You can now use edit your WhatsApp message for up to 15 minutes!
You Can Now Edit Your WhatsApp Messages!
On Monday, May 22, 2023, Mark Zuckerberg announced that you will now be able to edit your WhatsApp messages up to 15 minutes after they’re sent!
This is, arguably, one of the most requested features to be added to WhatsApp, since many of us suffer from “fat fingers syndrome”, while others are forced to suffer through our typos!
Before this feature was introduced, the only way to “fix” a typo, was to post the corrected message, and delete the previous message with the typo(s). The only problem is you end up with a ton of “message deleted” remnants.
Here is how you can edit your WhatsApp messages:
Long-press on a sent message, and a menu will drop down.
Select the Edit option from the drop-down menu.
After editing your message, simply press Enter to save the edit.
Do note that the edited message will display “Edited” next to it, so your recipients know that it has been edited.
Also, this Edit option is limited to 15 minutes after you send a WhatsApp message. You cannot edit a message if you wait longer than 15 minutes after sending that message!
You Can Edit Your WhatsApp Messages… In Coming Weeks!
You can give it a try, but this feature likely isn’t available yet in your WhatsApp. Mark Zuckerberg and WhatsApp was just announcing a new feature.
You will have the ability to edit your WhatsApp messages for 15 minutes in coming weeks, as the update is rolled out globally.
For the moments when you make a mistake, or simply change your mind, you can now edit your sent messages.
From correcting a simple misspelling to adding extra context to a message, we’re excited to bring you more control over your chats. All you need to do is long-press on a sent message and choose ‘Edit’ from the menu for up to fifteen minutes after.
Edited messages will display ‘edited’ alongside them, so those you’re messaging are aware of the correction without showing edit history. As with all personal messages, media and calls, your messages and the edits you make are protected by end-to-end encryption.
This feature has started rolling out to users globally and will be available to everyone in the coming weeks.
Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
Name : Adrian Wong Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
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Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
OPPO just gave up on its custom chip aspirations, and has abruptly down its Zeku chip design division!
OPPO Shuts Down Its Zeku Chip Design Division!
OPPO has finally given up on its custom chip aspirations! The Chinese smartphone brand is shutting down its Zeku chip design division, which it established only a few years ago.
OPPO announced the decision abruptly in a short statement, and said that “the company will properly arrange related matters and continue to deliver great products and service to users worldwide“.
Due to the uncertainties in the global economy and the smartphone industry, we have to make difficult adjustments for long-term development. Therefore, the company has decided to cease the operation of Zeku.
This decision comes after rumours swirled that OPPO is preparing to withdraw from France, and even the whole of Europe by 30 June 2023. OPPO had earlier pulled its phones from Germany due to a legal spat with Nokia in 2022, and now OPPO France employees and partners claim that they were told to stop selling OPPO phones.
While OPPO finished Q1 2023 on a strong note – as the world’s 4th largest smartphone brand, its total shipments dropped 8%. That is better than the industry average – the global smartphone market shrank by 13% that quarter. It appears that OPPO believes global demand for smartphones will continue to be weak for quite some time to come…
Zeku started in 2019 by designing co-processors for imaging and other components in OPPO smartphones, but have not been able to develop a full SoC. Its biggest success was, arguably, the MariSilicon X neural processing unit (NPU) which it introduced in December 2021.
Finalised after three years of research and development, the OPPO MariSiliconX was fabricated on the 6 nm process technology. It was designed as a dedicated imaging NPU, to accelerate AI noise reduction algorithms, and deliver greater dynamic range and better colour reproduction.
That NPU has been used in many OPPO flagship smartphones, including the latest OPPO Find N2 Flip. After that, Zeku introduced MariSilicon Y in late 2022 – a wireless audio SoC.
Despite Zeku not being able to deliver a full mobile SoC, OPPO was expected to invest more in chip design, both as a way to differentiate from other brands, as well as a way to avoid getting cut off chip supplies due to rising US-China tensions.
So the decision came as a surprise, especially when Zeku was still looking to hire more than 100 positions a month ago on LinkedIn!
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Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
Name : Adrian Wong Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
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Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
Take a look at the 50MP camera of the new Samsung Galaxy A54, and find out just how well it performs!
Samsung Galaxy A54 : 50 MP Main Camera
The Samsung Galaxy A54 is the marquee mid-range smartphone for 2023, and it comes with a triple camera system at the back that consists of:
a 50 MP main camera, with f/1.8 aperture,
a 12 MP ultra-wide angle camera, with f/2.2 aperture, and
a 5 MP macro camera, with f/2.4 aperture
The 50 MP camera is a “downgrade” in megapixels from the Galaxy A53’s 64 MP camera, but image quality is better because it is built around the Sony IMX766 image sensor used in phones like the realme 9 Pro+ and Xiaomi 12.
The Sony IMX766 is a larger 1/1.56″ sensor, which offers a 25% larger pixel size of 1.0 µm (compared to 0.8 µm). The larger pixel size is important as it means each pixel can receive 25% more light, delivering better images, especially in low-light conditions.
In fact, that is why the Galaxy A54 defaults to the 12.5 MP resolution, combining four pixels into a much larger 2 µm “bucket” to collect more light. The 64 MP camera in last year’s Galaxy A53 also does the same thing, combining four pixels in one to deliver 16 MP photos.
This 50 MP camera supports PDAF (Phase Detection Autofocus), and its lens has a wide f/1.8 aperture for better light intake. If you like to record videos, you will be glad to know that it features VDIS (Video Digital Image Stabilisation) and improved OIS (Optical Image Stabilisation) offering a wider OIS angle.
In this review, we are going to take a look at the photography capability of Galaxy A54, and show you just how well its 50MP main camera performs!
Samsung Galaxy A54 : 50 MP Camera Review!
The Samsung Galaxy A54’s 50 MP camera takes 12.5 MP photos by default, with a resolution of 4080 x 3060 pixels. Each JPEG photo using the High Efficiency Image File (HEIF) format, each photo is about 2.5 MB to 5 MB in size.
Without HEIF, the file sizes are much larger, so please remember to turn on the HEIF file format to save space.
Open the Camera app
Go to Settings > Advanced picture options
Turn on High efficiency pictures.
As this photo sample shows, the 50 MP main camera of the Samsung Galaxy A54 offers a nice bokeh, thanks to its wide f/1.8 aperture.
However, that wide aperture presents a problem too – a narrow depth of field, as this sample photo of star anise shows.
If multiple objects are present at different distances from the camera, only some of them will remain in focus, while the others will be out-of-focus.
That makes for nice portraits, but if you do not tap on the area or subject you want to be in focus, the camera may auto-focus on the wrong area or subject, and you will end up with an out-of-focus shot.
As this shot of pineapples show, only a small area of the right edge of the pineapple on the left is in focus. That’s because I intentionally tapped on that part.
Otherwise, the camera would naturally focus on the nearest part of the pineapple (its centre, which is located to the far left of the photo) and this photo would look really out-of-focus.
In most cases, the colour reproduction is pretty accurate, even if it’s indoors.
But in some cases, you can end up with pretty dull-looking photos under artificial light.
You need to be careful with close-up shots though. This isn’t a macro camera, and so it has trouble focusing if the subject is too close.
The problem is – the Samsung camera app does not warn you if the 50 MP camera cannot focus properly on the subject. It may look like it is focused properly in the camera app, but when you open it up later, you will see that it’s completely out-of-focus.
I definitely recommend you tapping on the subject to “force” the camera app to visibly try to focus. If it fails, you know that you are much too close. It’s also a good habit to tap to focus anyway, as this 50 MP camera has a narrow depth-of-field.
There is no need to worry about the “loss” in resolution from 64 MP to 50 MP. In most cases, you probably won’t even realise that the camera defaults to just 12.5 MP!
Even at 12.5 MP, there is more than enough detail in the photos that the Galaxy A54’s 50MP camera delivers, even if you want to zoom in.
But that does not mean that its 50 MP sensor is pure marketing. You can use it to take 50 MP shots, but you will have to live with significantly larger file sizes.
The full 50 MP resolution isn’t needed for 90% of the photos that most people take, but it is useful for long-distance shots. The Samsung Galaxy A54 does not have a telephoto camera, so taking photos in 50 MP effectively gives you a 4X zoom capability.
For example, if you need to take a faraway shot of a bell tower, you can switch to 50 MP before taking the photo. Then you can zoom into the 50 MP photo you took and crop out a much closer looking shot of that bell tower without using software or digital zoom.
Samsung Galaxy A54 : 50 MP Camera Summary
I’m glad Samsung switched from the 64 MP camera to a 50 MP camera in the Galaxy A54. The “loss” in megapixels is more than made up by the larger and better Sony IMX766 image sensor, with 25% larger pixels.
This improved 50 MP main camera performed well in our tests, generally delivering good photos with accurate colours in most cases. It has a good level of detail, even at 12.5 MP.
The biggest problem I have with it is its minimum focus distance. The camera seems to work best with subjects that are at least 50 cm away, or so. If I get too close to the subject, the shot ends up out-of-focus, especially if I tried to let the camera auto-focus by itself.
This is not readily apparent in the camera app, so you need to tap to focus. That triggers the camera to seek a better focus. That’s when you can see whether it can really focus properly. Even then, I sometimes end up with out-of-focus shots, because I was simply too close to the subject.
For most people, this won’t a problem if you are taking the usual photos – people standing at a distance, landscapes and buildings at a distance, etc. Just keep this in mind if you are taking close shots of products or food, etc.
Samsung Galaxy A54 : Price + Availability
The Samsung Galaxy A54 smartphone is available in three main colours with a glossy finish :
Awesome Graphite
Awesome Violet
Awesome Lime
The Samsung Galaxy A54 comes with 8 GB of RAM, and 256 GB of storage, with the option to add a microSD card in the hybrid SIM tray. It is covered by a 2-year warranty, with the following launch prices:
Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
Name : Adrian Wong Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp
Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
You can now use the same WhatsApp account on different phones at the same time!
Find out what this means, and how you can link multiple phones on WhatsApp!
You Can Now Use WhatsApp On Multiple Phones!
On Tuesday, April 25, 2023, WhatsApp announced that you can now use the same WhatsApp account on multiple phones! This is a further evolution of the multi-device capability that WhatsApp introduced last year.
The earlier WhatsApp multi-device capability allows us to use WhatsApp on four other non-phone devices (like a computer or a tablet), without using our smartphone. While that was really useful, it still limited users to using the same WhatsApp account on a single phone.
That changes with the introduction of the ability to use the same WhatsApp account on multiple phones.
Going forward, you will have the same ability to link your WhatsApp account on your primary phone, as well as four other devices. However, they do not need to be non-phone devices – you can now link other phones to the same WhatsApp account.
Previously : You can link one phone + four non-phone devices to one WhatsApp account
Now : You can link one phone + four other phones / other devices to one WhatsApp account
Please note that this new feature is being rolled out globally in the next update, which will be available in the coming weeks. It may not be readily available for your WhatsApp account.
Once you link other phones to the same WhatsApp account, you will be able to switch between different phones without signing out, and continue messaging where you left off your other devices.
This unified messaging system will also be useful to businesses – multiple employees can now respond to customers directly from their phones using the same WhatsApp Business account.
Each linked phone will connect to WhatsApp independently, and will ensure that your messages, media and calls are end-to-end encrypted.
Your primary phone does not need to stay connected to the Internet to use WhatsApp on your linked devices. However, your linked companion devices will be automatically logged out:
if your primary phone is inactive for 14 days, or
if the linked device is inactive for more than 30 days.
To remain connected, you need to log into your primary phone at least once every 14 days, and your companion devices must be active at least once every 30 days.
You should also know that these features are NOT currently supported on linked companion devices:
WhatsApp will be introducing a new and easier way to link multiple phones. In coming weeks, you ill be able to enter your phone number into WhatsApp Web to receive a one-time code, which you can use on your other phones to enable device linking.
But until that rolls out, here are the steps to link multiple phones on WhatsApp:
Android Smartphone
Step 1 : Download and install WhatsApp on your Android companion phone that you wish to link.
Step 2 : Open WhatsApp and tap AGREE AND CONTINUE.
Step 3 : Tap More Options, and select Link to existing account. WhatsApp will display a QR code.
Step 4 : Open WhatsApp on your primary phone to scan the QR code:
Android : Tap More options > Linked devices > Link a device.
iPhone : Go to WhatsApp Settings > Linked devices > Link a device
Step 5 : Scan the WhatsApp QR code on the Android companion phone with your primary phone.
That’s it! The WhatsApp account on your primary phone will now link with the WhatsApp on your Android companion phone. It should now show “This is a linked device. Learn more” in Settings.
Apple iPhone
Step 1 : Download and install WhatsApp on your Android companion phone that you wish to link.
Step 2 : Open WhatsApp and tap AGREE AND CONTINUE.
Step 3 : Tap Link this device to an existing account. WhatsApp will display a QR code.
Step 4 : Open WhatsApp on your primary phone to scan the QR code:
Android : Tap More options > Linked devices > Link a device.
iPhone : Go to WhatsApp Settings > Linked devices > Link a device
Step 5 : Scan the WhatsApp QR code on the iPhone companion phone with your primary phone.
That’s it! The WhatsApp account on your primary phone will now link with the WhatsApp on your iPhone companion phone. It should now show “This is a linked device. Learn more” in Settings.
Please Support My Work!
Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
Name : Adrian Wong Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp
Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
Take a look at the performance of the Samsung Galaxy A54, and find out how well the Exynos 1380 performs against the competition!
