This past week Samsung unveiled the Galaxy S23 series, and in the days since I’ve had a chance to spend some time with the Galaxy S23 Ultra. While our full review is still on the way, the Galaxy S23 Ultra is leaving an excellent first impression.
In 2022, the Galaxy S22 Ultra proved a hit, and it was a device I rather enjoyed overall. A solid camera, good battery life, and a big useful display. What’s not to enjoy?
The Galaxy S23 Ultra should be, on paper, virtually an identical experience. It has the same display size. The same S Pen. The same battery size. A new, but equally overkill camera suite. And essentially the same software too. But over the past few days, I’ve found myself thinking again and again that something just feels different this time around.
That starts with the performance, which is simply phenomenal.
Benchmarks and such only tell so much of the story, but the combination of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy and the faster storage just results in a speedy experience across the board. I encountered bits of lag here and there in the time following initial setup, but after settling into the phone it’s continued to feel faster than any other Galaxy device I’ve tried in recent memory. And it’s been feeling that fast with minimal heat issues. That’s to be taken with a grain of salt, given this weekend’s cold snap on the East coast of the US, but things are still looking good.
Beyond that, I’ve also been moderately impressed with Samsung’s new 200MP camera.
I say “moderately” because, well, this camera still suffers from many of the same problems Samsung phones have faced for years. Shutter lag means that shots with motion are easily ruined, but when you do get a shot just right, the raw detail is excellent, and Samsung’s color tuning especially on the telephoto lenses keeps getting better. Samsung has been leaning heavy on low-light shooting, which I’ve not yet tried, but impressions are certainly good.
I also… Source 9to5google.com
