Samsung galaxy S23 and S23 ultra

[aggie99]

Ok so I'm going to be fully switching tonight now that I'm back from Cancun. I'm on e-sim on the iPhone 14 PM. Do I actually have to call T-Mobile to do this?

Yes, for now you have to call T-Mobile unfortunately. They are supposed to be working on making the process more secure and will restore the ability to switch on line at a later date but who knows when that will happen. Main reason I'm not using my 14 Pro Max at all. I hate Apple for going to e-sim only.

 

[SteveJUAE]

Agreed! My only complaint is that I wish there was an option for weather temperature on AOD.

Not the best solution but it is possible to have temp/condition as a notification on AOD by using an app like Weather Underground or weather bug

 

[Technerd108]

interesting, thats the second or third time I've seen the screen flicker mentioned. I have not noticed it on mine.

Samsung put in a new display which draws like 20% less power.

The screen PWM is not a spec listed by Samsung so the reports are from videos on YouTube.

I wish companies would actually give us the full specs of their products and details on PWM and Dithering. Without proper specifications it is just people guessing.

All that being said it is supposed to affect 1 in ten people or about 10%. Seems like a pretty big amount of people considering how many phones produced.

Brightness levels can affect the rate of flicker so if you generally have high brightness you probably won't see it. The only way for you to know is if you feel like you have to squint while looking at the phone, eye strain and fatigue, it triggers headache. There are more symptoms but those are the most common.

 

[keithop]

Not the best solution but it is possible to have temp/condition as a notification on AOD by using an app like Weather Underground or weather bug

I didnt think notifications actually showed content on the AOD! maybe I need to check out wunderground

 

[h.gilbert]

Most Xiaomi and other Chinese market phones do not have the cellular bands required for USA. They may have some of the GSM bands but not all of them. There is no official support for warranty in the USA. So if something happens to the phone you have to send it back to China at your cost and hope it gets repaired and sent back to you.

I have bought several inexpensive Chinese phones in the past from various brands and tablets from Aldocube and Teclast. I just won't do it anymore. The low upfront cost is great but there are too many risks once something goes wrong.

Personally a discounted Pixel a/ or Samsung a or used s series is a much better value even if it doesn't have the better hardware that the Chinese OEMs offer.

Right, so it is lack of support for cellular bands then and warrenty. I'm quite familiar with Android phones and Asian phones having spent time over there and I've never heard of Aldocube or Teclast. The better Chinese phones that are sold internationally are Xiaomi, Redmi, Realme, Oppo, Vivo. Those brands are just as good as any other brand.

I have a Redmi now, before I had a Pixel 3nand before that I had an iPhone. The most buggy was the Pixel 3, then the Redmi, then the iPhone.

 

[Brisebelette]

Oh I'm so glad you're not. I'm super excited about the S23 series. In my brief full use of it I could see it's exactly what I'd hoped for and would have loved having it for two years, easily, if not for my extreme sensitivity.

I was so pleased to see it worked for my husband in a location we normally struggled to get service. I'm really happy for everyone here who can keep and use theirs. I'm happy for you!

I'm very happy to see the gap between Android and iphone closing. We consumers need choice. Especially in the US. We are so heavily dominated by Apple here. I am really shocked how few choices we have compared to Europe and Asia. So many interesting phones aren't sold here.

Try to exchange it for a different color during the return period. It sounds silly but I have a headache with S23 ultra in cream, change for purple and no issues anymore. Strange is that 1 week on cream shows worse battery life than purple after the same time period with the same usage pattern.

 

[sunking101]

Actually I'm a very heavy user although most of Saturday was spent at my kids sports events and then watching college basketball. I had around 5 hours SOT and nearly 50% battery left which is not as heavy as I typically use my device but not exactly light usage by any stretch.

Charging on Friday afternoon and then still having 50% left Sunday evening/Monday morning is very light use IMO but hey, what's it matter.

 

[keithop]

Charging on Friday afternoon and then still having 50% left Sunday evening/Monday morning is very light use IMO but hey, what's it matter.

depends on the type of usage though surely? 24 hrs of screen on full brightness streaming videos very different from 24hrs of emails yet both people may feel they've been on their phone constantly.

I'm not seeing much difference between my iphone 14pm which I thought was pretty good and the s23u in my daily usage so a win in my book.

 

[aggie99]

depends on the type of usage though surely? 24 hrs of screen on full brightness streaming videos very different from 24hrs of emails yet both people may feel they've been on their phone constantly.

I'm not seeing much difference between my iphone 14pm which I thought was pretty good and the s23u in my daily usage so a win in my book.