Samsung Galaxy A54 : Powered By Exynos 1380
The Samsung Galaxy A54 runs on the Samsung Exynos 1380 mobile platform that was officially launched on 23 February 2023.
Fabricated on the latest 4nm process technology, the Exynos 1380 comes with an Arm Mali-G68 MP5 GPU, as well as eight processor cores in a dual-cluster architecture :
four Arm Cortex-A78 high-performance cores, and
four Arm Cortex-A55 low-power cores, and
On paper, this is a powerful mid-range mobile platform, but let’s take a look at how it actually performs!
We first tested the Galaxy A54 Ultra using PCMark, which simulates work applications like web browsing, playing video, writing text and editing photos.
Work 3.0
S23
Ultra
Galaxy
A54
S22
Ultra
S21
Ultra
Galaxy
A52
Mobile Platform
SD 8
Gen 2
Exynos
1380
SD 8
Gen 1
Exynos
2100
SD
750G
Performance Score
16408
13523
12860
12535
7874
Web Browsing
15680
10659
10442
10185
7021
Video Editing
7879
7363
7444
6336
5693
Writing
22257
17485
15471
15247
7454
Photo Editing
35533
28805
30177
37847
15812
Data Manipulation
12171
11443
9691
8310
6424
Will you look at that?! The Samsung Exynos 1380 that powers the Galaxy A54 actually beat Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 which powered the Galaxy S22 Ultra.
It was also just 17.5% slower than the latest flagship Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 mobile SoC that powers the new Galaxy S23 Ultra flagship smartphone!
For gaming, we tested the Galaxy A54 using 3DMark, with these results :
3DMark
S23
Ultra
S22
Ultra
Z Flip
3
Note20
Ultra
Galaxy
A54
Device
SD 8
Gen 2
SD 8
Gen 1
SD
888
Exynos
990
Exynos
1380
Sling Shot Unlimited
16344
11094
9248
8026
6195
Wild Life Unlimited
14554
9106
3952
4504
2860
Wild Life
Extreme
Unlimited
3814
2220
1174
1387
799
This is where the Samsung Galaxy A54’s Exynos 1380 falls short – it is just not very good at gaming!
It was 23% to 42% slower than the Exynos 990, and 28% to 32% slower than the Snapdragon 888!
That does not mean it’s bad for gaming. It can certainly handle most games. It just won’t be able to deliver high frame rates in graphically-demanding 3D games like Genshin Impact, Black Desert Mobile, etc.
Samsung Galaxy A54 : Overall Performance
We then tested the Galaxy A54 using AnTuTu, yielding these results :
AnTuTu
S23
Ultra
S22
Ultra
S21
Ultra
Galaxy
A54
Galaxy
A52
Device
SD 8
Gen 2
SD 8
Gen 1
Exynos
2100
Exynos
1380
SD
750G
AnTuTu Score
1212174
889167
624411
522411
341908
CPU
261886
203090
166290
153230
105098
GPU
538823
402617
258995
149596
88068
Memory
236163
146002
120805
86578
60642
UX
175302
137458
78321
133007
88100
According to the AnTuTu benchmark, the Samsung Galaxy A54 is about 53% faster than the Galaxy A52, and only 16% slower than the Galaxy S21 Ultra.
What’s important to note is that the Exynos 1380’s CPU is fast, coming within 8% of the Exynos 2100. However, it has a relatively weak GPU, and slower memory than the flagship-class mobile platforms in this comparison.
Samsung Galaxy A54 : Performance Summary
Built around the Samsung Exynos 1380, the Galaxy A54 smartphone has a very fast CPU, but a relatively weak GPU.
What that means is that it offers snappy performance for most part – web browsing, work applications, casual gaming, etc.
It only has trouble delivering high frame rates for graphics-intensive 3D games, and AI or 3D apps may take longer to process in comparison to flagship devices.
But that’s what you need to keep in mind – the Exynos 1380 is a mid-range mobile platform, not a flagship-class. And it is a fast one.
Samsung Galaxy A54 : Price + Availability
The Samsung Galaxy A54 smartphone is available in three main colours with a glossy finish :
Awesome Graphite
Awesome Violet
Awesome Lime
The Samsung Galaxy A54 comes with 8 GB of RAM, and 256 GB of storage, with the option to add a microSD card in the hybrid SIM tray. It is covered by a 2-year warranty, with the following launch prices:
Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
Name : Adrian Wong Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp
Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
Take a look at the battery recharging speed of the new Samsung Galaxy A54, and find out how its two refresh rate options affect its battery life!
Samsung Galaxy A54 : Two Fixed Refresh Rate Options
The new Samsung Galaxy A54 offers two refresh rate options (Settings > Display > Motion smoothness) :
Adaptive : Get smoother animation and scrolling by automatically adjusting your screen refresh rate up to 120 Hz.
Standard : Get longer battery life by automatically adjusting your screen refresh rate up to 60 Hz.
Although the description seems to suggest that the display switches dynamically between 1 Hz to 120 Hz like the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, that’s not true.
By turning on the frame rate counter, we can see that the Galaxy A54 switches between two fixed refresh rates – 60 Hz or 120 Hz in the Dynamic mode, and uses just 60 Hz in the Standard mode.
The true Adaptive refresh rate offered in the Galaxy S23 Ultra is variable, changing from 1 Hz to 120 Hz according to the situation. This not only reduces power consumption, it also prevents “screen tearing” – a visual artifact that occurs when the game frame rate does not match the display’s refresh rate.
In the next section, we will look at how the two refresh rate options affect the Galaxy A54’s battery life.
To test its battery life, we turned off Automatic Brightness, and set its display brightness to 50%.
Why 50%? That is actually slightly higher than the average indoor brightness level of 40% during the day, and is what we usually use in all our mobile battery life tests.
It is important to fix the brightness level, to make sure the screen brightness does not change as the ambient brightness changes.
We then ran the PCMark Work 3.0 battery life test until its battery capacity dropped to 20% several times, and this was the best result we obtained with 60 Hz and 120 Hz refresh rates :
Not bad at all! The Samsung Galaxy A54 has a battery life of 12.5 hours with Adaptive refresh rate enabled, and almost 14 hours with the Standard refresh rate. That’s equal to the Galaxy S22 Ultra at the Standard refresh rate, and 16.7%better at the Adaptive refresh rate.
But let’s also compare its battery life at 60 Hz and 120 Hz, against the S23 Ultra, S22 Ultra and Z Flip 3 smartphones.
Standard Refresh Rate (60 Hz)
The Samsung Galaxy A54 lasted almost 14 hours with the refresh rate set to 60 Hz. But it isn’t quite as efficient as the new S23 Ultra, or even last year’s S22 Ultra.
Work 3.0
S23 Ultra
(60 Hz)
S22 Ultra
(60 Hz)
Galaxy A54
(60 Hz)
Z Flip 3
(60 Hz)
Battery Capacity
5,000 mAh
5,000 mAh
5,000 mAh
3,300 mAh
Battery Life
15 hrs 18 mins
14 hrs 15 mins
13 hrs 57 mins
8 hrs 11 mins
Utilisation
per min.
4.36 mAh
4.68 mAh
4.78 mAh
5.38 mAh
Adaptive Refresh Rate (120 Hz)
Will you look at that! The Samsung Galaxy A54 was about 13.6% more efficient than the S22 Ultra with the Adaptive refresh rate enabled, coming within 8% of the power efficiency of the S23 Ultra.
Based on what we see here, I definitely recommend turning on the Adaptive Refresh Rate on the Galaxy A54, unless you absolutely need the extra 1.5 hours of battery life.
Work 3.0
S23 Ultra
(120 Hz)
Galaxy A54
(120 Hz)
S22 Ultra
(120 Hz)
Z Flip 3
(120 Hz)
Battery Capacity
5,000 mAh
5,000 mAh
5,000 mAh
3,300 mAh
Battery Life
13 hrs
0 mins
12 hrs 25 mins
10 hrs
38 mins
6 hrs
44 mins
Utilisation
per min.
5.13 mAh
5.52 mAh
6.27 mAh
6.53 mAh
Samsung Galaxy A54 : Battery Recharging Speed!
The Samsung Galaxy A54 supports up to 25 watts of wired fast charging, but unfortunately, does not come with the charger in-the-box.
So we relied on the standard 15 watt Samsung fast charger than shipped with their previous smartphones – something we believe most users will end up doing.
Work 3.0
S22 Ultra
S23 Ultra
Galaxy A54
Z Flip 3
Battery Capacity
3,300 mAh
5,000 mAh
5,000 mAh
3,300 mAh
Charger Output
15 watts
15 watts
15 watts
15 watts
Battery Life
64.5 minutes
88.8 minutes
120.7 minutes
88.5 minutes
Recharging Speed
(per minute)
62.0 mAh
45.0 mAh
33.1 mAh
29.8 mAh
The Samsung Galaxy A54 fully recharges from 20% to 100% in just over 2 hours with the standard 15 watt Samsung charger. Oddly enough, this is significantly (36%) slower than the S23 Ultra.
I have no idea whether this was an intentional design decision to reduce the Galaxy A54’s thermal output while charging, or to further differentiate it from the much pricier Galaxy S23 Ultra.
In any case, the Galaxy A54 has a good battery life : recharging ratio of 7:1. As a rule of thumb, for every hour of battery life, you only need to recharge it for 8.5 minutes.
Samsung Galaxy A54 : Price + Availability
The Samsung Galaxy A54 comes with 8 GB of RAM, and 256 GB of storage, with the option to add a microSD card in the hybrid SIM tray. It is covered by a 2-year warranty, with the following launch prices:
Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
Name : Adrian Wong Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp
Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
Samsung just launched the Galaxy A54 smartphone, and here is our unboxing and hands-on preview!
Samsung Galaxy A54 : Quick Overview
The Galaxy A54 is Samsung’s latest mid-range smartphone, built around the Samsung Exynos 1380 mobile platform, which features:
four Arm Cortex-A78 high-performance cores,
four Arm Cortex-A55 low-power cores, and
an Arm Mali-G68 MP5 GPU
It has a large 6.4-inch Super AMOLED display, with a Full HD+ resolution of 1080 x 2340 pixels. This display is capable of supporting a refresh rate of up to 120 Hz for smoother graphics.
Hidden in its display is a punch hole camera, with a 32 MP sensor and an f/2.2 aperture. At the back, it sports a triple camera system, that consists of:
a 50 MP main camera, with f/1.8 aperture,
a 12 MP ultra-wide angle camera, with f/2.2 aperture, and
a 5 MP macro camera, with f/2.4 aperture
All that is powered by a large 5,000 mAh battery, which supports up to 25 watt fast charging.
On top of that, Samsung guarantees up to 4 generations of OS upgrades, and 5 years of security updates, as well as 2 years of warranty for the Galaxy A54!
Samsung Galaxy A54 : Unboxing
The Samsung Galaxy A54 smartphone comes in a thin white cardboard box, which tells you that it definitely does not come with a USB charger inside.
It is protected by two security stickers. Please make sure they are intact when you receive the box. Do not accept it, if any of the security stickers have been cut or tampered with.
After cutting the security stickers and taking off the top of the box, you will find the Galaxy A54 smartphone wrapped in plastic.
But don’t chuck away the box cover yet. Hidden underneath is a cardboard packet containing its documents and accessories.
Once you remove everything, you should find these items inside the box:
Samsung Galaxy A54 smartphone
One set of documents : Quick Start Guide, warranty card, Samsung Pay leaflet, Regional Lock Guide
Type C to Type C USB cable
SIM tray pin
The package is pretty sparse. There is no USB charger, and no, it doesn’t come with a basic TPU case either.
Samsung Galaxy A54 : Hands-On Of Three Colours Options!
The Samsung Galaxy A54 smartphone is available in three main colours with a glossy finish :
Awesome Graphite
Awesome Violet
Awesome Lime
Samsung also offers an Awesome White colour option in certain countries.
In the following video, I will show you the three main colour options, and give you a closer look at the Galaxy A54 in the Awesome Graphite, Awesome Violet and Awesome Lime colours. Do let us know which you prefer!
Samsung Galaxy A54 : Price + Availability
The Samsung Galaxy A54 comes with 8 GB of RAM, and 256 GB of storage, with the option to add a microSD card in the hybrid SIM tray. It is covered by a 2-year warranty, with the following launch prices:
Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
Name : Adrian Wong Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp
Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
Samsung just launched the Galaxy A54 smartphone, and here is our comparison of the three key colours!
Samsung Galaxy A54 : Quick Overview
The Galaxy A54 is Samsung’s latest mid-range smartphone, built around the Samsung Exynos 1380 mobile platform, which features:
four Arm Cortex-A78 high-performance cores,
four Arm Cortex-A55 low-power cores, and
an Arm Mali-G68 MP5 GPU
It has a large 6.4-inch Super AMOLED display, with a Full HD+ resolution of 1080 x 2340 pixels. This display is capable of supporting a refresh rate of up to 120 Hz for smoother graphics.
Hidden in its display is a punch hole camera, with a 32 MP sensor and an f/2.2 aperture. At the back, it sports a triple camera system, that consists of:
a 50 MP main camera, with f/1.8 aperture,
a 12 MP ultra-wide angle camera, with f/2.2 aperture, and
a 5 MP macro camera, with f/2.4 aperture
All that is powered by a large 5,000 mAh battery, which supports up to 25 watt fast charging.
On top of that, Samsung guarantees up to 4 generations of OS upgrades, and 5 years of security updates, as well as 2 years of warranty for the Galaxy A54!
Samsung Galaxy A54 : Three Key Colours Compared!
