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Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra in review: Finally with Snapdragon processor

A TEST REPORT from  Fabian Menzel on June 24, 2023, 16:42 pm | 1 comment

review
Picture: TechnikNews
(Post picture: © 2023 TechnikNews)

The Galaxy S22 Ultra was a very good smartphone, but unfortunately it never convinced me 100 percent because the battery life and performance were simply too poor for me due to the in-house Exynos processor. These are exactly the points that the South Korean manufacturer wants to address with the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra.

For a recommended retail price of 1.399 euros, customers can finally get the current topproprocessor from Qualcomm, which was previously only available outside of Europe for the S series. Together with the 5.000 mAh battery, a significantly better battery life should be achieved. You can read in this (short) test report whether this is really the case.

Conclusion on the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra

After the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra disappointed me a little, I am now almost completely convinced by the S23 Ultra, because the two biggest criticisms of the last few years have finally been addressed. By that, of course, I mean the battery life and the performance, which are now finally at flagship level thanks to the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen2. At least in terms of battery life, hardly any other Android flagship can currently match the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra. As a user of the HUAWEI Mate 50 Pro, I can only dream of such runtimes...

Otherwise, the smartphone delivers an all-round successful overall package with almost no weaknesses. As usual, the design is excellent, the display is great, the cameras are decent and all the other points (loudspeakers, fingerprint sensor, vibration motor, S-Pen,...) are on a very high level.

Buy Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra

Design & display - great

In terms of design, almost no changes have been made, which is not a bad thing. The Galaxy S22 Ultra already had a beautiful, high-quality housing made of matte glass and high-gloss aluminum, and the same applies to the S23 Ultra. The only differences concern the colors, the frame and the cameras on the back. The latter protrude a little further from the case and the transition from the front and back to the frame looks much more pleasant. Because of this, the S23 Ultra feels even better in the hand than its predecessor. Nevertheless, you must be aware that in many situations you can no longer operate it with one hand. It is extremely large, heavy and also a bit thick.
Not too much has changed with the display either. It still measures an impressive 6,8 inches and has a pin-sharp resolution of 3.088x1.440 pixels. In addition, there is a refresh rate of 120 Hertz, which makes all animations look buttery smooth.
Colors are reproduced realistically enough, which I like a little better with HUAWEI. The viewing angle stability and brightness have been visibly improved compared to the predecessor. Even on very sunny days, I had no problems with readability. The S23 Ultra is currently the benchmark here.

Software—OneUI

The software used is the in-house OneUI, based on Android 13. The advantage of OneUI is that many elements and menu items can be operated with one hand, which I really like. Likewise the always-on display, which in my opinion is one of the best. The biggest advantage over the competition is undoubtedly the update supply. Samsung promises to provide the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra with updates for five years. As of today, this is unique in the Android world.

Performance & battery - it was time...

Now we finally come to the biggest and best improvement of the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra. It is, of course, the processor. For years, we in Europe had to make do with the in-house Exynos SoCs, while the rest of the world could enjoy processors from Qualcomm. This made a significant difference not only on paper, but also in everyday life. The Qualcomm processors have always delivered stronger performance and significantly better efficiency in recent years.

Now we can also enjoy these advantages in Europe, because the Galaxy S23 series is the first S series to be shipped worldwide with a Qualcomm SoC. The Snapdragon 8 Gen2 is used here, which is supported by 8, 12 or 16 GB of RAM and 256 GB, 512 GB or 1 TB of flash memory. The latter cannot be expanded via microSD and I think 8 GB RAM is not enough for the entry-level model, especially since the basic models for the S20 Ultra and S21Ultra were equipped with 12 GB of RAM.

The everyday performance is fantastic. Apps start and close extremely quickly and the typical jerking of the last few years with gesture control is finally a thing of the past. The smartphone also has no problems with larger games or complex apps. The device runs smoothly and together with the 5-year update supply, you are future-proof.

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen2 also has a positive effect on battery life - as already mentioned. At the end of the day, I still had between 36 and 56 percent battery left at full resolution. My screen-on time was 5 to 6 hours. In short: The battery life of the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is above average and is one of the best of the current flagship smartphones. Hats off to Samsung! Unfortunately, the smartphone can only be charged with up to 45 watts, which is extremely weak. There is not even a power adapter included.

Camera - good, but not the best

A quad camera is used on the back, which is set up as follows:

  • 200 MP main camera - f/1.7 - 1/1.3 inch
  • 12 MP ultra wide angle camera - f/2.2 - 1/2.55 inch
  • 10 MP telephoto camera - 3x - f/2.4 - 1/3.52 inch
  • 10 MP periscope camera - 10x - f/4.9 - 1/3.52 inch
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra camera

Picture: TechnikNews

Even if the main camera comes with an extremely high resolution, the pictures are not really sharper than with current competitors. I even think that HUAWEI P60 Pro takes slightly sharper pictures. Nevertheless, the sharpness is quite high. The dynamic range and the color reproduction are appealing, but here too I like the P60 Pro a little better. The S23 Ultra struggles especially with backlighting. I like photos at night, especially because a lot has changed here compared to the predecessor. Nevertheless, there is room for improvement, because for such a large sensor the images are too noisy and the white balance is sometimes not right.

The ultra wide angle camera is rock solid with the same strengths and weaknesses as the main camera. Zoom shots succeed with very good sharpness and a decent dynamic range. Some recordings are reproduced a bit too saturated and I like HUAWEI better in low light, but overall Samsung delivers one of the best zoom recordings here.

Videos in 4K with 30 or 60 FPS look really good in daylight. Samsung is at the forefront here. Pictures taken with the front camera are particularly convincing with a sufficiently realistic color reproduction and good dynamic range. Even in terms of sharpness, I like it surprisingly well

Other

Samsung uses the earpiece as a second speaker, which creates a stereo sound. They get very loud and sound really good overall. I would like a little more bass here and there, but that's complaining at a high level.

The built-in vibration motor and fingerprint sensor are among the best on the market. Furthermore, the smartphone is protected against the ingress of water and dust according to IP-68.

Last but not least, I would like to emphasize that the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra has an S-Pen integrated into the housing. It feels good in the hand and works great.

Buy Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra

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Fabian Menzel

Fabian has been part of since mid-September 2020 TechnikNews and regularly provides the site with various news, but also with some test reports on smartphones. He has a lot of fun and is extremely grateful to have such a great team at his side. In his free time, he likes to listen to music and occasionally takes photos with his Huawei Mate 50 Pro.

Fabian has already written 316 articles and left 24 comments.

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Rohan D

Good day!
Thank you for your detailed test report!

That was on March 22nd when I picked up my online ordered Galaxy S23 Ultra from Saturn.
I expressly confirm that it is a super thing, but a small "but" has arisen in the meantime.

I came up with the idea of ​​installing a compass from Google Play, first Axiomatic Inc.'s "Digital Compass" and then KTW Apps' "Digital Compass".
Both apps are visually very nice, but both red compass needles jump around pointlessly or point in the completely wrong direction.

Both apps show the status of the sensors behind a gear button — all are good, only the status of the magnetometer is poor or mediocre. Calibration does nothing.
At Saturn it was said that the device would have to be sent in for repair.
This was confirmed by the Samsung hotline because it can by no means be a software error.

This would prove once again: nothing is perfect, not even a "flagship".
All the best for you !!
Rohan Dhanjee

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