Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus review

The Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus is a telephone with a mouthful of a reputation however a easy promoting level: a quick Android telephone with an excellent display, cameras, and battery life, that may final you many years.

Samsung is nailing this straightforward resolution for individuals who need an Android telephone as an alternative of an iPhone. The S23 Plus isn’t as thrilling because the costlier S23 Extremely, and it has a plain design in comparison with the OnePlus 11 or Vivo X90 Professional.

As a substitute it succeeds as a result of it’s a protected wager with a tried and examined design and the very best efficiency you’ll discover on an Android telephone proper now.

Design & construct

• Minimalist look
• Flat, glass back and front
• Barely curved aluminium sides

Samsung has elected to hone the design it first used 2021’s Galaxy S21 telephones into one thing much more minimal.

The digital camera module is gone, and as an alternative the three rear cameras sit in a neat utilitarian row on the again, poking out from the plain matt glass. It runs the danger of trying a tad boring, however all three S23 fashions look the identical with this design selection.

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

The S23 Plus has utterly flat glass on the back and front, each Gorilla Glass Victus 2, the strongest telephone materials from glass firm Corning. IP68 water-resistance completes the sense that this can be a telephone constructed to final.

Paired with its shiny aluminium aspect rails with a slight curve, it’s a snug telephone to carry regardless of its slightly bigger dimension, particularly in comparison with the massive, blocky iPhone 14 Plus.

My assessment pattern was the cream color with gold rails. I desire the inexperienced color however the barely gaudy look grew on me and it’s extra refined than the gold iPhone 14 Professional’s gold mannequin.

On the correct edge is a quantity rocker and energy button – thanks Samsung for now not placing a voice assistant button in your telephones. On the underside there’s a USB-C port, SIM tray, mic, and speaker grille.

The vibration motor can be nice, providing refined clipped keyboard and system suggestions, whereas notification buzzes might be modified relying on the notification. Very premium stuff.

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

Display & audio system

• Flat 6.6in AMOLED
• 1080p, 120Hz
• Strong stereo audio system

The S23 Plus has a crisp 1080p show, so it’s not as excessive decision because the one on the S23 Extremely. You may want greater however to be trustworthy, it’s actually laborious to inform.

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

Having used each telephones I did discover the Extremely was sharper, however the S23 Plus has the identical peak brightness of 1750 nits and I didn’t overly miss the additional pixels. The Plus’s show appears to be like nice, and the flat panel would make it very simple so as to add a display protector (there’s not one pre-installed).

The display scrolls easily at 120Hz however can solely scale all the way down to 48Hz slightly than the 1Hz of the Extremely, which might save battery life.

A single front-facing digital camera is positioned in a small round cut-out on the high of the display, a design now commonplace in Android telephones. I solely actually seen it when watching movies in panorama and full display.

Twin stereo audio system hearth via the earpiece and backside grille – they’re superb for podcasts and YouTube and their fullness belies the premium value of the telephone, however an affordable Bluetooth speaker remains to be going to sound higher.

Specs & efficiency

• Snapdragon 8 Gen 2
• 8GB RAM
• 256/512GB UFS 4.0 storage

All fashions globally of the Galaxy S23 Plus (and the S23 and S23 Extremely) have the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset. Samsung normally makes use of its personal in-house Exynos chips within the UK and different areas, however not so this 12 months.

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

Particularly, the S23s have the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Cellular Platform for Galaxy. Samsung and Qualcomm say they’ve labored collectively to optimise the chipset for the S23, however the one distinction appears to be that the chip’s predominant CPU core is clocked barely quicker at 3.36GHz, in comparison with the three.2GHz clock pace that telephones such because the OnePlus 11 with the common 8 Gen 2 can handle.

I can’t say I seen the distinction in regular use. As that is simply single core pace, the multi-core speeds wanted to run excessive stage video games, video functions and multi-task between apps will probably be about the identical as all different 8 Gen 2 telephones.

There’s little distinction in benchmarks both – the one motive the S23 Plus appears to excel in our graphical GFXBench take a look at is that it’s competing in opposition to telephones with extra demanding, greater decision shows – the perk of lacking these further pixels.

