Apple may be planning to limit data transfer and charging speed on USB-C ports used in its devices, by introducing MFI certification!
Earlier : Apple Forced To Adopt USB-C Port!
Apple has been hesitant about moving to the superior USB-C port for years, limiting it to Mac computers and iPad tablets.
The 12-inch MacBook was the first Mac computer to get USB-C in 2015, while the 11-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro tablets made the switch from Lighting to USB-C in 2018. However, Apple stubbornly refused to migrate its iPhones to USB-C.
The choice to stick with their proprietary Lightning port was taken out of their hands on October 4, 2022, when the European Parliament voted decisively to adopt the USB-C (USB Type C) port as the new standard for all portable devices.
By the end of 2024, all portable devices sold in the EU must come with a USB-C charging port. This directive is more or less directed at Apple, which is the only brand that continues to use its own proprietary Lighting connector.
Apple MFI plan to limit speed, power on USB-C leaked!
Now that the EU is firmly forcing everyone to use USB-C, Apple will start using the USB Type C port in its upcoming iPhone 15 models.
However, Apple apparently isn’t going to give up its lucrative side gig of selling its users MFI (Made for iPhone) cables and accessories at exorbitant prices.
According to ShrimpApplePro, who accurately leaked on the iPhone 14, Apple will introduce MFI for its USB-C cables and accessories.
And even worse – cables that lack MFI certification will have their data and charging speeds limited.
Yeah usb-c with MFI is happening
Foxconn already in mass production accessories like EarPods and cables
Cables w no MFI will be software limited in data and charging speed
MFI-certified cables have a small authenticator chip to verify that they are “certified” to work with Apple devices. If you use cables that lack this authenticator chip, you will get the “This accessory is not supported” warning on your Apple device.
Apple gets paid for every authenticator chip, so MFI cables and accessories are priced at a premium, even if they work just as well as non-MFI cables and accessories.
Apple is already expected to limit the iPhone 15 base model, and iPhone 15 Plus, to USB 2.0 data transfer speeds of up to 480 Mbps (60 MB/s), while Pro models will get the much higher transfer rates of 20 Gbps (USB-C 3.2) or even 40 Gbps (Thunderbolt 3).
People may not bat an eye at Apple limiting data transfer speeds to differentiate their Pro models from the non-Pro models, but limiting battery recharging speeds for non-MFI cables should ruffle some feathers. After all, there is technically no good reason why Apple cannot allow their devices to benefit from faster charging using non-MFI cables.
Naturally, Apple benefits financially from introducing MFI for USB-C. It will force Apple users to pay the notorious “Apple tax” on top of the “Apple premium” they paid for their Apple devices.
Imagine if Apple introduces MFI for USB-C and phases that in for future Mac computers and iPad tablets, as well as the upcoming iPhone 15 smartphones. Even those who have been happily using regular, non-MFI USB-C cables will have to switch them to MFI cables, and for what?
There is really no discernible benefit for Apple users to use MFI-certified cables over regular USB-C cables. It’s not like they will give your Apple devices magical powers. If there is any reduction in transfer rate or charging speed, it will only happen because Apple intentionally chose to make it so.
Of course, this leak may turn out to be true, and Apple may not be quite so evil as to foist the MFI tax on its loyal users. But I fear that Apple believes its users are more loyal than discerning, and will yet again, quietly pay for MFI cables just because Apple said so.
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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.
Can a SIM swap attack empty your bank accounts without warning?!
Take a look at the viral warning, and find out what the facts really are!
Updated @ 2023-03-03 : Added some additional details Originally posted @ 2022-01-16
Claim : SIM Swap Attack Can Empty Bank Accounts Without Warning!
This message has gone viral on social media and WhatsApp, warning about a new high tech fraud called SIM Swap Fraud that can empty bank accounts without warning.
The message includes a link to a Straits Times report about a young couple who lost $120,000 in a fake text message scam targeting OCBC Bank customers.
Your BANK Account could be Emptied without an Alert!
Dear All, Please let’s be very careful.. There is a new HIGH TECH FRAUD in town called the SIM SWAP FRAUD, and hundreds of persons are already VICTIMS.
How does it work?
1 A new fraud called SIM SWAP has started. Your phone network will momentarily go blind / zero (No Signal / Zero Bars) and after a while a call will come through.
2 The Person on the other end of the call will tell you that he is calling from (your cell phone company) depending on your network and that there is a problem in your mobile network.
3 He will instruct you to Please press 1 on your phone to get the network back.
– Please at this stage don’t Press anything, Just cut or END the call.
If you press 1, the network will appear suddenly and almost immediately go blind again (Zero Bars) and by that action, your phone is #HACKED.
Within a second they will empty your bank account, and you won’t receive any alert.
What you will experience.
It will appear as though your line is without Network, meanwhile your SIM has been SWAPPED.
The danger here is that, you will not get any alert of any transactions, so please those of us doing USSD Banking and Mobile Banking BEWARE. Let’s be very careful.
Please, forward to your contacts, loved ones and friends. The fraud is increasing day by day.
Received from a #CybersecurityGroup
Don’t forget to share this post…… I repeat don’t forget to share this post. Many people’s Account as been emptied!
Please encourage more people to learn from this episode
Truth : SIM Swap Attack Are Real, But Don’t Work Like That
The truth is – SIM swap attacks are real and very dangerous, but they do not work like the viral message claims.
Here is what you need to know about the viral message, and SIM swap attacks.
Fact #1 : SIM Swap Attacks Are Not New
SIM swap attacks are really not that new. Scammers have been using SIM swap attacks since 2015, if not earlier.
Fact #2 : Viral Message Is Mostly False
The viral message is correct about the risk of SIM swap attacks, but pretty much wrong about everything else.
In fact, the method by which the SIM swap attack works is completely made up. So the viral message is really FAKE NEWS.