The new Samsung Galaxy A54 smartphone is available in three main colours with a glossy finish :
Awesome Graphite
Awesome Violet
Awesome Lime
Samsung also offers an Awesome White colour option in certain countries.
In the following video, I will show you the three main colour options, and give you a closer look at the Galaxy A54 in the Awesome Graphite, Awesome Violet and Awesome Lime colours. Do let us know which you prefer!
Samsung Galaxy A54 : Price + Availability
The Samsung Galaxy A54 comes with 8 GB of RAM, and 256 GB of storage, with the option to add a microSD card in the hybrid SIM tray. It is covered by a 2-year warranty, with the following launch prices:
Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
Name : Adrian Wong Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp
Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
Watch out for the phishing attack that will allow scammers to take over your Telegram account!
Scam Alert : Watch Out For Telegram Phishing Attack!
Scammers are now targeting Telegram users with a phishing attack that is designed to trick them into giving up their accounts! The Telegram phishing attack works like this:
Step 1 : The scammer gains control of your friend’s Telegram account, and sends this message to you:
Dear Telegram users. The system detects that this account is abnormal and has potential security risks.
To ensure that you can log in to your account normally, you need to invite friends for auxiliary verification
The risk control account has not been verified. The system will cancel the account after 24 hours!
Personal Information Authentication：[link removed]
Step 2 : The scammer, masquerading as your friend, asks you to help him/her verify his/her Telegram account by clicking on the link.
There are security risks in my account, and I need friends to help me verify it. Please click on the official link to help me verify it and follow the prompts. thank you
Step 3 : If you click on the [removed] link to help your friend, you will be taken to a website that looks like an official Telegram website. DO NOT DO THIS.
Step 4 : You will be asked to log into your Telegram account on the fake website. DO NOT DO THIS.
Step 5 : The fake Telegram website will ask you to key in your Login code, or take and upload a screenshot of your Telegram. DO NOT DO THIS.
Step 6 : If you continue, the scammer will be able to take over your Telegram account, and use it to scam your friends by asking them for money, etc.
The scammer will also have access to your Telegram chats, and all associated media including photos and videos, which could potentially be leaked or used to extort you or other people.
A phishing (pronounced as fishing) attack is a social engineering attack, that uses your trust for an institution (like a bank), authority (Telegram), or someone you know, to give up your login details.
Here are some ways you can protect yourself against any phishing attack on Telegram, or other platforms.
Verify Identity Before Trusting
Many people fall for phishing attacks because it is human nature to trust your friends and to help them. However, on instant messaging apps, you don’t actually know if it’s really your friend on the other end!
So if a friend messages you on Telegram, WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc to ask for help, ALWAYS verify their identity before proceeding.
If possible, call or message your friend on the phone, or via a different platform (use WhatsApp if the request came on Telegram, for example).
But if you are unable to call your friend, try asking the other person something that only your real friend would know:
Do NOT ask questions like “Are you really Sarah??“
Do NOT ask questions that can be answered by reading previous chat messages.
Ask something that only you and your friend would know, like “Hey Sarah, what was that restaurant we went to last week?“
Ask a fake question that your friend would readily know is not true, like “Hey Sarah, are you coming over tonight?“
If the other person cannot answer or gives you the wrong answer, he/she is not your friend, and that account has likely been taken over by a scammer.
Whenever you see a link being shared, always check if it leads to a legitimate website, or attempts to masquerade as a real website, by substituting characters in the link.
This Telegram phishing attack, for example, uses a link to telegram.0rg.ee. The real Telegram domain name is telegram.org. This is called domain spoofing.
If you see an attempt to impersonate a legitimate website by using a similar-looking domain name, do NOT click on it.
Never Login Via A Link
It is common for people to share links on Telegram, and in Telegram groups. Heck, we share links to our article in the Tech ARP Telegram group!
Clicking on links in Telegram, WhatsApp, emails, etc. is not dangerous, because most lead to legitimate websites that do NOT require you to log in.
What is dangerous is logging into any website through a link. I cannot hammer this enough – NEVER LOG INTO ANY WEBSITE through a link!
Phishing attacks work by tricking you into going into a fake website that looks like the real website. But you still have to log into the fake website to give the scammers your login details.
If you click on a link, and you are asked to login – this is likely a phishing attack. But don’t worry – as long as you refuse to log into any website after clicking on a link, the phishing attack fails.
Turn On Two-Step Verification
All banking platforms, and many mobile apps now offer two-step verification to prevent scammers from taking over user accounts. However, this is often an optional feature that you must manually enable.
Telegram has a two-step verification feature, which prevents scammers and hackers from hijacking your account by requiring a secret password that only you will know.
It is important to publicise phishing attacks, whenever they happen. If people are alerted, they are less likely to fall for such attacks.
However, scammers and hackers can quickly change the way their phishing attack works, so it is important that people understand how phishing attacks work in general.
You can help prevent phishing attacks by sharing this articles, and other cybersecurity warnings, with your family and friends.
Please help us FIGHT SCAMMERS by sharing this cybersecurity article out, and please SUPPORT our work!
Please Support My Work!
Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
Name : Adrian Wong Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp
Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
One of China’s most popular apps – Pinduoduo apparently contains a malware that monitors user activities and is difficult to remove!
Take a look at what CNN and multiple cybersecurity researchers have discovered about Pinduoduo!
Pinduoduo : What Is It?
Pinduoduo is actually a Chinese online retailer. Think of it as China’s Amazon. While Amazon started as an online bookstore, Pinduoduo started as an online agricultural retailer.
Since then, Pinduoduo has become one of China’s most popular online shopping platform, with its app offering its 750 million users access to cheap products in China, by offering steep discounts on group buying orders.
Despite its meteoric rise, Pinduoduo has not been without its controversies. In 2018, the company was criticised for hosting inferior and imitation products, to which it responded by taking down more than 4 million listing and shutting down 1,128 stores.
In 2019, Pinduoduo was hit by hackers who stole discount coupons worth tens of millions of Yuan. And just last month, Google suspended the Pinduoduo app after discovering that versions offered outside its Play Store contained malware.
The Off-Play versions of the e-commerce app that have been found to contain malware have been enforced on via Google Play Protect.
Western interest may have been initiated by Google suspending the Pinduoduo app, but cybersecurity experts had already started looking into the app, and what they discovered was very troubling.
Alert First Raised By Chinese Cybersecurity Company
I think we should start by noting that it was a Chinese cybersecurity company called Dark Navy that first raised concerns about malware in the Pinduoduo app in February 2023.
Although Dark Navy did not name Pinduoduo in its report, cybersecurity researchers knew who it was referring to and soon followed up with their own investigations and reports, confirming Dark Navy’s report.
Sophisticated Malware
Half a dozen cybersecurity teams from Asia, Europe and the United States identified sophisticated malware in the Pinduoduo app that were designed to exploit vulnerabilities in the Android operating system used by many smartphones.
The malware allows the Pinduoduo app to bypass Android security features to monitor activities in other apps, check notifications, read private messages, and even change settings. It is also difficult to remove once installed.
Mikko Hyppönen, chief research officer at WithSecure, a Finnish cybersecurity firm, said that:
We haven’t seen a mainstream app like this trying to escalate their privileges to gain access to things that they’re not supposed to gain access to. This is highly unusual, and it is pretty damning for Pinduoduo.
Dedicated Hacking Team To Look For Vulnerabilities
Even more damning, CNN reported that a current employee revealed that Pinduoduo set up a team of about 100 engineers and product managers to look for vulnerabilities in Android smartphones, and find ways to exploit them for profit.
To avoid exposure, the source said that the company targeted users in rural areas and smaller towns, and avoided users in megacities like Beijing and Shanghai.
By collecting expansive data on those users, Pinduoduo was able to create a comprehensive portrait of their habits, interests, and preferences; while improving its machine learning models to personalise push notifications and ads.
Pinduoduo App Gained More Access Than Allowed
Three cybersecurity companies – WithSecure, Check Point Research, and Oversecured conducted independent analysis of version 6.49.0 of the Pinduoduo app that was released in late February 2023, and found code designed to achieve “privilege escalation” – a type of cyberattack that exploits vulnerabilities in the operating system to gain a higher level of access to data that it’s supposed to have.
Our team has reverse engineered that code and we can confirm that it tries to escalate rights, tries to gain access to things normal apps wouldn’t be able to do on Android phones.
The Pinduoduo app was able to continue running in the background, and prevent itself from being uninstalled. This was apparently done to boost the platform’s statistic for monthly active users.
Pinduoduo App Has Access To User Data Without Consent
Delware-based app security start-up, Oversecured, found that the Pinduoduo app had access to user data like locations, contacts, calendars, notifications, and photo albums, without their consent.
The app was also able to change system settings, and access user social media accounts and chats.
The Pinduoduo app also had the ability to snoop on competing shopping apps, by tracking activity on other shopping apps, and gathering information from them.
Pinduoduo App Able To Secretly Receive Updates
Check Point Research found that Pinduoduo was able to push updates to the app, without first going through an app store review process to detect malicious code.
Pinduoduo App Programmers Attempted To Obscure Malicious Code
Check Point Research also found that some plug-ins used by the Pinduoduo app tried to obscure potentially malicious code by hiding them under legitimate file names, such as Google’s.
Such a technique is widely used by malware developers that inject malicious code into applications that have legitimate functionality.
Pinduoduo Targeted Android Devices
According to Sergey Toshin, founder of Oversecured, Pinduoduo’s malware specifically targeted Android operating systems used by Samsung, HUAWEI, Xiaomi and OPPO.
He also described the app as “the most dangerous malware” ever found in mainstream apps, exploiting about 50 Android system vulnerabilities. Most of these exploits targeted customised OEM code used by smartphone brands to customise their smartphone software.
I’ve never seen anything like this before. It’s like, super expansive.
After cybersecurity researchers started reporting about the app, Pinduoduo released version 6.50.0 on March 5, which removed the exploits they found. Two days later, Pinduoduo disbanded its Android hacking team, according to the same employee.
The hacking team members found themselves locked out of Pinduoduo’s workspace communication app, called Knock, and lost access to files on the company’s internal network, with their privileges revoked.
Most of the team was later transferred to work at Pinduoduo’s sister app, Temu. A core group of about 20 cybersecurity engineers however remain at Pinduoduo.
In addition, Sergey Toshin of Oversecured noted that while the exploits were removed in the new version of Pinduoduo, the underlying code remained and could be reactivated to carry out attacks.
Please Support My Work!
Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
Name : Adrian Wong Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp
Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
The new Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra offers two refresh rate options (Settings > Display > Motion smoothness) :
Adaptive : Get smoother animation and scrolling by automatically adjusting your screen refresh rate between 1 Hz and 120 Hz
Standard : Get longer battery life with a 60 Hz screen refresh rate
By default, the Galaxy S23 Ultra uses the Adaptive mode for smoother graphics, but you can choose to switch to the Standard mode for longer battery life.
In addition, the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra has three display resolution options (Settings > Display > Screen resolution) :
WQHD+ : 3088 x 1440 pixels
FHD+ : 2316 x 1080 pixels
HD+ : 1544 x 720 pixels
By default, the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra uses the FHD+ resolution, but you can switch to the full WQHD+ resolution for sharper graphics, or drop down to HD+ for a longer battery life.
Those five display settings affect battery life. Even though the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra comes with a large 5,000 mAh battery, it won’t last forever. So which display resolution and refresh rate should you choose?
Many people and even some experts will recommend that you switch to the best possible settings – you paid for those features after all! But how much will they suck your new smartphone’s battery life?
To find out, I ran the PCMark Work 3.0 battery life test until its battery capacity dropped to 20% several times, and these were the best results I obtained:
Display
Resolution
Standard
Refresh
Dynamic
Refresh
WQHD+
15 hours 9 minutes
12 hours 7 minutes
FHD+
15 hours 18 minutes
13 hours
HD+
16 hours 46 minutes
14 hours 34 minutes
Best Display Resolution : WQHD+
Switching to the WQHD+ resolution will definitely give you the sharpest and best possible display on the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra.
Normally, this would suck up a significant amount of power, which is why Samsung set the Galaxy S23 Ultra to use the FHD+ option by default.
But as my tests show, using the maximum display resolution of WQHD+ barely dents its battery life!
At the Standard 60 Hz refresh rate, you lose just 9 minutes – which is a drop of just under 0.11% – practically imperceptible.
If you switch to the Dynamic Refresh Rate mode, you lose 53 minutes or 6.8% of battery life. That sounds like a lot, but you still have just over 12 hours of battery life.
So unless you must have the longest-possible battery life, I recommend you switch to the WQHD+ resolution.
The low resolution of HD+ definitely increases your battery life, but not as much as you might think. You gain about 1.5 hours longer battery life. Not worth putting up with soft-looking images and text IMHO.
Best Display Refresh Rate : Up To Your Preference
The change in refresh rate affects the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s battery life far more than changing its display resolution.
At the WQHD+ resolution, switching to Dynamic Refresh cuts your battery life by 3 hours, or about 20%.
At the FHD+ resolution, switching to Dynamic Refresh cuts your battery life by 2 hours 18 minutes, or about 15%.
At the HD+ resolution, switching to Dynamic Refresh cuts your battery life by 2 hours 12 minutes, or about 13%.
If you are fine with a 12 hour battery life, and most would be, you should definitely turn on Dynamic Refresh Rate.
But if you want a longer battery life (like if you’re on a trip), you can always turn on the Standard refresh rate for a 15%-20% boost in battery life to about 15 hours.
