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Similar, and still the most advanced Android you will find: we tested the Galaxy S23 Ultra - voila! technology

2023-02-08T09:44:12.306Z


The cutting edge of Samsung: just after the global announcement, we took the new flagship smartphone of the South Korean technology giant, which includes a 200 megapixel camera, for testing


Galaxy S23 Ultra (Photo: Walla! Technology, Yanon Ben Shoshan)

With an identical design to the previous generation (yes, we were disappointed too), an upgraded processor and a 200 megapixel camera, Samsung put all the chips on its new premium model - the Galaxy S23 Ultra, which was announced last week.

Just before the launch in Israel, we spent a week with the monstrous smartphone of the South Korean technology giant, and tried to understand if it is worth the price?

(4,999 shekels!).

Spoiler: depends on how you look at it.

Design and screen

As mentioned, the design of the Galaxy S22 Ultra from the previous year has also been preserved in the new generation, with rounded edges, flat lower and upper edges and a slot that houses the S-Pen, the smart pen that joined the premium model last year.

Where can change be found?

Samsung has enlarged the lenses on the back of the device - which take up a little more space (which means you'll have to replace the old cover).



As in the previous generation - the screen of the S23 Ultra is 6.8 inches, and of exceptional quality.

This is a Dynamic AMOLED 2X Vision Booster type panel with QHD+ resolution, or 1440×3200 pixels.

Once again, the screen offers a refresh rate of 120 Hz that varies depending on the type of content, and the front camera hole (selfie) is located at the top of the screen and is almost imperceptible during use.



In addition, besides Victus 2 gorilla glass, which protects the device's display and is made of 22% recycled material, Samsung makes more extensive use than the previous generation of recycled aluminum, recycled glass and recycled plastic that comes from abandoned fishing nets that endanger life in the sea, water barrels and recycled plastic bottles.

On top of that, the entire packaging is made from recycled cardboard.

In the lower edge there is a slot that houses the S-Pen, the smart pen that joined last year (Photo: Walla! Technology, Yanon Ben Shoshan)

In any case, Samsung's premium models have never been particularly comfortable to hold (eg the Galaxy Note) and the S23 Ultra does not bring any news either: it is a large device, quite heavy (233 grams) and thick (8.9 mm), and for those who do not have Large hands it will be quite a challenge to use it comfortably.

For comparison, the thickness of the Galaxy S23, the base model, is only 7.6 mm.



Another detail that somewhat ruins the experience is Samsung's insistence on incorporating convex edges. True, the fingers no longer accidentally press the screen when all we want is to hold the device, yet there is no reason for a smartphone with a smart pen, which needs a full workspace, to come with curved edges that become not really useful.

Samsung's insistence on incorporating convex edges somewhat ruins the experience (photo: Walla! Technology, Yanon Ben Shoshan)

hardware and performance

The Galaxy S23 Ultra offers excellent performance and it is unlikely that you will find a smartphone today that will provide a better experience.

It includes Qualcomm's latest generation processor, Snapdragon 8 generation 2 - which benefits from cooling using an evaporation chamber (which should ensure lag-free performance), along with 12 gigabytes of working memory (RAM).

In simple words: it will be very difficult for you to create a load on this device and it is expected to withstand everything you throw at it.



For the gamers among us, the GPU now supports real-time Ray Tracing, similar to computer graphics cards and Samsung claims a 40 percent improvement in graphics performance, alongside a similar improvement in AI performance.



The device comes with Samsung's One UI 5.1 user interface, based on the Android 13 operating system (with a promise of 5 years of updates).

Compared to the Chinese manufacturers, this is a fairly friendly interface that is not loaded with things we don't need, but we still prefer the clean version of Android.

In any case, the user experience is very fast - the applications are exceptionally responsive, as is the photo interface and quite heavy games that we ran on it.

It will be very difficult for you to create a load on this device and it is expected to withstand everything you throw at it (Photo: Walla! Technology, Yanon Ben Shoshan)

battery

Let's start from the end: the battery will easily last you a whole day, with an asterisk.

