Review: Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra

Tech giant Samsung recently launched their S23 smartphone range, the S23, S23 Plus and S23 Ultra.

Samsung’s new Galaxy S23 Ultra is built to be tougher, as it’s the first phone with Corning’s Gorilla Glass Victus 2, which promises to protect the front and back better from scratches and drops.

Like the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra, the S23 Ultra features a 6.8-inch QHD OLED screen with a resolution of 3088 x 1400 pixels and a rated peak brightness of 1,750 nits. You also get the same 120Hz refresh rate as before, which can scale down to 1Hz.

Cameras

The Galaxy S23 Ultra’s design is amazing. The cameras on the back are even bigger this time around compared to the Galaxy S22 Ultra. The display is also flatter.

There’s still a gentle curve to the display, but you get a slimmer curve with a flatter surface area, which makes using an S Pen a bit more comfortable.

The S23 Ultra offers one of the most powerful mobile camera systems money can buy.

It comes with both a 3x and 10x telephoto lens, an ultrawide, and of course, that shiny new 200-megapixel main camera.

It’s capable of images that I honestly can’t believe I took with a smartphone, especially from the 10x to 30x zoom range.

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Nightogaphy

Samsung said it took the S23’s Nightography capabilities one step further to allow users to take photos even in a low-light environment.

The thing to know about the new 200-megapixel sensor is that taking 200-megapixel photos is one of the least interesting things you can do with it.

Video recording on the Galaxy S23 Ultra was upgraded to 8K at 30 frames per second, whereas it previously topped out at 24fps when shooting at that resolution. Samsung also increased the field of view when recording 8K video, which is very noticeable compared to the Galaxy S22 Ultra.

Battery

The S23 Ultra has the same 5,000mAh battery capacity as last year, but Samsung claims that battery performance is improved, thanks to the processor upgrade — it’s theoretically more battery-efficient than its predecessor — and some tweaks to the display.

Battery stamina does, in fact, seem to have seen some improvement over the last generation.

The S22 Ultra often felt like it was coasting on fumes at the end of a day of moderate use, and I feel like I can wring a little more juice out of this one.

It’s not worlds better, but it gives you a little more breathing room to get through your day.

Verdict

The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra takes Samsung’s flagship to the next level with a whopping 200MP camera and lots of other photography improvements.

You also get a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip for Galaxy for the fastest speed on Android, stellar battery life and smart One UI 5.1 upgrades.

Samsung’s Galaxy S23 Ultra remains a great-looking device, for all that there’s only a microscopic difference to its predecessor.

Colours, availability and pricing

The recommended retail price for Galaxy S23 Ultra is R31 999, Galaxy S23 Plus is R23 999 and Galaxy S23 is R21 999.

All three models come in four colours: Phantom Black, Cream, Green and Lavender.

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