I highly recommend that you try both refresh rate options, and see if you can feel a noticeable difference. People who play mobile games will probably find it noticeable, while non-gamers might not appreciate the difference in refresh rate.
Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
Name : Adrian Wong Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp
Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
Read our comprehensive review of the new Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, and find out why it won our Editor’s Choice Award!
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra : Model + Colour Options
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra comes in four main colours – Phantom Black, Green, Lavender, and Cream.
Ahead of the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s official launch, we were given special access to all four main colours it will be offered through retail stores, including Samsung Experience Stores.
So I was able to record this video comparing the new Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra smartphone in all four colours. Take a look at all four colours, and let us know which you prefer!
We got our hands on a golden sample of the new Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra smartphone at the official launch in Singapore. Let’s take a quick look at the box before we check out what’s inside!
Once you fully unbox the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, this is what you will find inside:
the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra smartphone
a Quick Start Guide
a USB Type C to USB Type C data and charging cable
a SIM tray extraction pin
That’s it! While the Galaxy S23 Ultra supports 45 watt fast charging, it does not come with the charger. You will need to purchase it separately. Neither does it come with a TPU bumper case to tide you over until you get a better one.
Now, let us go through its key features, and show you why the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is worthy of our Editor’s Choice Award!
Boosted Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Performance!
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is powered by a specially-boosted variant of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 mobile SoC, which features a quad-cluster architecture:
1 x Arm Cortex-X3 core (3.36 GHz, instead of 3.2 GHz)
2 x Arm Cortex-A715 cores (2.8 GHz)
2 x Arm Cortex-A710 cores (2.8 GHz)
3 x Arm Cortex-A510 cores (2.0 GHz)
The new processor feels very snappy, and appears to be more power efficient – the Galaxy S23 Ultra last longer than our Galaxy S22 Ultra on typical use. We will have battery benchmarks up shortly!
The biggest upgrade in the Galaxy S23 Ultra is its new Adaptive Pixel main camera, which is built around the 200 MP Samsung ISOCELL HP2 (S5KHP2) sensor, and features a slightly wider f/1.7 aperture.
This is a large 1/1.3-inch sensor with 200 million pixels, each of which is 0.6 μm in size. The Galaxy S23 Ultra camera will be able to combine up to 16 pixels to form a single large pixel for much better low-light performance.
Video capabilities also got an upgrade, thanks to this new sensor. The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra can now record 8K videos at 30 frames per second, instead of just 24 fps previously.
It also boasts better Adaptive VDIS capability, and improved optical image stabilisation (OIS), delivering silky smooth videos by doubling the angle to ±3°, from the Galaxy S22 Ultra’s camera‘s ±1.5°.
Similar Telephoto + Wide-Angle Cameras
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra reuses the same 3X and 10X zoom cameras from the Galaxy S22 Ultra, right down to their Sony IMX754 sensors.
The ultra-wide angle camera gets a newer sensor – the Sony IMX564, which appears to be an incremental upgrade of the S22 Ultra’s IMX563.
12 MP Selfie Camera
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra also features another camera upgrade in the front. Instead of a 40 MP sensor in the Galaxy S22 Ultra, it now features a new 12 MP camera, with the same f/2.2 aperture.
While this may seem to be a downgrade, it is actually an upgrade as the Galaxy S22 Ultra’s 40 MP sensor defaults to 10 MP. On top of that, it features a Dual Pixel sensor for faster and more accurate auto-focus!
We tried using the front camera, and found that it was superior to the front camera of the Galaxy S22 Ultra. More of this later in our review.
Buttons
The only buttons on Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra are all located on the right side – volume control buttons and a Power switch.
S Pen
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra comes with the same S Pen as the Galaxy S22 Ultra. It too boasts a very quick 2.8 ms latency.
We tried swapping them and both S Pens appear to fit both devices. From what we can tell – they are physically and functionally similar, if not exactly the same.
USB Type C Port
At the bottom of the Galaxy S23 Ultra, you will find a SIM card tray, next to the USB port, as well as the S Pen in its slot.
The USB port is, of course, the new bidirectional Type C port, which is now the EU standard.
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra supports two physical SIM cards, as well as a single eSIM. The SIM tray is located at the bottom, next to the USB port.
Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is protected in the front and in the back by Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2.
Gorilla Glass Victus 2 is not just tougher, it is also made from 22% pre-consumer recycled content!
Armoured Aluminium
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is also protected on all four sides by an Armoured Aluminium frame.
5,000 mAh Fast-Charging Battery
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra comes with a large 5,000 mAh lithium-ion polymer battery, which supports 45 watt fast wired charging, and 15 watt fast wireless charging.
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra : Battery Life Comparison!
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra comes with a 5,000 mAh battery, which is the same size as Galaxy S22 Ultra and the Galaxy S21 Ultra.
To test its battery life, we turned off Automatic Brightness, and set its display brightness to 50%.
Why 50%? That is actually slightly higher than the average indoor brightness level of 40% during the day, and is what we usually use in all our mobile battery life tests.
It is important to fix the brightness level, to make sure the screen brightness does not change as the ambient brightness changes.
We then ran the PCMark Work 3.0 battery life test until its battery capacity dropped to 20% several times, and this was the best result we obtained with 60 Hz and 120 Hz refresh rates :
Will you look at that!
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra has a battery life of 13 hours with Adaptive refresh rate enabled, and a whopping 15.3 hours with the Standard refresh rate – 24% and 7.5% better respectively than the S22 Ultra!
But let’s also compare its battery life at 60 Hz and 120 Hz, against the S21 Ultra and Z Flip 3 smartphones.
Standard Refresh Rate (60 Hz)
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra really shines with the refresh rate set to 60 Hz. It used 7% less power per minute, which delivered 7% longer battery life than the S22 Ultra.
Work 3.0
S23 Ultra
(60 Hz)
S22 Ultra
(60 Hz)
Z Flip 3
(60 Hz)
S21 Ultra
(60 Hz)
Battery Capacity
5,000 mAh
5,000 mAh
3,300 mAh
5,000 mAh
Battery Life
15 hrs 18 mins
14 hrs 15 mins
8 hrs 11 mins
11 hrs 22 mins
Utilisation
per min.
4.36 mAh
4.68 mAh
5.38 mAh
5.87 mAh
Adaptive Refresh Rate (120 Hz)
While the Galaxy S23 Ultra certainly used less power than the S22 Ultra, that advantage was greatly diminished with the Adaptive refresh rate enabled.
This is where we see the greatest improvement in the power efficiency of the S23 Ultra. Its display used 18% less power per minute, and delivered 22% (almost 1.5 hours) longer battery life than the S22 Ultra.
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra supports up to 45 watts of wired fast charging, but unfortunately, does not come with the charger in-the-box.
So we relied on the standard 15 watt Samsung fast charger than shipped with their previous smartphones – something we believe most users will end up doing. But we used the 25 watt charger for the S21 Ultra, because it came with that charger.
The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra fully recharges from 20% to 100% in just under 1.5 hours hour with the standard 15 watt Samsung charger. Oddly enough, this is significantly (38%) slower than the S22 Ultra.
It’s hard to know whether this was an intentional design decision to reduce the thermal output while charging, or to drive the adoption of the 45 watt chargers (sold separately).
Fortunately, the Galaxy S23 Ultra has a significantly better battery life, which should offset the slower recharging speed. Frankly, I don’t see a real need to splurge on a new 45 watt fast charger.
Samsung has done it again – raised the performance bar yet again with the Galaxy S23 Ultra.
Built around the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy – a boosted variant of the fastest mobile SoC that exists for Android devices – it offers a tremendous boost in GPU performance, which should make gamers and mobile content creators happy.
The benchmark results amply demonstrates that you can count on the Galaxy S23 Ultra to easily handle anything and everything you throw at it.
We first tested the Galaxy S23 Ultra using PCMark, which simulates work applications like web browsing, playing video, writing text and editing photos.
Work 3.0
S23 Ultra
S22 Ultra
S21 Ultra
Note20
Ultra
Galaxy
A52
Mobile Platform
SD 8
Gen 2
SD 8
Gen 1
Exynos
2100
Exynos
990
SD
750G
Performance Score
16408
12860
12535
10523
7874
Web Browsing
15680
10442
10185
8865
7021
Video Editing
7879
7444
6336
6232
5693
Writing
22257
15471
15247
11112
7454
Photo Editing
35533
30177
37847
30789
15812
Data Manipulation
12171
9691
8310
6825
6424
Will you look at that! The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy is 27.5% faster than Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 from last year.
That’s a surprisingly significant boost in performance that people upgrading from the Galaxy S22 Ultra or the S21 Ultra will notice.
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra : Gaming Performance
For gaming, we tested the Galaxy S23 Ultra using 3DMark, with these results :
3DMark
S23 Ultra
S22 Ultra
Z Flip 3
Note20
Ultra
Galaxy
Note10+
Device
SD 8
Gen 2
SD 8
Gen 1
SD 888
Exynos
990
Exynos
9825
Sling Shot Unlimited
16344
11094
9248
8026
3327
Wild Life Unlimited
14554
9106
3952
4504
3288
Wild Life
Extreme
Unlimited
3814
2220
1174
1387
528
Look at that! The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 was a head above the competition when it comes to gaming!
It was 47% to 72% faster than the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, and 77% to 468% faster than the Snapdragon 888!
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy is undoubtedly the gaming smartphone to beat!
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra : Overall Performance
We then tested the Galaxy S23 Ultra using AnTuTu, yielding these results :
AnTuTu
S22
Ultra
S22
Ultra
S21
Ultra
Note20
Ultra
Galaxy
A52
Device
SD 8
Gen 2
SD 8
Gen 1
Exynos
2100
Exynos
990
SD 750G
AnTuTu Score
1212174
889167
624411
522735
341908
CPU
261886
203090
166290
146783
105098
GPU
538823
402617
258995
215205
88068
Memory
236163
146002
120805
89376
60642
UX
175302
137458
78321
71371
88100
The AnTuTu benchmark confirmed that the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is truly a performance beast in every way!
The new Galaxy S23 Ultra is 36% faster than the S22 Ultra, and a whopping 94% faster than the S21 Ultra!
Its CPU was 29% faster, and its GPU was 33% faster than the S22 Ultra. When compared against the S21 Ultra, the Galaxy S23 Ultra has a 57% faster CPU and 2X faster GPU.
Thanks to its improved cooling system, its temperature jumped by about 7°C. That is noticeable, but significantly lower than the 10°C we saw with the S22 Ultra.
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra boasts a super-high resolution 200 MP main camera, built around a new ISOCELL HP2 sensor used in the Galaxy S21 Ultra.
This is a large 1/1.3-inch sensor with 200 million pixels, each of which is 0.6 μm in size. The Galaxy S23 Ultra camera will be able to combine up to 16 pixels to form a single large pixel for much better low-light performance.
Video capabilities also got an upgrade, thanks to this new sensor. The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra can now record 8K videos at 30 frames per second, instead of just 24 fps previously.
It also boasts better Adaptive VDIS capability, and improved optical image stabilisation (OIS), delivering silky smooth videos by doubling the angle to ±3°, from the Galaxy S22 Ultra’s camera‘s ±1.5°.
Here are six shots I took in Singapore, using the 200 MP main camera, and the 12 MP ultra-wide angle camera.
They are 4000 x 3000 pixels in size, with a JPEG file size of between 4 MB and 8 MB – it all depends on the amount of detail in the picture. To save space, I definitely recommend that you enable HEIF – the High Efficiency Image Format.
By default, the 200 MP camera takes 12 MP photos, combining sixteen pixels into one super-large pixel. Coupled with the improved lens and wider aperture, the final photos are not only much brighter, but have significantly lower noise.
Here are six night shots to show you just how bright the Galaxy S23 Ultra photos are, taken at night handheld without flash.
Here are six shots to show you the incredible amount of detail you can capture at just 12 MP. If you need greater detail, you can always increase the resolution to the full 200 MP, but frankly – these pictures should show you that you don’t really need to.
Of course, the 200 MP capability is not there for marketing purposes. The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra can truly take 200 MP photos, with a resolution of 16,320 pixels x 12,240 pixels, with each file at about 13-15 MB!
To demonstrate both the 200 MP capability and its ability to take bright photos at night, I took this 200 MP photo at Marina Bay Sands.
From that single photo, I could zoom in to make out individuals within the dome-shaped Apple Store hundreds of metres away – all unbeknownst that they were being captured on the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra at night!
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra : Camera Performance Summary
If you want the best cameras on a smartphone money can buy, you should definitely consider the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra.
Don’t put too much stock into the 200 MP marketing spiel. Yes, the Samsung Galaxy S23 is breaking new resolution groups with its 200 MP photography capability. But most of us will probably never use it, except in special circumstances.
What you are really getting is an awesome 12 MP camera with super-large pixels for really great noise-free images, and better low-light photos.
I am especially impressed with its low-light night photography capabilities. The photos I took in Singapore look like they were well-lit by moonlight. That was not the case at all, and it was all the more impressive because I took it handheld.
The photos turned out great – bright, sharp and with much less noise than I dared to hope! There is no doubt that the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra has some of the best smartphone cameras I’ve tried this year.
It is tough for Samsung to keep touting radical improvements in smartphone technology every year, so I was not surprised that the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is an evolutionary upgrade of the excellent Galaxy S22 Ultra.
Samsung didn’t even bother to hide that, reusing the same design almost to the millimetre! It even reuses the same S Pen from last year. Its improvements are almost entirely internal or at least not readily visible to the user.