Fact #3 : Straits Times Article Was Not About SIM Swap
The fake news creator added a link to a Straits Time article, to mislead you.
That’s because the article isn’t about a SIM swap attack, but a phishing attack, where the victim received an SMS with a link that took him to a fake website that “looked exactly like the OCBC login page“.
The victim then keyed in his bank login details, thus handing over control of his bank account to the scammers. He also ignored automated messages warning him that his “account was being setup on another phone“.
It had nothing to do with a SIM swap attack. It was an SMS-based phishing attack.
Fact #4 : SIM Swap Attack Generally Does Not Require Any Action
In most SIM swap attacks, scammers use your personal information, either purchased from other criminals or obtained through earlier phishing attacks or social engineering, to request for a SIM card replacement.
All that does not require any action on your part. In most cases, you only realise you’ve been hit when you lose access to your mobile number.
Fact #5 : SIM Swap Attack May Require Action In Some Cases
The Press 1 claim in the viral message is partially correct, but it only happens in a particular circumstance.
In India, scammers have tricked people by offering a free network upgrade, or to help improve signal quality on their phones :
The scammer will call the victim, claiming to be from their mobile service provider.
The scammer will try to get the victim to reveal his/her 20-digit SIM card number.
The scammer will use the 20-digit SIM number to initiate a SIM swap with the mobile service provider.
The mobile service provider will automatically send an SMS to confirm the swap.
Once the victim confirms the swap, his/her SIM card will stop working.
The scammer now has access to the victim’s mobile number.
Fact #6 : SIM Swap Attack Does Not Hack Your Phone
The SIM swap attack does not involve any hacking of your phone.
You only lose access to your mobile number. Your phone is not hacked.
Fact #7 : SIM Swap Attack Does Not Empty Bank Accounts
Once the scammers successfully gain control of your mobile number, they can use it to intercept one-time passwords (OTP) like TAC numbers.
This allows them to change passwords to your bank accounts, social media accounts, etc. which is why SIM swap attacks are so dangerous and damaging.
However, it does not mean your bank accounts are immediately emptied. For one thing – the scammers need to know your bank login.
That’s why SIM swap victims often have had their bank logins and passwords stolen earlier though phishing attacks. The scammers only need their mobile numbers to receive OTP / TAC numbers to authenticate the transfers.
Fact #8 : SIM Swap Attack Can Be Used To Cheat Friends Too!
Stealing money from your bank account requires extra work, so scammers who do not have your bank login details will resort to cheating your friends.
With access to your phone number, they can easily gain access to your social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) as well as instant messaging apps (WhatsApp, Telegram).
Once they have control, they can send messages to your friends, pretending to be you. Naturally, they will concoct some story to ask your friends for money.
The idea is to use your (now) stolen accounts to convince your friends that you genuinely need their help. The money that they transfer goes directly to the scammers, or their mules (people who rent their bank accounts to scammers).
Now that you know the facts behind the SIM swap attack or scam, please SHARE this article with your family and friends!
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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.
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 S22 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)
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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 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)
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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.
Can our mobile phone spark a gas stove fire or explosion?!
Take a look at the viral video, and find out what the facts really are!
Claim : Mobile Phone Can Spark Stove Fire / Explosion!
People are sharing this video on WhatsApp and social media, warning that our mobile phone can spark a gas stove fire or explosion!
This video shows an Indian lady using her mobile phone in her kitchen. She places a pot on the stove, and proceeds to turn on the gas.
You can see the stove light up and suddenly, the Indian lady is on fire and does two pirouettes before falling to the ground.
I have no idea who actually created the video, but it has two Symcon Foundation logos, and the narrator mentions the Symcon Foundation in Mysore, India as well.
Truth : Mobile Phone Cannot Spark Stove Fire / Explosion!
This is yet another mobile phone causes gas stove fire / explosion hoax, and here are the reasons why…
Fact #1 : It Won’t Happen Without A Gas Leak / Defective Gas Tank
A gas explosion cannot happen without a gas leak, or a defective gas tank.
Even if you are holding a sparkler or a candle with an open flame, turning on the gas stove won’t set you afire, because… LGP gas is heavier than air!
Liquified petroleum gas (LPG) is a mix of butane and propane gas. Butane is just over 2X heavier than air, while propane is a little over 1.5X heavier than air.
As long as the sparks or open flame is higher than the gas source, it won’t set the stove on fire if you just turn on the gas.
For there to be an explosion, there has to be a gas leak as significant amounts of gas has to leak before it becomes combustible.
Fact #2 : Our Mobile Phone Don’t Create Sparks
Even if there is a gas leak, using a mobile phone won’t spark a fire or explosion, as the mobile phone does not create sparks during use or when it rings.
The electrodynamic speakers in your phone vibrate to produce sound waves. They do not generate sparks.
Think about it – how popular would mobile phones be if their speakers emitted sparks into our ears?
Without a source of sparks or an open flame, it is not possible for your mobile phone to spark any fire or explosion.
US FCC : In these stories, a fire was reportedly ignited or an explosion occurred when an individual’s phone rang and was answered. Supposedly, an electrical spark from the phone ignited the fires or caused the explosion. These reports are not supported by any documentation that the fire and/or explosion was caused by the wireless phone – or that the incidents even occurred.
US NFPA : The wireless industry has done studies on the potential for wireless phones to create sparks that could possibly ignite flammable materials. The studies generally conclude that while it may be theoretically possible for a spark from a cell phone battery to ignite gas vapor under very precise conditions, there is no documented incident where the use of a wireless phone was found to cause a fire or explosion…
Fact #4 : Static Is The Real Hidden Danger
Fire incidences blamed on mobile phones can often, if not always, be traced back to static electricity.
