Samsung Galaxy S23 long-term review

6 January 2024


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im using S23 now.. im sorry to say, the 5 years old XperiaXZIII has better P oled screen when play HDR enchance video compared to my s23.Yes it is...

Im not sure what secret ingredient Sony put in their first oled phone make it hard to beat by newest flagship phone. Im not saying sony win every category of display aspect but when come to video rendering Xperia xzIII produce better HDR effect and deep black level. My previous S9 which on same year also has better screen than s23 but still not catch to level of SONY Xperia XZIII. Thats all from me...Thank you.

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    • Sridhar R
    • 7k3
    • 07 Jan 2024

    DBS, 06 Jan 2024Calling this gigantic phone "small" is ridiculous... moreThis phone is definitely comparatively smaller for this era Brother ......

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      • felipecardel
      • Ggm
      • 07 Jan 2024

      switched from my 4yo Redmi K20 Pro in november. got a crazy good deal for the 512gb model (which is being dropped from the S24 lineup, sight). even better: here in my country we get the 25W charger bundled in the box, courtesy of 'our' FTC. :D

      this is a beast of a phone, and i can vouch for almost everything said in the review - though the lack of a Good Lock mention felt weird, since it can fix most of the UI issues brought up by the writer. DeX, another unique feature, should've been mentioned as well.

      from my experience, there are three things i miss:
      - screen: the pop-up camera and the uninterrupted display brought a 'wow' factor to the table, though the punch-hole is not intrusive at all and the symetrical, slim bezels all around make up for the ordinary feel of the screen;
      - paintjob: the color options are dull, and while the frosted back feels premium, i absolutely loved the blue and red K20 Pro paintjobs with their holographic effects. most might think that's a chinese trend best left in 2019, but i used to spend quite a few minutes simply admiring the phone;
      - brightness slider: a weird one for sure, but i don't like how the screen flares up to whatever level i touch on the slider instead of letting me drag it to incrementally raise the brightness. not the smoothest transition, coming from MIUI, but i'm sure i'll get used to it. the auto brightness is very competent though, so that's an issue that comes up maybe once a couple days.

      all in all, i hope Samsung keeps offering more and more customization options and attempts to match Google's software update policy. not that it's bad, of course - i'll probably be switching phones by the time mine is scheduled to stop getting security patches anyway.

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        • Juancho
        • SHx
        • 07 Jan 2024

        This article is excellent. My congratulations to the writer for the analysis. I liked it so much that I reviewed all the advertisements. Like a humble retribution. It's been a long time since I read such an interesting and compelling review.

          DBS, 06 Jan 2024Calling this gigantic phone "small" is ridiculous... moreIt really is *small* when compared to all other phones nowadays whether you like it or not. I'm not a fan of the current trend of big phones but they're basically only two "small" phones today, this S series and Zenfone. Having used ZF9 and S23 back to back, I must say that Samsung one is much better, the screen, cameras, OS, reliability... Zenfone is still good but overpriced for what it's offering. I wish there were small phones on the market but alas..

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            • Maria
            • xhn
            • 07 Jan 2024

            The main reason why S23 looks worse is that we've got S24 in the counted days. It happens every year anyway but I personally appreciate the SD8Gen2 inside.

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              • Anonymous
              • K1G
              • 07 Jan 2024

              Anonymous, 06 Jan 2024As for battery not as good as people say some A models better You didn't know A series use 5000mA battery?

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                • Anonymous
                • 0p}
                • 07 Jan 2024

                DBS, 06 Jan 2024Calling this gigantic phone "small" is ridiculous... moreIt is larger than S7.
                Not even S7 is small.

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                  • DBS
                  • B1m
                  • 06 Jan 2024

                  Calling this gigantic phone "small" is ridiculous. That's like saying the White House is small if what you're comparing it with is Hampton Court.

                  As for the phone itself, I have one because I was basically forced by Samsung to get a new phone as their final update to the S10e killed its already meager battery life.

                  This one is better when it comes to battery life... But that's it. The phone is an ergonomic nightmare (made worse by the awful OneUI 6.0 update), it lacks BASIC features like expandable storage and a headphone jack, the cameras are extremely sub-par thanks to Samsung's unwillingness to create good post-processing and the under the display fps, while fast, it's an horrid experience compared to the superior side-mounted ones Samsung had on the S10e and has on the folding gimmicks.