Its display, for example, is the “same” as the Galaxy S22 Ultra’s display on paper. But improvements in its design makes it a more efficient display, improving battery life.
Its Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 CPU and GPU are not only significantly faster than last year’s Gen 1 CPU and GPU, they are also more efficient, against improving battery life.
Even though it comes with the same battery capacity as the Galaxy S22 Ultra, the new Galaxy S23 Ultra boasts 22% longer battery life with its Adaptive Refresh mode enabled!
Samsung added a new 12 MP front camera, which offers better image quality at a higher resolution than the Galaxy S22 Ultra‘s 40 MP shooter that defaults to 10 MP).
But the killer feature this year is arguably the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s Adaptive Pixel main camera, which not only boasts a new 200 MP sensor but also improved lens, a slightly wider f/1.7 aperture, and better optical image stabilisation.
While its ability to take great photos in good light carries on from the Galaxy S22 Ultra‘s 108 MP Dual Pixel camera, where it really shines is in low-light, night photography. As my photo samples show, they are truly amazing.
If you really love photography, and especially like taking photos at night, or in low-light conditions, the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra will surely impress you.
Finally, the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is tougher this year. It has the same Armor Aluminium frame, but is protected in the front and back by best-in-class Gorilla Victus 2 glass.
For these reasons, we gladly award the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra our Editor’s Choice Award! Great work, Samsung!
Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
Name : Adrian Wong Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp
Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
Take a look at the camera performance of the new Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, and find out why it’s such an awesome smartphone for photographers!
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra : 200 MP Camera FTW!
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is their flagship smartphone for the year 2023, and it boasts the best cameras money can buy.
Headlining its top-of-the-line quad-camera system is a new Adaptive Pixel camera, which is built around the 200 MP ISOCELL HP2 (S5KHP2) sensor, and improved optically-stabilised lens with a larger f/1.7 aperture.
You can seamlessly switch to its ultra-wide camera, with a 12 MP sensor and a f/2.2 aperture; or optically zoom up to 10X with its dual telephoto and periscope cameras.
In this review, we are going to take a look at the photography capability of Galaxy S23 Ultra, and show you just how well its cameras perform!
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra : 200 MP Camera Review!
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra boasts a super-high resolution 200 MP main camera, built around a new ISOCELL HP2 sensor used in the Galaxy S21 Ultra.
This is a large 1/1.3-inch sensor with 200 million pixels, each of which is 0.6 μm in size. The Galaxy S23 Ultra camera will be able to combine up to 16 pixels to form a single large pixel for much better low-light performance.
Video capabilities also got an upgrade, thanks to this new sensor. The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra can now record 8K videos at 30 frames per second, instead of just 24 fps previously.
It also boasts better Adaptive VDIS capability, and improved optical image stabilisation (OIS), delivering silky smooth videos by doubling the angle to ±3°, from the Galaxy S22 Ultra’s camera‘s ±1.5°.
Here are six shots I took in Singapore, using the 200 MP main camera, and the 12 MP ultra-wide angle camera.
They are 4000 x 3000 pixels in size, with a JPEG file size of between 4 MB and 8 MB – it all depends on the amount of detail in the picture. To save space, I definitely recommend that you enable HEIF – the High Efficiency Image Format.
By default, the 200 MP camera takes 12 MP photos, combining sixteen pixels into one super-large pixel. Coupled with the improved lens and wider aperture, the final photos are not only much brighter, but have significantly lower noise.
Here are six night shots to show you just how bright the Galaxy S23 Ultra photos are, taken at night handheld without flash.
Here are six shots to show you the incredible amount of detail you can capture at just 12 MP. If you need greater detail, you can always increase the resolution to the full 200 MP, but frankly – these pictures should show you that you don’t really need to.
Of course, the 200 MP capability is not there for marketing purposes. The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra can truly take 200 MP photos, with a resolution of 16,320 pixels x 12,240 pixels, with each file at about 13-15 MB!
To demonstrate both the 200 MP capability and its ability to take bright photos at night, I took this 200 MP photo at Marina Bay Sands.
From that single photo, I could zoom in to make out individuals within the dome-shaped Apple Store hundreds of metres away – all unbeknownst that they were being captured on the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra at night!
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra : 200 MP Camera Summary
If you want the best cameras on a smartphone money can buy, you should definitely consider the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra.
Don’t put too much stock into the 200 MP marketing spiel. Yes, the Samsung Galaxy S23 is breaking new resolution groups with its 200 MP photography capability. But most of us will probably never use it, except in special circumstances.
What you are really getting is an awesome 12 MP camera with super-large pixels for really great noise-free images, and better low-light photos.
I am especially impressed with its low-light night photography capabilities. The photos I took in Singapore look like they were well-lit by moonlight. That was not the case at all, and it was all the more impressive because I took it handheld.
The photos turned out great – bright, sharp and with much less noise than I dared to hope! There is no doubt that the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra has some of the best smartphone cameras I’ve tried this year.
Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
Name : Adrian Wong Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp
Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
KartRider: Drift is the only free-to-play, cross-platform kart racer with arcade thrills, and the fastest drift fueled skilled competition. With deep kart and character customization in stunning high-definition, fun and chaos awaits you on the track.
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Elevate your game through the fastest and most competitive multiplayer sprints in kart racing, experiencing Speed Mode. Push yourself to the limit with Speed Mode’s precise controls, advanced drifting system, and highly skilled gameplay.
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More than any other kart racing title, KartRider: Drift is a living, online multiplayer game that is always adding new karts, characters, skins, tracks, and customization options plus huge seasonal content drops. Keep your garage stocked and your skills sharp as the game grows over time!
KartRider Drift : How To Get Free Lucci Coupon Code!
The KartRider Drift team is giving away a free coupon code for 5,000 Lucci, which can be redeemed in-game on any platform – PlayStation, Xbox, Android, PC (Windows) and iOS.
Make sure you follow these steps to get the 5,000 Lucci for FREE before May 11, 2023 at 12:00 AM UTC.
Install KartRider Drift (Steam), which is a free-to-play game.
On non-iOS devices, go to Settings > Manage Account > Apply Coupon.
On iOS devices, go to Web Coupon Page.
Key in this coupon code : F481NKBRIYS5
That’s it! You now have 5,000 Lucci in your KartRider Drift account!
Note : You can only redeem t his coupon code once per account.
Please Support My Work!
Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
Name : Adrian Wong Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp
Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
The new Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra offers two refresh rate options (Settings > Display > Motion smoothness) :
Adaptive : Get smoother animation and scrolling by automatically adjusting your screen refresh rate up to 120 Hz
Standard : Get longer battery life with a 60 Hz screen refresh rate
The Galaxy S21 Ultra also has an Adaptive mode, which dynamically refreshes between 10 Hz and 120 Hz
The new Galaxy S23 Ultra and last year’s S22 Ultra improved on that, with an Adaptive mode that dynamically refreshes between 1 Hz and 120 Hz.
By default, the Galaxy S23 Ultra uses the Adaptive mode for smoother graphics, but you can choose to switch to the Standard mode for longer battery life.
In the next section, we will look at how the two refresh rate options affect the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s battery life.
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra : Battery Life Comparison!
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra comes with a 5,000 mAh battery, which is the same size as Galaxy S22 Ultra and the Galaxy S21 Ultra.
To test its battery life, we turned off Automatic Brightness, and set its display brightness to 50%.
Why 50%? That is actually slightly higher than the average indoor brightness level of 40% during the day, and is what we usually use in all our mobile battery life tests.
It is important to fix the brightness level, to make sure the screen brightness does not change as the ambient brightness changes.
We then ran the PCMark Work 3.0 battery life test until its battery capacity dropped to 20% several times, and this was the best result we obtained with 60 Hz and 120 Hz refresh rates :
Will you look at that!
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra has a battery life of 13 hours with Adaptive refresh rate enabled, and a whopping 15.3 hours with the Standard refresh rate – 24% and 7.5% better respectively than the S22 Ultra!
But let’s also compare its battery life at 60 Hz and 120 Hz, against the S21 Ultra and Z Flip 3 smartphones.
Standard Refresh Rate (60 Hz)
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra really shines with the refresh rate set to 60 Hz. It used 7% less power per minute, which delivered 7% longer battery life than the S22 Ultra.
Work 3.0
S23 Ultra
(60 Hz)
S22 Ultra
(60 Hz)
Z Flip 3
(60 Hz)
S21 Ultra
(60 Hz)
Battery Capacity
5,000 mAh
5,000 mAh
3,300 mAh
5,000 mAh
Battery Life
15 hrs 18 mins
14 hrs 15 mins
8 hrs 11 mins
11 hrs 22 mins
Utilisation
per min.
4.36 mAh
4.68 mAh
5.38 mAh
5.87 mAh
Adaptive Refresh Rate (120 Hz)
While the Galaxy S23 Ultra certainly used less power than the S22 Ultra, that advantage was greatly diminished with the Adaptive refresh rate enabled.
This is where we see the greatest improvement in the power efficiency of the S23 Ultra. Its display used 18% less power per minute, and delivered 22% (almost 1.5 hours) longer battery life than the S22 Ultra.
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra supports up to 45 watts of wired fast charging, but unfortunately, does not come with the charger in-the-box.
So we relied on the standard 15 watt Samsung fast charger than shipped with their previous smartphones – something we believe most users will end up doing. But we used the 25 watt charger for the S21 Ultra, because it came with that charger.
Work 3.0
S21 Ultra
S22 Ultra
S23 Ultra
Z Flip 3
Battery Capacity
5,000 mAh
3,300 mAh
5,000 mAh
3,300 mAh
Charger Output
25 watts
15 watts
15 watts
15 watts
Battery Life
64 minutes
64.5 minutes
88.8 minutes
88.5 minutes
Recharging Speed
(per minute)
62.5 mAh
62.0 mAh
45.0 mAh
29.8 mAh
The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra fully recharges from 20% to 100% in just under 1.5 hours with the standard 15 watt Samsung charger. Oddly enough, this is significantly (38%) slower than the S22 Ultra.
It’s hard to know whether this was an intentional design decision to reduce the thermal output while charging, or to drive the adoption of the 45 watt chargers (sold separately).
Fortunately, the Galaxy S23 Ultra has a significantly better battery life, which should offset the slower recharging speed. Frankly, I don’t see a real need to splurge on a new 45 watt fast charger.
Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
Name : Adrian Wong Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp
Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
Take a look at the performance of the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, and find out how well it performs against the competition!
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra : Flagship Class Performance!
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra runs on a boosted variant of the most powerful mobile SoC available for Android devices – the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2.
Fabricated on the latest 4nm TSMC process technology, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 boasts a powerful Adreno 740 GPU, as well as eight processor cores in a quad-cluster architecture :
a Cortex-X3 prime core running at up to 3.36 GHz (instead of 3.2 GHz),
two Cortex-A715 cores running at up to 2.8 GHz,
two Cortex-A710 cores running at up to 2.8 GHz, and
three Cortex-A510 cores running at up to 2.0 GHz.
On paper, this is about as powerful as it gets in 2023, but let’s take a look at how it actually performs!
We first tested the Galaxy S23 Ultra using PCMark, which simulates work applications like web browsing, playing video, writing text and editing photos.
Work 3.0
S23 Ultra
S22 Ultra
S21 Ultra
Note20
Ultra
Galaxy
A52
Mobile Platform
SD 8
Gen 2
SD 8
Gen 1
Exynos
2100
Exynos
990
SD
750G
Performance Score
16408
12860
12535
10523
7874
Web Browsing
15680
10442
10185
8865
7021
Video Editing
7879
7444
6336
6232
5693
Writing
22257
15471
15247
11112
7454
Photo Editing
35533
30177
37847
30789
15812
Data Manipulation
12171
9691
8310
6825
6424
Will you look at that! The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy is 27.5% faster than Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 from last year.
That’s a surprisingly significant boost in performance that people upgrading from the Galaxy S22 Ultra or the S21 Ultra will notice.
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra : Gaming Performance
For gaming, we tested the Galaxy S23 Ultra using 3DMark, with these results :
3DMark
S23 Ultra
S22 Ultra
Z Flip 3
Note20
Ultra
Galaxy
Note10+
Device
SD 8
Gen 2
SD 8
Gen 1
SD 888
Exynos
990
Exynos
9825
Sling Shot Unlimited
16344
11094
9248
8026
3327
Wild Life Unlimited
14554
9106
3952
4504
3288
Wild Life
Extreme
Unlimited
3814
2220
1174
1387
528
Look at that! The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 was a head above the competition when it comes to gaming!
It was 47% to 72% faster than the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, and 77% to 468% faster than the Snapdragon 888!
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy is undoubtedly the gaming smartphone to beat!
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra : Overall Performance
We then tested the Galaxy S23 Ultra using AnTuTu, yielding these results :
AnTuTu
S22
Ultra
S22
Ultra
S21
Ultra
Note20
Ultra
Galaxy
A52
Device
SD 8
Gen 2
SD 8
Gen 1
Exynos
2100
Exynos
990
SD 750G
AnTuTu Score
1212174
889167
624411
522735
341908
CPU
261886
203090
166290
146783
105098
GPU
538823
402617
258995
215205
88068
Memory
236163
146002
120805
89376
60642
UX
175302
137458
78321
71371
88100
The AnTuTu benchmark confirmed that the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is truly a performance beast in every way!
The new Galaxy S23 Ultra is 36% faster than the S22 Ultra, and a whopping 94% faster than the S21 Ultra!
