The Samsung S23 Ultra: A Review and Comparison to its Predecessors

As I dive into this year's flagship device, I must say that I'm excited to see how it stacks up against its predecessors. The camera system on the S23 Ultra has been significantly improved, with a new stabilization system that can hold its own even in 8K resolution. This is a huge win for Samsung, and I believe it will be a game-changer for many photographers and videographers.

One area where I've always felt that Samsung could improve is in the selfie camera. While the photos themselves have been great, I've had some issues with color discrepancies. However, I'm excited to see if these issues can be improved. The S23 Ultra's camera system seems to be able to capture more accurate colors at a distance, which is a significant improvement over its predecessors.

Low-light photography has also seen significant improvements, and the speed of the camera can now be adjusted on the fly. This means that users can choose between faster shutter speeds or quality, depending on their needs. I'm looking forward to seeing how this feature plays out in practice.

One tool that will likely play a big role in optimizing the S23 Ultra's camera system is Good Lock. For those who may not be familiar, Good Lock is a free app developed by Samsung itself, which offers a range of tweaks and features for Android devices. One of its modules is called Camera Assistant, which allows users to optimize their camera settings for faster shutter speeds. However, this can potentially come at the cost of image quality, so it's up to the user to weigh their options.

As someone who's always been enthusiastic about tweaking their Android experience, I appreciate the depth and control that Good Lock offers. It's one of the reasons why I've stuck with Samsung devices for years – they consistently push the boundaries of what's possible on a mobile device. And now, it seems like they're taking things to the next level with the S23 Ultra.

In terms of software, I'm excited to see how the S23 Ultra will fare compared to its predecessors. The interface has always been intuitive and user-friendly, but there are times when I feel like there's just a bit more to explore. Samsung has been doing an excellent job of refining their experience over the years, and I have no doubt that this will continue with the S23 Ultra.

One thing that sets the S23 Ultra apart from its competitors is its sheer power and capabilities. With the ability to record 8K video and take stunning low-light photos, it's clear that Samsung has been pushing the limits of what's possible on a mobile device. And yet, despite all these impressive features, I still feel like there's room for improvement.

That's why I'm excited about this year's flagship device – not just because it promises to deliver on its predecessors' successes, but also because it represents a chance to take the experience to new heights. The S23 Ultra is going to be covered extensively in an upcoming unboxing live video, as well as an initial impressions piece and a full review.

For those who have been loyal to Samsung throughout their journey with devices like the S21 Ultra, I'm excited to see how they'll fare on this new model. And for newcomers to the brand, I encourage you to give it a try – Samsung has consistently proven itself to be one of the leaders in terms of innovation and user experience.

As I prepare to dive into the world of the S23 Ultra, I want to make it clear that my approach will be different from what we've seen elsewhere. In this article, I'll be sharing my unboxing experience live on YouTube, complete with photo comparisons and video analysis. My goal is to provide a comprehensive look at this device, one that's not just about showcasing its features but also about exploring its capabilities in the real world.

I'm also eager to hear from our audience – whether you're upgrading from an S22 Ultra or joining us for the first time, I want to hear your thoughts and experiences with the S23 Ultra. We'll be hosting a live stream soon, where we'll be taking questions and engaging in a discussion about this device.