                  This will definitely be the last Samsung phone I'll buy, considering they - like Disney - seem hell-bent on their current failed strategy (these S phones are selling 4 times less than the last good line-up Samsung had with the original S10 trio).

                  As for the claims that "there's no demand for small phones"...funny. The 12 Mini alone sold more units than the entire S21 line-up together. And that was with those phone sales cannibalised by the even smaller SE.
                  On Android "there's no demand"? Well, hard to have ANY "demand" when you do NOT offer users choice. When we ARE FORCED to pick between an array of dinner-table-sized phones, it's hard to show OEMs what we want. Other than, of course, the crashing smartphone sales. People aren't keeping their phones longer because they want to. They simply aren't seeing anything compelling anymore on the market. And no, the folding gimmicks aren't a solution. They *could* be if the Find N2 strategy had gone on. But with Oppo screwing that up, it clearly won't be.

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                    • Anonymous
                    • i2Y
                    • 06 Jan 2024

                    As for battery not as good as people say some A models better

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                      • Anonymous
                      • i2Y
                      • 06 Jan 2024

                      To small one ui 6 made it look crap

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                        • Sammy
                        • q{r
                        • 06 Jan 2024

                        I distinctly remember when my dear friend, Fawzy Moghanghab, first picked up this phone and told me he was mesmerised. Those were the days.

                          jiyen235, 06 Jan 2024This phone should've been called the S23e and the S23+... moreSince you havent done your research, let me tell you that beside S23, many other companies start from 128gb

                          Xiaomi 13
                          Iphone 15/15plus/15pro
                          Oneplus 11
                          Pixel 8
                          Sony xperia 5V


                          Also, how the hell is Apple getting closer to Samsung.

                          The iphone 15 and 15plus
                          -use 1 year old chip
                          -also start from 128gb(even iphone 15 pro)
                          -have 60hz screens with no Always on display
                          -Usb C type 2.0
                          -20W charging
                          -no telephoto camera at all.

                          This is how Apple comes closer and closer to Samsung??

                            • p
                            • petar
                            • g8V
                            • 06 Jan 2024

                            LoneOwl, 06 Jan 2024Galaxy S23 will be relevant in 2024 too outside of US, due ... moreIt really depends on the country and mobile operator. I got my S23 256GB + original fast charger included for 650 usd on a preorder. Still can't see such a deal 1 year later, even from the same mobile operator. ;)

                              • ?
                              • Anonymous
                              • 0p}
                              • 06 Jan 2024

                              Rikka, 06 Jan 2024Tried Zenfone 10, even while the OS support sucks (2 OS upg... moreSince when 5v uses same screen of 5ii?
                              It is different screen, also inferior by the way.
                              Same case of 10v compared to 10 iv.

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                                • Fred
                                • HC3
                                • 06 Jan 2024

                                All I want is a phone is this form factor with the ultra/pro cameras and slightly faster charging. Legit one of the best phones I've owned.

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                                  • Anonymous
                                  • gXJ
                                  • 06 Jan 2024

                                  GoodLock allows you to add widgets to the lockscreen and AOD which is really nice. I have the Unread WhatsApp Notifications widget on my AOD because it doesn't show notification content.

                                  My A13 5G got One UI 6 over Android 14 recently. It is impossible (not almost, IS) to find any 2-year-old Chinese phone with Android 14.

                                    Anonymous, 06 Jan 2024The regular 16 Pro is set to get a 6.3" screen.At least that's the good part, but I'm not sure that's great for the people that need 6.1" phones either. Still, happy to see an otherwise uncommon size being offered.

                                      • ?
                                      • Anonymous
                                      • gXJ
                                      • 06 Jan 2024

                                      Darth Caesium, 06 Jan 2024This kind of makes me want to get a 6.3"-6.5" pho... moreThe regular 16 Pro is set to get a 6.3" screen.

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                                        • Nameless
                                        • pdq
                                        • 06 Jan 2024

                                        My wife's got an iphone 14 as her work phone. I have never had an iphone before and I was curious how is it. As a gadget it feels the most premium, but iOS is simply horrible compared to android. I'll not go into the details, but I thought to myself, I'll never consider an iphone, no matter what pros they would come with. Samsung S23 would be my choice hands down.

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