Samsung galaxy S23 and S23 ultra

[5105973]

Confession, I wasn’t planning on buying any S23… however, after a combination of reading through this thread, appreciating but being bored with my iPhone 14 Pro and wanting to throw a Pixel 7 / 7 Pro through a wall, I just ordered a S23 Ultra… I didn’t reply to any one, but I read all of your comments regarding One UI and I’m really willing to give it a shot. The S23 Ultra looks to be phenomenal and a really good phone. I’m very excited and I’m willing to go “all in” if I like it. I got the $100 credit, so, I grabbed the official leather case and the silicone case with the strap. I also just ordered the Spigen Ultra Hybrid with MagSafe (which I LOVE that Spigen brought MagSafe to this case, I buy the Ultra Hybrid for all of my phones, so this is a bonus!) and got a free screen protector, too.

I wasn’t expecting to do this, but this will be fun! People and reviews seem to be very positive about the S23 in particular. I’m also excited to try the S Pen! I take so many notes as is!

View attachment 2153101

Congratulations! Just be patient and get to know everything it has to offer. Even I haven’t done all of that yet. I’ve got a backlog of video tutorials to watch.

My life is still somewhat crazy in the wake of some things that happened the last couple of years like a death in the family and storm damage to property and stuff like that. But I’m getting some time for things like this again. It’s fun!

There is a LOT to take in. But you can also happily ignore whatever you don’t have time to learn about and just get it working like any other phone you’re used to.

 

[keithop]

Okay a bit of cold water from SuperSaf in that he thinks there’s shutter lag that will affect pet photos. But I’m not convinced that his way of testing that proves it.

not convinced he really knows what shutter lag is!

Shutter lag for us photo-heads is when you press the shutter and the image is captured a short time (hopefully) later. There's always a lag and the only question is how long that lag is.

That lag is usually tested on the first shot with no other shots waiting to be written to the drive from memory.

Then you have time to next shot which is how long the camera/phone takes to empty the data from the last shot onto the drive and make itself ready for the next shot. You can nearly always produce a larger delay here depending how many times you press the shutter and how much data each photo represents.

What he's shown there is a blurry photo of a constantly moving item and that's not really shutter lag in my book, that's shutter speed. Simply the shutter speed hasn't been set fast enough to grab an image without getting motion blur. Of course, you can say THAT'S a negative, but that's not shutter lag to me!

in the dslr world, if we're going to be looking for a great shot of something constantly moving, with 4k and wow 8k video, I'd be swapping it to video mode and grabbing a frame out of that, there should be easily enough data... or just going pro raw and setting a higher shutter speed.

 

[Technerd108]

I really don't know what to do? If I go with T mobile it is $85 plus $25 a month for the phone. $450 out of pocket but no trade in required and $800 off the phone. 2 years of credits starting after the 3rd month. Then I could sell my s22 plus private and get around $450 after all is said and done. Meaning the phone is free - sort of. Right now I am paying $25 a month for my cell service unlimited data plan. 2 year contract locked phone.

If I buy direct from Samsung it is $1200 - $450 selling private. Which is $750 roughly. If I trade in it is $825.

If I go with Att it is a $1000 credit with trade in same price monthly but taxes and fees extra.

If I go with Google Fi it is $650 no trade required. $50 a month and I can sell my s22 private. $450 so the phone would cost roughly $200. Unlocked and after 4 months I could go back to my $25 a month plan.

Or I keep my s22 plus and don't pay any extra?

I am leaning towards Google Fi but they also charge extra for taxes and fees.

What would you guys do if you were trying to spend as little as possible for the device and monthly? Or would you skip it and keep the s22 plus?

 

[The Game 161]

Shutter lag still a thing it seems

 

[The Game 161]

Okay a bit of cold water from SuperSaf in that he thinks there’s shutter lag that will affect pet photos. But I’m not convinced that his way of testing that proves it.

We need a real cat. I have many. I’ll judge for myself if lag is a problem.

My husband just texted me that MrWhosetheboss says the camera is faster.

MKBHD also mentioned shutter lag sadly

 

[mjschabow]

It's the best smartphone camera as long as everyone sits the **** still.