Our bodies can get “charged” with static electricity, if we wear rubber-soled shoes or slippers. Or when we walk on a rug. The risk increases when the air is cold and/or dry. The lower the humidity, the higher the voltage of a static discharge.
Sparks are created when an electrostatic discharge occurs – this is what causes the petrol station fires that people blame on mobile phones. Similarly, static electricity in your kitchen can create sparks that may ignite if there is a gas leak in the kitchen.
No Risk, But Bad Idea To Use Mobile Phone In Kitchen!
While your mobile phone will not spark fires, you should still avoid using it whenever you’re in your kitchen, or even at the petrol station.
Using your phone at the petrol station or kitchen is dangerous because it can distract you from dangers in an environment with flammable liquids.
It’s really the same reason why you are not allowed to use a mobile phone while driving. Your mobile phone may not cause your car to explode, but you could get distracted and cause an accident!
Please Support My Work!
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.
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 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.
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 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)
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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.
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.
Did a phone in a man’s pocket catch fire after he farted?! Take a look at the viral claim, and find out what the facts really are!
Claim : Phone In Pocket Catches Fire After Man Farts!
People are sharing this video on WhatsApp and social media platforms, claiming that a man’s pants caught fire after a phone in his pocket burst into flames after he farted!
Be Careful! ⛔ Never fart with your cell phone in your pocket ! Gases are flammable ! 😱🤣
This is yet another example of FAKE NEWS created and shared on WhatsApp and social media, and here are the reasons why…
Fact #1 : This Is An Old Video From South Africa
The viral video isn’t new. The video of a CCTV recording was recorded in South Africa in March 2020.
Fact #2 : It Was Not A Phone, But A Power Bank
It was not the man’s phone that caught fire, but a power bank.
Fact #3 : Flatulence Is Combustible
Farts, or flatulence, is combustible, because it contains methane and hydrogen sulphide which are produced by bacteria digestion of our food. However, the power bank did not catch fire because the man farted.
Fact #4 : Power Bank Apparently Overheated
At the time the incident happened, 29 year-old Lwando Mashiamahle, was waiting for his girlfriend to buy a plane ticket at the OR Tambo International Airport in South Africa.
While sitting down to wait, he realised that the power bank in his pocket felt warm. But he didn’t think anything of it, until it suddenly burst into flames.
It felt quite hot in my pocket but I thought it was normal, like sometimes your phone heats up when you’re using it, but I never thought it could explode,
I was so shocked, I didn’t know what to do, I automatically just lost my mind. I was very, very scared.
Mashiamahle was not injured when his power bank burst into flames, because he was able to quickly take off his trousers, and avoid getting burnt.
Fortunately I have no injuries but my pants were burnt and I had to quickly find the nearest shop to buy a new pair.
He is fortunate, as lithium batteries fires are very strong and hard to put out.
Fact #6 : Phone / Power Bank Batteries Are A Fire Risk
Despite claims our phone or smartphone can spark flames in petrol / gas stations, or even cause a gas stove explosion, there is simply no scientific evidence for those urban legends.
The electrodynamic speakers in your phone vibrate to produce sound waves. They do not generate sparks. Without a source of sparks or an open flame, even a gas leak wouldn’t catch fire and explode.
The lithium ion battery in our phone and power bank, however, are a fire hazard. Roughly one in every 10 million lithium-ion batteries will fail and catch fire.
That is why it is forbidden to pack any device with a lithium-ion battery into luggage that needs to be checked into an aircraft cargo hold. Everyone must carry their phone, computer and power bank using these lithium-based batteries into the cabin so that if they catch fire, the crew are aware and can quickly put them out.
Please help us fight fake news – SHARE this article, and 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.
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)
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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 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 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 series smartphones!
Samsung Galaxy S23 Series : All The Leaks So Far!
Ahead of the official launch of the Galaxy S23 series, key details and specifications of Samsung’s upcoming flagship smartphones have leaked!
Boosted Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2
The Samsung Galaxy S23 smartphones 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 series:
Specifications
Galaxy S23 Series
Galaxy S22 Series
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.
Samsung Galaxy S23 Series : Prices + Offers Leaked So Far!
Higher Prices
This is the only dampener amongst the leaks – be prepared to pay more for the Galaxy S23 smartphones! Here are the leaked prices for Europe:
Models
Variant
Launch
Prices
Premium Over
S22 Models
Galaxy S23
8 GB + 128 GB
8 GB + 256 GB
€949/959
€1019
+ €99/109
+ €119
Galaxy S23+
8 GB + 256 GB
8 GB + 512 GB
€1209
€1329
+ €159
+ €229
Galaxy S23 Ultra
8 GB + 256 GB
12 GB + 512 GB
€1399/1409
€1589
NA
+ €139
Pre-Order Offer
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 with 128 GB storage, you will get the 256 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)
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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.
The FTX drama continues as SBF was seen flying business class, while Judge Ronnie Abrams recused herself from the case!
Judge Ronnie Abrams Recuses From SBF FTX Case!
The FTX drama continues with the shocking announcement by US District Judge Ronnie Abrams over a potential conflict of interest.
On Friday afternoon, December 23, Federal Judge Ronnie Abrams of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York recused herself from the FTX case.
The judge’s husband, Greg D. Andres, is a partner at the law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell, which advised FTX in 2021. Though Andres himself did not personally advise FTX, Abrams chose to recuse herself from the case “to avoid any possible conflict, or the appearance of one.”
The order also stated that Davis Polk & Wardwell previously represented parties “that may be adverse to FTX and Defendant Bankman-Fried,” though Andres allegedly did not represent those clients either.
RONNIE ABRAMS, United States District Judge:
It has come to the Court’s attention that the law firm of Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP, at which my husband is a partner, advised FTX in 2021, as well as represented parties that may be adverse to FTX and Defendant Bankman-Fried in other proceedings (or potential proceedings). My husband has had no involvement in any of these representations. These matters are confidential and their substance is unknown to the Court. Nonetheless, to avoid any possible conflict, or the appearance of one, the Court hereby recuses itself from this action. See 28
U.S.C. § 455.