Its CPU was 29% faster, and its GPU was 33% faster than the S22 Ultra. When compared against the S21 Ultra, the Galaxy S23 Ultra has a 57% faster CPU and 2X faster GPU.
Thanks to its improved cooling system, its temperature jumped by about 7°C. That is noticeable, but significantly lower than the 10°C we saw with the S22 Ultra.
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra : Performance Summary
Samsung has done it again – raised the performance bar yet again with the Galaxy S23 Ultra.
Built around the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy – a boosted variant of the fastest mobile SoC that exists for Android devices – it offers a tremendous boost in GPU performance, which should make gamers and mobile content creators happy.
The benchmark results amply demonstrates that you can count on the Galaxy S23 Ultra to easily handle anything and everything you throw at it.
Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
Name : Adrian Wong Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp
Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
We got our hands on the new Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, so here are our hands-on preview, and our first impressions!
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra : Hands-On Preview!
Samsung just launched the Galaxy S23 Ultra, and here is our hands-on preview and first impressions of this flagship smartphone with a 200 MP camera!
Boosted Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Performance!
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is powered by a specially-boosted variant of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 mobile SoC, which features a quad-cluster architecture:
1 x Arm Cortex-X3 core (3.36 GHz, instead of 3.2 GHz)
2 x Arm Cortex-A715 cores (2.8 GHz)
2 x Arm Cortex-A710 cores (2.8 GHz)
3 x Arm Cortex-A510 cores (2.0 GHz)
The new processor feels very snappy, and appears to be more power efficient – the Galaxy S23 Ultra last longer than our Galaxy S22 Ultra on typical use. We will have battery benchmarks up shortly!
The biggest upgrade in the Galaxy S23 Ultra is its new Adaptive Pixel main camera, which is built around the 200 MP Samsung ISOCELL HP2 (S5KHP2) sensor, and features a slightly wider f/1.7 aperture.
This is a large 1/1.3-inch sensor with 200 million pixels, each of which is 0.6 μm in size. The Galaxy S23 Ultra camera will be able to combine up to 16 pixels to form a single large pixel for much better low-light performance.
Video capabilities also got an upgrade, thanks to this new sensor. The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra can now record 8K videos at 30 frames per second, instead of just 24 fps previously.
It also boasts better Adaptive VDIS capability, and improved optical image stabilisation (OIS), delivering silky smooth videos by doubling the angle to ±3°, from the Galaxy S22 Ultra’s camera‘s ±1.5°.
Similar Telephoto + Wide-Angle Cameras
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra reuses the same 3X and 10X zoom cameras from the Galaxy S22 Ultra, right down to their Sony IMX754 sensors.
The ultra-wide angle camera gets a newer sensor – the Sony IMX564, which appears to be an incremental upgrade of the S22 Ultra’s IMX563.
12 MP Selfie Camera
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra also features another camera upgrade in the front. Instead of a 40 MP sensor in the Galaxy S22 Ultra, it now features a new 12 MP camera, with the same f/2.2 aperture.
While this may seem to be a downgrade, it is actually an upgrade as the Galaxy S22 Ultra’s 40 MP sensor defaults to 10 MP. On top of that, it features a Dual Pixel sensor for faster and more accurate auto-focus!
We tried using the front camera, and found that it was superior to the front camera of the Galaxy S22 Ultra. More of this later in our review.
Buttons
The only buttons on Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra are all located on the right side – volume control buttons and a Power switch.
S Pen
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra comes with the same S Pen as the Galaxy S22 Ultra. It too boasts a very quick 2.8 ms latency.
We tried swapping them and both S Pens appear to fit both devices. From what we can tell – they are physically and functionally similar, if not exactly the same.
USB Type C Port
At the bottom of the Galaxy S23 Ultra, you will find a SIM card tray, next to the USB port, as well as the S Pen in its slot.
The USB port is, of course, the new bidirectional Type C port, which is now the EU standard.
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra supports two physical SIM cards, as well as a single eSIM. The SIM tray is located at the bottom, next to the USB port.
Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is protected in the front and in the back by Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2.
Gorilla Glass Victus 2 is not just tougher, it is also made from 22% pre-consumer recycled content!
Armoured Aluminium
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is also protected on all four sides by an Armoured Aluminium frame.
5,000 mAh Fast-Charging Battery
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra comes with a large 5,000 mAh lithium-ion polymer battery, which supports 45 watt fast wired charging, and 15 watt fast wireless charging.
Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
Name : Adrian Wong Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp
Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
We got our hands on a golden sample of the new Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra smartphone, so let’s take a look at what’s inside the box!
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra : A Quick Primer!
Samsung just launched the Galaxy S23 Ultra, with a 200 MP camera, and here is a quick summary of its key features!
Boosted Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Performance!
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is powered by a specially-boosted variant of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 mobile SoC, which features a quad-cluster architecture:
1 x Arm Cortex-X3 core (3.36 GHz, instead of 3.2 GHz)
2 x Arm Cortex-A715 cores (2.8 GHz)
2 x Arm Cortex-A710 cores (2.8 GHz)
3 x Arm Cortex-A510 cores (2.0 GHz)
200 MP Main Camera
Arguably the biggest upgrade in the Galaxy S23 Ultra is its new Adaptive Pixel main camera, which is built around the 200 MP Samsung ISOCELL HP2 (S5KHP2) sensor, and features a slightly wider f/1.7 aperture.
This is a large 1/1.3-inch sensor with 200 million pixels, each of which is 0.6 μm in size. The Galaxy S23 Ultra camera will be able to combine up to 16 pixels to form a single large pixel for much better low-light performance.
Video capabilities also got an upgrade, thanks to this new sensor. The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra can now record 8K videos at 30 frames per second, instead of just 24 fps previously.
It also boasts better Adaptive VDIS capability, and improved optical image stabilisation (OIS), delivering silky smooth videos by doubling the angle to ±3°, from the Galaxy S22 Ultra’s camera‘s ±1.5°.
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra reuses the same 3X and 10X zoom cameras from the Galaxy S22 Ultra, right down to their Sony IMX754 sensors.
The ultra-wide angle camera gets a newer sensor – the Sony IMX564, which appears to be an incremental upgrade of the S22 Ultra’s IMX563.
12 MP Selfie Camera
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra also features another camera upgrade in the front. Instead of a 40 MP sensor in the Galaxy S22 Ultra, it now features a new 12 MP camera, with the same f/2.2 aperture.
While this may seem to be a downgrade, it is actually an upgrade as the Galaxy S22 Ultra’s 40 MP sensor defaults to 10 MP. On top of that, it features a Dual Pixel sensor for faster and more accurate auto-focus!
Colour Options
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra smartphones will come in four colour options:
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is protected in the front and in the back by Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2.
Gorilla Glass Victus 2 is not just tougher, it is also made from 22% pre-consumer recycled content!
5,000 mAh Fast-Charging Battery
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra comes with a large 5,000 mAh lithium-ion polymer battery, which supports 45 watt fast wired charging, and 15 watt fast wireless charging.
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra : What’s Inside The Box?
We got our hands on a golden sample of the new Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra smartphone at the official launch in Singapore. Let’s take a quick look at the box before we check out what’s inside!
Once you fully unbox the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, this is what you will find inside:
the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra smartphone
a Quick Start Guide
a USB Type C to USB Type C data and charging cable
a SIM tray extraction pin
That’s it! While the Galaxy S23 Ultra supports 45 watt fast charging, it does not come with the charger. You will need to purchase it separately. Neither does it come with a TPU bumper case to tide you over until you get a better one.
Here are some photos I took earlier in my hotel room in Singapore:
Do note that this is a golden sample – the first examples of the final, customer-approved device manufactured at the Samsung factory. While the device itself is “final”, there may be some differences in its packaging.
For example, in the video above and the following photos below, you will see that the box was not sealed. Rather the two security stickers are inside the box.
In addition, the box lacks the usual label at the back which lists a summary of its key specifications, as well as the storage capacity of the device inside.
The actual retail box in your country may also include additional pamphlets, although you should not count on getting any additional accessories.
Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
Name : Adrian Wong Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp
Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
Samsung just launched the new Galaxy S23 Plus smartphone, and here is our comparison of all four main colours!
Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus : 4 Main Colours Compared!
Samsung just launched the new Galaxy S23 Plus smartphone, and it will be available in four main colours with a matte finish :
Phantom Black
Green
Lavender
Cream
Ahead of the Galaxy S23 Plus’ official launch, we were given special access to all four main colours it will be offered through retail stores, including Samsung Experience Stores.
So I was able to record this video comparing the new Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus smartphone in all four colour options. Take a look at all four colours, and let us know which you prefer!
In addition to the four main colours, Samsung will also make these four special colours available exclusively through online orders on the Samsung.com website:
Lime
Sky Blue
Graphite
Red
However, I have no idea if these four special colours are readily available for the pre-order, or will be held back until after the pre-order period.
Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus : Same Price For All Colours!
Regardless of the colour you prefer, the Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus will only vary in price according to storage capacity.
Here are the official launch prices for the two available storage capacities.
Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
Name : Adrian Wong Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp
Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
Samsung just launched the new Galaxy S23 Ultra smartphone, and here is our comparison of all four main colours!
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra : 4 Main Colours Compared!
Samsung just launched the new Galaxy S23 Ultra smartphone, and it will be available in four main colours with a matte finish :
Phantom Black
Green
Lavender
Cream
Ahead of the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s official launch, we were given special access to all four main colours it will be offered through retail stores, including Samsung Experience Stores.
So I was able to record this video comparing the new Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra smartphone in all four colours. Take a look at all four colours, and let us know which you prefer!
In addition to the four main colours, Samsung will also make these four special colours available exclusively through online orders on the Samsung.com website:
Lime
Sky Blue
Graphite
Red
However, I have no idea if these four special colours are readily available for the pre-order, or will be held back until after the pre-order period.
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra : Same Price For All Colours!
Regardless of the colour you prefer, the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra will only vary in price according to storage capacity.
Here are the official launch prices for the three available storage capacities:
Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
Name : Adrian Wong Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp
Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
Samsung just launched the Galaxy S23 Ultra, with a 200 MP camera, and here is everything you need to know about its latest flagship smartphone!
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra : Everything You Need To Know!
Samsung just launched the Galaxy S23 Ultra, with a 200 MP camera, and here is everything you need to know about its latest flagship smartphone!
Boosted Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is powered by a specially-boosted variant of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 mobile SoC, which features a quad-cluster architecture:
1 x Arm Cortex-X3 core (3.36 GHz, instead of 3.2 GHz)
2 x Arm Cortex-A715 cores (2.8 GHz)
2 x Arm Cortex-A710 cores (2.8 GHz)
3 x Arm Cortex-A510 cores (2.0 GHz)
Here is a quick comparison between the boosted Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, and the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 mobile SoC used in the Galaxy S22 Ultra:
Specifications
Galaxy S23 Ultra
Galaxy S22 Ultra
Mobile SoC
Snapdragon 8 Gen 2
Snapdragon 8 Gen 1
CPU Clusters
4
3
CPU Cores
1 x Cortex-X3 (3.36 GHz)
2 x Cortex-A715 (2.8 GHz)
2 x Cortex-A710 (2.8 GHz)
3 x Cortex-A510 (2.0 GHz)
1 x Cortex-X2 (3.0 GHz)
3 x Cortex-A710 (2.5 GHz)
4 x Cortex-A510 (1.8 GHz)
GPU
Qualcomm Adreno 740
Qualcomm Adreno 730
200 MP Main Camera
Arguably the biggest upgrade in the Galaxy S23 Ultra is its new main camera, which is built around the 200 MP Samsung ISOCELL HP2 (S5KHP2) sensor, and features a slightly wider f/1.7 aperture.
This is a large 1/1.3-inch sensor with 200 million pixels, each of which is 0.6 μm in size. The Galaxy S23 Ultra camera will be able to combine up to 16 pixels to form a single large pixel – a pixel binning technique called Tetra2pixel.
The number of pixels binned will vary according to the photography conditions. In low-light conditions, up to 16 pixels can be combined to create a large 2.4 μm pixel, for a 12.5 MP photo. Samsung is calling this sensor an Adaptive Pixel sensor.
This new Adaptive Pixel sensor also offers better auto-focus performance in low-light conditions through Super QPD autofocus. By using all 200 million pixels, which are physically grouped as four pixels under a single microns, the sensor can detect patterns in both vertical and horizontal directions for faster low-light focusing.
I had the opportunity to test its 200 MP camera’s Nightography capabilities before the launch, and came away very impressed. Forget about the 200 MP number. Its night photography capabilities is where it really shines!
Video capabilities also got an upgrade, thanks to this new sensor. The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra can now record 8K videos at 30 frames per second, instead of just 24 fps previously.
It also boasts better Adaptive VDIS capability, and improved optical image stabilisation (OIS), delivering silky smooth videos by doubling the angle to ±3°, from the Galaxy S22 Ultra’s camera‘s ±1.5°.
Similar Telephoto + Wide-Angle Cameras
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra reuses the same 3X and 10X zoom cameras from the Galaxy S22 Ultra, right down to their Sony IMX754 sensors.
The ultra-wide angle camera gets a newer sensor – the Sony IMX564, which appears to be an incremental upgrade of the S22 Ultra’s IMX563.
12 MP Selfie Camera
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra also features another camera upgrade in the front. Instead of a 40 MP sensor in the Galaxy S22 Ultra, it now features a new 12 MP camera, with the same f/2.2 aperture.