Until then, I'm excited to see how the S23 Ultra will shape up as one of the most powerful and capable smartphones on the market. With Samsung's track record of innovation and excellence, I have no doubt that it will be a game-changer for many users.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enI was just uh chilling out here on the 24 7 live stream in the locker room YouTube channel live.parillo.com is uh where you can watch 24 7. I may or may not be here but even if I'm not other people maybe doing things geeky things like playing video games or working on the desktop you can join us if you want uh if you're you know into hanging out with other Geeks online maybe you're not maybe you don't like geeky nerdy things so I was having discussions about my my home networking changes getting gigabit Ethernet and Eric jumps in he just became a a member of the YouTube channel and thank you for that Eric but before then he was saying uh or asking a question whether or not I was pumped to use his word for the s23 ultra and I started to explain and realize I should record this if only because other people might be interested in these thoughts um I have been in Samsung's camp since the S21 Ultra and I moved from the pixel 4 XL to the S21 Ultra because the 4XL just died the battery just gave up and I wasn't very happy with what Google was doing specifically with the pixel 5 at the time I felt it was more of a downgrade if not a side grade so I was like well okay what am I going to do um and I'm very happy I moved to Samsung's uh ecosystem if you will because it very much is because I wasn't very happy with what Google did with its UI changes in in around the pixel 6 and certainly have rolled forward with Android um I was much happier with what Samsung had done with one UI specifically with the S21 Ultra and if you're basing your idea of Samsung on an experience that predates one UI pre s22 Ultra let's say you're missing out big time uh and it's not just about one component it's about everything working together it's as far as I'm concerned Best in Class mobile experience and and it's hard to compare Apple's to non-apples uh but I'm gonna do it anyway I have not been happy with iOS and I'm using an iPhone right now it's this is this is an iPhone that is connected by way of continuity camera to my Mac desktop uh so I'm using the iPhone but I'm not looking at the screen I'm I'm not wanting to interact with it other than like moving my head so I'll use it for for its strengths video um which we'll come back to that so am I jazzed for the s23 I was I was reluctant initially with the S21 was happy enough that I I upgraded the s22 ultra great upgrade program for that uh and the s22 Ultra has been a champ uh I have uh little to no complaints about what this experience has been uh you know stem to stern uh uh you know there are times that certainly I do run into issues uh there are certain problems that I think are potentially needing to be patched by Samsung but in terms of a day-to-day experience whether I'm taking pictures using social media uploading downloading transcoding whatever it's no slouch it's been powerful enough that it's not that I'm not looking forward to the s23 Ultra upgrade which yes I've pre-ordered Phantom black it should get here as soon as possible and I'll be unboxing it live in this YouTube channel certainly if someone else I'm gonna make an invitation if somebody else gets theirs before I get mine you're welcome to join the live stream and unbox it together and I'll have to live vicariously unbox it here in the live stream in this channel why not whatever even if it's not a Samsung it's a new device that everyone's talking about that might be something we'll be able to experiment with with the locker room YouTube channel here um so it's not that I'm not looking forward to it because I am it's just that I'm also not really feeling the pinch being on an s22 Ultra so what what I'm saying is when the s23 comes in I know there will be differences so it's it's taking it it will effectively be taking what I feel is already a pretty solid experience uh really good um I'm not going to give it a grade or a letter you know saying oh it's this or it's that but the experience itself has not caused me to really start looking beyond what Samsung has to offer I don't have unlimited budget I don't get review units or at least not that often so I don't have the pleasure of using a variety of devices like most I have to figure out where the device works in the in my ecosystem in my my home my ecosystem my ecosystem um so when the s23 comes in I'm jazzed because I know the upgrades are going to be uh theoretically noticeable it might say theoretically is because when they write on on paper Okay this this spec has changed this spec has changed this spec has changed there are a few that I believe are going to make an impact a small impact but a large impact nonetheless so I'm happy it's going to take my happiness with the s22 ultra and kick it up a notch so that's exciting uh I'm not so disappointed I'm not ready to LEAP away I could use this indefinitely and still be satisfied so then why upgrade you might ask well number one this is a it's a primary device I use it all it's like one of my main computers this right here this is a computer it is absolutely a PC it's very personal it's always on me I use it everywhere for darn near everything you can possibly think of not everything in an exact replacement of what a desktop or a laptop might be able to take care of uh but certainly for for work a day stuff ufs 4.0 um so there's been an upgrade from I believe 3.1 as as uh for file storage uh to a 4.0 at least on most of the devices in the new Samsung range or the device that I I picked up I'm getting a 512 gig that I got it was a free bump from a 256 um a gig unit and that has ufs 4.0 as well so doubling the sequential write and read speeds that is important not just for you know launch time uh not just for getting zipping in and around you know going from one app to another but certainly helping battery life as well being more efficient uh battery life was not really something that that crunched for me and typically always around a cord or a cable I'm able to get through the average day and still have plenty to spare as far as battery life goes so that wasn't as interesting to me uh the screen really isn't changing all that much if at all apart from I'm