This decision came just one day after Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) was released from custody pending trial on eight criminal charges including wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and violations of federal campaign finance laws.
It is unknown why Judge Ronnie Abrams chose to wait until now to recuse herself from the FTX case. But it should be pointed that it was a different judge – Gabrial Gorenstein, who approved the record-setting $250 million bond that did not require SBF to pay a single cent up front.
A new judge from the Southern District of New York will now have to be selected to oversee Sam Bankman-Fried’s trial.
SBF Free + Flying Business On “No Cash Up Front” FTX Case Bail!
In the meantime, the disgraced FTX co-founder was spotted “chilling” in the American Airlines Greenwich Business Class lounge located at Terminal 8 of the John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York City.
Sam Bankman-Fried was accompanied by his parents, FBI agents and lawyers. He had full access to what looks like an Acer Predator gaming laptop, and a smartphone. When he was asked for a photo, SBF replied, “Haha maybe not today“.
You may recall that, on December 9, SBF claimed that he did not have access to (much of) his professional or personal data, despite having obvious access to a laptop and a mobile phone.
1) I still do not have access to much of my data — professional or personal. So there is a limit to what I will be able to say, and I won’t be as helpful as I’d like. But as the committee still thinks it would be useful, I am willing to testify on the 13th.
SBF was later spotted in the Business class section of an American Airlines flight, “disguised with a beanie”. He appeared to be engaged in conversation with a suited executive.
The suited executive could be his lawyer, Mark Cohen, who may have been accompanying the disgraced FTX co-founder to his parents’ home in Palo Alto, California, where he has to serve his house arrest while awaiting trial.
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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.
Apple has accelerated its plans to leave Zhengzhou in China, where the massive iPhone City manufacturing zone is located!
Apple To Move MORE iPhone Production Out Of China!
As anti-government protests continue across China, Apple is accelerating its plans to leave Zhengzhou – where the massive iPhone City manufacturing zone is located!
Apple CEO Tim Cook is now eyeing Vietnam and India as new manufacturing hubs to replace Zhengzhou, where Foxconn workers earlier fled amidst repeated protests.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Apple now plans to move to 45% of iPhone production to factories in India, and ramp up production of its MacBooks, Apple Watches and AirPods in Vietnam.
Those moves come with serious challenges as Apple faces having to deal with different regional government bureaucracies in India.
Meanwhile, Vietnam only has 10% of China’s population, and can only handle a 60,000 person factory – far smaller than the 300,000 person “iPhone City” in Zhengzhou.
So Apple is still considering switching to other suppliers in China – Luxshare Precision Industry Co. and Wingtech Technology Co., although these alternate plans may be jeopardised by the Chinese government’s persistence with its Zero COVID policy.
Apple Earlier Planned To Move iPhone Production Out Of China!
While Apple had been planning the move for months due to the Chinese government’s insistence on Zero COVID policy, the recent uprisings at its Zhengzhou manufacturing hub has accelerated those plans.
In November, iPhone City in Zhengzhou erupted in violent protests by Foxconn employees over strict Zero COVID policies and pay disputes, prompting a lockdown.
This forced Foxconn to offer $1,400 to quit their jobs, and later, a $1,800 bonus to stay. Even so, manufacturing at Zhengzhou is down to about 20% of its capacity.
Foxconn has tried to shift some of its production to its Shenzhen factory, but it cannot make up the shortfall, which is reported to be as much as 6 million iPhone Pro smartphones.
Things got so bad the Chinese government even called on military veterans and CCP members to work at the iPhone City factories as volunteers!
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Support my work through a bank transfer / PayPal / credit card!
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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.
Is FIFA offering 50 GB of free mobile data to stream World Cup 2022 matches with no interruptions?!
Take a look at the viral offers, and find out why they are just scams!
Claim : FIFA Is Giving Free 50GB Data For World Cup 2022!
People are sharing viral offers for 50 GB of free mobile data to stream World Cup 2022 matches without interruption. Here are some examples :
* FIFA is giving people around the world 50GB of data for free to watch the 2022 Cartel [Qatar] World Cup.* * I Have Received Mine.* * OPEN THIS*
* FIFA memberi orang di seluruh dunia 50GB data secara percuma untuk menonton Piala Dunia Kartel [Qatar] 2022.* * Saya Telah Menerima Milik Saya.* * BUKA INI*
FREE 50GB DATA PLAN FOR ALL NETWORKS
PERCUMA PELAN DATA 50GB UNTUK SEMUA RANGKAIAN
Truth : FIFA Is Not Giving 50GB Free Data For World Cup 2022!
This is yet another SCAM circulating on WhatsApp and social media, and here are the reasons why you must avoid it!
Fact #1 : FIFA Is Not Offering Free Mobile Data
First, let me just say it out loud and clear – FIFA is not offering free mobile data anywhere in the world, just to watch World Cup 2022 matches.
FIFA makes its money through sale of television, marketing and licensing rights for World Cup 2022, so there is simply no reason for it to provide free mobile data to stream the matches.
Fact #2 : FIFA Would Never Give You Anything Free
Please do NOT be naive. No one is going to give you free data just to participate in a survey!
FIFA is a corporation whose business is to make money, not a charity to give you free data.
Fact #3 : They Do Not Use Official FIFA Domains
Genuine FIFA promotions would be announced on the official website at www.fifa.com, or their official social media accounts:
They would never run contests or promotions via dodgy domains like “subsidy.buzz”, “50g.kxoe1.xyz”, “50gb450.xyz”, or “zlqxt.top”.
Once you see those random domains, click delete. Or just ignore. DO NOT CLICK.