While this may seem to be a downgrade, it is actually an upgrade as the Galaxy S22 Ultra’s 40 MP sensor defaults to 10 MP. On top of that, it features a Dual Pixel sensor for faster and more accurate auto-focus!
I recently tested the front camera in an exclusive media preview session in Singapore, and found it to be significantly better than the Galaxy S22 Ultra’s front camera!
Colour Options
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra smartphones will come in four colour options:
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is protected in the front and in the back by Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2.
Gorilla Glass Victus 2 is not just tougher, it is also made from 22% pre-consumer recycled content!
5,000 mAh Fast-Charging Battery
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra comes with a large 5,000 mAh lithium-ion polymer battery, which supports 45 watt fast wired charging, and 15 watt fast wireless charging.
While the increased price may be disappointing, Samsung is offering some great pre-order offers:
you get a free upgrade to the next storage option!
if you buy from the Samsung Online Store, you get an RM400 e-Voucher
you get 30% off Samsung accessories, Samsung Care+, Galaxy tablets, Watch, and Buds earphones!
you get to save up to RM600 more when you trade in!
Please Support My Work!
Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
Name : Adrian Wong Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp
Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
Samsung just launched the Galaxy S23 Plus, and here is everything you need to know about its latest flagship smartphone!
Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus : Everything You Need To Know!
Samsung just launched the Galaxy S23 Plus, and here is everything you need to know about its latest flagship smartphone!
Boosted Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus will use a specially-boosted variant of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 mobile SoC, which features a quad-cluster architecture:
1 x Arm Cortex-X3 core (3.36 GHz, instead of 3.2 GHz)
2 x Arm Cortex-A715 cores (2.8 GHz)
2 x Arm Cortex-A710 cores (2.8 GHz)
3 x Arm Cortex-A510 cores (2.0 GHz)
Here is a quick comparison between the boosted Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, and the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 mobile SoC used in the Galaxy S22 Plus:
Specifications
Galaxy S23+
Galaxy S22+
Mobile SoC
Snapdragon 8 Gen 2
Snapdragon 8 Gen 1
CPU Clusters
4
3
CPU Cores
1 x Cortex-X3 (3.36 GHz)
2 x Cortex-A715 (2.8 GHz)
2 x Cortex-A710 (2.8 GHz)
3 x Cortex-A510 (2.0 GHz)
1 x Cortex-X2 (3.0 GHz)
3 x Cortex-A710 (2.5 GHz)
4 x Cortex-A510 (1.8 GHz)
GPU
Qualcomm Adreno 740
Qualcomm Adreno 730
Same Rear Cameras From Galaxy S22 Plus
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus uses the same rear cameras as last year’s Galaxy S22 Plus.
a 50 MP Dual Pixel camera, f/1.8 aperture,
a 12 MP ultra-wide angle camera, f/2.2 aperture, and
a 10 MP telephoto camera with 3X optical zoom, f/2.4 aperture
12 MP Selfie Camera
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus, however, gets an upgrade in the front, with a new 12 MP camera with an f/2.2 aperture.
This should be the same 12 MP front camera used in the Galaxy S23 Ultra, which I managed to test in an exclusive media preview session in Singapore, and found to be significantly better than the Galaxy S22 Ultra’s front camera!
Colour Options
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus smartphones will come in four colour options:
While the increased price may be disappointing, Samsung is offering some great pre-order offers:
you get a free upgrade to the next storage option!
if you buy from the Samsung Online Store, you get an RM400 e-Voucher
you get 30% off Samsung accessories, Samsung Care+, Galaxy tablets, Watch, and Buds earphones!
you get to save up to RM600 more when you trade in!
Please Support My Work!
Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
Name : Adrian Wong Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp
Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
Samsung just launched the new Galaxy S23 smartphone, and here is our comparison of all four main colours!
Samsung Galaxy S23 : 4 Main Colours Compared!
Samsung just launched the new Galaxy S23 smartphone, and it will be available in four main colours with a matte finish :
Phantom Black
Green
Lavender
Cream
Ahead of the Galaxy S23’s official launch, we were given special access to all four main colours it will be offered through retail stores, including Samsung Experience Stores.
So I was able to record this video comparing the new Samsung Galaxy S23 smartphone in all four colour options. Take a look at all four colours, and let us know which you prefer!
In addition to the four main colours, Samsung will also make these four special colours available exclusively through online orders on the Samsung.com website:
Lime
Sky Blue
Graphite
Red
However, I have no idea if these four special colours are readily available for the pre-order, or will be held back until after the pre-order period.
Samsung Galaxy S23 : Same Price For All Colours!
Regardless of the colour you prefer, the Samsung Galaxy S23 will only vary in price according to storage capacity.
Here are the official launch prices for the two available storage capacities.
Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
Name : Adrian Wong Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp
Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
Samsung just launched the Galaxy S23, and here is everything you need to know about its latest compact flagship smartphone!
Samsung Galaxy S23 : Everything You Need To Know!
Samsung just launched the Galaxy S23 smartphone, and here is everything you need to know about its latest flagship smartphone!
Boosted Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2
The Samsung Galaxy S23 will use a specially-boosted variant of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 mobile SoC, which features a quad-cluster architecture:
1 x Arm Cortex-X3 core (3.36 GHz, instead of 3.2 GHz)
2 x Arm Cortex-A715 cores (2.8 GHz)
2 x Arm Cortex-A710 cores (2.8 GHz)
3 x Arm Cortex-A510 cores (2.0 GHz)
Here is a quick comparison between the boosted Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, and the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 mobile SoC used in the Galaxy S22:
Specifications
Galaxy S23
Galaxy S22
Mobile SoC
Snapdragon 8 Gen 2
Snapdragon 8 Gen 1
CPU Clusters
4
3
CPU Cores
1 x Cortex-X3 (3.36 GHz)
2 x Cortex-A715 (2.8 GHz)
2 x Cortex-A710 (2.8 GHz)
3 x Cortex-A510 (2.0 GHz)
1 x Cortex-X2 (3.0 GHz)
3 x Cortex-A710 (2.5 GHz)
4 x Cortex-A510 (1.8 GHz)
GPU
Qualcomm Adreno 740
Qualcomm Adreno 730
Same Rear Cameras From Galaxy S22
The Samsung Galaxy S23 uses the same rear cameras as last year’s Galaxy S22.
a 50 MP Dual Pixel camera, f/1.8 aperture,
a 12 MP ultra-wide angle camera, f/2.2 aperture, and
a 10 MP telephoto camera with 3X optical zoom, f/2.4 aperture
12 MP Selfie Camera
The Samsung Galaxy S23, however, gets an upgrade in the front, with a new 12 MP camera with an f/2.2 aperture.
This should be the same 12 MP front camera used in the Galaxy S23 Ultra, which I managed to test in an exclusive media preview session in Singapore, and found to be significantly better than the Galaxy S22 Ultra’s front camera!
Colour Options
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus smartphones will come in four colour options:
While the increased price may be disappointing, Samsung is offering some great pre-order offers:
you get a free upgrade to the next storage option!
if you buy from the Samsung Online Store, you get an RM400 e-Voucher
you get 30% off Samsung accessories, Samsung Care+, Galaxy tablets, Watch, and Buds earphones!
you get to save up to RM600 more when you trade in!
Please Support My Work!
Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
Name : Adrian Wong Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp
Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
Take a look at the key details and specifications that has leaked ahead of the official launch of the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra!
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra : Everything Leaked So Far!
Ahead of the official launch of the Galaxy S23 Ultra, key details and specifications of Samsung’s upcoming flagship smartphone have leaked!
Boosted Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra will use a specially-boosted variant of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 mobile SoC, which features a quad-cluster architecture:
1 x Arm Cortex-X3 core (3.36 GHz, instead of 3.2 GHz)
2 x Arm Cortex-A715 cores (2.8 GHz)
2 x Arm Cortex-A710 cores (2.8 GHz)
3 x Arm Cortex-A510 cores (2.0 GHz)
Here is a quick comparison between the boosted Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, and the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 mobile SoC used in the Galaxy S22 Ultra:
Specifications
Galaxy S23 Ultra
Galaxy S22 Ultra
Mobile SoC
Snapdragon 8 Gen 2
Snapdragon 8 Gen 1
CPU Clusters
4
3
CPU Cores
1 x Cortex-X3 (3.36 GHz)
2 x Cortex-A715 (2.8 GHz)
2 x Cortex-A710 (2.8 GHz)
3 x Cortex-A510 (2.0 GHz)
1 x Cortex-X2 (3.0 GHz)
3 x Cortex-A710 (2.5 GHz)
4 x Cortex-A510 (1.8 GHz)
GPU
Qualcomm Adreno 740
Qualcomm Adreno 730
200 MP Main Camera
Arguably the biggest upgrade in the Galaxy S23 Ultra is its new main camera, which is built around the 200 MP Samsung ISOCELL HP2 (S5KHP2) sensor, and features a slightly wider f/1.7 aperture.
This is a large 1/1.3-inch sensor with 200 million pixels, each of which is 0.6 μm in size. The Galaxy S23 Ultra camera will be able to combine up to 16 pixels to form a single large pixel – a pixel binning technique called Tetra2pixel.
The number of pixels binned will vary according to the photography conditions. In low-light conditions, up to 16 pixels can be combined to create a large 2.4 μm pixel, for a 12.5 MP photo.
On top of that, the new Samsung ISOCELL HP2 sensor also offers better auto-focus performance in low-light conditions through Super QPD autofocus. By using all 200 million pixels, which are physically grouped as four pixels under a single microns, the sensor can detect patterns in both vertical and horizontal directions for faster low-light focusing.
Similar Telephoto + Wide-Angle Cameras
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra will reuse the same 3X and 10X zoom cameras from the Galaxy S22 Ultra, right down to their Sony IMX754 sensors.
The ultra-wide angle camera gets a newer sensor – the Sony IMX564, which appears to be an incremental upgrade of the S22 Ultra’s IMX563.
Colour Options
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra smartphones will come in four colour options:
The specifications for the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra (SM-918B) smartphone have leaked, and in this table, we compare it to last year’s Galaxy S22 Ultra!
Sadly, the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra will be significantly more expensive than last year’s Galaxy S22 Ultra!. Here are the leaked prices for Europe:
Models
Variant
Launch
Prices
Premium Over
S22 Models
Galaxy S23 Ultra
8 GB + 256 GB
12 GB + 512 GB
€1399/1409
€1589
NA
+ €139
While the increased price may be disappointing, Samsung will potentially boost pre-order sales by offering a free upgrade to the next storage variant.
For example, if you pre-order the Galaxy S23 Ultra with 256 GB storage, you will get the 512 GB variant instead. This is based on a leak on the Samsung UK Business portal that states:
Pre-order from Samsung.com by 16.02.23. Operates as a price discount:
Pre-order the larger storage variant (S23 256GB, 523+ 512GB, 523 Ultra 512GB) by 16.02.23 and pay the future price of the smaller storage variant (523 128GB, S23+ 256GB, S23 Ultra 256GB).
This free upgrade will only be offered for the pre-order period, and is essentially a 10% discount on the price of the higher-capacity model.
Please Support My Work!
Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
Name : Adrian Wong Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp
Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
Will your phone get hacked while you are voting in GE15?!
Take a look at the viral claim, and find out what the facts really are!
Claim : Your Phone Will Get Hacked While You Vote In GE15!
This warning has gone viral on WhatsApp and social media, claiming that your phone will get hacked while you are voting in GE15!
The post is long, so feel free to skip to the next section for the facts!
For first time voters, it might be tempting to bring your phone along with you to document and record your experience voting for the first time.
However, the Election Commission (EC) has announced that the use of mobile phones inside polling stations will not be allowed.
As such, you may use your phone to kill time while standing in line, but you’d have to surrender your phone once you collect your ballot paper.
But, according to a Malaysian self-taught ethical hacker, this might not be the wisest move.
In a Twitter post that has gone viral, Twitter user @BeardtimusPrime shared that leaving your phone unattended and in the hands of volunteers at polling stations raises many security bells.
In a response to an infographic about the on-the-day process, he said that you should never leave your smartphone unattended and if you had to, you should at least put security tape over the USB/Lightning port before handing it over.
How could that be possible?
In an interview with WORLD OF BUZZ, the Twitter user explained that the issue lies in the fact that you’d be handing over your phone to volunteers, with close to zero vetting and background checks.
“Physically handing over your device is the worst thing to do when it comes to security. It’s similar to sharing passwords.”
He then explained that there are various ways hackers could access your data with your device in their hands and that simply turning off a smartphone doesn’t truly turn it off unless you were to take the battery out which requires special tools.
“Malware injection is still possible as the device will be in a ‘soft-off’ state,” he explained.
He then shared an explainer video on how hackers could easily access your data simply by plugging in what appears to be a standard cable which would allow them to remotely control and access your phone.
The video showed how people who have managed to access your phone would be able to read your messages, send messages from your phone and other worrisome things.
If you’d like to find out more on how exactly this can happen, checkout the video below (tap link to view video).
We hope that this will serve as a reminder to never leave your phone unattended. Are you still planning to bring your phone to the voting stations?
Truth : Your Phone Won’t Get Hacked While You Vote In GE15!
This is yet another example of FAKE NEWS circulating on WhatsApp and social media, and here are the reasons why…
Fact #1 : Phones Are Left On KTM Table In Individual Boxes
First, let us establish some basic facts about how phones are “surrendered” before voting in GE15:
Each polling station (Saluran) will have two voting booths, allowing two voters to mark their ballots at the same time.
The KTM (Ketua Tempat Mengundi – Head of Polling Station) will have two cardboard boxes – one for each phone.
