Hi, this is Wayne again with a topic “Galaxy S23, S23 Plus, S23 Ultra Hands-On: Better Cameras, Bigger Batteries”.
Samsung’S Galaxy s23 lineup is finally here, bringing a 200 megapixel camera to the ultra model and bigger batteries to the rest of the lineup. The new phones seem like a modest Improvement compared to the Galaxy s22, but they do bring upgrades in areas that count such as battery life for the regular s23 and storage space for the s23 plus. The most significant change comes in the Galaxy s23 ultra’s camera, which is getting a higher resolution for the first time in years. The company also made improvements to the selfie camera across the whole lineup. All three phones launched on February 17th and are available for pre-order starting February 1st.
The regular s23 starts at 800, while the s23 plus starts at one thousand dollars. The s23 ultra begins at twelve hundred dollars. The Galaxy s23 Ultra looks a lot like the s22 ultra. It has the same boxy design and a 6.8 inch screen with a 120 hertz refresh rate, but there’s new Corning Gorilla Glass 2 on this phone, which should protect the device against drops on hard surfaces like concrete all three new phones will be available in four colors Black cream, green and lavender Samsung also says it’s used, recycled ocean bound Plastics in external components for the first time, with the Galaxy s23 Ultra building on previous efforts in the galaxy s22 z-fold and z-flip like older Ultra devices, the Galaxy s23 Ultra stands out for its Camera the s23 ultra’s 200 megapixel camera is the biggest upgrade we’ve seen in years, at least on paper. The last three generations of Ultras have had a 108 megapixel camera, but remember that megapixel count isn’t everything. There are a lot of factors at play, such as sensor, size, speed and the algorithms that process your images in the background, so we have to wait until we’ve tested the phone to really get a sense of how much of a leap this is.
There are a few different ways you can shoot with the Galaxy s23 Ultra. You can shoot at the full 200 megapixel resolution, which might be useful if you’re planning to print out a large version of your photo. You can also choose between 50 megapixel or 12 megapixel photos. The 12 megapixel mode is on by default and could be useful in Darker scenarios, since it groups 16 megapixels together to gather more light just like last year. There are four main cameras on the Galaxy s23 Ultra, the 200 megapixel main camera, a 12 megapixel Ultra wide camera and two 10 megapixel telephoto cameras.
As expected, the Galaxy s23 Ultra has the same 100 times: digital zoom and up to 10 times optical zoom as its predecessor, the entire galaxy s23 lineup is also getting a new processor, a special version of qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip. That’S been optimized for Samsung’s new phones, Samsung said it boosted the clock, speed on one of the processor’s cores, which should result in better power efficiency and faster performance. The Galaxy s23 Ultra comes with the S Pen just like last year, and the phone will be available in 256, gigs, 512 gigs or one terabyte storage options. Samsung is doubling the base, storage and doing away with the 128 gig version of the ultra. The Galaxy s23 and s23 plus are getting modest, but important changes compared to last year’s Galaxy s22.
Both phones will have slightly larger batteries with the s23 getting a 39 milliampere battery and the s23 Plus getting a 4700 milliampere battery. That’S a small increase of about 200 milliamperes for each phone, but I’m hopeful that it’ll make a difference, especially for the regular s23. My biggest complaint about the s22 was that its battery life sometimes felt too short to comfortably make it through an entire day. Samsung has also slightly changed the Galaxy s23’s design, the camera module located on the back of the phone is gone now, both the regular s23 and the s23 plus will have a floating camera similar to the Galaxy s23 Ultra.
I didn’t mind the camera bar, but this change does make the lineup look a little more uniform and consistent. The Galaxy s23 and s23 plus come in the same size options as their predecessors, 6.1 inches for the regular s23 and 6.6 inches for the s23 Plus. Both phones have a 50 megapixel main Camera 12 megapixel Ultra wide camera and 10 megapixel telephoto camera, just like the s22 and s22 plus, even though the cameras seem similar, Samsung says it’s made some under the hood improvements. High dynamic range should be better at capturing shadows and highlights, and the camera should be able to reduce things like glare more easily.
All three phones are also getting new selfie cameras, and you can also access the pro shooting mode from the selfie camera as well. Like the ultra, the Galaxy s23 plus is also getting more storage at the base level, which should make it easier to keep all of those high resolution. Photos in your library, you’ll get 256 gigs of storage in the starting model up from 128 gigs. The Galaxy s22 plus was my personal favorite of the bunch in last year’s lineup. So I’m glad to see it getting some extra attention this year, other than the additional storage at the base level. The biggest differences between the s23 and the s23 plus are the pluses larger screen, bigger battery and Ultra wide band support.
Ultra wideband is the technology that makes it easier to share files and use your phone as a digital car. Key we’ll have more to say about the Galaxy s23 lineup, once we’ve spent more time with them be sure to subscribe, to see our full reviews and check out cnet.com for more coverage. Thanks for watching and I’ll see you next time, .