Fact #4 : They Are Advertisement Scams
After you click on the link, you will be redirected through a series of hidden advertisements before you arrive at the “offer page”.
The offer page will ask you a series of simple questions. Regardless of your answers, you will be congratulated and told you won the 50 GB free data plan for three months.
You will be asked to key in your mobile number to receive the free mobile data, but you will never receive anything. In one variant, you are even redirected to more advertisements, including a video advertisement.
Fact #5 : Brands Won’t Ask You To Forward The Contest
To get that free 50 GB data for three months, you are asked to share the “contest” with 12 friends or groups on WhatsApp.
That’s a clear sign of a scam. No brand will insist that you must share their contest or free offer with WhatsApp friends of groups.
Please do not click to forward their offer to your family and friends. They will not appreciate being scammed with your help!
Fact #6 : They Can Potentially Be Dangerous
Similar scams in the past have more dangerous variants, where you are asked to :
a) install an app, which is really a malware to keep sending you advertisements
b) enter your banking or credit card details, ostensibly to prove your identity or some other excuse
Needless to say – proceeding with this step will open you up to great risk of monetary loss. DO NOT PROCEED!
If you install their malware, you will start receiving promotions, some of which will ask you to send an SMS to receive expensive free gifts like laptops and smartphones.
If you proceed to send the confirmation SMS messages, you will be subscribed and billed for international premium SMS services.
This is VERY DANGEROUS. Never agree to download and register for any unknown app from a website.
Always download your apps from an official App Store like Google Play Store (for Android smartphones) and Apple App Store (for iPhones).
Fact #7 : They Are Just Another Example Of Online Scams
These are just more examples of online scams offering freebies.
Now that you know the facts, please WARN your family and friends!
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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.
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)
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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.
At the very least, find out where is your voting centre and its opening and closing hours, which may have changed from the last election.
While this is not necessary, it would be good if you can note down your Saluran (polling station) number. This allows you to avoid checking for your Saluran at the SPR barung, and directly head to the polling station=.
All other voters do not have to wear a face mask, but it is strongly encouraged to wear one, as it will help prevent any potential infections by COVID-19 positive voters.
All other voters do not have to maintain a physical distance, but it is strongly encouraged to do so, as it will help prevent any potential infections by COVID-19 positive voters.
Bring Your Mobile Phone
If you are COVID-19 positive, you should bring your mobile phone with MySejahtera installed, so the KKM officer at the voting centre can check your health status.
All other voters do not have to bring a mobile phone, but may do so.
Sanitise Your Hands
After your identity is verified, you will be asked to dip your left index finger into indelible ink.
COVID-19 positive votersMUST sanitise their hands BEFORE dipping their finger into the indelible ink bottle.
All other voters do not have to sanitise their fingers before or after dipping their finger into the ink bottle, but may do so.
It is recommended that you bring your own hand sanitiser, but the SPR will also provide hand sanitisers at the polling station.
The indelible ink takes a minute or so to try, so it is recommended that you use a different hand to accept the ballot paper from polling clerk.
This prevents the ballot paper from being stained by the indelible ink. While this will not spoil your vote, it is still best to avoid staining the ballot paper at all.
Check Your Ballot Paper
Depending on your constituency, you will receive one or two ballot papers – white for Parliament, and peach for State.
When the second polling clerk hands you your ballot paper(s), please check to make sure:
the ballot papers are printed correctly,
they have half a certified SPR stamp and a serial number,
they are not torn or damaged in any way, and
they are not marked in any way.
If there are any irregularities, point them out to the polling clerk and/or ask the SPR officer for assistance.
Put Your Phone In Silent Mode + Surrender It
Before you go to the voting booth, you MUST place your phone at a designated box on the Polling Centre Head’s desk.
To avoid interruptions, please place your phone on Silent mode, before placing it in the provided box.
It is important that you make only ONE VOTE per ballot paper. If you mark the ballot more than once, it will spoil the vote and your vote will not be counted.
Mark The Ballot With A Cross
Best practice is to mark the empty box next to the candidate or party of your choice with a cross (X).
While the counting clerks will accept other marking like a tick, or even a slash, it’s best to avoid all doubt by marking your choice with a cross (X).
Mark The Ballots With A Pen
Each polling booth will have a pen or pencil, and both are accepted ways of marking your paper ballots.
If you wish to avoid all doubt your vote will not be changed, you are allowed to bring your own pen to mark your paper ballots.
Drop Ballots Into Correct Box
It may seem obvious, the first voter of the day for each polling station may make this mistake, as the voting boxes will be empty.
So please make sure the White ballot paper goes into the box for Parliament, while the Peach ballot paper goes into the box for State.
Malaysia GE15 Election : Please Don’t Do This!
Here is a quick summary of what you should NOT do, when you head out to vote in the 15th General Election on 19 November 2022.
Do NOT Wear Clothes With Political Names / Logos
There is no dress code to vote in GE15, but voters are PROHIBITED from wearing clothes with names or logos or symbols of any political candidate, or political party within 50 metres of any voting centre.
Anyone who breaks this rule under the Election Offences Act of 1954 will face up to a year in prison, and/or a fine of up to RM5,000.
Do NOT Bring Items With Political Names / Logos
You are also FORBIDDEN from bringing any items – bags, caps, umbrellas, or even earrings and brooches – that have the names or logos or symbols of any political candidate, or political party.
Anyone who breaks this rule under the Election Offences Act of 1954 will face up to a year in prison, and/or a fine of up to RM5,000.
You are allowed to bring your phone and use it at the voting centre. However, once you reach your Saluran (polling station), you are NO LONGER ALLOWED to use your phone.
SPR will place notices and posters warning against the use of phones or smartphones inside and outside every GE15 voting room.
