Samsung Galaxy S23 series hot take

05 February 2023
Samsung's new phones are here, do we like them, what else is notable?

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  • ?
  • Anonymous
  • ak@
  • 11 Feb 2023

Vivo X90 Pro+ is far better than this samsung S23 series.
I Wanna have that Vivo X90 Pro+. Here I've have a perfect reason for my choice and it is that Vivo X90 Pro+ can perform more efficiently than Samsung S23 Ultra in all known segments.

    • D
    • AnonD-546724
    • 3g5
    • 10 Feb 2023

    Dopaminer, 09 Feb 2023Innovation is in the fold series. Note/ultra series is abou... moreLol, Innovation in the fold ? You must be kidding. Fold 3 was incremental and so is Fold 4.

      aaronwt, 06 Feb 2023Because an SD card is super slow when compared to the inter... moreSorry. My country is addicted to whatsapp. And I need my sd card to store all the crap and memes that gets downloaded. I hate using my cloud storage for random crap like receipts too

        AnonD-546724, 07 Feb 2023Wrong. This isn't about the need to upgrade, this ... moreInnovation is in the fold series. Note/ultra series is about a no compromise daily driver.

        Let the Xiaomi ultra and the vivo x90 replace lg and HTC, do their crazy half-baked innovation.

        When we all know in the end it's the stability of the system and the consistency that matters the most for customer experience

          • D
          • AnonD-546724
          • pZ5
          • 07 Feb 2023

          venomtail, 05 Feb 2023"There's a potential buyer for both new Galaxy S ... moreWrong.

          This isn't about the need to upgrade, this is about the desire to upgrade. Of course you don't need to, but usually, you'll still want to.

          Because Samsung flagships use to makes us tech enthusiasts dream every year. Doesn't matter if you own last year's release or a 5 year old device.

          You look at it, and you think "jeez this is amazing, I want one". But this year, you won't. I'm betting no tech enthusiast in the world saw this and was any amazed.

          You look at this, and it's all stale and déjà vu. Even down to the colors. Even Apple, probably the company with a design dept on vacation most of the year, makes the effort to brings new, somewhat exciting colors to the table with each new iPhone.

          The new 200MP sensor isn't any near the day & night difference expected.

          The "Made for Galaxy" 8 Gen 2 is nothing more than a marketing stunt, just like that breakable glass they'd like you to call "gorilla".

          The design is a carbon copy of last year's, supposedly to offer cohesive aesthetics across the board. And by across the board, I mean all the way down the the Galaxy AXX series. That's right, your S23+ will look just like the upcoming A54. Better yet, it has worst pixel density than the A52s.

          Gone are exclusive flagships designs, and S & S+ are just decoys products, supposedly to makes you go towards the Ultra. Samsung started this trend with the Galaxy Note 20 vanilla, which was laughably worst than the Note 20 Ultra, on purpose. But it all started when Samsung dropped QHD resolution on the S/S+ phones.

          This may be due to glaring lack of Android competition, with HTC and LG gone, and Sony doing Sony, Samsung can afford to play THIS safe.

          Sony can afford to keep doing their own thing because PlayStation and many other ventures keep them afloat.

          Maybe one could argue that LG and HTC, core innovators of the Android world, were innovative to a fault which caused their demise eventually. Maybe playing it safe is required to survive in this industry. But I'll rather see Samsung dying a hero than live long enough to become the villain.

          My point is, Galaxy S flagships were never devices you needed, but devices you wanted, that you dreamed to own and to play with. With every release.

          But dude, trust me, no one fancy to get their hands on one of these.

            Anonymous, 06 Feb 2023Wait until Samsung decide to put 8GB in S24/S24+ again In my use of Android, I notice no difference between 8GB of RAM or 12GB of RAM. They both work just as well. Although I never play games on any cell phones or tablets. So it might be an advantage with them. But in my daily use, there was no difference. At least from a user perspective.

              Bistna, 06 Feb 2023 why spend an extra couple hundred on a phones storage when... moreBecause an SD card is super slow when compared to the internal storage.

              Even when I had an SD card installed in my Galaxy S phones, I rarely ever used it. So I was glad when they finally removed it. So I didn't waste my money on buying a microSD card.

              Plus, with the slow speed of the SD storage, it was always a pain. When you are used to the much, much, faster internal storage. And now with the S23 line, with UFS 4.0, the internal storage is even faster.

                kevinmcmurtrie, 05 Feb 2023As long as phones keep coming out with only 128 or 256 GB s... more why spend an extra couple hundred on a phones storage when I could get a micro SD card for less than half the cost, and also make it easier to transfer storage? Also don't have to worry about losing all my storage if I break my phone since I can just take the SD card out. Quit justifying their greed. That's all it is, is greed. There's no good reason for them to get rid of expandable storage, they're literally just doing it because they can and to line their pockets.

                  • b
                  • barom
                  • iBP
                  • 06 Feb 2023

                  I'm actually more excited about "vanilla" S23. I actually think it also had the most upgrades this year.