 

[The Game 161]

It's the best smartphone camera as long as everyone sits the **** still.

As great as this camera is if they can’t get moving pets or kids right it’s tough to crown it. Only Samsung seems to suffer from this. Even Xiaomi and Vivo have super fast shutter speed

 

[hockeyfan81]

“Hold my beer”. 🤣—a lot of the people on this forum

and here I thought my two phones were a bit much.

 

[majkom]

So shutter lag is stil there, sad, i am still undecided if i will try android, but shutter lag is a bummer

 

[Dave245]

It's the best smartphone camera as long as everyone sits the **** still.

😂😂 in all seriousness tho, it is disappointing if they haven’t fixed it. Is it something they can issue a software update for??

 

[Ludatyk]

What would you guys do if you were trying to spend as little as possible for the device and monthly? Or would you skip it and keep the s22 plus?

At the end of the day... is it what YOU want?

We all get into the hype with FOMO (which is an issue), however... it might end up being the best tech purchase you've made. You should weigh the pros and cons of actually owning the device versus the one you have, then go on from there. Obviously, the S22 Plus is better than the S23U... there's no debate on that.

But do you take pictures a lot with the S22 Plus? Do you find it slow? Do you find yourself wanting more battery life? Do you care to use the S-Pen? But regardless of offering you advice... you will be the one using it.

 

[Technerd108]

At the end of the day... is it what YOU want?

We all get into the hype with FOMO (which is an issue), however... it might end up being the best tech purchase you've made. You should weigh the pros and cons of actually owning the device versus the one you have, then go on from there. Obviously, the S22 Plus is better than the S23U... there's no debate on that.

But do you take pictures a lot with the S22 Plus? Do you find it slow? Do you find yourself wanting more battery life? Do you care to use the S-Pen? But regardless of offering you advice... you will be the one using it.

Appreciate the advice. When I think about it. Everything is fine on my s22 plus.

I just want the Ultra but maybe I am caught up in the hype. 😆 LOL.

I love the latest stuff. But if I were to get the s23 plus the only difference would be the processor. I am not sure it is worth it. With the Ultra I get a better screen. But it is not flat.

More to think about.

 

[aggie99]

Holy four phones! 🤑

One will probably go. The Fold stays on my business line. Usually have an Android and iOS device I alternate on the personal line.

 

[three]

I really don't know what to do? If I go with T mobile it is $85 plus $25 a month for the phone. $450 out of pocket but no trade in required and $800 off the phone. 2 years of credits starting after the 3rd month. Then I could sell my s22 plus private and get around $450 after all is said and done. Meaning the phone is free - sort of. Right now I am paying $25 a month for my cell service unlimited data plan. 2 year contract locked phone.

If I buy direct from Samsung it is $1200 - $450 selling private. Which is $750 roughly. If I trade in it is $825.

If I go with Att it is a $1000 credit with trade in same price monthly but taxes and fees extra.

If I go with Google Fi it is $650 no trade required. $50 a month and I can sell my s22 private. $450 so the phone would cost roughly $200. Unlocked and after 4 months I could go back to my $25 a month plan.

Or I keep my s22 plus and don't pay any extra?

I am leaning towards Google Fi but they also charge extra for taxes and fees.

What would you guys do if you were trying to spend as little as possible for the device and monthly? Or would you skip it and keep the s22 plus?

I’m also with T-Mobile on Magenta Max. $85 a month is a lot and I tend to buy unlocked phones, so paying this much for such little benefit (other than priority data) isn’t worth it in my book. I’m in the same boat, kind of / sort of. I was tempted to trade in through T-Mobile, but I hate bill credits and being forcefully tied to a carrier. I really like the T-Mobile network, so I’m trying to find prepaid alternatives that have priority data (Google Fi seems to be one of the few, in my limited research) and isn’t $85 - $90 a month. I paid for my S23 Ultra outright, it hurt, but I’ll sell off a few of my older devices and pay myself back.

US Mobile has a GSM option, but I’m not sure if it’s priority data or not.

I like the idea of Mint Mobile but it’s not priority data. I know I’m probably making too much of a big deal with priority data, but after experiencing the garbage fire that was Verizon’s deprioritized network… I’m haunted. Haha.

