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Since the Galaxy S23 and S23 Plus share almost the exact same Dynamic AMOLED 2X Infinity-O FHD+ display, the S23 does outdo the S23 Plus model on pixels per inch: 425ppi vs. 393ppi
The Samsung Galaxy S23’s 6.1-inch screen is flat and has the tiniest black bezel surrounding it. It’s also bright (max nits of 1,750), and responsive. The default Adaptive refresh rate mates the screen refresh needs to your activity (or lack of it) down to 48Hz (shy of the Ultra’s lowest ebb of 1Hz). I noticed smooth scrolling motion and action in the YouTube videos I played. The phone also still supports 240Hz touch-sampling for speedy gaming response too.
At first, I thought the lenses on the tri-camera array were larger than those on the Galaxy S22 but I think that was an optical illusion created by removing the raised metal around them.
The sensors appear to be almost exactly the same as those we had on the S22.
At least they’re all backed up by a new image processor on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2.
The three main rear cameras are:
In my brief experience with these cameras, I was pleased with the results.
I used each lens to take photos of a studio, including plants, fake flowers, books, and myself. The photos all looked good, clear, and color-accurate. The detail in all was good. You’ll shoot most of your photos with the 50MP main wide-angle camera, which shoots essentially 12.5MP photos, with 4-to-1 pixel binning. You can choose to shoot in 50MP mode, which is a tad slow, and then you’ll see a lot more detail in every photo.
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus (and all S23 devices) run on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform for Galaxy; a bespoke version of the standard mobile CPU overclocked to 3.36GHz.
Obviously, I couldn’t benchmark the phone to verify that number. Even so, I can report that the phone was responsive. I look forward to more tests when I get my hands on a review unit.
It’s also worth noting for users in markets less-fortunate than the US, that there’s no longer a discrepancy in silicon; with every S23 worldwide running on Qualcomm hardware, rather than a split of Snapdragon and (consistently inferior) Samsung Exynos that varied region to region.
To get a sampling of the S23’s audio prowess, I played a YouTube video of the new Dungeons and Dragons trailer; which looks like fun, by the way. It was louder than expected (everyone turned to look at me). I lowered the volume a bit and was impressed with the stereo audio. Dolby Atmos – which you can add through settings – added a bit to the vibrancy and clarity too.
The entire Galaxy S23 line is 5G-capable.
The entire Samsung Galaxy S23 line ships with Android 13 and Samsung’s own One UI 5.1 overly. The company is promising four generations of OS upgrades and five years of security upgrades; although the term “up to” was bandied about during the launch event for the phones, that sews a touch of unwelcome ambiguity to this otherwise impressive commitment.
Overall, the software experience is very familiar and virtually unchanged from the S22 line. That said, Samsung has introduced a number of new software features that I did not have the opportunity to test, including better Samsung Notes (co-create features), co-watching in Google Meet, and enhanced security features. The latter adds the ability to set your S23 in Maintenance Mode (added in One UI 5.0), so all your data is protected while someone works on your phone, while a refined privacy dashboard is also on-hand.
With the Samsung Galaxy S23, you get a decent 3,900 mAH battery that’s 200 mAh larger than that of the Galaxy S22 (although still 100mAh smaller than the Galaxy S21’s battery). What that translates to in real-world use, I can’t say, though it’s fair to assume all-day battery life with regular use. I will be curious to see how the extra mAh and that more efficient 4nm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 work together to possibly extend battery life.
The phone supports the same peak 25W wired charging as on its predecessor, along with fast wireless charging and wireless PowerShare, if you want to charge the likes of your Galaxy buds 2 pro, watch 5, or even another phone off the back of your new S23.
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