However I’ll say Samsung has completed one thing good with the arrange – paired with 8GB RAM that is the snappiest Samsung telephone I’ve used for years. It runs like a Pixel or OnePlus telephone, which is to say, with barely any lag.

Digicam & video

• 50Mp predominant sensor
• 3x optical telephoto
• Video as much as 8K@30fps

Up entrance, the principle digital camera right here is not so good as on the Galaxy S23 Extremely. That telephone has a 200Mp sensor that may handle phenomenal element.

However the cameras on the S23 Plus actually aren’t that far off. Apart from the principle sensor, the Plus has the identical 3x telephoto, ultrawide, and selfie digital camera because the Extremely.

I’ve been actually happy with the standard of nonetheless photographs I’ve taken with this telephone and I respect that I can get them whereas carrying a telephone that’s much less of a brick than the Extremely (or one among Apple’s newest Professional iPhones).

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

Colors from the principle 50Mp sensor are fairly saturated and never completely true to life – typical for Samsung telephones – and it could battle with transferring topics. Typically, I needed to take a couple of photographs earlier than the topic was in focus.

However these are complaints that apply to all fashionable smartphones in most situations. And like most telephones, the S23 Plus is at its greatest in broad daylight.

The 50Mp sensor bins the picture all the way down to 12Mp by default however can seize lots of element in low mild due to this. You may also shoot at full 50Mp decision if you wish to. Listed here are some photographs from that lens:

As mentioned, regardless of optical picture stabilisation on the principle lens that negates you being shaky, the digital camera can’t all the time take care of fast-paced topics:

Henry Burrell / Foundry

See also  Now we know if the Pixel 8a is indeed better than the Galaxy A55

Low mild and night-time photographs got here out properly although, and the telephone tends to spice up the whites and brightness, much like the iPhone 14. I desire the night time mode on the Vivo X90 Professional, which is more true to life with its composition however advantages from its bigger one-inch predominant sensor. There’s solely a lot Samsung can do right here over the Galaxy S22, which has very comparable digital camera specs.

An ultrawide lens can be nice to have right here and manages to seize sufficient element in a scene with out an excessive amount of distortion on the edges as you may discover from a less expensive sensor. Just like the telephoto lens, it struggles greater than the principle lens in low mild.

The S23 Plus has a 3x optical telephoto lens, matching the iPhone 14 Professional’s telephoto. I caught some nice, sharp photographs with this lens however once more, Samsung is liberal with the processing. I like a few of the photographs, however the sky was by no means as blue because it appears to be like in them.

The image of the chook within the picture under additionally reveals the telephoto’s limitations in color replica while you punch in past the 3x optical restrict to make use of the digital zoom.

The front-facing digital camera is strong, although colors differ wildly relying on the lighting. Realistically although, solely essentially the most devoted cell photographers could have complaints about this digital camera arrange.

Henry Burrell / Foundry

Video-wise, you may file superb high quality footage from the principle lens at as much as 8K at 30 frames per second. There’s additionally a ‘tremendous regular’ mode that helps with shakier fingers or motion, nevertheless it’s not as superb because the Motion Mode on the iPhone 14.

Just like the Extremely, the selfie digital camera is nice in daylight however surprisingly and disappointingly poor as quickly as the sunshine drops.

However by fashionable requirements the S23 Plus has an extremely succesful set of cameras – it’s simply not the very best digital camera telephone available on the market.

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

Battery & charging

• 4700mAh battery
• 45W wired charging
• Wi-fi and reverse wi-fi charging

I discovered the S23 Plus’s 4700mAh battery to be greater than sufficient to get me via a full day of use after which some. Taking it off the charger at 7am and utilizing all of it day as my solely telephone with SIM bunged in and information streaming Spotify, Pocket Casts, YouTube, and utilizing it for a number of messaging apps and work e-mail normally noticed me to 10pm with 30-40% left.

That is spectacular, and didn’t make me miss the bigger battery within the S23 Extremely. In PCMark’s battery take a look at, the Plus scored 15 hours and 47 minutes, longer than the Extremely’s 12 hours 43 minutes.

