This week I decided to get the S23 Ultra and Return the S23 Ultra. What are you doing some of you might say and I asked myself the same question. Did I buy it out of creator FOMO? Maybe, well yes I did, but I did want to see what all the fuss was about that I had seen on social media. So let’s look at the pros before I explain why I returned the device.
The Pros
There are many a reason why people have been talking this phone up and below are the ones that I really noticed with my short-lived time with this beast.
Design:
The design was the same but different (yes I know that doesn’t make sense). Let me explain myself. When you looked at The S23 Ultra you would be forgiven for thinking it was the S22 Ultra they look pretty much identical but there are a couple of slight tweaks.
Less Curved
This year’s Ultra is boxier than its predecessor. Now you still have that curved screen but not as dramatic as the S22 Ultra which is nice. For me this made it feel a lot more comfortable to hold and in a strange way made it feel more secure in the hand, which is good as with most of these phones it can be a bit slippery.
Camera System
In this year’s version of the Ultra, the camera bumps/lens are slightly bigger. I suppose it’s understandable with that massive 200mp sensor that it’s housing this year.
Performance
So finally here in the UK we get the Snapdragon Chip that everyone else gets and I was keen to see if it made as big a difference as people were saying. The answer is of course YES. I found that I soon as I started the Ultra up it was nice and snappy (pardon the pun). Unlike with the Exynos chip that we are used to there is no lagging, Apps opened just as quickly as on my iPhone and I generally think that it will handle most things that are thrown at it by power users and gamers.
The Screen
This has always been a winner for me on the Samsung flagships. I love the 6.8-inch Dynamic AMOLED display it really does deliver a crisp and vivid picture which makes it great for watching content. As per last year you of course get a 120hz refresh rate which makes scrolling through social media nice and smooth.
Why I returned it
So you are probably thinking why did you send it back then, that’s a good and valid question. The simple answer is it did not make me desperate to pick it up over my iPhone 14 Pro Max. In fact, I would say I was consciously making myself pick it up. There was nothing significantly better about it in my opinion.
Shutter Lag
This is where the iPhone wipes the floor with S23 Ultra. If you are taking a picture of a moving object such as a child or pet then you are going to struggle to get a non-blurry image. I took a photo of my daughter and she was not moving much and there was decent light and it still came out blurred. With my iPhone 14 Pro Max I know that I am going to get a decent picture, yes Samsung may excel in other area’s when it comes to the camera but for an overall camera system for photos and video, I think the iPhone takes the win.
Apps
Most apps work great but I find that some are not quite as optimised and smooth as they are in IOS. I find that there are little things such as tapping the time in the app and it will take you to the top making it a more enjoyable experience. I appreciate that App developers have to cater for many more devices when it comes to Android so apps on Apple Devices which are few are more refined.
Customisation
This is a positive and a negative for me. I downloaded Good Lock and customised the phone but I found that after a while I had lost interest. I also find that there is too much choice which then puts me off because it takes too much time. I would like the option to change the size of the apps on my iPhone and place them where I want but other than that I am not overly bothered.
Ecosystem
Yep of course this was going to be in here that Apple Ecosystem. I am wedded to the Ecosystem because all my devices from my phone to my watch are Apple. My main sim was always going to remain in 14 Pro Max because of my love for the Apple Watch Ultra and because I haven’t found an Android Smart Watch to match it and I have tried.
There are also the little things like copying and pasting to my other device and AirDrop which I am using more and more. I also have Apple Carplay which is one that always surprises me as a reason to not move over to Android.
Price
with flagship phones come flagship prices. I really couldn’t justify spending all that money on the phone for it to sit there staring at me from my desk and not using it. Now I would have used it but not consistently enough to justify the price. Basically, I put my sensible head on and although I do make some money from my blogs it’s certainly nowhere near enough to spend a fortune on these phones not to use them all the time.
Final Thoughts
So yes it went back and I am back to been just an iPhone user and you know what I am happy with that. I know many think that the iPhone is boring but for me, it’s still a beautiful and brilliant phone. It does what I want it to with ease and although many people have seen more bugs with iOS16 I can honestly say I haven’t had any issues and this is why it’s the phone I continue to pick up first and love to use.
This is not to say that the S23 ultra is not a beautiful and brilliant phone because it is for me it just didn’t excite me enough to keep it.