indoors the iPhone just does a better job of nailing white balance especially when you have tungsten lights on. I also found that sometimes the Samsung would introduce a reddish Hue in the skin or the surroundings based on the lighting that’s in the area. But when you go Outdoors it is a totally different story. It’s like Samsung and iPhone flipped computational photography. I found the iPhone to look a lot more cool and the Samsung photos to look warmer in some situations the iPhone was a little bit more vibrant and in other situations the Samsung was more vibrant than the iPhone but the things that were consistent were exposure.
I found Outdoors the Galaxy phone just did a much better job exposing the scene. I also found that the Galaxy phone did a better job of pulling details from the Shadows. The iPhones tended to be a bit more contrasty and they’d crushed the blacks a bit too much. whereas I was able to pull more detail from the Samsung device. Now regardless of whether you use the three times or ten times telephoto lens or even macro mode the color consistency was fluid throughout each lens in fact the one thing that truly shocked me was the night time photography on the Galaxy Device. It just blows the iPhone out of the water.
I was actually shocked especially in very difficult circumstances where there’s lights coming from all directions the iPhone just got very confused and produced poor looking photos whereas the Galaxy Device just looked really really good even the zoom lens 10 times Zoom looks Crystal Clean compared to what the iPhone can do at three times it just looks blurry and noisy but when it comes to video it’s the same old story.
Overall if I had to choose a phone for strictly video I would still go iPhone you know the colors still look slightly better the overall experience is more consistent but there are some areas where the Samsung device does win out. Now unfortunately I haven’t recorded any 8Kvideo yet I heard it’s really good but at 4K 30 the iPhone does look better but the Samsung phone does a better job of General stabilization. However things kind of change when you put it on steady shot on the s23 ultra in action mode on the iPhone the iPhone ends up doing a better job stabilizing the footage.
So right now you’re looking at the front-facing camera on the Galaxys23 Ultra and the iPhone 14 pro Max you guys let me know which one looks better and most importantly which one sounds better so here’s the thing this is one of the most consistent Samsung experiences I have used in years. it just feels like a top end wonderful device and it should for this price point.
But obviously if you’re coming from an s22ultra or S21 Ultra this is not an upgrade. like they’re probably going to do their big redesign with the s24 but if you’re coming from an older Android smartphone or an S9 this is gonna feel like a massive update for you and I feel like right now out of all the Android devices I’ve used this year and last year this is probably the most complete package as long. As you don’t mind having a bigger phone if you have any more questions about this device let me know in the comment section down below.
