Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra Review: Photo And Video Take Center Stage

Samsung's Ultra brand is generally reserved for devices that pack as many high-end features into one device as possible. The Galaxy S23 Ultra starts at $1,200 and features a larger, sleeker OLED display, a new chip with better performance, improved cameras and redesigned software. And of course, there's a built-in S Pen for all your drawing and note-taking needs. While that sentiment generally applies to the new S23 Ultra, the company's latest flagship isn't much different from last year.

Display and design: You'd be embarrassed to see the changes

While the standard S23 and S23+ received a facelift this year, if you look closely, the Ultra looks like a carbon copy of its predecessor. You get a large 6.8-inch AMOLED display with an adaptive refresh rate of 120 Hz and a resolution of 3088 x 1440. Although these features haven't changed much from the previous model, they look fantastic. Colors are vivid and brightness tops out at 1,750 nits, compared to a typical peak brightness of around 1,000 nits in my tests.

benefit

Bright screen
Built-in S Pen
Good performance
Improved cameras
Long battery life

concern

my love
Essentially unchanged design
There are no new S Pen features

The rest of the phone is a nice combination of Gorilla Glass Victus 2 and Samsung's tough armored aluminum. There are some minor improvements to the chassis, including slightly more curved edges to prevent accidental touches to the screen. That said, I never had a problem with the phone last year. The S23 Ultra's frame is also slightly flatter, making things look more angular. Thanks to Samsung's continued focus on sustainability, small parts of the phone, such as the lock button, are made from ocean plastic. But that's all. So unless you know about the S23 Ultra's new color options (including cream, lavender, green and black), it's almost impossible to tell the S22 Ultra and S23 Ultra apart even when looking at them side by side.

Performance: The new chip means more speed.

The S23 Ultra is one of the first phones on the market with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip, but Samsung isn't stopping there. It worked with Qualcomm to create a custom version of the processor for Galaxy phones. What do you get out of it? Just an abundance of speed. In testing, the S23 Ultra achieved 40% better multi-core scores in Geekbench 5 than last year's phone. It's a big jump, so you probably won't be surprised if I tell you that everything works perfectly - apps, games, etc.

Now, I should mention that the Galaxy platform-specific Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 that Samsung uses has a clock speed of about 150 MHz faster than the stock chip, which, to be honest, most people (myself included) don't they will notice. Usually understood. . Use it. However, one big change for 2023 is that every version of this year's Ultra will have a Snapdragon chip, so people outside of North America won't be stuck with the less powerful Exynos processor than in years previous. The base model includes 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, but upgrading to the 512GB or 1TB storage option gives you 12GB of storage.

Software: A 5.1 UI is nice, but not essential.

Alongside the debut of the Galaxy S23 line, Samsung is also introducing One UI 5.1, which brings some much-needed updates and changes. Many of the additions, like new customization options on the lock screen or bold colors for the user interface, are things we've already seen in iOS 16 or Android 13. Information on the lock screen to make it easier to work with others. When you lose your device, return it. Out of the box, though, our tester gave a message that said, "Hello, help me," which seemed more distracting than trying to offer help.

Samsung also makes it easy to create custom stickers from your photos by simply long-pressing an item and dragging it to another app for easy sharing. Unfortunately, some patterns are easier to cut than others. Faces and animals work well, but other things like flowers can often look a bit odd, so your results may vary. The menu has a new "Modes and modes" section, which allows the phone to adjust many settings for specific activities, such as exercise or relaxation. But aside from the sleep mode option, I didn't find this new feature very useful. It's nice to have good music to play while I'm working and on the go.

Unfortunately, while the S23 Ultra comes with an S Pen and a decent storage compartment, there aren't really any new note-taking or drawing features, which is a bit of a shame. Samsung's latest phones are still unmatched when it comes to in-phone stylus support, so I'd love to have something new to play with. But I have to admit, I'm also trying to think of an important feature I'd like to see more of.

Cameras: More pixels, better?

The S23 Ultra's biggest upgrade is a new 200-megapixel main sensor, twice as large as before. With Samsung Unpacked, the company introduced short film clips from not one, but two famous filmmakers on the phone's new cinematic capabilities. It sounds amazing, but getting the most out of this new sensor in practice requires some effort.

