Every year, Samsung concentrates on two major launches: the S series that hits the market in February and the smartphone series with the foldable screen - Z that comes out in August.
While the Z series appeals to first adopters who want the experience of a screen with innovative technology, the S models appeal to the majority of the population, mainly because in Israel there is a fondness for smartphones from the more expensive series.
Last year, Samsung eliminated the NOTE line and merged it into the S series, which as a result of the merger inherited both the pen that was the main feature of the Note, and some design elements that made the S series more elegant.
The Galaxy S23 series includes three smartphones.
Chief among them is the Galaxy S23 Ultra, a not cheap device whose price tag starts at NIS 5,000, but includes all the good things you can ask for from a smartphone today.
Whether it's a huge screen of excellent quality for watching movies, powerful hardware that enables fast performance without overheating, a powerful battery that doesn't run out during the day, and of course a great camera.
Samsung managed to produce a mature device this year, although without innovations that make noise and rings, but simply a smartphone that works very well.
This year the design remains the same and the features of the device also remain similar, but this does not make this flagship smartphone any less successful, but actually much more mature, both in terms of hardware and screen performance and in the photography results.
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, photo: Tzachi Hoffman
Design: elegant and rugged appearance
Samsung kept the design from last year in the S23 Ultra, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.
The device looks elegant thanks to the glass structure and the aluminum frame, which can also be found around the lenses.
Samsung continues to emphasize the durability of the smartphone.
This actually means an Armor aluminum body which, according to the company, will protect the device from scratches and falls.
The device also has Gorilla Glass Victus 2 hardened glass. In my case, the device accidentally fell from my hand on the sidewalk and it did survive the fall without any scratch on the screen or body, so you can say that this smartphone is protected.
In terms of resistance to water and dust in the IP68 standard, which means falling into water up to a depth of 1.5 meters for 30 minutes.
Also in terms of design, it is a large, wide smartphone with a not light weight of 234 grams.
The result is that you get a large screen in return (I'll expand on that soon), but it also means that, like last year's model, it may not fit every hand and may be noticeable in the pants pocket.
Sharp screen, rich in colors and copes well with sunlight
Samsung has excellent screens, rich in color, sharp and large.
Samsung hasn't upgraded the screen here from last year, it remains the same, but it's still a treat for the eyes.
The screen comes in a huge size of 6.8 inches with Dynamic AMOLED 2X technology with a high resolution of 3088 x 1440 pixels with a powerful backlight of 1750 nits, which allows it to work without a problem even in direct sunlight, without feeling that the sun is at all harming the image or the richness of the colors.
The image refresh rate reaches 120 Hz, which provides the smooth movement in navigating the interface.
A high refresh rate is a waste of battery, so Samsung offers a dynamic rate that adapts itself to what is happening on the screen.
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, photo: Tzachi Hoffman
Minor improvements to the interface
The S23 Ultra received the latest version of Samsung's interface - One UI 5.1, which is dressed in Google's Android 13 operating system.
These are minor changes, which continue to keep Samsung's interface friendly and feature-rich.
Among the innovations, a weather widget that adapts its design to the environment and the "smart suggestions" widget that offers to return missed calls while in the office or to set an alarm clock and set reminders before going to sleep.
In addition, the widget offers to listen to Spotify playlists while on the go.
For users browsing Samsung's browser, they can now continue reading the same page when they switch from phone to PC using the Link to Windows app.
Hardware: The processor is tailor-made for Samsung
Samsung is proud that the integrated processor in the S23 Ultra is the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 on which it worked together with the chip company "Qualcomm", so that it exactly fits its requirements. Among other things, this means that the processor is more adapted to the battery requirements and it wastes less energy during the day. This processor Meets all the requirements you put on it, when together with 12 gigabytes of working memory (RAM) and a storage capacity of 256 gigabytes of the very fast type - UFS 4.0, you do not encounter any delay in performance. The device does not have the option to expand the storage capacity using a card. Yes, you can purchase it with Larger and more expensive memories of 512 gigabytes and 1 terabyte.
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, photo: Tzachi Hoffman
You can also find here an Ultrasonic fingerprint sensor that does not recognize the fingerprint through visual recognition, but through sound waves and it provides very fast and consistent results.
There is also support for connecting to 5th generation cellular networks, the use of an eSIM card, which is especially good for those who fly abroad and want to connect to the packages of the cellular operator overseas without purchasing a physical SIM card, and also support for the latest WiFi standard - 6e.
Another capability of the S23 Ultra is the integrated pen in an internal slot at the bottom of the device.
It offers quick note-taking, including scribbling on screenshots and also using it as a remote control to trigger selfies.
Impressive zoom shots
The level of detail is high, the colors are as rich as Samsung likes to offer in its cameras (there are some who don't like it less) and the zoom in this camera is really not a gimmick, so you won't have any trouble taking successful photos with a 3x optical zoom and even a 10x optical zoom. Samsung likes to be proud of its digital zoom which reaches a factor of 100. Usually this is a blurry and smeared result that is difficult to look at even once, but if you look at the photographs I took of the Azrieli Towers, you can see the good results at a factor of 30 and even a decent result at a factor of 100.
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, photo: Tzachi Hoffman
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, photo: Tzachi Hoffman
The selfie camera does come with a 12 megapixel sensor, compared to 40 megapixels in the previous generation, but the quality is still good.
In the field of photography, Samsung has incorporated a 200 megapixel sensor here, which knows how to provide more details in the image and a brighter image with more details in places with little lighting, which make the night shots great.
Samsung even manages to produce a good image in completely dark areas.
The smartphone includes 3 more sensors besides the one of 200 megapixels, 12 megapixels and two more 10 megapixels.
Another place where you can find improved performance is portrait shots where the background is blurred from behind in a successful way.
Here the device does not get confused in places where other cameras fall, such as the ends of hair, or the edge of the lens of glasses that protrudes out of the face.
Which means that instead of parts of the hairs looking fuzzy, they manage to stand out exactly as they should.
Night photography on the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra
The battery has no difficulty surviving a whole day
The battery comes with the same capacity as the previous generation 5000 mAh and it continues to provide successful performance.
My smartphone lasted from seven in the morning until midnight and I still had 23% energy left (screen time of 4 hours and 20 minutes).
The device supports wired charging of 45 watts (low charging rate compared to those of Xiaomi and OnePlus) as well as wireless charging of 15 watts and of course also reverse wireless charging of 4.5 watts (charging that allows the smartphone to charge headphones and other accessories).
Price: NIS 5,000 for the 256 gigabyte/12 gigabyte version (the launch kit includes a 25 watt charging head, a transparent cover and AKG wired headphones)
Bottom line, it's true that Samsung hasn't introduced any sensational innovations in this model, but the Galaxy S23 Ultra is simply an excellent, mature smartphone that shows excellent capabilities in everything it does, whether it's the screen, the battery or the very successful camera.
Posted on The Gadget Reviews website
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