On the way to the voting booth, each voter will place his/her phone into one of the two cardboard boxes on the KTM’s table.
After casting the ballots, the voter will retrieve his/her phone from the cardboard box.
The polling clerks and the head of the polling station (KTM) will NOT touch any phone. Voters must place and retrieve their phones by themselves.
Fact #2 : There Are Many Witnesses In Each Polling Station
Each polling station has at least one police officer, three polling clerks and a KTM (Head of the Polling Station), as well as two or more observers.
That’s seven or more people arranged along three sides of the room, which means the phones placed on the KTM’s table are visible to all of them. Any attempt by anyone but the voters to handle the phones would be instantly noticed.
Fact #3 : KTM Is Usually A Teacher Working In That School
In Malaysian elections, schools are generally used as voting centres, with classrooms converted into polling stations.
Usually, the Malaysia Election Commission (SPR) appoints teachers of the same school as the KTM – head of each polling station.
While this does not mean some of these teachers are not secretly awesome hackers in their spare time, it means that your phones are generally being watched by teachers.
If you can trust school teachers with your kids, you can certainly trust them to WATCH OVER your precious phone.
Fact #4 : Marking Your Ballots Take Less Than A Minute
The only time your phone is out of your view is when you are marking your ballots in the voting booth.
How long do you reckon it takes to mark X on one or two ballots, and fold them? Maybe 10 seconds? 20 seconds if you are slow. No matter what – your mobile phone will only be out of sight for less than a minute.
Do you actually believe any hacker would have the time to hook up your phone to any cable, never mind hack it, in less than one minute?
Fact #5 : Juice Jacking Requires Cable To Be Plugged Into Phone
What this “ethical hacker” is referring to is called juice jacking. Juice jacking requires a cable to be plugged into your phone. It cannot happen wirelessly, because it relies on USB vulnerabilities.
As noted in Fact #1, you will place your phone into a large cardboard box. You will be able to see that there are no cables present.
While you are marking your vote, the box containing your phone will be fully visible to at least six other people in the room, if you discount the “nefarious KTM who is secretly an evil hacker”.
Even a “nefarious KTM who is secretly an evil hacker” will have trouble taking your phone out of the box, without any of the other people in the room noticing, never mind actually plugging in a cable.
That’s why the real risk of juice jacking isn’t that 20-30 seconds you spend voting in GE15, but when you plug your phone into a free USB power socket.
If you are paranoid, just cover your phone’s USB or Lightning port with tape, before you place it in the designated box.
Fact #6 : Juice Jacking Vulnerabilities Have Been Mitigated
As ethical hackers reveal security risks like juice jacking, Google and Apple have taken measures to mitigate the risks.
Both Android and iOS, for example, no longer allow the phone to be mounted as a drive when plugged in over USB. You will get a prompt asking you to confirm the step, which is not possible for the hacker to do without first unlocking the phone.
There have also been many Android and iOS security updates that patch vulnerabilities that could potentially lead to juice jacking attacks. That’s why it’s so important to keep your phone operating system updated.
Please WATCH OUT about such FAKE NEWS on WhatsApp and social media.
Remember – democracy does not guarantee us a good government. Democracy only guarantees us the right to vote out a bad government!
Happy voting on 19 November 2022!
Please Support My Work!
Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
Name : Adrian Wong Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp
Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
Can the “Mexico Did It” photo infect your phone with a virus in just 5 seconds?!
Take a look at the viral claim, and find out what the facts really are!
Claim : “Mexico Did It” Photo Will Infect Your Phone With A Virus!
The warning about the “Mexico Did It” photo or image that will infect your phone with a virus keeps going… viral on WhatsApp and social media.
There are two versions so far – in English, and in Spanish.
FYI: They are going to publish an image that shows how Covid 19 is cured in Mexico and it is called “Mexico did it”, do not open it because it enters the phone in 5 seconds and it cannot be stopped in any way. It’s a virus. Pass it on to your friends and family. Now they also said it on CNN and BBC. DO NOT OPEN IT
Pass it on
Van a publicar una imagen que muestra como el Covid 19 se cura en Mexico y se llama “Mexico lo hizo” no lo abran porque entra al telefono en 5 segundos y no se puede frenar de ninguna forma. Es un virus. Pasenlo a sus familiares y amigos. Ahora lo dijeron tambien en CNN y BBC
Truth : There Is No “Mexico Did It” Photo / Virus!
This is just another example of FAKE NEWS circulating on WhatsApp and social media like Facebook and Twitter, and here are the reasons why…
Fact #1 : This Viral Message Has Been Circulating Since 2021
The viral message about the “Mexico Did It” photo or virus has been circulating on Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter since April 2021.
Fact #2 : This Is A Modified Version Of “Argentina Is Doing It”
This viral message is actually a modified version of an earlier fake message, which claims that a video on WhatsApp called “Argentina is doing it” will hack your phone in 10 seconds.
It just replaces Argentina with Mexico, a video with a photo, and changes it from a 10-second hack into a 5-second virus attack.
Those two fake news are, in turn, probably based on the even older fake claim that hackers are using greeting photos and videos to hack your phone.
Fact #3 : There Is No “Mexico Did It” Photo / Virus
There is no such thing as a “Mexico Did It” image or photo. Neither is there a virus called “Mexico Did It“.
There is also no known virus that can infect your phone with a virus simply using a photo or image.
Fact #4 : CNN + BBC Never Reported On Such A virus
It’s been over 1.5 years since this fake story first appeared on Facebook and WhatsApp, but neither CNN nor BBC has ever reported on a “Mexico Did It” virus.
Fact #5 : Image-Based Malware Is Possible, But…
Digital steganography is a method by which secret messages and other data can be hidden in digital files, like a photo or a video, or even a music file.
It is also possible to embed malicious code within a photo, but it won’t be a full-fledged malware that can execute by itself.
At most, it can be used to hide the malware payload from antivirus scanners, which is pretty clever to be honest…
Fact #6 : Image-Based Malware Requires User Action
In January 2019, cybercriminals created an online advertisement with a script that appears innocuous and would pass any malware check.
However, the image itself has an “almost white” rectangle that is recognised by the script, triggering it to redirect the user to the cybercriminals’ website. Once there, the victim is tricked into installing a Trojan disguised as an Adobe Flash Player update.
Such a clever way to bypass malware checks, but even so, this image-based malware requires user action.
You cannot get infected by the Trojan if you practice good “Internet hygiene” by not downloading or installing anything from unknown websites.
Fact #7 : Malicious Code Executes Immediately
If you accidentally download and trigger malware, it will execute immediately. It won’t take 5 seconds, as the hoax message claims.
Generally, malware won’t wait a few seconds before it infects your devices. Waiting will only increase the risk of detection.
Unless the malware creator designed it to only infect your phone when you are sleeping (like the early hours of the morning), it pays to execute immediately.
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Here are a few tips on how to maximise the FlexCam capability of the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4 smartphone, to create unique and more appealing photos and videos!
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4 : FlexCam Photography!
The Galaxy Z Flip4 is more than just a smartphone with a foldable display. Its foldable form factor allows you to make use of a more versatile photography method Samsung calls FlexCam.
FlexCam basically makes use of the Galaxy Z Flip4’s ability to “bend” the front and rear cameras at different angles for new perspectives.
This offers new creative ways for you to make use of the front 10 MP camera, and the dual 12 MP cameras at the back.
To help you maximise the Galaxy Z Flip4’s foldable form factor, here are a few FlexCam photography tips to get the best possible photos!
Take Photos At Any Angle!
Thanks to the Galaxy Z Flip4’s foldable design, you can now try out unique angles, and take hands-free photos without using a selfie stick or tripod.
You no longer need to ask your friends or strangers to take your photos. Just prop your phone on any convenient surface to take your photos from either the front or rear cameras!
Bonus : Try putting the Galaxy Z Flip4 on different surfaces and angles, to take photos and videos from different perspectives. Try both cameras too!
Steady Your Shot
Whether you are using the front or rear cameras, its foldable design allows you to place the Galaxy Z Flip4 on any flat surface, to give you a steady shot for both photos and videos.
Folding the Galaxy Z Flip4 also lets you get a firmer and steadier grip while try out new perspectives in your photos and videos. Its foldable design lets you record videos like a camcorder!
Bonus : The Galaxy Z Flip4 has an upgraded main camera with a 65% brighter sensor, which makes it even easier to take sharp photos even in low light conditions.
Night Mode + Night Hyperlapse
What you may not realise is that Samsung introduced three special night photography modes.
Night Mode lets you capture clear and bright photos even in very dim or dark conditions, by capturing multiple frames and combining them together.
Night Hyperlapse lets you create impressive motion videos at night, without any blur!
Super Night Solution minimises noise for sharp video at night, with enhanced OIS and VDIS.
With these three features, and the aforementioned brighter sensor, you will never have to worry about taking photos in the dark!
High-Resolution Selfies!
The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4 has a large Cover Screen which doubles as a viewfinder for its dual 12 MP cameras, allowing you to take incredibly high-resolution selfie and wefie photos in both normal and wide angles.
Thanks to enhanced Quick Shot, you can take selfies and defies quickly using the rear cameras, using the Cover Screen to make sure everyone’s in the frame.
Don’t forget to give its Portrait Mode a try, for a more appealing portrait with better blurring of the background (bokeh).
Quick Shot can also flex open until FlexCam takes over, so you can capture hands-free photos at both high and low angles.
Now that we shared those FlexCam photography tips with you, be sure to give them a try with your Galaxy Z Flip4, and level up your photos and videos!
To Try FlexCam, Buy Your Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4 Today!
The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 comes in four colour options, as well as a special Bespoke Edition :
Graphite – legacy colour
Pink Gold – new colour
Blue – new colour
Bora Purple – their signature colour this year
These are the available models and launch prices for the Z Flip 4 :
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Name : Adrian Wong Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
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Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
Samsung just introduced a new Fun Mode for Galaxy A series smartphones!
Take a look at the new Fun Mode, and give it a try!
Samsung Galaxy A Series Gets New Fun Mode!
Samsung is introducing a new Fun Mode in the proprietary camera app of their Galaxy A series smartphones, which adds Snapchat’s AR Lenses!
Samsung Galaxy A series smartphone users will be able to use Fun Mode to add playful, quirky lenses to their photos, turning them into fun and unique content to share with friends, or upload to social media!
Fun Mode is powered by Snap’s Camera Kit, allowing businesses and developers to bring the power of Snap’s augmented reality into their own applications.
Galaxy users are constantly seeking new ways to express their creativity. Samsung is constantly innovating to empower users to do more of what they love.
That is why we continue to grow our partnership with Snap, one of the biggest and most creative augmented reality platforms, so we can explore further improvements and bring one of the best camera experiences to more users.
– Woncheol Chai, EVP and Head of Experience Planning Team at Mobile eXperience Business, Samsung Electronics
Samsung and Snap have been working to offer users around the world more engaging and localized experiences. In 2021, they launched region-specific AR Lenses in India, and since then have expanded to other countries including Germany, Indonesia, Brazil, the Philippines, and Mexico.
Lenses are the way over 250 million Snapchatters engage with augmented reality every day, and we’re thrilled that these experiences delight and resonate with Samsung Galaxy’s community.
Integrating the Camera Kit into Samsung Galaxy’s proprietary camera is an opportunity to collaborate on compelling, local AR experiences and bring them to Galaxy users around the world.
– Ben Schwerin, SVP of Content and Partnerships at Snap.
To make use of Fun Mode, just update the Camera app in your Samsung Galaxy A series smartphone!
Please Support My Work!
Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
Name : Adrian Wong Bank Transfer : CIMB 7064555917 (Swift Code : CIBBMYKL)
Credit Card / Paypal : https://paypal.me/techarp
Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.
He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4 comes with a larger 3,700 mAh battery, which is 400 mAh (12%) larger than last year’s Galaxy Z Flip3.
To test its battery life, we turned off Automatic Brightness, and set its display brightness to 50%.
Why 50%? That is actually slightly higher than the average indoor brightness level of 40% during the day, and is what we usually use in all our mobile battery life tests.
It is important to fix the brightness level, to make sure the screen brightness does not change as the ambient brightness changes.
We then ran the PCMark Work 3.0 battery life test until its battery capacity dropped to 20% several times, and this was the best result we obtained with the Standard and Adaptive refresh rates :
Will you look at that! The battery life for both options are now much closer than with the Z Flip3!
The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4 has a battery life of just over 9 hours with Adaptive refresh rate enabled, and 10.25 hours with the Standard refresh rate!
Let’s compare its battery life at 60 Hz and 120 Hz, against the S22 Ultra, S21 Ultra and Z Flip 3 smartphones.
Standard Refresh Rate (60 Hz)
The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4 naturally has the best battery life with the refresh rate set to 60 Hz.
But what’s really important to note here is that it is as power-efficient as the Galaxy S22 Ultra, about 10% more efficient than the Z Flip3, and 18% more efficient than the S21 Ultra!
Work 3.0
S22 Ultra
Z Flip4
Z Flip 3
S21 Ultra
Battery Capacity
5,000 mAh
3,700 mAh
3,300 mAh
5,000 mAh
Battery Life
14 hrs 15 mins
10 hrs
14 mins
8 hrs 11 mins
11 hrs 22 mins
Utilisation
per min.
4.68 mAh
4.82 mAh
5.38 mAh
5.87 mAh
Adaptive Refresh Rate (120 Hz)
While the Galaxy Z Flip4 looks like the Z Flip 3, its energ