In normal use, the S23 Ultra uses a 16-to-1 pixel density to collect more light and produce sharp, colorful images without the need for very large files. And in most cases, it produces much better photos. When taking photos of pizza with the S23 Ultra (which was delicious, I might add), photos taken in standard 12MP mode had more accurate colors and better detail than those recorded with the 200MP sensor. In the right situation, enabling the sensor's full resolution will allow you to capture better textures in some cases, but you'll need to zoom in to see them.

This is partly because Samsung's object detection and optimizers don't work in 200MP mode, but there were also noticeable differences in white balance and sharpness. On the one hand, this is reasonable, because professional photographers often choose images with flat color profiles, which makes post-processing a little easier. That said, unless you're editing everything you shoot in a program like Lightroom or Photoshop, it's best to stick to the standard 12MP setting. When you say you have to work to get the most out of the S23's new camera, I mean it, and that includes other things like Samsung's Expert Raw software.

Designed for the most advanced photographer, Expert Raw offers everything from shutter speed to exposure compensation and more. It offers a wide range of settings and tools to customize every aspect of your shooting. If you don't live in the city like me, you'll get a new astrophotography mode to help you take better pictures of the night sky. That's because between the light pollution and the overcrowded sky, I couldn't get a single shot in Astronomy mode that I was really proud of. And I even used a tripod to make sure things were super stable.

Gallery: Samsung Galaxy S23 ultra camera samples | 16 photos

It's a similar story with video, where the S23 Ultra's improved OIS is welcome to reduce shake and judder while recording. But then there's the new 8K/30fps mode (last year's 8K/24fps) which is nice because it's no longer a 2x product like the S22 Ultra. But who records home video in 8K at the same time without the right screen to watch those clips in full definition? Of course, it's nice to be able to wait if you want more details. But that seems excessive, especially considering that the file size of a two-minute 8K/30 FPS video is over a gigabyte, which will quickly run out of storage space.

At least for selfies, the phone has a new 12-megapixel camera with dual autofocus, and photos look good despite the lower-resolution sensor than the previous model. The 12MP ultra-wide camera and two telephoto lenses (3x and 10x) are essentially the same, which seems like a missed opportunity because the 10x optical zoom is still my favorite lens on the phone.

Battery life: Simply excellent

Although the S23 Ultra's smaller siblings have improved battery capacity, Samsung's flagship remains at 5,000mAh. But that's okay because there's enough juice for everyone. In our video test, the S23 Ultra lasted 19 hours and 26 minutes, which is about the same as the OnePlus 11 (19:45), but not as good as the iPhone 14 Plus at 21:17. And the refresh rate of this phone adapter is enabled.

In the real world, you'll see more than all-day battery life. Even with a day of intense benchmarking and playing NBA All-World (which eats up electrons due to constant GPS usage), I still had 25% battery left at the end of the day. And on days of more moderate use, I was often at 40% or more in the tank by midnight.

All this means you don't have to worry about the phone dying during the day, which is good because the S23 Ultra gives you some freedom to charge other devices with Samsung's Power Share (wireless charging) feature. . With a 45-watt wired charger, you can charge your phone in no time.

To finish

The problem with recommending the S23 Ultra is that it's everything a super premium phone should be. It has a great screen, great build and more power than you know what to put in it. However, starting at $1,200, it's quite expensive and not much better than last year's offering. I have no doubt that the new 200 megapixel sensor will allow you to shoot Hollywood quality movies. But even with Samsung's introductions, it's important to remember that we're talking about employees with decades of experience, not to mention accessories like external microphones, camera bodies, cameras and more. The S23 Ultra's camera has a lot of potential, but it needs more than a standard entry to let those features shine.

For those wondering if they'll be trading in their current device a year from now, no, it's just not worth it. If you're just looking for a high-end device and don't want to take notes with a stylus, I'd say the Pixel 7 Pro offers better value for money. But if you have an older phone and are looking for a big upgrade, the S23 Ultra is unlike any other Android phone available today. And with a fantastic new sensor, Samsung's latest flagship could be the closest thing to a professional camera on a phone, as long as you're willing to enhance your content in post.

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