Thoughts on Samsung Galaxy S23 / S23+ / S23 Ultra: Speak up!

Hi guys,

Did y'all tune into Samsung's Galaxy Unpacked event last night? Happy about all the new hardware and features sported by the Samsung Galaxy S23, Galaxy S23+ and Galaxy S23 Ultra smartphones, or disappointed they didn't match up to your pre-launch expectations? Eager to hear your early reactions to Samsung's flagship smartphones of 2023...

Also, Digit's reviewers have received all three smartphones for review. Is there anything you'd like Team Digit to test or benchmark these phones on any of your parameters?

Comparison against Pixel phones for photos, list of bloatwares (including system apps), wired audio performance with various DACs, wired file transfer/charging speeds and as usual, how many 3.5 mm jacks can fit in the length of the s-pen :rofl:

I need details on charging and discharging time, camera quality, performance impact when multiple apps are open, and also how fast is copying files from PC to phone and vice versa via USB.

Also:
1. Can we stream music to two Bluetooth headphones at the same time.
2. Does the phone heats up.
3. How long it takes to discharge to 90% from a fully charged state.
4. Is the phone slippery. (My old S8 was too slippery)
5. Daily usage parameters like scratch resistance, accidental fall.
6. Network Wifi, Cellular(4G, 5G) issues if any (my iPhone doesn't easily connect to 5GHz but s22 does. Also my S8 once connected to Vodafone Bangladesh while on flight to NE. I was impressed)
6. And how much discount can we expect in BB sale

. (No kidding. These phones depreciate a lot.)

Lack of OIS on telephoto cam of S23/S23+ - How much does it impact? Possibly a full blown comparison with S22 series & Pixel 7/7 pro in all respects, honestly those are the competition, maybe add iPhone 13/14 while at it to target wider audience.

Many good points were suggested earlier like thermals, bloatwares, signal reception, battery life test, even add charging speed test (25W vs 45W speed on S23+ & S23U - last time there was not a big jump in time saved).

Initial reviews of SD Gen 2 are good, so maybe the era of hot flagships are over (I seriously hope it is). Some of these topics can even have their own articles instead of putting all of them in review of the phone where it might get lost.

Samsung still hasn't published the total specs sheet containing supported 5g bands in their website. No idea, whether it has n105 and n258 band support in India. Overall it is a good phone because of sd gen 2 processor less thermals and good battery life

@SaiyanGoku + @bubusam13 + @omega44-xt + @Cyberghost all of you, thanks for your feedback and action points. Have passed the demands to Team Digit.

No one wants to know anything in terms of gaming performance of these phones?

Apollo said:
No one wants to know anything in terms of gaming performance of these phones?

How does it fare on GeForce Now and Xbox Cloud Gaming? IMO, that should be the only purpose of "gaming" phones.

Apollo said:
@SaiyanGoku + @bubusam13 + @omega44-xt + @Cyberghost all of you, thanks for your feedback and action points. Have passed the demands to Team Digit.

No one wants to know anything in terms of gaming performance of these phones?

I expect it to be the best gaming SoC from android side, so nothing much to see there. Usual comparsion with last year's iPhone is already planned, I assume, along with comparisons to SD gen 1 & gen 1+. Thermals + battery life was making iPhone Pro Max series the best phone raw performance wise for 2 years or so now. Now android flagships will likely be able to compete with SD Gen 2 & SD Gen 1+ being relatively affordable option hopefully.

I went through this review of s23 Ultra. My requirement is best camera. Is it worth getting S23 ultra or S23 does the job in terms picture quality ? I know ultra has telephoto lens but my requirement is for everyday photography.
I have iPhone and I am not able to adjust with IOS.

bubusam13 said:
I went through this review of s23 Ultra. My requirement is best camera. Is it worth getting S23 ultra or S23 does the job in terms picture quality ? I know ultra has telephoto lens but my requirement is for everyday photography.
I have iPhone and I am not able to adjust with IOS.

I used my friend's S23 ultra. Sure the 10X telephoto & S pen are nice to have, but I still don't think they are very useful in daily life for most.

The bigger battery & more efficient display results in better battery life on ultra but still, its bulky IMO. So my recommendation will be S23 or S23+ based on size preference. Just check all 3 of them locally, might get same offers as online in official Samsung stores.

BTW there wasn't a night & day difference between my S20FE 5G & S23 ultra's main cams, but other cams were better indeed. Sure main cam on S23U was better but only noticeable side by side, tried it at low light (surely no difference at daytime).

Best time to buy S23 or S23+. Currently, Samsung's tied-up ~~website~~ ICAI offers the S23 128 GB for Rs 48,819 with free (ADLD) insurance worth Rs 7,999. please guide me on how Samsung reduces the price of the S22 or S22+ model?

Should I wait until the end of March to get more discounts? What above Amazon / Flipkart / Jio?

