Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra first impressions: Better cameras, fast processor and more

Samsung announced its Galaxy S23 lineup at the Galaxy Unpacked event. The Galaxy S23 Ultra is the most premium and also the most powerful among the Galaxy S23, Galaxy S23+ and Galaxy S23 Ultra. That being said, it comes with top-of-the-line specifications, features and improvements. But the biggest highlight here is the new 200MP sensor and the new camera capabilities it brings with it to the S23 Ultra. I have used the smartphone for a small period of time and here are my initial impressions of the phone.
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra packs 200MP quad camera setup and its impressive
The key highlight of the Galaxy S23 Ultra is its new 200MP rear camera setup. It’s a quad camera setup and other sensors are a 12MP sensor, a 10MP sensor and another 10MP sensor. The new 200MP sensor can shoot in full 200MP resolution or pixel binned at 50MP and 12.5MP. The image quality, based on the small time I spent with the smartphone is impressive, full of sharpness, details and vibrant colours.

Another aspect of the new 200MP sensor is that it offers better compensation for bad lighting in photos as well as videos. Low light portrait performance has also improved with an updated algorithm that seems to detect the subject and background better. Low-light images and videos are full of details and offer improved colours, saturation and contrast. Sharpness levels too have also gone up by a good margin. Another video feature that Samsung has finally added is support for 8K30p video recording.
Also, Samsung has replaced the 40MP sensor from the Galaxy S22 Ultra with the new 12MP sensor. The new smaller sensor does a decent job of capturing details, sharpness and colours.
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra comes with the most advanced chip and it is a smooth performer
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is powered by the latest 4nm-based Snapdragon 8 Gen 2SoC. It’s a solid chipset and offers smooth performance, better efficiency and more. The Galaxy S23 Ultra can practically handle anything be it gaming, shooting 8K videos, multitasking or editing photos or videos. I also didn’t notice any heating or the phone getting warm during the brief period of using the phone.
Design-wise, the visual appeal is the same but changes are meaningful
Not much has changed when it comes to the design of the Galaxy S23 Ultra. But, that does not mean nothing has changed at all. Sure, the rear camera design — individually placed lenses are the same, and the overall silhouette of the phone is similar to that of the Galaxy S22 Ultra, but the Galaxy S23 Ultra comes with flatter sides compared to the rounded sides of the S22 Ultra. This makes the handset a lot less slippery and a lot more comfortable to hold. This also allows for a slightly increased flat surface area on the curved display of the phone.

Galaxy S23 Ultra boasts the ‘most advanced’ and the brightest display on any smartphone
Galaxy S23 Ultra features a 6.8-inch Edge QHD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2X display with adaptive 120Hz, HDR10+ support and additional features like Vision Booster and Enhanced Comfort for a better viewing experience. It also comes with Gorilla Glass Victus 2 protective layer at the top for added protection. Also, with …… nits of peak brightness, it is one of the brightest displays on any smartphone. Quality-wise, it’s bright, vibrant and vivid.
Galaxy S23 Ultra still supports S Pen
Starting with Galaxy S22 Ultra, the Galaxy S Ultra models become the smartphone to offer S Pen, just like Galaxy Note devices. That hasn’t changed with Galaxy S23 Ultra. The handset comes with S Pen and supports all its features and functions of it.
Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra battery life should be good
Samsung is offering the same 5000mAh battery as the Galaxy S23 Ultra. While the battery capacity remains the same, the new chipset — Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 — according to Qualcomm is around 40% better power efficiency than its predecessor.

Runs Android 13 with the latest One UI 5.1 update
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra runs on Android 13 out-of-the-box. Samsung has also included a couple of new features like improved privacy and security dashboard, new Bixby routines and more.