{"id":369,"date":"2025-11-09T18:51:39","date_gmt":"2025-11-09T18:51:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mobilerecommendations.com\/?p=369"},"modified":"2025-11-11T06:53:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T06:53:09","slug":"samsung-galaxy-s23-review-my-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mobilerecommendations.com\/?p=369","title":{"rendered":"Samsung Galaxy S23 Review: My Experience"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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My Samsung Galaxy S23, shot on iPhone 13<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I recently switched from my daily driver iPhone 13 to a Samsung Galaxy S23 for a bit and I have a lot to say about this one. I picked up this phone from Amazon Renewed in excellent condition for $220, and the condition it came in was great. The phone came with 85% battery health, and in virtually flawless condition with no noticeable scratches, scuffs or dents anywhere, but there was some earwax built up in the earpiece which I had to clean out myself. Immediately picking up the phone, the build quality feels very premium, with Corning Gorilla Glass 2 protecting the screen and back panel, and an Armor Aluminum frame around the sides. This phone feels sturdy and well-built, not at all like a $200 phone. The S23 is also very compact, as the display is only 6.1″, and the bezels around the phone are very thin, and the size feels similar to my iPhone 13.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scrolling through menus and using apps, I felt virtually no lag doing just about anything. This phone’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor enables it to be capable of doing just about anything, even graphically intensive gaming, and combined with 8 GB of RAM, this phone is actually quite the powerhouse, especially for $200. I tested this phone with the 3DMark Wild Life benchmark test, a benchmark test that measures the device’s ability to provide high levels of gaming performance for short periods of time, and it did not disappoint. It maxed out the overall score, and I’m not kidding, as it literally said, “Overall score: Maxed Out!” after fishing the test. Since my phone was so powerful, I had to try the Wild Life Extreme test after, which renders the graphics in 4K. In this test, I actually got a score, an impressive score of 3,840, placing this phone at a higher level than the iPhone 15 Pro Max. I also tested it with PUBG Mobile, and it was smooth at maxed out graphics with very minimal frame drops. The point is, this phone is a beast when is comes to performance and is capable of quite a lot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cameras on this phone are capable, but not as good as my iPhone 13, in my opinion. The 12MP selfie camera, to start, is very capable, and better than my iPhone 13. The 10MP 3x telephoto lens is very useful, a welcome addition coming from a phone with a 12MP main lens and no telephoto lens, but sometimes it just won’t focus on an object that’s too close. The 50MP main lens takes great photos, with some noise in low-light situations and poor image processing in some circumstances in my opinion, and a bit overexposed and over sharpened for my taste. The 12MP ultrawide lens is serviceable, and better in different scenarios, but fails to capture much detail like the main lens does. However, if you’re not incompetent when it comes to camera settings like me, you can use Samsung’s Pro Mode or Expert Raw to manually adjust a lot of that stuff. I love the customizability and amount of modes you get in the camera app with OneUI, it feels a bit overkill, but it’s a welcome upgrade from the almost dumb simplicity of my iPhone. It was also very cool trying out some of Samsung’s AI features in my Gallery App, like the Generative Edit and Sketch to Image, and even AI features outside of the Camera app, like Gemini Live and Circle to Search. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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An image taken with native settings on the native camera app with the main lens at 1x; view the full resolution file here<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This phone’s display feels similar size wise to my iPhone 13, but is upgraded in almost every other way. It has a smooth-feeling 120Hz refresh rate, displays beautiful colors with its Dynamic AMOLED technology, and, while its PPI is technically lower at 420, I don’t see the difference in normal use. Its in-display ultrasonic fingerprint reader is very useful, fast, and accurate as well. Yet another upgrade from my iPhone 13 is the USB-C charging and faster charging, but the tradeoff\/downgrade is that the battery life is a decent amount worse, however this may be due to the fact that I always have the 120Hz display enabled, even when Battery Saver is on. Comparisons aside, the battery life on this phone isn’t anything special overall with its 3,900mAh battery, but turning on all of the battery saving settings (unlike what I do, I need to enjoy the high refresh rate for as long as I can) does actually help a decent bit. It will also depend on the battery health your unit has when you receive it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I honestly enjoyed using Samsung’s OneUI 8 software, and I appreciated the customizability and features it gave me over my iPhone. I especially liked how much I could edit my lock screen, even down to choosing any font I want for the time and date, and how much I can customize my home screen with different widgets and themes as well. Google Discover on my media page is just a swipe to the right away on my home screen, and I would describe it as a built-in feed to doomscroll on, I love it. It was easy to switch everything from my iPhone to my new Galaxy with the Smart Switch app, and after popping in my SIM card (so glad I have the last iPhone with a physical SIM tray), I was ready to go. I, personally, am not a huge fan of Google Messages. When you pin conversations, it pins it in the normal area where your other text messages go instead of all the way up at the top where all the unused space is. How big the text is, and the space between texts on different dates and between texts in general is more wasted space, and I can’t see as many texts on my screen as I can with my iPhone. I was also kicked from multiple group chats after turning everyone’s bubbles green, although if you live outside of the U.S. where more people have Androids, this shouldn’t be so much of a problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overall, from my personal experience, this is a very premium-feeling phone for a non-premium price, and it honestly feels more expensive than my iPhone 13. It has a flagship build, flagship performance, a flagship display with very thin bezels, and flagship software and AI features. This phone is spectacular value for the price of $200, and I highly recommend picking it up. I’m also going to add a comment section in case the rare visitor to this site has a suggestion for what phone I should review next.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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