Yep about the same here. The iphone 14PM battery was terrible for me for a while but it's much better after the latest updates. Both phones are pretty close to the same right in my use. Pixel 7 Pro and Z Fold 4 are a distant 3rd and fourth.

The standby battery drain issues that have plagued Samsung devices (and android in general) are basically non existent on this device.

 

[aggie99]

Charging on Friday afternoon and then still having 50% left Sunday evening/Monday morning is very light use IMO but hey, what's it matter.

My post was made mostly to point out how this phone and chipset have essentially eliminated the standby battery drain issues of past devices. If you've used Samsung devices or Android devices in general for any amount of time you've probably had to deal with this issue.

I have 3 other devices so yes when I'm home on the weekend playing around I'll likely have my time split between 2 or 3 devices. I also like to test things out like the battery drain for instance. I might just "lightly" use a device over a period of days to see how much I can get out of it in a charge. As a result I found out I could make it thru a few days without charging the device if I had to with just moderate use. Not like I'd have to do that often but good to know if there was ever a scenario where it was necessary I'd be in good shape.

 

[super chimp]

interesting, thats the second or third time I've seen the screen flicker mentioned. I have not noticed it on mine.

I often cannot see it on these review videos but when he used the relevant video it was as clear as day.

 

[keithop]

I often cannot see it on these review videos but when he used the relevant video it was as clear as day.

yeah it was :/ and explains the folks who are getting headaches after. Really wish that test was part of every review and, though I know this is a hopeless ask, manufacturers would say whether their devices had it or not.

 

[HouseLannister]

My post was made mostly to point out how this phone and chipset have essentially eliminated the standby battery drain issues of past devices.

Absolutely. Today I used Android Auto some and then listened to a couple podcasts via my Shokz, but most of the day the phone was idle in my pocket as I was very busy at work. Only 45 min SoT so far, but still 85% in the tank after 10 hours.

 

[5105973]

Try to exchange it for a different color during the return period. It sounds silly but I have a headache with S23 ultra in cream, change for purple and no issues anymore. Strange is that 1 week on cream shows worse battery life than purple after the same time period with the same usage pattern.

No it doesn’t sound silly at all. I have trouble with my husband’s 14 Pro Max display but not too bad of a time on my own. It’s not 100% okay for me to use for longer than an hour, but I can get by. I can’t stand his display at all.

So I know there are individual variances between panels for the same model.

I’ve never tried to do an exchange with Samsung. I probably can’t due to the promotional credits. A lot of people in the past said they had to return everything as a whole and not just the phone.

My husband said sincerely he would be okay with me keeping my S22 Ultra AND the S23 Ultra just in case a software update fixes the flicker or improves it.

He said that because I really do like the S23 Ultra camera. I’ve been snapping cat photos and the cats come out relatively the same but the details in the backgrounds are so much finer on the S23 Ultra.

I’m packing it up tonight or tomorrow. I will wait a bit and perhaps try again. I’m not going to change the color because mine is lavender and your new one is lavender. So I don’t think it’s the color that means anything but probably it’s just the luck of the display lottery. I appreciate you posting that you got better luck in your exchange. That gives me some hope. I love the phone enough to be willing to try again.

 

[Technerd108]

Right, so it is lack of support for cellular bands then and warrenty. I'm quite familiar with Android phones and Asian phones having spent time over there and I've never heard of Aldocube or Teclast. The better Chinese phones that are sold internationally are Xiaomi, Redmi, Realme, Oppo, Vivo. Those brands are just as good as any other brand.

I have a Redmi now, before I had a Pixel 3nand before that I had an iPhone. The most buggy was the Pixel 3, then the Redmi, then the iPhone.

Pixel 3 and Pixel 7 are so different it is not a fair comparison.

Yes I have tried all the major Chinese phone brands as well as some lesser known ones.

Aldocube and Teclast focus on tablets not phones.

The Chinese brands are not as good as any other brand for several reasons at least here in the United States. In markets where those phones are supported then things are a bit different but I am specifically talking about the US or anywhere they are not supported in mainstream retail market.

The first reason is network band support. If the phone doesn't support local bands it is pretty much useless as a phone.

Warranty support is pretty important as things break but it is not just warranty but aftermarket repair support and after sales service which is non existent here.

Then there is the international roms which it is hard to verify if there is anything added to the OS that adds tracking or telemetry in top of Google services. The overall software quality is not always great with bugs and apps that can't be disabled or uninstalled. ROM optimization can also be lacking.

