professionals and cons

Execs

• Snappy efficiency
• Lengthy battery life
• Nice digital camera

Cons

• Some photographs are oversaturated
• The selfie cam’s smoothing is just too aggressive at occasions
• Samsung’s software program will be overbearing

extra shopping for decisions

Samsung’s S23 lineup spans a variety of costs and capabilities. The usual $799 Galaxy S23, for example, is probably the most inexpensive and boasts the smallest show of the lot. The S23 Extremely is on the other finish of the spectrum, carrying a $1,200 price ticket, a large digital camera improve, and the biggest show Samsung gives in a conventional smartphone. 

Then there’s the $999 Galaxy S23 Plus. The telephone that, it seems, Samsung has gotten good. It is priced slightly below $1,000, with a show that is sufficiently big for work or play, a digital camera setup that is positive to get your photographs some consideration, and efficiency that matches the S23 Extremely.

A minimum of, that is what it seems like on paper. I’ve spent the final couple of weeks testing the S23 Plus, placing it by its paces to see if that is the Galaxy S23 mannequin that most individuals ought to get. And, effectively, you are going to should maintain studying to seek out the reply. 

A basic however refined design

At first look, the Galaxy S23 Plus seems loads like final yr’s Galaxy S22. The entrance of the telephone has a 6.6-inch show with a hole-punch selfie digital camera centered alongside the highest of the show. 

Additionally: 3 hidden Samsung Galaxy digital camera options you need to be utilizing

The one bodily buttons you will discover on the S23 Plus  — the facility button and quantity up and down keys — are on the fitting aspect of the armor aluminum physique. There is a USB-C port on the underside of the telephone, subsequent to the bodily SIM card tray. Samsung hasn’t adopted Apple in ditching bodily SIM playing cards, however the Galaxy S23 Plus does help twin SIM playing cards, certainly one of which will be an eSIM. 

It is not till you flip the S23 Plus over that you simply see the largest distinction in design between final yr’s S22 Plus and the S23 Plus: the digital camera array. There are nonetheless distinct digital camera lenses on the S23 Plus, however as an alternative of being in an space that extends out from the telephone’s physique and homes the digital camera lenses, the cameras are vertically stacked on the left-hand aspect. 

Additionally: Samsung Galaxy S23, Plus, and Extremely: Which mannequin has what you need?

It is a a lot cleaner design, and one I a lot choose over the S22 Plus’ format. It additionally considerably standardizes the design language between all three Galaxy S23 fashions, with the one actual visible distinction between the S23 Extremely and each S23 fashions being the Extremely’s two additional lenses. 

The S23 Plus is available in a slew of colours, but when you find yourself deciding the S23 Plus is your subsequent smartphone, be conscious of the place you purchase it. The usual shade lineup you will discover at Samsung’s retail companions gives Phantom Black, Inexperienced, Lavender, and Cream. 

Nevertheless, when you purchase the Plus instantly from Samsung, there are two extra shade decisions. There is a close-to-black Graphite possibility, and a Lime shade possibility. All of them look nice. I have been utilizing the Lavender mannequin, and it is a very mild purple that I would haven’t any drawback utilizing every day if it was my private telephone. 

Additionally: 5 hidden options on the brand new Samsung Galaxy S23 and S23 Extremely

Having simply reviewed the S23 Extremely, which is objectively a large telephone, I discovered the S23 Plus a lot simpler to carry and handle. It is snug to grip, and I had no hassle reaching the highest and backside of the display when utilizing it with one hand. 

Extremely efficiency 

Your complete Galaxy S23 lineup makes use of the identical processor, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy. That final half — the “for Galaxy” — is essential. 

It comes from a partnership between the tech giants to optimize Qualcomm’s newest chip for Samsung’s telephones. 

Successfully, it is an overclocked model of the usual Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor, giving Samsung entry to its max 3.36GHz processing pace. 

Additionally: New Galaxy S23 characteristic creates an AI model of your voice to answer calls

The result’s a trio of smartphones which are wicked-fast and responsive and may deal with excessive workloads, hiccup-free. 

The S23 Plus has a single reminiscence possibility of 8GB, and your selection of 256GB or 512GB storage. I am right here for 256GB of storage as the brand new place to begin for telephones. 

I ran a fast benchmark take a look at utilizing Geekbench 6, which simulates frequent duties and workloads, on the S23 Plus to get a normal concept of its efficiency. The S23 Plus’ common single-core rating common was 1,961, and its common multi-core rating was 5,207, virtually matching the S23 Extremely’s scores in the identical take a look at. 

The iPhone 14 Professional Max with Apple’s A16 Bionic processor outperforms the S23 Plus on the Geekbench 6 checks, scoring 2,527 and 6,290 respectively. 

Do not get too wrapped up in these numbers, although. Despite the fact that the iPhone 14 Professional Max scores increased, benchmarks solely inform a small portion of the story. Actual-world expertise is what actually issues, and the S23 Plus feels simply as quick and high-performing because the iPhone 14 Professional Max in day by day use. 