C

@invisiblebond
Could you share the link for the s23 mentioned above?

invisiblebond said:
Best time to buy S23 or S23+. Currently, Samsung's tied-up website offers the S23 128 GB for Rs 48,819 with free (ADLD) insurance worth Rs 7,999. please guide me on how Samsung reduces the price of the S22 or S22+ model?

Should I wait until the end of March to get more discounts? What above Amazon / Flipkart / Jio?

49k sounds great for S23

S22 was 40k in last Diwali sale, so 50k now is as good as it can get IMO. Do share the link.

@centinal @omega44-xt Please accept my apologies for my absent-minded posting. What I meant is Samsung ICAI

Check grabdeals axisbank -Samsung, but it's only avaliable 256 GB, and it is showing for Rs 63469 :/

invisiblebond said:
@centinal @omega44-xt Please accept my apologies for my absent-minded posting. What I meant is Samsung ICAI

Check grabdeals axisbank -Samsung, but it's only avaliable 256 GB, and it is showing for Rs 63469 :/

I think amazon has it for that much for 256GB variant with CC offer, or maybe a bit lower.

Edit - CC offer ended yesterday it seems

C

*www.amazon.in/Samsung-Galaxy-Green-128GB-Storage/dp/B0BY8PYVS6

s23 for 54k on sbi cc

centinal said:
**www.amazon.in/Samsung-Galaxy-Green-128GB-Storage/dp/B0BY8PYVS6

s23 for 54k on sbi cc

No offer on 256GB variant only it seems, but I saw the 10k off on it yesterday.

Your call, price seems good. It will get updates till android 17, which is still great. I'm set on 256GB as storage for my next phone, I am already using a 128GB internal phone with 64GB SD card.

C

omega44-xt said:
No offer on 256GB variant only it seems, but I saw the 10k off on it yesterday.

Your call, price seems good. It will get updates till android 17, which is still great. I'm set on 256GB as storage for my next phone, I am already using a 128GB internal phone with 64GB SD card.

ok
also I just saw S23 128gb is ufs 3.1 whereas 256gb is 4.0.

C

@omega44-xt
This is how much 256gb is costing with my note 9 kinda broken but perfectly working phone in exchange and bank offer.

is this a good deal?

centinal said:
View attachment 22760

@omega44-xt
This is how much 256gb is costing with my note 9 kinda broken but perfectly working phone in exchange and bank offer.

is this a good deal?

The official price difference between 128GB & 256GB is 5k. So your call if you want 256GB or not, I just put out my opinion regarding storage. Can't expect much lower price in coming months IMO. Maybe few thousands cheaper after May.

C

Bajaj electronics offline is selling S23 256 for 55k

centinal said:
Bajaj electronics offline is selling S23 256 for 55k

Good price IMO.

As I said, S22 fell below 40k during Durga puja/Diwali sale. So 55k is as good as it can get for sometime. Sadly phones are expensive now, so your call.

I will take the call on buying S23 myself or if I should gamble on S25 not being exynos powered during the Durga Puja sale. I loved the size of my old S8 & don't like the size of my S20FE.

S

omega44-xt said:
Good price IMO.

As I said, S22 fell below 40k during Durga puja/Diwali sale. So 55k is as good as it can get for sometime. Sadly phones are expensive now, so your call.

I will take the call on buying S23 myself or if I should gamble on S25 not being exynos powered during the Durga Puja sale. I loved the size of my old S8 & don't like the size of my S20FE.

Just wondering, is it the weight that bothers you or the actual dimensions? Cause , i have a moto g 52 which has the same dimensions but weighs considerably less and i find it pretty usable . Though the G52 Iis 0.4 mm thinner too

schumacher said:
Just wondering, is it the weight that bothers you or the actual dimensions? Cause , i have a moto g 52 which has the same dimensions but weighs considerably less and i find it pretty usable . Though the G52 Iis 0.4 mm thinner too

Both but mostly dimensions. I prefer using phone with just 1 hand. With android 14, Samsung made the UI less one hand friendly. On my S8 I can cover almost 80% of screen with my thumb without finger gymnastics but it is like 60% for my S20FE. The hard to reach area is more on S20FE vs S8. Also normally my pinky finger is supporting the phone at the bottom but to reach top portion of the screen, I have to move it which increases the chances of phone falling down (have observed my S20FE falling down much more frequently than my S8 where I didn't even use a screen guard on it for 1+ year).

C

@omega44-xt
any thoughts on S24 exynos, have heard mixed reviews so far.

centinal said:
@omega44-xt
any thoughts on S24 exynos, have heard mixed reviews so far.

Wait for reviews. A friend wanted to pre-order S24 ultra, I gave the go ahead as he was excited.