 

[Healer Flame]

The shutter lag has been a real problem on every Samsung phone compared to iPhones and Pixels, primarily present when taking pictures of moving kids and pets. The other phones are just better at taking a still image in those scenarios than Samsung phones.

Have no idea what shutter problem are you talking about, even if its there its absolutely not noticeable.

At last today will inspect s23 range if they are on display.

 

[keithop]

Shutter lag still a thing it seems

but that isn't shutter lag! that's motion blur because the shutter speed isn't fast enough

 

[aggie99]

but that isn't shutter lag! that's motion blue because the shutter speed isn't fast enough

Or could it be because the auto focus doesn't lock on as fast as the iphone?

I remember with the S20 Ultra the autofocus was horrible and improved with the s21 ultra.

 

[keithop]

Or could it be because the auto focus doesn't lock on as fast as the iphone?

doesnt look out of focus to me, that's motion blur.. you can tell by the almost double vision effect. The subject of the photo has moved whilst the "shutter" is still open so you've got that blurring effect.

If they'd done a proper review and posted the actual EXIF sensor stats, I'm sure we'd have seen that the iphone was using a much faster shutter speed.

now.... that's a bit of a recurring theme with apple v samsung. Samsung seem to keep the shutter open longer to gather more light information, whereas apple try and use the fastest speed they can. to be HONEST, I think Apple are probably right and you can see it in lowlight photos too with less noise on apple but a darker image. Samsung seem to be thinking keep the shutter open, get more light and we'll reduce noise really effectively afterwards. It's a judgement call and something samsung could easily change in software if they wanted to.

...but not shutter lag in my book. I'll try it when I get the s23 and perhaps I'll backtrack ;-) but yeah, these are very obviously phone people not camera people.

 

[ian87w]

The local Samsung stores have the demo units out, and I had the chance to play around with the regular S23 a bit. First noticeable thing is how sharp the flat part on the backside edges! I thought they were too sharp for handling comfort. Quite jarring and actually doesn't feel good. Definitely much sharper than the new iphones. The Ultra seems to fare better with a bit of rounded edges.

Not sure why Samsung decided in this design. The S21/22 were already very nice on the hand.

 

[LIVEFRMNYC]

So I bit and preordered the Red (orange looking) S23U. Will be trading in my S22U.

I see a lot of users complain about the slow shutter. Why not just use the burst function by sliding the button? That's what I been doing with my S22U.

 

[three]

The local Samsung stores have the demo units out, and I had the chance to play around with the regular S23 a bit. First noticeable thing is how sharp the flat part on the backside edges! I thought they were too sharp for handling comfort. Quite jarring and actually doesn't feel good. Definitely much sharper than the new iphones. The Ultra seems to fare better with a bit of rounded edges.

Not sure why Samsung decided in this design. The S21/22 were already very nice on the hand.

That's a bummer! I felt that the smallest S22 was one of the most comfortable new phones I've used in recent years! I just went by Best Buy to see if they had the display models out, not yet. That being said, my Best Buy is always dead last to get new products / displays out. We're definitely a store that isn't very important. Haha.

 

[jamezr]

i wonder if the S22U cases will fit the S23U? inquiring minds minds want to know!

 

[LIVEFRMNYC]

i wonder if the S22U cases will fit the S23U? inquiring minds minds want to know!

View attachment 2153236

The dimensions seems to be off about 0.1 to 0.2 mm. So the case might fit, but the camera holes might be slightly off.

 

[jamezr]

The dimensions seems to be off about 0.1 to 0.2 mm. So the case might fit, but the camera holes might be slightly off.

ohhh...you're right...i forgot about the camera holes!

 

[ian87w]

That's a bummer! I felt that the smallest S22 was one of the most comfortable new phones I've used in recent years! I just went by Best Buy to see if they had the display models out, not yet. That being said, my Best Buy is always dead last to get new products / displays out. We're definitely a store that isn't very important. Haha.

Then you better wait to handle the demo units first to see if it's within your comfort level. For me, it was quite jarring compared to my S21, to the point that I thought it was a non-functioning piece that was just roughly made (only to simulate the size and weight). But it was the actual phone... 😂