Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra review

11 February 2023


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  • ?
  • Anonymous
  • J5x
  • 13 Feb 2023

Micro Upgrades. That's fine, but lazy. Its just not my phone. If I buy a phone this expensive, I would want something new, something that stands out to the previous phone. People wouldnt even see its the new version and not the 22 and worse: I wouldnt even notice myself, not even in the UI and Software.

    • M
    • Me
    • 00F
    • 13 Feb 2023

    Your were testing the oder 45W charger from Samsung. With the new Samsung EP-T4510
    charger it also charges up to 75% in 30 minutes

      • A
      • ASL
      • AZY
      • 13 Feb 2023

      But if you drop it it will break, same drop with 14 pro max it won't. Also imessage, video and audio is so seamless it has no competition in android world. Also no android has emergency satellite communication like in the pro and max. This alone can save your life 1 day.

        • ?
        • Anonymous
        • x0k
        • 13 Feb 2023

        My S23 Ultra came on Saturday. Pretty great so far. Coming from a Flip 4 this thing feels huge. Battery life is very good.

          The first android phone that really can beat the iPhone.

            • ?
            • Anonymous
            • 3SI
            • 13 Feb 2023

            To all people who are STILL complaining about headphone jack/SD card:

            Yes it's bad that they are not there. However, they haven't been there since YEARS already and all of the comparable phone also don't have them since years as well. It's only fair to expect that most of the flagship phones will not have that, you should have gotten over that a while ago already.
            If you want then you can list dozens of obscured features out and saying "oh but it's bad because blablabla":
            -Battery doesn't last 1 week like my old brick phone
            -Phone not durable enough to survive 10m drop like the 3310
            -No physical keyboard so I can type faster
            -and dozens more...

            Move on please people.

              • ?
              • Anonymous
              • Lkg
              • 13 Feb 2023

              Anonymous, 13 Feb 2023Actually the S23 Ultra does not use the entire sensor width... moreObviously, no 4:3 ratio sensor can be used fully for video unless some downscaling is going on. Which is not case here.

              To use full width, the 8K would need to be downscaled from 12288 x 6912.

                • ?
                • Anonymous
                • XMr
                • 13 Feb 2023

                RayVone, 13 Feb 2023No cons? - Very high price - The smartphone is big and h... morevery high price is not its cons..... its your cons

                  • ?
                  • Anonymous
                  • x@M
                  • 13 Feb 2023

                  Actually the S23 Ultra does not use the entire sensor width for video.
                  Neither for 8k, nor for 4k. The only difference to the predecessor is, now the S23 is using the same crop for 8k as for 4k. This is a reasonable improvement which you can see in both dynamic range as well as sharpness. But it os not a full sensor readout.

                    Yo, 13 Feb 2023What's the difference between an Ultra review and a re... moreThey are both the same. Just look at the title of the review. There is no “ultra” review.

                      • ?
                      • Anonymous
                      • xq5
                      • 13 Feb 2023

                      walkman8, 13 Feb 2023Same. Cash was in the pocket, ready to buy right there in t... moreExpensive? Yes. Bad? No. Will get better with some updates and optimizations.

                        AcademicBarzo, 13 Feb 2023To give Samsung some credit, the camera software/firmware a... moreI was testing S22 Ultra 2 months ago, and the problems mentioned by me were present there as well. As an example, I can say, that when shooting yesterday a sunset, I saw on both JPG and RAW previews in the gallery some darker blocks of the sky, like Samsung was dividing pictures into parts and taking care of the processing separately for each part. Blocks were square shapes. Because of that, the pictures were looking really bad. I wanted to check in the LR, is possible to fix it somehow, but to my surprise, it was not there. Sky was perfect. The same goes with white halos around branches when taking pictures of the same sunset. It was visible on the JPGs and previews of RAWs, but not in the RAW itself. Big drawback of that is, that mode JPG + RAW is somehow not usable now, as what is the point of having badly generated JPGs.

                          Nick Tegrataker, 12 Feb 2023Xiaomi's camera app has several filter options that yo... moreAh, good point about the filters. I only tried the default filter. I played around a bit with the 13 series and i think the colours are better (at least for my tastes). Human subject photos have definitely improved and the skin tones I think are much better than on the 12 and 12s series (again for my tastes)

                            SirArtur, 13 Feb 2023You are sending this link for the second time, so for the s... moreTo give Samsung some credit, the camera software/firmware always get significant updates across the first few months of the device being in the wild. So, I would be wary of judging the camera performance at launch, which may be more about potential. Issues will usually get sorted. Also, Samsung are one of the best at updates generally, including monthly security updates.

                              gos, 13 Feb 2023Hello, For everyone bothered of the "over-sharpening&... moreYou are sending this link for the second time, so for the second time I will reply.
                              All people from the discussion are saying as well, that new processing in Samsung is even worst than it was, as quoting OP: "Looking at the 12-megapixel photos in auto mode, I have the impression that Samsung has been competing for years only against itself in the category of the WORST and DISGUSTONG photos that can be taken with a smartphone. I think the S23 is the real king of this category."
                              And all agree, that GCAM is to there to the rescue. Phone has some potential, new 50 MPix RAWs are step into the good direction, but still Samsung has still so much to do. After weekend of testing this phone I can say, that jpgs from the phone for me are very bad, preview of the raws are quiet often generated with flows (which makes you think that the photo is not as good, and until you actually open it in the LR/CaptureOne and other software you want to just delete it) and while taking the picture in ExpertRAW the preview in the app is worth nothing. Those are my main issues with the phone. The good thing is, that if you have time you can do some nice things with 50 Mpix RAWs.

                                jiyen235, 13 Feb 2023why is the basic aptx not good enough tho like is it becaus... moreYes, low latency, bit rate (apt-x adaptive can support 24hz signals) and general performance around connection.

                                  • g
                                  • gos
                                  • Myi
                                  • 13 Feb 2023

                                  gos, 13 Feb 2023Hello, For everyone bothered of the "over-sharpening&... moreIf you are unhappy with the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s shutter lag in the 200MP mode, you can use the Camera Assistant app to set the phone to prioritize speed. This will drastically reduce the shutter lag
                                  https://www.sammobile.com/news/camera-assistant-galaxy-s23-ultras-200mp-reduce-shutter-lag-camera-assistant/

                                    • g
                                    • gos
                                    • Myi
                                    • 13 Feb 2023

                                    Hello,
                                    For everyone bothered of the "over-sharpening" of images:

                                    https://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/4696416

                                      Not sure, 13 Feb 2023I went into a Samsung store ready to buy the new S 23 ultra... moreSame. Cash was in the pocket, ready to buy right there in the store. But then I played around with the camera. Shutter lag is just as bad as on my s21u. People still get blurry even with holding the phone firmly. 200 mp photos take 15-20 seconds to process.
                                      Not worth 1440 euros, sorry. But it is a gorgeous phone, I love Note design

                                        jiyen235, 13 Feb 2023why is the basic aptx not good enough tho like is it becaus... moreSlightly lower noise floor with AptX HD vs regular AptX and decisively superior to SBC

                                        I can tell a distinct difference between AptX and AptX HD in the frequency response for treble and mids.

                                        But like everything when it comes to sound, you need good earphones/headphones to discern the difference. You cannot expect to hear any differences with a 5USD pair of earphones.

                                        Use some higher end multi-driver (amrature) or high end dynamic driver or planar magnetic drivers and you will definitely hear the difference.

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