Skip to main content

Samsung Galaxy F23 5G First Impressions: More Powerful and 5G-Ready

 

Samsung seems to be attempting to make amends for its poorly executed Galaxy F22 (Review) smartphone from last year with the launch of the Galaxy F23 5G. This new model has a higher starting price, but one glance at the spec sheet and you'll notice some big updates. The Galaxy F23 5G is all set to go on sale in India on March 16 and since we've only just received our unit, we thought we'd give you a peek at what you can expect.

The Samsung Galaxy F23 5G is priced starting at Rs. 17,499 for the variant with 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, which is the one I have. For Rs. 1,000 more, you can get 8GB RAM and the same amount of storage. The good news is that the internal storage is expandable thanks to the dedicated microSD slot.



Samsung sent me a unit in the Forest Green colour, and the Galaxy F23 5G is also available in Aqua Blue. The plastic back panel has a matte finish, which does an okay job of masking fingerprints. The deep green shade is only visible at certain angles under light and it looks almost black at other angles. I have to say, it looks quite nice and almost makes up for the dated design of the front.

The Galaxy F23 5G is a chunky phone, since it packs a 5,000mAh battery. It does support fast charging (up to 25W), but a charger isn't included in the box. Just like Samsung's flagships, the packaging of its budget phones has now started becoming lighter. The box only has the a USB Type-C to Type-C cable and a SIM eject tool.

The Samsung Galaxy F23 5G has a minor camera bump on the back and has the usual ports and buttons, including a headphone jack. The fingerprint sensor is integrated into the power button. In my brief time with this phone, I've found the Galaxy F23 5G comfortable to hold thanks to the rounded sides of the frame.

Design-wise, the Galaxy F23 definitely looks like a budget smartphone with its thick display bezels and gaping chin. In fact, it's not too different from its predecessor, but the changes are noticeable once you begin using it. The display now has a full-HD+ resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate, which are both better than what the Galaxy F22 offered, but this has come at the cost of losing the AMOLED panel. The LCD screen on the Galaxy F23 5G is alright, but lacks the vibrancy of Samsung's Super AMOLED displays.

The next big upgrade is the SoC. The Samsung Galaxy F23 5G uses the Qualcomm Snapdragon 750G SoC, which is not particularly new, but is plenty powerful and we've so far seen it in higher-priced phones such as the OnePlus Nord CE 5G (Review) and Xiaomi Mi 10i (Review). I'm expecting gaming performance to be relatively good – this was one of our main complaints with the Galaxy F22.

Samsung has also upgraded the main rear camera in the Galaxy F23 5G with a 50-megapixel sensor. I'm hoping to see better results than what the Galaxy F22 managed, as its low-light performance was very disappointing. The Galaxy F23 5G also has an 8-megapixel ultra-wide and a 2-megapixel macro camera on the back. Selfies are handled by an 8-megapixel front camera.

Samsung has been on the top of its game when it comes to the software of its recent launches, and it's nice to see the same level of attention paid to budget offerings too. The Galaxy F23 5G runs OneUI 4.1 based on Android 12, and Samsung has promised two years of OS upgrades and four years of security updates, which is really good.

The pricing of the Samsung Galaxy F23 5G puts it in close quarters with the Redmi Note 11 Pro and the Realme 9 5G Speed Edition. The Galaxy F23 5G is at a slight disadvantage since the others offer better bundled accessories, including fast chargers. Can the Galaxy F23 5G deliver a good enough user experience to make it worth considering? We will be testing the performance, cameras and battery life of the Galaxy F23 5G over the next couple of days, so don't miss our full review coming soon.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

OnePlus Ace Allegedly Facing Heating Issues, Company Says It's Normal: Report

OnePlus says the temperature will not affect the normal use of the handset. OnePlus Ace, which was launched in India as OnePlus 10R 5G, is facing overheating issues, as per a report. A customer of the OnePlus Ace reportedly claimed on Weibo that his handset became very hot after an hour of gaming. This became a trending topic of discussion on the Chinese microblogging website forcing OnePlus to chime in and clarify that it is normal for a phone to heat up after playing games on it for longer hours. The company said it will not affect the normal use of the phone. Other users also chimed in with similar issues. Sina Technology cited various users who complained that their OnePlus Ace smartphones “became very hot on the first day of use” (translated). One of the users claimed that their device's battery temperature reached 43.7 degrees Celsius, and the CPU was at 46.5 degrees Celsius when they played Genshin Impact on it for an hour. Reportedly, some users also provided...
Post a Comment
Read more

OnePlus Nord Watch Renders, Specifications Surface Online; Tipped to Come With SpO2 Tracking

OnePlus Nord Watch is said to feature heart rate monitor. OnePlus Nord Watch is confirmed to launch in India soon. Ahead of the official announcement, renders of the upcoming wearable have surfaced online, along with its specifications. The renders suggest the design and indicate Blue and Black colour options for the OnePlus Nord Watch. The renders also show a rectangular dial with a side-mounted button for navigation. The OnePlus Nord Watch is confirmed to feature a 1.78-inch AMOLED display with 500 nits of peak brightness and a 368x448 pixels resolution. Known tipster Ishan Agarwal (@ishanagarwal24), in association with 91Mobiles, has leaked the alleged renders and specifications of the OnePlus Nord Watch. As mentioned, the renders show the smartwatch in Black and Blue shades. The renders suggest a rectangular display with a black shade for the wearable. It is shown with a side-mounted button for navigation through the UI. The renders also suggest some features including hea...
Post a Comment
Read more

Redmi Note 11S First Impressions: When Specs Trump Design

  Xiaomi's smartphone portfolio is a bit confusing at the moment, as the company continues to launch new phones at a rapid pace. The latest additions include the Redmi Note 11 and the Redmi Note 11S which  fill out a new Redmi 11 generation. We don't yet have new Pro or Pro Max models in this new series to replace the wildly popular Redmi Note 10 Pro (Review) at its price level, but the new Redmi Note 11S, which we'll be looking at today, could offer what you're looking for but at a lower price. The Redmi Note 11S is a 4G-only smartphone and its crowning feature is its 108-megapixel main camera. It's worth noting that Xiaomi has managed to offer this at a very aggressive starting price of just Rs. 16,499. The rest of the Redmi Note 11S's features are also in line with what one would expect from a phone in this segment in 2022. While there's still a lot of testing to be done before our full review is ready, here's a quick first look ...
Post a Comment
Read more