Pavel Barter delivers his take on the latest Samsung phone.
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra
Looks can be deceiving. Samsung’s trademark big phone is a dead ringer for last year’s S22 Ultra: from the camera layout, to the booming speakers, and the stylus which lets you scribble on screenshots. But peek closer to find a couple of significant upgrades.
Firstly, there’s an improved processor. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip makes activities snappier: improving gaming performance, multi-tasking, streaming and browsing. A better processor means more efficiency, which in turn means improved battery life – and the S23 Ultra’s battery is a beast, rolling along for two days on a single charge.
The second improvement is the quad camera set up. There’s a 200MP lens in the primary camera, and new sensors across the ultra wide, 3x and 10x periscope cameras, capturing sharper photos in finer detail. Optical stabilisation has jumped a notch, correcting camera shake and creating steady 8K video. Base storage has jumped from 158 to 256 GB.
A phone’s size, in my opinion, plays a major part in its convenience – and the S23 Ultra is simply too bulky to fit snugly in a trouser pocket. The €1400 cost is off-putting too. If you’re looking for a super-computer in your hands, though, this Ultra ticks every box.
8/10
Read the full tech preview in the new issue of Hot Press.