Additionally: Methods to use the Galaxy S23’s new magical Photoshop-like trick

For me, day by day use contains spending a whole lot of time scrolling Reddit, Megalodon (a Mastodon shopper), Slack messages, BlueBubbles, and FeedMe RSS, streaming Apple Music, watching random YouTube movies, and sometimes finishing a race or six in Asphalt 9. 

All through all of that, and different random duties like capturing a fast selfie, checking the climate, or utilizing the brand new Object Reduce Out Device within the Gallery app, I can not recall a single occasion of sluggish efficiency. The S23 Plus dealt with all of it with ease. 

Additionally, watching movies or gaming and the show on the S23 Plus are an ideal match. The show is evident and vivid, and has the correct quantity of saturation. Its peak brightness of 1,750 nits makes it viewable in almost any setting, together with direct daylight.

Consistency is essential to a stable digital camera

The Galaxy S23 Plus has a lone 12-megapixel front-facing selfie digital camera and three rear-facing cameras: a 50-megapixel primary digital camera, a 12-megapixel ultrawide digital camera, and a 10-megapixel telephoto digital camera with 3x optical zoom. 

The three cameras, on paper, do not seem to carry their very own in contrast with the S23 Extremely’s 5 cameras that span from 200 megapixels (you learn that proper) to 2 totally different 10-megapixel telephoto lenses, with 3x and 10x zoom capabilities respectively.

I did not discover any perceivable shutter lag when snapping photographs, each of nonetheless objects and shifting objects, not like my colleague June Wan’s expertise with the S23 Extremely. 

On the subject of on a regular basis photographs, the S23 Plus nails it in conventional Samsung vogue. What I imply by that’s that Samsung is understood for upping the saturation ranges of its photographs, giving it a pop of shade many choose. 

Each in common lighting settings and in low-light environments, the S23 Plus’ photographs are vibrant and have a sharpness to them that simply seems good. 

The front-facing digital camera took clean, and typically too clean, selfie photographs. That is lengthy been a grievance of mine about Samsung’s selfie cams — they’re far too aggressive making an attempt to clean out my pores and skin and it ends in an virtually fake-looking picture. 

Additionally: S23 Extremely vs S22 Extremely: Is that this yr’s flagship definitely worth the improve?

It is pure to have some megapixel envy when evaluating the S23 Plus and the S23 Extremely and really feel tempted to spend more cash on the Extremely only for its digital camera setup, however having used each telephones, I can say that whereas the Extremely’s digital camera is spectacular, the Plus is not any slouch, and I would wager most individuals might be simply as pleased with it.

All-day battery life

One other small tweak Samsung made to the S23 Plus over final yr’s mannequin was to spice up the battery dimension from 4,500mAh to 4,700mAh. It is a minor distinction, however relating to battery life for our pocket computer systems, each bit counts. I’ve but to expire of battery life throughout a single day of use, be it at dwelling on Wi-Fi all day lengthy, or whereas on the highway and bouncing between mobile and Wi-Fi connections. 

Evaluation: Galaxy S23 Extremely: Finest smartphone of the yr (thus far)

I used the hotspot characteristic on the S23 Plus a handful of occasions throughout my testing. On one event, I used it for precisely 60 minutes to see how a lot battery it could use. With round 6GB of visitors (I downloaded a 5.4GB iPadOS replace), the S23 Plus went from a full cost to 90%. That is the primary time I’ve tracked hotspot use on this manner, and it isn’t a tell-all metric, but it surely’s a knowledge level that is value mentioning. 

I additionally performed a 4K video on loop and monitored how lengthy it took for the telephone to go from a full cost to powering off: The S23 Plus powered by 20 hours and 45 minutes of fixed video playback, whereas the S23 Extremely lasted 15 hours and 36 minutes working the identical take a look at. I am going to admit, I used to be puzzled. The S23 Extremely has a bigger show, but in addition a bigger battery, and I did not anticipate the S23 Plus lasting that for much longer. Once more, real-world expertise is what issues most.

Backside line

I completely liked utilizing the S23 Extremely. It has the whole lot you would need in a telephone, after which some. However, I’ve to confess — there is a large a part of me that wishes the options and capabilities of the S23 Extremely, within the physique of S23 Plus. 

That stated, I feel Samsung completely nailed the S23 Plus’ stability of efficiency, options, and worth. The unlucky reality is that $999 flagship telephones are right here to remain. However at the very least so far as the S23 Plus is anxious, you are getting your cash’s value.

Options to think about 

The S23 Extremely is one of the best Samsung has to supply. 

Apple’s iPhone 14 Professional is similar worth because the S23 Plus and delivers basically the identical expertise, however with iOS as an alternative of Android. 

Google’s flagship telephone, the Pixel 7 Professional, is on par with the Galaxy S23 Plus, however for $100 much less.