Hey guys,
I started to experience a few issues on my S9 about a month ago such as battery life and a green and white screen bug when turning it on unless I use the Always On function to bypass it, but it’s not perfect. So I thought maybe it’s time to finally retire my device after 5+ years of service.
There is currently a Black Friday sale going on with the S23 lineup here in Norway and I thought this would be a good time as any to replace my S9.
I’m not exactly a power user, most of my use case is reading, watching videos and browsing apps and websites, a lot of the times browsing social media is accompanied by watching a video minimized in the corner. I do like to get a lot of mileage out of my devices however and I might be tempted to try out some of the more demanding games now that phones have more processing power.
Pricing (after tax):
- S23+ 8/256 GB | 9,490 NOK ($885 / £811)
- S23 Ultra 8/256 GB | 11,490 NOK ($1,072 / £982)
- S23 Ultra 12/512 GB | 13,490 NOK ($1,258 / £1,153)
Over the 5 years I’ve only used 60/64 GB on my S9 which is why I set my eyes on the 256 GB models. I don’t particularly care about the cameras and I don’t know how much I will be using the S Pen but what I am a little annoyed with the idea of having to downgrade the screen resolution despite getting a brand new phone.
Normally I’d be fine with spending 2,000 extra on the Ultra 256 GB variant but the fact that it comes with less RAM than the other variants is a bit frustrating. It’s very petty but I would feel a bit ripped off by getting a phone and then have it be not quite the actual phone.
I could still go for the 512 GB as despite not using a lot of storage up until now, I am still planning to keep my new phone for a very long time so I don’t mind spending a bit extra for a device I want to use daily for about 5 years. But a 12/256 GB variant would have been perfect.
TL;DR:
I’m debating between the S23+ 256 GB and S23 Ultra 512 GB as my next phone for ideally another 5 years. The price difference is 4,000 NOK ($373 / £341) after tax. The S23 Ultra 8/256 GB could work as a middle ground even if the RAM should have been 12 GB but I would like to hear some of your opinions about the differences between these and how it affects your use cases.
I think you’re right honestly. The biggest issue I have with the S23+ is just that I will be downgrading from WQHD+ to FHD+ but it really isn’t that big of a deal for such a small screen. At least it improves the battery life I suppose.
I can almost guarantee you won’t notice a difference. I did a research essay and I did an experiment seeing if people did notice a difference between 1440p and 1080p on phones. I tested 150 people (it was a bit more but they weren’t tested the same so they were scrapped) and only like 6 people were able to consistently tell which phone was 1080p and which phone was 1440p. But they had to get uncomfortably close to tell. From a normally viewing distance only 1 guy was able to consistently tell. Keep in mind most of these people are college age so 18-25 but I did have a few professors do it and they were much older. Keep in mind the s23+ has a ppi of nearly 400. From a normal viewing distance you won’t be able to see pixels unless you were this one eagle eyed dude. When you get a Samsung phone that does have a 1440p screen the default setting is 1080p because people can’t really see a difference and it saves (some) resources.