Do NOT Take Photo Of Your Ballot Paper
Before marking your ballot papers, you must place your phone in the provided area on the table of the Ketua Tempat Mengundi (Head of the Polling Station).
Please note that it is an offence to take a photo of your ballot papers showing your vote. If convicted, you are subject to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or a fine of not more than RM5,000, or both.
I hope you found this guide useful. Please feel free to share this out with your family and friends.
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)
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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.
Saluran : Your assigned polling station at the voting centre
Bilangan : The number of voters assigned to that polling station
Masa Mengundi : Voting time for your voting centre
Masa Keluar Mengundi Yang Digalakkan : Recommended time to go vote
Hari Mengundi : Election day
While it is not necessary to print those details, if you can write them down and bring them to the voting centre, it will help the election clerks speed up your registration.
The only thing voters MUST bring is one of these identification documents, in order to qualify to vote on Election Day:
MyKad identification card
Malaysian passport
Malaysian driving licence
Temporary identification document (JPN. KPPK09)
Official JPN Receipt for Lost Identification Card Report (JPN. KPPK11)
In addition to their identification document, COVID-19 positive persons MUST also bring:
a face mask that is worn at all times, except during the facial identification process
a smartphone with MySejahtera installed, for KKM officers to check your COVID-19 status
These are recommended (not necessary) items that voters may choose to bring:
your own hand sanitiser – recommended for COVID-19 voters
your own pen – recommended for COVID-19 voters
your own tissue paper – to wipe off any excess indelible ink
What Voters Cannot Bring On GE15 Election Day?
Voters are NOT allowed to bring any item (like umbrellas, bags, and caps) with the name of any electoral candidate, or the symbol of any political party, into the voting centre.
Voters are also NOT allowed to wear clothes that have the name of any electoral candidate, or the symbol of any political party.
Step 1 : Once you arrive at your voting centre, you can either :
head directly to your Saluran (polling station), if you already know your Saluran number, or
ask the SRP Barung agent there to check your Saluran number.
Step 2 : Queue outside your assigned Saluran, for your turn to enter the polling station.
Please note that you are NOT allowed to use your phone at the polling station.
Step 3 : Once the police officer at the polling station lets you in, you need to hand over your identification document (e.g. MyKad) to the first polling clerk.
Step 4 : The polling clerk will verify your details against the electoral roll, and perform a visual identification.
At this point, COVID-19 positive voters must pull down their face masks. Please take care to stand at a distance, and avoid speaking, and quickly put the face mask on after the clerk confirms your identity.
Step 4 : The polling clerk will then ask you to show both your hands, to confirm that you do not have any fingers marked with the indelible ink – evidence that you have not voted yet.
Step 5 : The first polling clerk will hand your identification document to the second polling clerk, and loudly call out your identification card / passport number and name. Please make sure that they are both correct.
Step 6 : You will be asked to move to the second polling clerk, who will hand your identification document back to you.
Step 7 : The second polling clerk will ask you to put out your left index (second) finger, to dip into the indelible ink bottle.
COVID-19 positive voters MUST sanitise their handsBEFORE dipping their left index fingers into the indelible ink bottle.
Step 8 : Head to the next table where the third polling clerk will hand you your folded paper ballot(s).
You will get a white ballot for Parliament, but you may not receive a peach ballot for state – it depends on your constituency.
Just in case the indelible ink on your left index finger is still wet, take your paper ballots using your right hand.
Step 9 : You will now be asked to head to the table of the Polling Station Head (Ketua Tempat Mengundi, KTM), to deposit your mobile phone in the provided box.
Step 10 : You can now proceed to the voting booth, where you can now unfold the paper ballots.
Step 11 : Choose your candidate by marking each paper ballot ONCE with an X in the empty box on the far right using the provided pen, or your own pen.
Step 12 : Fold the paper ballots once you are done, before you leave the voting booth.
Step 13 : Drop your paper ballots into the respective polling boxes for Parliament (white) and State (peach).
Step 14 : Collect your mobile phone from the table of the Polling Station Head (KTM).
Step 15 : You can leave the polling station, and the voting centre.
I hope you found this guide useful. Please feel free to share this out with your family and friends.
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.
The Malaysia Election Commission (SPR) just issued a notice on new rules on bringing and using your phone during GE15 – the 15th General Election!
SPR : You Cannot Use Your Phone Inside GE15 Polling Station
At around 10 PM on Monday, 14 November 2022, the Malaysia Election Commission (SPR) issued new rules on how voters can use their phone when they go to vote in the 15th General Election.
You are allowed to bring a phone or smartphone with you to the voting centre. However, you are forbidden from using your phone once you get to the polling station (Saluran) – the room in which you will receive and mark your voting ballot.
SPR will place notices and posters warning against the use of phones or smartphones inside and outside every GE15 voting room. Here is the official SPR statement, with my English translation:
Suruhanjaya Pilihan Raya Malaysia (SPR) telah memaklumkan kepada semua pengundi bahawa penggunaan telefon bimbit di tempat mengundi (saluran) adalah tidak dibenarkan. Sebagai peringatan, notis atau poster larangan penggunaan telefon bimbit akan diletakkan di luar dan di dalam tempat mengundi.
The Malaysia Election Commission (SPR) has informed all voters that the use of mobile phones at polling stations (Saluran) is forbidden.As a reminder, notices or posters prohibiting the use of mobile phones will be placed outside and inside the polling station.
This SPR decision will help prevent anyone from taking photos of voters making their choices, and reduce the potential for vote buying and election fraud.
SPR : You Must Surrender Your Phone Before Voting In GE15!
SPR also officially stated that you must place your phone in the provided area on the table of the Ketua Tempat Mengundi (Head of the Polling Station).
After marking and casting your vote, you will then retrieve your phone / smartphone from the KTM’s table, before leaving the polling station.