                  1. Upgraded display, much brighter! I was bummed last year when "vanilla" S22 was left out of the upgrade.
                  2. 200mah upgrade on battery
                  3. upgraded selfie

                  I live in Europe so I'm also excited we're getting Snapdragon. I remember someone tested camera differences between Exynos and Snapdragon on S22 Ultra and personally thought Snapdragon was noticeably better. S23 Ultra got the new camera but from the comparison article, I saw basically no real difference. Slightly sharper in certain areas if you zoom in but also more noisy so... yeah... Actually think "vanilla" S23 is the winner this year. I just wished they kept the Phantom White color. Guess I'll go with boring black.

                    • ?
                    • Anonymous
                    • x0k
                    • 06 Feb 2023

                    Anonymous, 06 Feb 2023Omg same. I returned the S21 and S22+. It feels like the S1... moreI'm still using my S10, it's a great device. Looks sexy and has all the important features. Beautiful screen too

                      • P
                      • Payam
                      • Ik2
                      • 06 Feb 2023

                      I can say that I will take the regular s23 as the size and features meet my needs. But generally I want to assume one of these devices should be discontinued... I'd argue that we can have the vanilla S23 and the premium Ultra should suffice. It helps with the production, pricing, distribution and expectations.

                        Weird take. The smallest S23 gets by far the biggest upgrade this year - it had the worst battery life and worst performance of the lot due to the power hungry & hot running S8 G1 being such a uniquely poor fit for smaller phone designs. Now it gets a significantly more efficient chip, a vapor chamber to cool it *and* a larger battery? That's huge.

                        Most of the camera improvements on the S23/S23+/S23u come from the S8 G2's new ISP too (not hardware/ sensor upgrades) so the S23/S23+ should see an extremely similar boost to camera performance to the one on the S23 Ultra.

                        The smaller 50mp main sensor on the S23/S23+ combined with the new ISP might even offer a better camera user experience - if the extra image processing horsepower goes to things like improving camera responsiveness, reducing typically horrible Samsung phone shutter lag and / or stacking additional frames for improved detail / dynamic range (instead of needing to focus on juggling 200mp of image data). The overall camera experience on the "budget" S23 models could even be superior to the S23 Ultra.

                          • ?
                          • Anonymous
                          • IW1
                          • 06 Feb 2023

                          Anonymous, 06 Feb 2023Ultra is too boxy. The other two are more beautiful. I will... moreWait until Samsung decide to put 8GB in S24/S24+ again

                            Some YouTuber said that the zoom lens was changed to a new one with the same MP across all devices but apparently it's not true. However, there seems to be a new ultrawide sensor: https://www.notebookcheck.net/Samsung-Galaxy-S23-and-S23-camera-hardware-details-revealed-with-big-selfie-camera-upgrade-versus-the-S22-and-S22.690364.0.html

                              • ?
                              • Anonymous
                              • K8x
                              • 06 Feb 2023

                              JanCapek, 05 Feb 2023Not me, but I want to get finally upgrade of my S10 where a... moreOmg same. I returned the S21 and S22+. It feels like the S10 just has no worthy successor. The Ultras would have been, but they are just way too big and boxy for me. Sucks to feel like there's no decent upgrade path. The S10 is a 4 year old phone, and it does feel better made and looking than the regular S phones in 2023.

                                bla.bla.meh, 06 Feb 2023Not sure what you are talking about, camera sensors on the ... moreThe main camera is different. It has 200 MP instead of 108 MP and has a different focal length, aperture size etc.

                                Selfie camera is also different (12 MP now from 40 MP earlier).

                                  • ?
                                  • Anonymous
                                  • xq5
                                  • 06 Feb 2023

                                  Ultra is too boxy. The other two are more beautiful. I will wait for S24 series as I want to get 16GB ram too.

                                    Jannis42, 06 Feb 2023I honestly think that the base S23 is a huge upgrade over t... moreThis 100%! I'm starting to love the simplistic design, even though I preferred the s22series one... SD gen2 alone is the reason to get this phone in the EU.. +4 years of new android updates, this is honestly worth it. I've been holding off on getting the s22+ just BCS of the exynos.

                                      • M
                                      • Misko
                                      • nUk
                                      • 06 Feb 2023

                                      Ultra in text: But it's a much better phone in functionality and polish.
                                      Ultra in real life: Same Display, same battery, 99% same phone

                                      23/23+ in text: On the other hand, the Galaxy S23 and Galaxy S23+ aren't nearly as impressive.
                                      23/23+ in real life: Display better, battery better, selfie camera shared with ultra....

                                      For me its all the way around 23/23+ much better Ultra nah noting special

                                        bla.bla.meh, 06 Feb 2023Not sure what you are talking about, camera sensors on the ... moreHe's talking about significantly better performance, cooling, battery life and image processing, which comes with the sd2 upgrade. I've been holding off on getting s22 series just BCS of exynos.