The S23 Ultra includes a huge battery with a capacity of 5,000 mAh, and Samsung promises that it will last a whole day thanks to the new Qualcomm processor that emphasizes energy saving.

On the other hand, heavy users (who live on social media, for example) will probably end the day with 20 percent battery.

Also, don't expect to find a compatible charger in the device box, and if you need one you'll have to buy it separately.



In the end, I was able to use the device for an entire day (which included WhatsApp, emails, calls and a lot of Instagram) without any problems.

And now we just have to hope that the battery doesn't start to show signs of fatigue too soon, since our phones all use lithium batteries, which weaken over time.

And another sentence about the touch pen: there were bugs here and there and disconnections between the device and the pen that disappeared after a version update.

Do not expect to find a compatible charger in the box of the device, and if you need one you will have to buy it separately (Photo: Walla! Technology, Yanon Ben Shoshan)

Camera

As you know, the big innovation in the Galaxy S23 Ultra is in the photography setup, which comes with a new main sensor of 200 megapixels, the ISOCELL sensor developed by Samsung in-house, and enables something called Pixel Binning, the grouping of pixels together to enable several levels of high-resolution processing.



Next to it, there are three other sensors: a 12-megapixel one for the ultra-wide lens, and two more 10-megapixel sensors for telephoto shots.

The new camera setup also includes double optical image stabilization (OIS) and improved capabilities for shooting 8K video.

Another innovative photo option that Samsung included includes a unique format, ExpertRAW, which allows for photo and photo editing in a quality comparable to a professional camera, according to the company.

The big innovation in the Galaxy S23 Ultra is in the photography setup, which comes with a new main sensor of 200 megapixels (Photo: Walla! Technology, Yanon Ben Shoshan)

As expected, in daylight the sensor does not strain and provides excellent, sharp images, full of vivid colors, and excellent detail.

This time, too, Samsung integrated an optical zoom up to 10 times, and a digital zoom up to 100 times. Also, when you get close to the object, the camera automatically switches to macro mode, which manages to produce particularly good photos.

More professional photos are possible with PRO mode which comes as part of the camera app.



But, the real hit is of course the wonderful 200 megapixel photo capability, and in order to take photos of this quality you have to look for it in the settings (in the top bar) and turn it on.

And if you thought of taking photos in this format regularly, you should know that the weight of the photo can reach more than 70 megabytes.

In any case, in practice, when shooting at 200 megapixels, the photos come out extremely sharp, with an unprecedented level of detail and a high quality that is preserved even when viewing the photos on a huge screen.



Another thing to note, the 200 megapixel images are saved in the HEIC format, which uses a more efficient and modern compression method compared to the JPEG format, by decomposing images into significantly smaller files without affecting the quality.

On the other hand, the disadvantage is that it will be difficult for you to open the file in certain programs and you will have to convert it beforehand or set in advance on the device that the file will be saved in JPEG format.

When shooting at 200 megapixels, the images come out extremely sharp, with an unprecedented level of detail (Photo: Walla! Technology, Yanon Ben Shoshan)

Photo at 200 megapixels with the Galaxy S23 Ultra (Photo: Walla! Technology, Yanon Ben Shoshan)

Photo at 200 megapixels with the Galaxy S23 Ultra (Photo: Walla! Technology, Yanon Ben Shoshan)

Normal photo with the Galaxy S23 Ultra (photo: Walla! Technology, Yanon Ben Shoshan)

A normal photo (on the right) next to a 10x zoom photo (Photo: Walla! Technology, Yanon Ben Shoshan)

Bottom line

The price of the Galaxy S23 Ultra is NIS 4,999, and as of this writing it appears to be the most advanced Android device in the global mobile market and Samsung's spearhead.

The device is a performance monster that will serve the fans of Google's operating system in an exceptional way, with a sharp and spectacular screen, a camera that provides images of unprecedented quality (for a phone) and a smart pen (for those who like).



However, if you invested NIS 5,000 on the S22 Ultra before last year, wait until next year - the differences compared to the previous generation do not justify a switch.

Do you have a device that is at least three years old and you need a particularly good camera?

This is a wonderful choice.

  • technology

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  • Samsung

Source: walla

All tech articles on 2023-02-08

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