The Plus is an all-day telephone and will go to 2 days in case you are a comparatively mild person. That is even with the always-on show on throughout my waking hours, displaying time, date and app notifications.

For a telephone this costly, it’d be good to have quicker charging although. The utmost 45W pace is okay however takes over an hour to completely cost from 0%, and there’s no charger within the field, only a USB-C to C cable. In half-hour at full pace I charged the telephone to 49%.

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

See also  Jabra Elite 8 Active review

There’s additionally 15W wi-fi charging and reverse wi-fi charging so you may flip the telephone on its face and cost different telephones or Qi charging equipment like wi-fi earbuds on the again, which is useful.

Software program & updates

• One UI 5.1
• 4 years of Android platform updates
• 5 years of safety patches

Samsung presents the joint greatest software program replace promise of any Android producer for a lot of of its telephones, together with the S23 Plus, with 4 Android platform updates and 5 years of safety patches.

This could take the S23 Plus to Android 17 by 2027 and hold the telephone absolutely safe till someday in 2028.

Samsung layers One UI 5.1 (at launch) over Android 13, and it drastically modifications the feel and appear of each ‘inventory’ Android and in addition how Google now presents it on the Pixel telephones. I fairly like One UI regardless of this, and it’s very customisable – not essentially within the look of icons however in how the house display and supply of notifications and options are arrange.

It took me about three days of tweaking to get the telephone feeling how I need it, which isn’t dangerous. I disliked how a lot bloatware Samsung masses onto the telephone although. Simply because it’s Samsung apps, doesn’t imply it’s not bloatware! Samsung’s insistence on additionally delivery its telephones with its personal Galaxy Retailer along with the Google Play Retailer is annoying too.

Maybe worst, Samsung delivers adverts for its services and products by way of notifications, which you’ll flip off, however shouldn’t occur within the first place on a telephone this costly.

Worth & availability

The Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus is an costly telephone, beginning at $999/£1,049/€1,219. You should purchase it internationally instantly from Samsung.  

This makes it $100/£100/€50 greater than the iPhone 14 Plus, however I feel it’s the higher telephone with its greater refresh fee show and extra manageable design.

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

You may desire the cheaper common Galaxy S23, nevertheless it’s laborious to look previous the wonderful worth of the Google Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Professional, each of which value lower than the S23 Plus and supply a equally glorious Android expertise with debatably higher software program.

Within the UK you will get it most cost-effective at Carphone Warehouse, or from EE, O2, Vodafone, and Three. Within the US you’ll discover it at T-Cellular, AT&T, and Verizon.

Verdict

The Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus grew on me as I used it, to the purpose that I didn’t a lot miss the additional options of the bigger, technically higher S23 Extremely (aside from that telephone’s superior predominant digital camera).

The Plus is a greater, extra manageable dimension with a wonderful display, higher battery life, whip-fast efficiency, and a five-year software program help promise.

It advantages vastly from the environment friendly Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset and although you may assume the design a tad boring in photos, when truly utilizing the telephone it’s fairly good to not have a honking digital camera module – and the matt end means no extra fingerprints.

You may desire the bells and whistles of the Extremely or the smaller dimension of the common S23, however going smaller means you sacrifice the Plus’s stellar battery life. This telephone appears to be like just like the candy spot of the S23 line up.

Specs

• 6.8in, 120Hz, QHD+, AMOLED show
• Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy
• 8GB RAM
• 128/256/512GB storage
• 4700mAh battery
• 45W wired charging
• 15W wi-fi charging
• Cameras:
  • 50Mp f/1.8 predominant digital camera
  • 12Mp f/2.2 ultrawide digital camera
  • 10Mp f/2.4 3x optical telephoto digital camera
  • 12Mp f/2.2 entrance dealing with digital camera
• 5G
• Wi-Fi 6E
• Bluetooth 5.3
• IP68
• Gorilla Glass Victus 2
• 157.8 x 76.2 x 7.6 mm
• 196g
• Android 13 with One UI 5.1