Here is the official SPR statement, with my English translation:
SPR telah menetapkan bahawa pengundi yang membawa telefonbimbit ke tempat mengundi perlu meletakkan telefon bimbit di tempatyang telah disediakan setelah menerima kertas undi danmengambilnya semula setelah selesai mengundi.
SPR has ordered that voters who carry mobile phones to the polling station must put the mobile phone in the provided place after receiving the ballot papers and retrieve it after they have finished voting.
This SPR decision will help prevent anyone from accidentally or intentionally taking photos of their votes / ballot papers, and hopefully, prevent vote buying.
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 Malaysia Election Commission (SPR) just introduced a new requirement – you must surrender your phone before voting in the 15th General Election!
GE15 : You Must Surrender Your Phone Before Voting!
At 2:15 PM on 9 November 2022, the Malaysia Election Commission (SPR) issued an infographic detailing the 10 steps you need to take to vote on the day of the 15th General Election (GE15).
Eagle-eyed Malaysian netizens quickly spotted Steps 6 and 9, in which there is a new requirement to surrender your phone before voting, and collecting it back after you have voted.
Many people have asked me if this is true, as there was never such a requirement in the past.
It also did not help when people shared fake news claiming that phones are not allowed to be brought to polling stations during GE15.
You Can Bring Phone, But Must Surrender It Before Voting!
In the past, you are allowed to bring in your phone, even to the voting booth. However, you are not allowed to take a photo of your ballot paper.
In fact, it is an offence that will subject you to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or a fine of not more than RM5,000, or both, if you are found guilty.
I checked with SPR and BERSIH and confirmed that this is a new but legitimate requirement in GE15.
You are allowed to bring your phone or smartphone to the polling station, but you must surrender it at the table of the Ketua Tempat Mengundi (Head of the Polling Station).
After marking and casting your vote, you will then retrieve your phone / smartphone from the KTM’s table, before leaving the polling station.
This will help prevent anyone from accidentally or intentionally taking photos of their votes / ballot papers, and hopefully, prevent vote buying.
Former Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir himself asked the SPR (belatedly) to ban people from bringing their phones to the polling stations. One has to wonder – why didn’t he ask them to do this for all those years he was Prime Minister? #eyeroll
In any case, this is genuine news, so please share this article out, and let everyone know.
You can still bring your phone, but you must surrender it before voting, and you can only use it to selfies and photos after leaving the polling booth.
Happy voting to all Malaysians!
Just remember – democracy does not guarantee us a good government. It only guarantees us the right to vote out a bad one!
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.
Now that you know the facts, please SHARE this article with your family and friends, and 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)
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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.
The massive iPhone factory in Zhengzhou is now under another COVID-19 lockdown, after thousands of employees fled!
iPhone Factory Now Under COVID-19 Lockdown!
On Wednesday, 2 November 2022, China placed the Zhengzhou Airport Economy Zone under a new COVID-19 lockdown. This is where Foxconn has its largest iPhone factory, employing about 200,000 workers
The Zhengzhou industrial zone, located in the Henan province, was placed under “silent management” measures with immediate effect, and last for one week – until November 9, 2022.
all residents are barred from going out
only approved vehicles are allowed on the road
Foxconn said in a statement that its campus will continue operating under a “closed loop” management system, in which employees sleep, live and work in a bubble, isolated from the rest of Zhengzhou and the world.
A source with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters that such a lockdown could cut production of Apple iPhones by as much as 30%, and that Foxconn was working to boost production at their Shenzhen factory to make up for the shortfall.
Employees Have Been Fleeing iPhone Factory For Days!
For several days now, Foxconn employees have been fleeing the Zhengzhou factory, after some workers were placed under quarantine following a COVID-19 outbreak.
The Foxconn employees also complained of poor food quality, and a lack of medical care for those who tested positive.
On Sunday, 30 October, Foxconn said that it would not stop them from leaving, and many workers chose to walk back to their hometowns.
Videos of those employees climbing over fences, and walking away from the factory went viral. So did photos and videos of those Foxconn workers trekking across fields in the day, and long roads at night.
Some people were walking amid wheat fields with their luggage, blankets and quilt. I couldn’t help but feel sad.
Those videos galvanised volunteers from nearby villages to put out food and drinks for the workers. Foxconn and several local governments finally arranged transportation for them.
Workers who were transported back to their hometowns were quarantined on arrival. A belated measure that should have been initiated earlier.
Please Support My Work!
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.
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.
Apple just froze its original plan to use China’s YMTC NAND flash memory chips in their iPhones!
Apple Freezes Use Of China’s YMTC NAND Chips!
On Monday, October 17, 2022, Nikkei Asia (paywall) reported that Apple just froze its original plan to use NAND flash memory chips from Yangtze Memory Technologies Corporation (YMTC)!
Apple had originally planned to start using NAND flash memory chips manufactured by YMTC in iPhones manufactured for the Chinese market, eventually purchasing up to 40% of its chip requirements from the Chinese state-funded company.
Those plans had to be put on hold after the US government announced stricter technology export controls designed to block China’s access to advanced semiconductor technologies.
The United States added YMTC – China’s top memory chipmaker – and 30 other Chinese companies to its “Unverified List” of companies that its official are unable to inspect to ensure compliance with its export controls.
The United States also initiated a new 60-day deadline for entities under the “Unverified List” to allow for complete end-to-end inspections, or risk even tougher penalties if added to the infamous “Entity List“.
YMTC is also being investigated by the US Commerce Department over allegations it violated earlier United States export controls by selling chips to HUAWEI, which was blacklisted under the Trump Administration.
Apple Decision Stymies Earlier Preparations By YMTC
Apple’s decision to freeze its purchase of YMTC flash memory chips stymies earlier preparations by the Wuhan-based memory chipmaker to mitigate looming US export controls.