not a fan of the the curved edges and so the fact that they flattened them out uh by like 30 percent I feel is going to be palpable I feel like that is that is something that that that I will appreciate not being a curved Edge kind of guy um the speed the the bump in speed should also be noticeable remember I'm the kind of guy who notices when a frame drops or or a jittery scroll the s22 ultra for the most part has been one of the more smoother experiences I've had not the old it's not the perfect smooth-ish-esque experience out there they're definitely snags but if they can take what is good and make it better who am I to argue so I know a faster processor is going to help faster GPU is going to help faster storage is going to help uh and it's going to add up because it's it's it's it's it's it's those small things that ultimately matter so where most people will complain and say ah it's just incremental everything is incremental like if you don't want to live incrementally don't upgrade every year upgrade every three four five years I couldn't do it I couldn't do it they just wouldn't it's not I'm it's not that's a cycle that's not interesting for me if only because even though Samsung didn't really have a compelling upgrade this year in terms of the trade-in value a lot of people have been complaining about that I'm like well I feel I got that much worth out of the device what I paid for and what it's worth now compared to the upgrade that I'm getting I feel I can get that much value out of those devices over the course of a year so none of that you know or what might concern other people hasn't been a concern to me what other people might be looking forward to may be different because of the things that I'm looking forward to then of course there's the camera bump the video uh experience and I've I've seen a couple demonstrations at a distance and people have said that the iPhone is all about the video you get the iPhone for the video yes for sure but in the demos I've seen with the Samsung camera especially with their new stabilization system from 8K on down it can hold its own Big Time perfect no amazing no would I have wanted more for the selfie cam for sure uh a downgrade I don't know uh but I've always felt that they didn't take the selfie cam far enough so as long as the photos themselves are better and the videos themselves are better that's a huge win I am looking forward to seeing if if the the color discrepancies that I've had with the photos that I've taken not that they've been horrible but if they can be improved awesome and it seems at a distance they will be improved low light being improved speed you know being improved the discussion of shutter lag could that be improved you can actually toggle that if you prefer shutter lag or you know or or I should say shutter speed over quality that's something you can toggle in a good lock module let me go ahead and let's just let's run stop here if you're not familiar with good luck it's a free app that I do believe is released by Samsung themselves although unofficially it's like a tweak UI if you remember that from the windows days a tweak UI for a Samsung the Samsung devices and so you can install these modules and one of them is camera assistant and in camera assistant you can you can absolutely optimize for a faster shutter speed but that could potentially depending on your your what's going on that could potentially diminish the quality of the photo so there's always going to be a trade-off but they at least give you that option so if you're not familiar with good lock you should be um and if you if you always wanted to have the way to tweak your your Android device then if you're not on a Samsung you should be because that that the good lock modules are they go far above the expectations of of an Android experience and allow you to better control that experience for you a good lock is critical for me because that's how I tweak so many things including the the launcher uh you know I've got my I've got a flow I've got a way that I enjoy using things and Samsung has been since the S21 Ultra experience has been absolutely fantastic um are fantastic enough that I haven't gone looking elsewhere uh I'm still in play but I'm very much looking forward to the s23 ultra I'll be covering in the unboxing live here on YouTube uh the initial Impressions uh certainly uh photo comparisons absolutely um and then of course an ultimate review of the s23 ultra coming from this perspective and again I want to do it live I want to do it where people are playing video games or doing various things because I feel that just no one else is doing this look at every other person that's doing videos and talking about this stuff nobody else is doing it like this I want to do it like this and I want to do it with you so feel free to join you can join in chat live of course naturally or you can join as a participant because it's always going to be different depending on where you look during the course of recording we actually got a super chat from VT only I'm upgrading s23 Ultra for my s22 ultra is my current plan is worth 140 down to 117 150 early upgrade fee so it's a cost differential as far as VT is concerned so that's a big savings if that's the only reason why if I'm reading that right the reason that you're upgrading it's a good reason to upgrade uh you wouldn't want to spend more than you could get out of that device it's a big reason thank you by the way for the uh the Super Chat I really do appreciate it um I I think that's really you know to answer the question uh that you you post there Eric I am looking forward to it those are the reasons I am looking forward to it uh taking something that I've liked and make it even better I'm all in not everybody thinks the same way um I wouldn't say I'm a Samsung fan anymore then I'm a I'm an anything fan I'm a fan of good experiences and Samsung as far as as I've experienced uh has has has has has raised the bar that unfortunately not enough people have seen seriously because they're they're basing their uh ideas of what it is on Old experiences and that's not I don't think that's fair you got to experience it you got to dive in you got to go directly in you know and use it yourself if you have an opportunity uh but I'm in I'm excited I'm I'm I'm chomping it a bit I want it yesterday uh but uh I I'm also aware that I I'm not sure how well those improvements are