It was in July 2023, just a week before I headed off on holiday, that I settled on the Galaxy S23.
That holiday was spent in Hampshire and Sussex, as I went down for a week’s stay in a caravan on Hayling Island, prior to the 2023 Goodwood Festival of Speed, for which I had tickets.
In just its first month of ownership, my Galaxy S23 had a huge task on its hands. But man, it performed well.
That’s mostly been true of its first year. It hasn’t been perfect, and I’ll go into detail a bit later, but first the positives…
S23: The Positives
Let’s start with the size and screen. It’s slightly smaller than my S21, making it easier to use, and yet the screen still feels like it’s the right size.
I’ve since also bought a pre-owned iPhone XS, with a 5.8″ screen, and what that’s confirmed is that my sweet spot for screen (and device) size sits somewhere between 5.8″ to 6.2″.
Both my iPhone XS and Galaxy S21 are still comfortable to use, and so too is my Galaxy S23.
It’s been plenty bright enough, with the toggles for Adaptive and Extra Brightness proving very useful for both indoor and outdoor usage.
Storage
Although the S23 came with a bigger 512GB option, I stuck to 256GB with 8GB RAM. I have no need for the better storage, and have found that if I do get near the limit, with OTG USB I can just back stuff up or, better yet, delete junk I don’t need to keep.
The storage is also faster than my Galaxy S21, with both the 256GB and 512GB versions of the S23 benefiting from UFS 4.0.
Another reason I opted for 256GB is that the smaller 128GB variant had to make do with the slower (but still very capable) UFS 3.1 storage. Personally, that wouldn’t have been a deal breaker, but thankfully it was only on the 128GB model, meaning I got a nice little upgrade despite sticking with 256GB of storage.
Cameras
The cameras are another positive. The telephoto lens now has 3x optical zoom, but can zoom all the way to 30x zoom – which has been great. Images at 30x will never be fantastic, but it’s a feature I’ve used quite a bit, especially and most usefully for reading signs in the distance.
To be fair, my Galaxy S21 could also zoom to 30x, but the quality wasn’t as good.
8K video at 30 fps has also been a welcome addition, although I’d say I prefer shooting at 4K 30 simply due to the way 8K 30 looks when played back. Footage appears smoother at 4K, with a few stutters at 8K. There’s also not much difference in the resolution, at least to my eyes, so only if you’re pixel peeping videos will you notice any real difference between the two resolutions.
Plus, with most phones and TVs these days being only 4K or 1080p, I’ve not had many places to view that ‘true’ 8K footage natively.
Battery
The battery may only be 3,900 mAh, but due to the Snapdragon chip I’ve noticed an increase in power efficiency.
That’s meant longer use between charges.
It’s also meant I don’t necessarily need to use the ‘Extreme Battery Saver’ mode to increase that longevity – something I did need to do on my Galaxy S21, whilst on holiday in Prague in May 2022.
– That said, I should note that whilst in Prague, I did need at least 12 hours of use from my Galaxy S21, as I tended to leave my hotel at 10.30am (without my Anker 10,000 mAh battery pack) and get back at around 11pm. That’s why I used ‘Extreme Battery Saver’ mode, as I needed access only to Messages, Maps and the Camera; and how I was able to achieve approximately 11-13 hours of screen-on-time for the 4 days I was there.
Then again, when I was at Goodwood last year (July 2023), I left my caravan around 8.30am and arrived back at just past 8pm (I stopped for dinner on the journey back), and that was without using any Extreme Battery Saver modes.
That’s about it for the positives.
For the negatives, I shall write another post. There’s been a few, and it hasn’t always been pretty, which means I really need the extra space of a new blog post to explain them fully…
– Chris JK.
KPH tech blog 
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