According to four employees who spoke to Financial Times, YMTC had been stockpiling foreign equipment for months after US lawmakers started urging the Biden Administration to punish it for helping the Chinese military and violating trade restrictions by supply HUAWEI with chips.
YMTC has also come under scrutiny over concerns that massive Chinese government subsidies allow it to sells its chips below market price, even at a loss, just to gain market share at the expense of other companies.
We’ve been doing everything possible beforehand to support existing production lines, such as stockpiling all kinds of equipment.
– Senior YMTC engineer
All that preparation was for naught, because Apple’s decision to freeze its massive purchase of YMTC flash memory chips is only the tip of the iceberg.
Other companies will similarly be forced to freeze or cancel their purchase of YMTC chips unless YMTC acquiesces to comply with audit requirements by US officials – a step the Chinese chipmaker is (politically) incapable of taking.
YMTC is, after all, China’s largest memory chipmaker, and a national champion in the country’s drive to build a domestic chip industry. It received 220 billion yuan (over $30.5 billion) in funding from both the Hubei province, and a national fund.
After the Biden Administration announced new chip export restrictions, the top three US chip toolmakers – KLA Corporation, Lam Research and Applied Materials immediately stopped sales and services to YMTC.
Despite its earlier stockpiling efforts, one YMTC employee revealed that the company only had enough wafers and parts for equipment repairs to last a year, but that’s assuming it won’t need technical support from foreign companies.
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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 Z Flip4, and find out how well it is a foldable computing + gaming powerhouse!
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4 : Flagship Class Performance!
The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4 runs on the most powerful mobile SoC available for Android devices – the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1.
Fabricated on the latest 4nm Samsung process technology, the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 boasts a powerful Adreno 730 GPU as well as eight processor cores in a triple-tier architecture :
a Cortex-X2 prime core running at up to 3.2 GHz,
three sustained-performance Cortex-A710 cores running at up to 2.5 GHz, and
four energy-efficient Cortex-A510 cores running at 1.8 GHz.
The Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 is a higher-binned version of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 SoC that powers the Galaxy S22 Ultra. Its Cortex-X2 prime core runs at 3.2 GHz, instead of 3 GHz, while its Adreno 730 GPU runs at 800 MHz, instead of 720 MHz.
On paper, this is about as powerful as it gets in 2022, but let’s take a look at how it actually performs!
We first tested the Galaxy Z Flip4 using PCMark, which simulates work applications like web browsing, playing video, writing text and editing photos.
Work 3.0
Z Flip 4
Z Flip 3
S22 Ultra
S21 Ultra
Note20
Ultra
Mobile Platform
SD 8+ Gen 1
SD 888
SD 8
Gen 1
Exynos
2100
Exynos
990
Performance Score
14429
13317
12860
12535
10523
Web Browsing
12097
11637
10442
10185
8865
Video Editing
7387
7762
7444
6336
6232
Writing
17593
15316
15471
15247
11112
Photo Editing
31762
25357
30177
37847
30789
Data Manipulation
12523
11938
9691
8310
6825
Unsurprisingly, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 is about 8% faster than the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 used in the Galaxy S22 Ultra, and the Snapdragon 888 used by the Galaxy Z Flip 3.
It’s a nice boost, but you won’t actually notice the difference. For certain, it will easily handle anything you throw at it, whether it’s just posting your latest Instagram pictures or editing a 4K video.
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4 : Gaming Performance
For gaming, we tested the Galaxy Z Flip4 using 3DMark, with these results :
3DMark
Z Flip 4
S22
Ultra
Z Flip 3
Note20
Ultra
Note
10+
Device
SD 8+
Gen 1
SD 8
Gen 1
SD 888
Exynos
990
Exynos
9825
Sling Shot Unlimited
10690
11094
9248
8026
3327
Wild Life Unlimited
11144
9106
3952
4504
3288
Wild Life
Extreme
Unlimited
2636
2220
1174
1387
528
When it comes to less strenuous games (Sling Shot), the higher-clocked Adreno 730 GPU had no effect, but when we switched to Wild Life, we saw a 19% to 22% boost in performance.
For certain, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 will crush any game you throw at it, but the Galaxy Z Flip4’s Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 gives you more performance headroom.
It also shows that you don’t really need expensive “gaming smartphones”. The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4 will easily handle any game you want to play.
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4 : Overall Performance
We then tested the Galaxy Z Flip4 using AnTuTu, yielding these results :
AnTuTu
S22 Ultra
Z Flip 4
Z Flip 3
S21 Ultra
Note20
Ultra
Device
SD 8 Gen 1
SD 8+ Gen 1
SD
888
Exynos
2100
Exynos
990
AnTuTu Score
889167
856357
696767
624411
522735
CPU
203090
205939
206228
166290
146783
GPU
402617
362669
242573
258995
215205
Memory
146002
135707
133586
120805
89376
UX
137458
152042
114380
78321
71371
The AnTuTu benchmark tells a slightly different story. The higher-clocked Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 pretty much performs as fast as the standard Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 – with a slight 3.7% performance difference.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4 is about 23% faster than the Galaxy Z Flip 3, and a whopping 37% faster than the Galaxy S21 Ultra!
But note that its temperature jumped by over 10°C! At peak performance, the Galaxy Z Flip4 can get quite toasty!
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4 : Performance Summary
The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4 is a svelte smartphone when unfolded, and yet super compact when folded. You would not expect performance to be a key selling point.
In fact, I expect Samsung to tune down the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 for better battery life. But somehow, Samsung kept its performance high, while improving its battery life in the Z Flip4!
In other words – you can have your cake and eat it too. The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4 is not just a fashion statement in your hands, it’s a computing and gaming powerhouse in a compact form factor.
It is no surprise why the Galaxy Z Flip4 is arguably the hottest smartphone Samsung introduced in 2022!
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4 : Price + Availability
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 :
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.