are going to be seen or how quickly they're going to melt away because this is already a really good experience so thank you for uh asking the questionI was just uh chilling out here on the 24 7 live stream in the locker room YouTube channel live.parillo.com is uh where you can watch 24 7. I may or may not be here but even if I'm not other people maybe doing things geeky things like playing video games or working on the desktop you can join us if you want uh if you're you know into hanging out with other Geeks online maybe you're not maybe you don't like geeky nerdy things so I was having discussions about my my home networking changes getting gigabit Ethernet and Eric jumps in he just became a a member of the YouTube channel and thank you for that Eric but before then he was saying uh or asking a question whether or not I was pumped to use his word for the s23 ultra and I started to explain and realize I should record this if only because other people might be interested in these thoughts um I have been in Samsung's camp since the S21 Ultra and I moved from the pixel 4 XL to the S21 Ultra because the 4XL just died the battery just gave up and I wasn't very happy with what Google was doing specifically with the pixel 5 at the time I felt it was more of a downgrade if not a side grade so I was like well okay what am I going to do um and I'm very happy I moved to Samsung's uh ecosystem if you will because it very much is because I wasn't very happy with what Google did with its UI changes in in around the pixel 6 and certainly have rolled forward with Android um I was much happier with what Samsung had done with one UI specifically with the S21 Ultra and if you're basing your idea of Samsung on an experience that predates one UI pre s22 Ultra let's say you're missing out big time uh and it's not just about one component it's about everything working together it's as far as I'm concerned Best in Class mobile experience and and it's hard to compare Apple's to non-apples uh but I'm gonna do it anyway I have not been happy with iOS and I'm using an iPhone right now it's this is this is an iPhone that is connected by way of continuity camera to my Mac desktop uh so I'm using the iPhone but I'm not looking at the screen I'm I'm not wanting to interact with it other than like moving my head so I'll use it for for its strengths video um which we'll come back to that so am I jazzed for the s23 I was I was reluctant initially with the S21 was happy enough that I I upgraded the s22 ultra great upgrade program for that uh and the s22 Ultra has been a champ uh I have uh little to no complaints about what this experience has been uh you know stem to stern uh uh you know there are times that certainly I do run into issues uh there are certain problems that I think are potentially needing to be patched by Samsung but in terms of a day-to-day experience whether I'm taking pictures using social media uploading downloading transcoding whatever it's no slouch it's been powerful enough that it's not that I'm not looking forward to the s23 Ultra upgrade which yes I've pre-ordered Phantom black it should get here as soon as possible and I'll be unboxing it live in this YouTube channel certainly if someone else I'm gonna make an invitation if somebody else gets theirs before I get mine you're welcome to join the live stream and unbox it together and I'll have to live vicariously unbox it here in the live stream in this channel why not whatever even if it's not a Samsung it's a new device that everyone's talking about that might be something we'll be able to experiment with with the locker room YouTube channel here um so it's not that I'm not looking forward to it because I am it's just that I'm also not really feeling the pinch being on an s22 Ultra so what what I'm saying is when the s23 comes in I know there will be differences so it's it's taking it it will effectively be taking what I feel is already a pretty solid experience uh really good um I'm not going to give it a grade or a letter you know saying oh it's this or it's that but the experience itself has not caused me to really start looking beyond what Samsung has to offer I don't have unlimited budget I don't get review units or at least not that often so I don't have the pleasure of using a variety of devices like most I have to figure out where the device works in the in my ecosystem in my my home my ecosystem my ecosystem um so when the s23 comes in I'm jazzed because I know the upgrades are going to be uh theoretically noticeable it might say theoretically is because when they write on on paper Okay this this spec has changed this spec has changed this spec has changed there are a few that I believe are going to make an impact a small impact but a large impact nonetheless so I'm happy it's going to take my happiness with the s22 ultra and kick it up a notch so that's exciting uh I'm not so disappointed I'm not ready to LEAP away I could use this indefinitely and still be satisfied so then why upgrade you might ask well number one this is a it's a primary device I use it all it's like one of my main computers this right here this is a computer it is absolutely a PC it's very personal it's always on me I use it everywhere for darn near everything you can possibly think of not everything in an exact replacement of what a desktop or a laptop might be able to take care of uh but certainly for for work a day stuff ufs 4.0 um so there's been an upgrade from I believe 3.1 as as uh for file storage uh to a 4.0 at least on most of the devices in the new Samsung range or the device that I I picked up I'm getting a 512 gig that I got it was a free bump from a 256 um a gig unit and that has ufs 4.0 as well so doubling the sequential write and read speeds that is important not just for you know launch time uh not just for getting zipping in and around you know going from one app to another but certainly helping battery life as well being more efficient uh battery life was not really something that that crunched for me and typically always around a cord or a cable I'm able to get through the average day and still have plenty to spare as far as battery life goes so that wasn't as interesting to me uh the screen really isn't changing all that much if at all apart from I'm not a fan of the the curved edges and so the fact that they flattened them out uh by like 30 percent I feel is going to be palpable I feel like that is that