Lastly is updates. I don't know how long these phones will get security or major OS updates. Some of the lesser known brands don't offer any major OS updates. They expect you will just buy a new device.

So for consumers here in the US, Xiaomi and it's sub brands, ZTE, Red Magic, Oppo, Doogie, Umidigi, Ulephone, etc are just not worth the hassle even with really great hardware at very competitive prices. I am not saying that they are bad phones but the lack of various forms of support, warranty and poor updates make them more trouble than they are worth.

 

[lyunmac]

Love the camera on this phone. I've never had a phone with 10x zoom and today I finally went out to test it. So fun to use. Definitely my go to phone for taking photos on weekends and events.

 

[5105973]

Love the camera on this phone. I've never had a phone with 10x zoom and today I finally went out to test it. So fun to use. Definitely my go to phone for taking photos on weekends and events.
View attachment 2161988

Wow! Wow wow wow. I’m…wow…🤯

 

[Klyster]

Love the camera on this phone. I've never had a phone with 10x zoom and today I finally went out to test it. So fun to use. Definitely my go to phone for taking photos on weekends and events.
View attachment 2161988

Gullzilla!

 

[Technerd108]

Meet Gullzilla: prehistoric sea bird had a beak full of teeth and a record 6.4-metre wingspan

Meet Gullzilla: prehistoric sea bird had a beak full of teeth and a record 6.4-metre wingspan

www.google.com

 

[5105973]

Meet Gullzilla: prehistoric sea bird had a beak full of teeth and a record 6.4-metre wingspan

Meet Gullzilla: prehistoric sea bird had a beak full of teeth and a record 6.4-metre wingspan

www.google.com

🤯😦😵‍💫

Goodness, the things that used to walk/fly this earth!

Has anyone been keeping vague track of all the UFO/UAP talk around fairly recently? I'm not talking about conspiracy sites but mainstream sources like CNN.

If there are UFOs flying around us, apparently now is a good time to keep a good zoom lens camera on you! 😬👽👾

I personally want no part of that kind of excitement. But I do want a good zoom!

I'm super busy but I'm going to try to squeeze in time to do more testing between my S22 Ultra and the S23 Ultra before I pack it off and send it back.

My husband let me borrow his S23 Ultra to read on. I can definitely feel the pwm but it's not causing me pain. I didn't get a headache from his display like I did mine. Go figure!

He thinks I should try again after my return is processed.

 

[three]

I took a few pictures tonight. I'm pretty happy with them. What do you all think? (Selling this Mazdaspeed in a few days, I'm going to miss it!)

 

[SteveJUAE]

I didnt think notifications actually showed content on the AOD! maybe I need to check out wunderground

Yep you will get a notification icon with the temp inside a circle

The new watch face on AOD are also good but wont show weather info, yet

 

[Dave245]

My S23 Ultra will be delivered today

 

[SteveJUAE]

Love the camera on this phone. I've never had a phone with 10x zoom and today I finally went out to test it. So fun to use. Definitely my go to phone for taking photos on weekends and events.

Wish I had a 10x on my F4, came home from a trip to Bangkok on Monday and had a golden tree snake in the LOUNGE,

They only give you an equivalent of a bee sting but still not going near that as these little suckers can leap and even glide between trees

 

[h.gilbert]

Pixel 3 and Pixel 7 are so different it is not a fair comparison.

Yes I have tried all the major Chinese phone brands as well as some lesser known ones.

Aldocube and Teclast focus on tablets not phones.

The Chinese brands are not as good as any other brand for several reasons at least here in the United States. In markets where those phones are supported then things are a bit different but I am specifically talking about the US or anywhere they are not supported in mainstream retail market.

The first reason is network band support. If the phone doesn't support local bands it is pretty much useless as a phone.

Warranty support is pretty important as things break but it is not just warranty but aftermarket repair support and after sales service which is non existent here.

Then there is the international roms which it is hard to verify if there is anything added to the OS that adds tracking or telemetry in top of Google services. The overall software quality is not always great with bugs and apps that can't be disabled or uninstalled. ROM optimization can also be lacking.

Lastly is updates. I don't know how long these phones will get security or major OS updates. Some of the lesser known brands don't offer any major OS updates. They expect you will just buy a new device.

So for consumers here in the US, Xiaomi and it's sub brands, ZTE, Red Magic, Oppo, Doogie, Umidigi, Ulephone, etc are just not worth the hassle even with really great hardware at very competitive prices. I am not saying that they are bad phones but the lack of various forms of support, warranty and poor updates make them more trouble than they are worth.

Yep it's unfortunate for you guys in the US. No wonder iPhone is so popular.