Exynos has been bad historically, so wait for details on efficiency wrt battery life mainly. 8 Gen 3 scoring 2 million on a benchmark vs Exynos scoring 1.6M on same benchmark is not an issue for me, provided there's no unnecessary heating or lower battery life on Exynos, which hasn't happened historically.

C

omega44-xt said:
Wait for reviews. A friend wanted to pre-order S24 ultra, I gave the go ahead as he was excited.

Exynos has been bad historically, so wait for details on efficiency wrt battery life mainly. 8 Gen 3 scoring 2 million on a benchmark vs Exynos scoring 1.6M on same benchmark is not an issue for me, provided there's no unnecessary heating or lower battery life on Exynos, which hasn't happened historically.

I saw some reviewers on youtube saying exynos is better than last time, should we wait few more days to get a clear picture?

centinal said:
I saw some reviewers on youtube saying exynos is better than last time, should we wait few more days to get a clear picture?

That's what wait for reviews mean. 90% of the reviews will be useless.

C

omega44-xt said:
That's what wait for reviews mean. 90% of the reviews will be useless.

Understood, could you share some reliable review sources please?

centinal said:
Understood, could you share some reliable review sources please?

Time will tell who gets Exynos & who reviews Snapdragon. Start with GSMArena, from Indian creators, check Geekyranjit, Techwiser, Beebom, C4ETech, etc. Try to check multiple sources to compare CPU & GPU stability scores, it gets tricky for battery life. GSMArena will provide a good estimate of relative battery life. But say my personal observation is that drop in battery life is less on TSMC fabbed chips than on Samsung fabbed chips when switching from WiFi to 5G, these are not easily compared by most reviewers. Hence the general aversion in tech community against Samsung fab made flagship SoCs.

@omega44-xt
S23 or op 12 or vivo v40 pro or moto edge 50 pro or any other under 45k..
Camera is priority.

TigerKing said:
@omega44-xt
S23 or op 12 or vivo v40 pro or moto edge 50 pro or any other under 45k..
Camera is priority.

S23 should be an easy choice IMO.

Samsung & Pixel have the best camera in android camp.

Only Samsung S series when it comes to photo. Post processing of Samsung S series is very good.

TigerKing said:
@omega44-xt
S23 or op 12 or vivo v40 pro or moto edge 50 pro or any other under 45k..
Camera is priority.

Using S23 since couple of months. Happy wth it.

Samsung s23 ultra is around 75k today, this year.
If I buy s23 ultra next year is it worth buy?
Because os updates and other updates will be there.
S24 series there no significant improvements.
S25 series specs unknown yet.

So buying s23 or s22 ultra next year or 2 years from now make sense?
Worth every penny or wastage of money?

Is it worth buying 2-3 years old flagship phone?

I want to buy ultra phone around 50k.

S23 Ultra has Snapdragon and S22 I think came with Exynos which got huge backlash from the android community.
If you are buying after 2 years, then its already 2026 and last android update for S23U would be 2028 Q1. I think it will come down to a personal choice.

TigerKing said:
Samsung s23 ultra is around 75k today, this year.
If I buy s23 ultra next year is it worth buy?
Because os updates and other updates will be there.
S24 series there no significant improvements.
S25 series specs unknown yet.

So buying s23 or s22 ultra next year or 2 years from now make sense?
Worth every penny or wastage of money?

Is it worth buying 2-3 years old flagship phone?

I want to buy ultra phone around 50k.

S23 series will be OOS next year, like how you can't find S22 series in market now. S23+ is already OOS for some time now.

You will find S24 around 40k & S24U around 75k next year in BBD/GIF sale. I have seen S22+ around 55k last year but sadly S23+ was retired earlier.

TheSloth said:
S23 Ultra has Snapdragon and S22 I think came with Exynos which got huge backlash from the android community.
If you are buying after 2 years, then its already 2026 and last android update for S23U would be 2028 Q1. I think it will come down to a personal choice.

S22 series had 8 Gen 1 in India which was made in Samsung fab, like S888 or Tensor, so effectively behaved like Exynos with relatively poor battery life & heating issues.

Exynos of S24/S24+ is much better than earlier but is still inferior to 8 Gen 3 in efficiency (but they have closed the gap) but newest Tensor doesn't use this Exynos, so remains the worst SoC in a flagship.

omega44 won't tell full story why S23+ suddenly disappeared from India, Samsung sealed many people :sealed:

invisiblebond said:
omega44 won't tell full story why S23+ suddenly disappeared from India, Samsung sealed many people

Nothing much to think about, no major competition. So Samsung wanted a budget flagship, S23 serves that role well but considering most people want a big phone, they are forced to buy S23U or S24+, so more money for Samsung.

Affected by Galaxy S23 green line issue? Samsung India will fix it for free till Dec 2025

*www.sammobile.com/news/affected-galaxy-s23-green-line-issue-samsung-india-fix-free/