Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra - Review
Even though I have been reviewing things for almost 15 years, in that time I have only reviewed a handful of phones and the reason why is pretty simple, most are just upgrades over the previous model. However in that time, I have never had the chance to review a Samsung phone and the last time I used one was more than a decade ago for work, so thanks to the kindness of Samsung, I was able to put the S23 Ultra through its paces.
The first thing I noted upon taking the device out from the box was just how nice it felt to hold, the back and front the phone was smooth, but not slippery. The phone had a similar feel in my hand to that of the iPhone 13 Max that I have been using for quite a while now and while the weight was heavier, it wasn’t bad. Both sides of the phone feature the latest glass from Corning, the Gorilla Glass Victus 2, which can reportedly ensure a drop of 1m onto solid concrete and will not cause damage to the device. Given that I didn’t own the phone, even if I did I wouldn’t test it, so I can’t make any statement to their claim, however I can tell you that the glass felt amazing in the hand. The layout is pretty much the same as all other phones, charge port on the bottom controls on the side, one element I wasn’t a fan of though was the S Pen’s position. While I can understand their desire to include a pen, though given my finger worked fine, I question its placement, as the storage position at the bottom of the phone seems like an easy place to lose it from.
Something that I was not expecting to discover within the build of the phone, were speakers powered by Dolby Atmos, which really seems overkill on a phone. However the phones use of them was good, but most of the time I was using headphones, so it felt like a inclusion that I wasn’t taking full advantage of. Of course, in order to ensure the sound via the speakers was as great as I expected, taking off the headphones delivered some great levels. Music was the easiest thing to test and it did deliver on most levels, like so many speakers though, quiet songs were hard for it to deliver completely on. Gaming through it, especially with titles like Call of Duty, delivered punchy sounds that felt right to hear and even with my hand covering some part of the speakers while playing, the sound still came through and was remarkably clear.
The star for me though was that display, behind the Gorilla Glass was a 6.8-inch AMOLED display, sporting a hefty 3088 x 1440 resolution and a refresh rate up to 120Hz. All that combined just means its large and was able to keep up with all I could throw at it from games to movies, nothing seemed to phase the display. The colours were vibrant when they needed to be and when dark scenes showed up on YouTube, it never presented with that washed out blackness that some phones are prone too. While the default settings were fine for me, I did find options that let you tweak things, so if you want a cooler display, you can do that.
All of the above though is more about interaction with the device, the one part you can’t touch is the incredible Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 contained within and given the phone contains Ultra in its name, it had to deliver. Now I am not one to dive into the tech of a device, there are countless other outlets that do that and would do it far better than I ever could. What I can tell you is that no matter what I was doing, gaming direct, cloud gaming, movie watching and even having dozens of apps open, the phone never buckled. Even when using Excel and some of my very large spreadsheets, the phone just kept ticking long.
The phone also comes packed with a trio of cameras on the back, one of them contains an incredible 200MP sensor, meaning that some incredible photos are possible. Now I had all the intention in the world of taking my iPhone and the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra to a few locations, to take comparison photos, but sadly life and weather got in the way. Even around where I live the shots were leaps ahead on the Samsung, compared to be 15 month old iPhone. The phone has multiple lens and it will actually adapt to the conditions the phone is in and select the right one for use, so this means the 200MP might get a work out, or the 50MP or 12MP might be selected. While I did test the automatic out a bit, I found myself selecting the 50MP more often, so I turned that automatic section off. Photography purists might have issues with the sensors or settings, but as someone who usually just snaps a pic and moves on, the app worked fine and the quality of the pictures was pretty amazing.
So all this praise means there has to be an issue right and honestly there was one and it’s the actual operating system. Like I said earlier it has been many years since I touched an Android device and coming into it now, there is a learning curve that I found hard to adjust to. The basic Android OS running the phone still made some sense, but all the extra Samsung additions were the part that confused me. The phone was constantly sending me notifications telling me it was cleaning things up and I had no idea what it was doing, as I didn’t have any local files on the device. I am someone who always closes apps when done, so apart from the testing of having a lot open, there were never open apps to get in the way. If it wasn’t that, I was getting told that I should finish setting the phone up, which usually meant turning on a setting I didn’t want on. For those already in the ecosystem, this is likely not going to be an issue, but for someone coming in fresh or for the first time in a while, it will likely be a lot to learn.
What all this boils down to is a phone that has a premium look, premium specs and of course, a premium price to match. Where you might get confused is that the phone never tries to act like it’s a premium product, from the moment I turned it on and began the set up process, everything just worked. From there using the store, listening to music, playing a game or anything else I wanted to do, was almost effortless and fancy things are not meant to be like that. I still don’t understand the pen, that feels like a hold out from the Windows CE days, but with how nice touch screens are, it feels like they could save some money and leave it out. Couple a good two days of battery life with a solid feeling device and you have something special.
If you are in the market for a new phone, already live within the Android world and can afford the price, then it is a no brainer. However those coming in fresh might want to ensure they get some lessons in the OS first, as there is a big learning curve. Regardless of where you are coming from, the moment you pick up the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, you will find a sleek and powerful phone that will last you for years.
The Score
9.0
Review unit provided by Samsung
The Pros
+Feels incredible to hold, no matter the way you are using it
+The phone contains power, letting you game, snap photos or do anything, with ease
The Cons
-The OS is a lot to learn, so those coming in from iOS or others, might want to be prepared
-The speakers deliver great sound, but feel poorly placed when playing some games
