While Samsung has a phone for every budget and style on the market, their flagships have been my favorite to check out yearly. They bring power and innovation to smartphones. I had the chance to use the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra as one of my main phones this year, and I know why people still go for this powerhouse of a phone.
Design and Build
This thing is a sleek brick. That is the best way to describe it. It has a 6.8-inch display housed on metal and glass. It feels solid, too solid. This thing is a heavy slab that is powerful on the inside, too. With the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 gen 2 for Galaxy chipset, a variation of the chipset is made specifically for Samsung devices. It’s hard to tell the difference between the S23 Ultra and the predecessor, the S22 Ultra. Similar builds on both.
Day to Day Experience with Galaxy S23 Ultra
The Galaxy S23 Ultra is the powerhouse it claims to be. Whatever you need the phone for, it delivers. While this phone is not a foldable phone, it’s still a powerhouse for media consumption. It has a very bright flat screen. The large screen that Samsung is known for is gorgeous. The colors on the Galaxy S23 Ultra are just very vibrant. You can’t take your eyes away from it. Even in bright daylight, you can see what you’re watching with no problem.
If you know anything about me, you know that I’ve loved the Samsung Galaxy Note series since it debuted. I still have the original Galaxy Note as a keepsake. I was always a fan of the large screen (which is normal-sized now) and the S-Pen (Samsung’s stylus). And while Samsung doesn’t have a dedicated Galaxy Note line anymore, I am happy they kept the core Note features and moved them to the Galaxy S line.
Nothing new with the S-Pen, and although I am using it less, I like having it available when I need to use it. Sometimes, even though I can type certain notes, I prefer to write them with the S-Pen.
The Galaxy S23 Ultra runs One UI/Android 13 operating system. It has all the things and all the options. You can download apps from the Google Play Store and the Samsung App Store. Samsung says it will support up to four years of OS updates.
Galaxy S23 Ultra Cameras
The cameras on the Galaxy Ultra devices have been powerful. The camera cluster has four cameras total: 200 megapixels with OIS, 10 megapixels with 3X zoom, 10-megapixel with 10x zoom camera, and a 12-megapixel ultrawide camera. On the S22 Ultra, you had the 108-megapixel camera. On the Galaxy s23 Ultra, you have a 200-megapixel camera. While it’s something that you won’t be using often, having it has been amazing. The zoom on the Galaxy S23 Ultra is just great. It’s a party trick, kind of not, and I ended up relying on it most of the time.
It’s hard for the S23 Ultra to take a bad picture, especially with good lighting. You will get lots of detail and color, especially when viewing the picture gallery on a Samsung device. The pictures pop. It’s insane how you don’t lose detail even with zoom. I spent a lot of time taking pictures of the view and then zoomed in on an object. I even managed to take pictures flying over New York City when landing at LaGuardia airport and was able to zoom in on the Empire State Building. Simply incredible. Samsung will saturate the pictures when processing, but it looks great for Social media.
A note regarding the regular Samsung Galaxy S23 and the Galaxy S23 Plus. These devices are easy to recommend if the S23 Ultra is too. While they are not the powerhouses the S23 Ultra is, they have gorgeous screens, good cameras, and decent battery life. The regular Galaxy S23 and Galaxy S23+ are smaller and easier to hold. They don’t have the S-Pen.
When it comes to carrier service, I checked out the Galaxy S23 Ultra on T-Mobile. I have used T-Mobile service for years, and they have great service in major cities. I used the S23 Ultra in Queens, New York City, Dallas, Texas, and Austin, Texas. I had service all of the time and used my hotspot to tether service to my laptop when working on the go.
Battery
The Galaxy S23 Ultra wins here too. Of course, battery use is objective, but with this phone, you know it will last all day. The 5,000 mAh battery is ready to take on the day and possibly the night. I feel that most people should be able to get through the entire day with regular use. That includes some media consumption via movie and music streaming, always-on-display notifications, camera use,
Pricing is all over the place when it comes to the Galaxy S23 Ultra. Samsung has the best trade-in deals on the market for most of its flagship devices. Depending on current sales and the trade-in value of a phone, you could pay as low as $399 for the S23 Ultra with 256GB storage. Of course, that can vary.
Verdict
You would never realize the S23 Ultra came out so long ago. After all this time, it still has all of the bells and whistles and serves as a powerhouse for anyone who wants a phone that is for both work and play and can last all day. It’s hard to say all the features are worth it on the Galaxy S23 Ultra, but they are lovely and convenient to have. It’s definitely an Ultra device in every sense of the word.
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra Smartphone
$799+ (with trade-in)
Pros
- Large, bright screen
- Consistent Performance
- Great camera (zoom)
- Long battery
- S-Pen included
Cons
- Expensive without trade-in deals
