I bought a Samsung Galaxy S23 and I only regret one thing… – Glosa

On the one hand, Samsung, like other companies in the industry, seems to be running out of breath and innovating only in small steps or not at all. Taking a cursory look at the S23 family, you would be hard-pressed to find a reason to switch from last year’s generation, even much older devices can serve less demanding users well thanks to long support and quality workmanship.

But as soon as you dive deeper, you can see a big step forward, which is the main idea in the title of our review. Personally, I was mainly interested in the durability, which is a problem especially with small phones. This still persists when you are looking for the phone’s limits, for example when playing or running navigation, the small amount of energy in the battery is noticeable. On the other hand, the phone is perfectly economical when you don’t need it or use it lightly.

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For illustration, I am attaching a couple of battery drain values ​​during various activities. It’s not a precise or scientific measurement by any means, but it will give you a clear idea of ​​how long the phone will last for a given activity:

• Flight mode – 0.3%/hour
• Phone on Wi-Fi, synchronization on – 1%/hour.
• Listening to Spotify via Bluetooth headphones – 2%/hour.
• Wi-Fi hotspot for office work – 8%/hour.
• Wireless Android Auto with navigation and music – 14%/hour

I personally remember the horror when some Androids were not able to charge themselves or installed applications and in an hour of doing nothing they said about 3 or 4 percent of their energy reserves. Here, however, I have the exact opposite feeling: the phone consumes energy only when I want it to.

Now the problem…

There are several solutions to combat a weak battery. Either buy a giant phone with a decent battery or a power bank. Or you choose a phone with such a fast charging that it only takes a few minutes to top up the “juice” (if you have a compatible charger and cable). Alternatively, you can strategically place wireless chargers where you usually find yourself and don’t have to worry about charging your phone.

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The S23 series has long been speculated as to whether it will have 10 or 15 W for wireless charging. Correctly there is a higher value, but you have to on the site specifications read even the fine print with an asterisk Here you will learn the following: “Fast Wireless Charging 2.0 at 15W or higher is currently available with the Super Fast Wireless Charger and Super Fast Wireless Charger Duo. Wireless chargers sold separately. Other WPC compatible wireless chargers support wireless charging below 5W.“

What does this mean in practice? You can only achieve full performance with chargers from Samsung, after placing it on a regular Qi pad, the phone reports incompatibility and charges with the mentioned 5 W, which means almost four hours from zero to one hundred. In other words, if I don’t want to wait that long, I should throw my entire Qi-compatible charger lineup in the trash and head to the store for new wireless pads. These are only made in an impractical “lying down” design, in only two colors and at a “popular” price of around one thousand, while Qi compatible chargers start at two hundred.

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Doesn’t this behavior remind you of something? Everything works perfectly, but only if you buy an accessory with the right logo in the emblem. Don’t try to invent something else because it will spoil your “user experience”. This is not the first time we see something like this with Samsung, for example, its watch makes some health functions available in the case of a connected phone of the same brand. That it can be like that bypass restrictions shows that it is purely commercial and not technological in nature.

In other words, I’m mainly with Android for the freedom, or at least the feeling of being able to freely switch between phone manufacturers and their accessories. If I wanted to be locked in a “golden cage”, I would have been there a long time ago.