is something that that that I will appreciate not being a curved Edge kind of guy um the speed the the bump in speed should also be noticeable remember I'm the kind of guy who notices when a frame drops or or a jittery scroll the s22 ultra for the most part has been one of the more smoother experiences I've had not the old it's not the perfect smooth-ish-esque experience out there they're definitely snags but if they can take what is good and make it better who am I to argue so I know a faster processor is going to help faster GPU is going to help faster storage is going to help uh and it's going to add up because it's it's it's it's it's it's those small things that ultimately matter so where most people will complain and say ah it's just incremental everything is incremental like if you don't want to live incrementally don't upgrade every year upgrade every three four five years I couldn't do it I couldn't do it they just wouldn't it's not I'm it's not that's a cycle that's not interesting for me if only because even though Samsung didn't really have a compelling upgrade this year in terms of the trade-in value a lot of people have been complaining about that I'm like well I feel I got that much worth out of the device what I paid for and what it's worth now compared to the upgrade that I'm getting I feel I can get that much value out of those devices over the course of a year so none of that you know or what might concern other people hasn't been a concern to me what other people might be looking forward to may be different because of the things that I'm looking forward to then of course there's the camera bump the video uh experience and I've I've seen a couple demonstrations at a distance and people have said that the iPhone is all about the video you get the iPhone for the video yes for sure but in the demos I've seen with the Samsung camera especially with their new stabilization system from 8K on down it can hold its own Big Time perfect no amazing no would I have wanted more for the selfie cam for sure uh a downgrade I don't know uh but I've always felt that they didn't take the selfie cam far enough so as long as the photos themselves are better and the videos themselves are better that's a huge win I am looking forward to seeing if if the the color discrepancies that I've had with the photos that I've taken not that they've been horrible but if they can be improved awesome and it seems at a distance they will be improved low light being improved speed you know being improved the discussion of shutter lag could that be improved you can actually toggle that if you prefer shutter lag or you know or or I should say shutter speed over quality that's something you can toggle in a good lock module let me go ahead and let's just let's run stop here if you're not familiar with good luck it's a free app that I do believe is released by Samsung themselves although unofficially it's like a tweak UI if you remember that from the windows days a tweak UI for a Samsung the Samsung devices and so you can install these modules and one of them is camera assistant and in camera assistant you can you can absolutely optimize for a faster shutter speed but that could potentially depending on your your what's going on that could potentially diminish the quality of the photo so there's always going to be a trade-off but they at least give you that option so if you're not familiar with good lock you should be um and if you if you always wanted to have the way to tweak your your Android device then if you're not on a Samsung you should be because that that the good lock modules are they go far above the expectations of of an Android experience and allow you to better control that experience for you a good lock is critical for me because that's how I tweak so many things including the the launcher uh you know I've got my I've got a flow I've got a way that I enjoy using things and Samsung has been since the S21 Ultra experience has been absolutely fantastic um are fantastic enough that I haven't gone looking elsewhere uh I'm still in play but I'm very much looking forward to the s23 ultra I'll be covering in the unboxing live here on YouTube uh the initial Impressions uh certainly uh photo comparisons absolutely um and then of course an ultimate review of the s23 ultra coming from this perspective and again I want to do it live I want to do it where people are playing video games or doing various things because I feel that just no one else is doing this look at every other person that's doing videos and talking about this stuff nobody else is doing it like this I want to do it like this and I want to do it with you so feel free to join you can join in chat live of course naturally or you can join as a participant because it's always going to be different depending on where you look during the course of recording we actually got a super chat from VT only I'm upgrading s23 Ultra for my s22 ultra is my current plan is worth 140 down to 117 150 early upgrade fee so it's a cost differential as far as VT is concerned so that's a big savings if that's the only reason why if I'm reading that right the reason that you're upgrading it's a good reason to upgrade uh you wouldn't want to spend more than you could get out of that device it's a big reason thank you by the way for the uh the Super Chat I really do appreciate it um I I think that's really you know to answer the question uh that you you post there Eric I am looking forward to it those are the reasons I am looking forward to it uh taking something that I've liked and make it even better I'm all in not everybody thinks the same way um I wouldn't say I'm a Samsung fan anymore then I'm a I'm an anything fan I'm a fan of good experiences and Samsung as far as as I've experienced uh has has has has has raised the bar that unfortunately not enough people have seen seriously because they're they're basing their uh ideas of what it is on Old experiences and that's not I don't think that's fair you got to experience it you got to dive in you got to go directly in you know and use it yourself if you have an opportunity uh but I'm in I'm excited I'm I'm I'm chomping it a bit I want it yesterday uh but uh I I'm also aware that I I'm not sure how well those improvements are are going to be seen or how quickly they're going to melt away because this is already a really good experience so thank you for uh asking the question\n"