Samsung Galaxy S23 review: The best compact smartphone?
A TEST REPORT from Jacob Kluge 
on June 26, 2023, 12:00 am | Write a comment
The Samsung Galaxy S23 is the smallest and cheapest offshoot of the Galaxy S23 series. Among other things, it comes with a 50 megapixel triple camera, the Snapdragon 8 Gen2 and four years of OS updates. Whether that's enough, you'll find out in the following lines.
Conclusion – on paper, the Samsung Galaxy S23 is an almost perfect smartphone. Beautiful, high-quality design, bright, colour-intensive 120 Hz display, good performance with fast and long-lasting update support, great camera and a decent battery life for the size. On the other hand, the Samsung Galaxy S23 is also an extremely boring smartphone that doesn't dare to do anything. A trend that we have been seeing more and more frequently in recent years. Nevertheless, I can recommend the Samsung Galaxy S23 across the board, because not only is it currently the best compact Android smartphone on the market, but it doesn't need to hide from the big flagships.
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Design
Not much has changed in the design of the Samsung Galaxy S23 compared to its predecessor. The frame is made of aluminum with a high-gloss finish and the back is made of frosted glass. This makes the device feel extremely premium and expensive. This year, Samsung also matched the Galaxy S23's camera element to that of the Ultra. So we only have the three individual lenses that protrude from the back. This does not change the weight, despite larger batteries.
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- The front of the S23 is one of the most beautiful on the market (Image: TechnikNews)
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- The design of the S23 is very minimalist. (Picture: TechnikNews)
Display
The display of the Samsung Galaxy S23 measures 6,1 inches and has a resolution of 2.340 x 1.080 pixels, which results in a pixel density of 425. As in the previous year, this is a Dynamic AMOLED display with a refresh rate of 48 to 120 Hz. Compared to the predecessor, Samsung has finally adjusted the display brightness of the Plus and Ultra models. With a peak brightness of up to 1.750 nits, there is always enough luminosity.
Performance
Probably the biggest changes this year are in performance. After many have complained about the in-house Exynos SoCs in the past, Samsung has given the Galaxy S23 the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen2, which is probably the strongest chip for Android smartphones on the market.
Accordingly, the performance is also completely convincing. Apps close quickly and there were never any stutters or lags. We have already seen things differently at Samsung. Customers can choose between 8 GB RAM and 128 GB UFS 3.1 storage or 8 GB RAM and 256 GB UFS 4.0 storage. In both cases, however, this cannot be extended.
Software
The Galaxy S23 runs Android 13 with Samsung's in-house One UI as the user interface. Samsung promises OS updates for four years and security updates for five years. This is the leader among all Android manufacturers.
Camera
Samsung has given the Galaxy S23 a triple camera system consisting of a 50-megapixel main camera, a 12-megapixel ultra wide-angle camera and a 10-megapixel telephoto camera. The latter enables a 3x optical zoom.
The image quality is quite convincing on all three lenses. The images offer sufficient image sharpness without appearing too artificial. The color representation is kept quite natural.
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- Picture: TechnikNews
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- Picture: TechnikNews
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- Picture: TechnikNews
In poor light, the images are then artificially brightened by a night mode. In most cases this is optically very attractive, but corresponds less to reality.
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- Picture: TechnikNews
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- Picture: TechnikNews
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- Picture: TechnikNews
Unfortunately, the ultra-wide-angle camera still lacks autofocus, which is why the S23 is unable to take macro shots. Here you can find all test images that we took with the Samsung Galaxy S23: https://photos.app.goo.gl/gSkVu9qVXExQTR979
Battery
The battery of the Galaxy S23 measures 3.900 mAh. This makes it 200 mAh larger than its predecessor. In combination with the significantly more efficient SoC, this ensures significantly improved runtimes.
It is then charged either with up to 25 watts via cable or up to 15 watts wirelessly. Samsung does not include a power adapter here either – Samsung definitely still has room for improvement here.
Other
As befits a flagship, the Galaxy S23 comes with various premium features. For example, it offers a very good x-axis vibration motor and good-sounding stereo speakers. In addition, the device is also protected against the ingress of water and dust according to IP68.
