Gaming on the go has never felt better or smoother than with the Galaxy-optimised Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip. — Photos: Samsung
There is no doubt that the 200-megapixel camera on the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra 5G is the one that’s likely to grab everyone’s attention.
And it should – but there is more going on under the surface, which makes Samsung’s new flagship a solid smartphone that is likely to exceed most expectations.
But let’s focus on the 200-megapixel monster, which is able to “bin” or “combine” pixels to expand their effective size to enable them to catch more light with less noise.
Using this process, the sensor can shoot 50-megapixel photos by binning four pixels into a 1.2μm size or capture 12.5-megapixel images by binning 16 pixels into a 2.4μm size.
Shooting at 200 megapixels is ideal for landscapes that are brightly lit, as it will allow you to capture an incredible amount of detail. This will give you the flexibility to zoom and crop for a more artistic look and is the best option if you plan to print the photos.
However, this requires the smartphone to capture a massive amount of detail, which results in shutter lag. Also, the image sizes, as expected, are overly large, with some exceeding 30MB.
The rear-facing camera modules of a Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra 5G smartphone. — Bloomberg
Dialling down to 50 megapixels allows you to capture brighter images with plenty of detail and at faster shutter speeds. The image sizes were also considerably smaller.
This is the same case with 12.5-megapixel images, where shutter lag was non-existent. It’s all about flexibility and being able to adapt to the environment you are shooting in.
The dual 10-megapixel telephoto cameras with 3x and 10x optical zoom work great, especially if you limit the digital zoom to 30x.
The 100x Space Zoom is also present, but it’s best used sparingly as images can appear grainy at max zoom or when shooting the moon, where it does a surprisingly good job.
The upgraded Nightography feature, which uses improved artificial intelligence, made a difference when shooting in low-light conditions. The images appeared clearer, with less bloom around light sources.
Interestingly, Samsung has gone the opposite direction with the selfie camera by dropping the megapixel count from 40 to 12, and despite this, portraits turned out better with an improved Bokeh effect.
Overall, the cameras produced images with good dynamic range that were contrasty, leaning more toward a warmer tone.
As for videos, the doubled optical image stabiliser is a game changer, as it was able to eliminate even the worst shakes.
This is especially handy when shooting in 8K, as Samsung has upped the frame rate from 24 frames per second to 30fps for even smoother videos.
Refined and reinforced
The S23 Ultra inherits much of the design language of the S22 Ultra – it’s similar in many respects but with notable differences.
The S23 Ultra inherits much of the design language of the S22 Ultra – it’s similar in many respects but with notable differences.
At first glance, it’s hard to tell the two apart, but the S23 Ultra is not as curved at the edges, making it a tad easier to scribble on the screen with the stylus.
This also makes the phone appear more boxy, but you get a slightly better visual experience when watching movies, which is made better with the excellent stereo speakers.
The humongous 6.8in display is gorgeous, with vibrant colours, and the 120Hz refresh rate makes it a delight to scroll endlessly on social media.
The smartphone is one of the first to be protected by Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2, which is claimed to be tougher with improved drop performance on rougher surfaces, although this wasn’t tested.
Corning’s Victus 2, its toughest glass yet, protects the phone.
This is also the first time that the electronics giant has abandoned its own chip – the Exynos – in favour of Qualcomm’s processor.
In the past, some markets got Qualcomm’s chip, while Asian countries, including Malaysia, got the Exynos, which didn’t fare as well in benchmarks and was considered more power hungry.
This is a great move by Samsung and you are not just getting a vanilla chip – the S23 Ultra gets the top-of-the-line Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor that’s tweaked for the Galaxy to run at a slightly higher clock speed.
And this shows – the zippy smartphone can handle anything and everything you throw at it, be it ultra- realistic games or demanding apps.
But what’s better is that it mostly stays cool under “pressure” and even when it does heat up, it’s never too extreme, especially in comparison to previous models.
The chip is also claimed to be energy-efficient, which is why the phone is touted to have a longer battery life despite having the same capacity – 5,000mAh – as last year’s model.
The smartphone lasted nearly two days with it being used for playing games, watching videos and lots of surfing.
The S23 Ultra, like its predecessor, comes with the trademark S Pen stylus.
For some things, scribbling with a stylus feels better than having to type.
Though it has only received minor updates, the stylus is already feature-packed, allowing you to remotely control video playback and capture photos.
It’s also worth noting that you can control the camera, including the zoom, from Samsung smartwatches like the Galaxy Watch 5.
Personally, the stylus is my favourite for jotting down ideas because you can just pop it out and start writing without having to manually launch an app.
It also feels so much better to scribble down ideas rather than type them down.
As for storage, the base model of the S23 Ultra is now 256GB, which is ample storage for anyone that is not solely focused on shooting 8K videos and 200-megapixel photos.
The storage also supports the speedier UFS 4.0 standard, which makes everything quicker, even boot-ups and updating.
Big bang for buck?
This time around, the smartphone is available in a variety of colours, including Green, Phantom Black, Lavender and Cream, as well as four more colours that are only available for purchase on Samsung.com: Graphite, Sky Blue, Lime, and Red.
The smartphone comes in a number of colours, but some, like Sky Blue, can only be purchased through Samsung's online store.
However, the Galaxy S23 Ultra 5G comes at an “ultra” cost – the 1TB, 512GB and 256GB models are priced at RM7,199, RM6,199 and RM5,699, respectively.
But it does have the specs to match and it’s one of the best big Android smartphones on the market, making it ideal for anyone who needs the power and performance it has to offer.
This is also a smartphone that you can expect to hold on to for a long time, as Samsung is promising four generations of Android upgrades and five years of security updates.
If storage is not an issue – but bear in mind that the smartphone doesn’t have an expansion slot – go for the base model, as this will save you RM1,500 without sacrificing features.
| SAMSUNG GALAXY S23 ULTRA 5G | |
|---|---|
| PROCESSOR: | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 |
| MEMORY: | 12GB RAM |
| CAMERAS: | Back – 200-megapixel wide camera, 12-megapixel ultra-wide camera, 10-megapixel telephoto camera with 3x optical zoom, 10-megapixel telephoto camera with 10x optical zoom; front – 12-megapixel camera |
| DISPLAY: | 6.8in QHD+ (1,440 x 3,088 pixels) at 120Hz |
| DIMENSIONS: | 78.1 x 163.4 x 8.9mm |
| WEIGHT: | 233g |
| BATTERY: | 5,000mAh |
| RATING: | 4.5/5 |
| PRICE: | RM7,199 (1TB), RM6,199 (512GB) and RM5,699 (256GB) |
| PROS: Excellent cameras for all occasions; powerful performance thanks to speedier processor and storage; dazzling 6.8in display; feature-packed; and guaranteed upgrade for four Android versions. CONS: Shutter lag when shooting 200-megapixel photos; pricey. | |
