Samsung Galaxy A23 Review 2023

Samsung Galaxy A23

The Samsung Galaxy A23 is one of the latest budget smartphones from the Korean tech giant, offering 5G connectivity, a large display, a decent camera, and a long-lasting battery. But is it worth buying in 2023? Here’s our full review of the Galaxy A23.

Design and Display

The Galaxy A23 has a simple and sleek design, with a plastic frame and back, and a glass front protected by Gorilla Glass 5. It has a 6.6-inch PLS LCD display with a resolution of 1080x2408 pixels and a 90Hz refresh rate. The display is bright and colorful, with good viewing angles and contrast. The bezel around the screen is fairly thin, except for the bottom chin and the teardrop notch for the selfie camera.

The phone has a side-mounted fingerprint scanner that doubles as a power button, a volume rocker on the right side, a 3.5mm headphone jack, a USB-C port, a speaker grille on the bottom, and a dedicated microSD card slot on the left side. The back of the phone has a rectangular camera module with four lenses and an LED flash.

The Galaxy A23 is not very heavy or thick, weighing 195 grams and measuring 8.4mm in thickness. However, it does not have any water or dust resistance rating, which is a drawback for a phone in this price range. The plastic back also feels cheap and prone to scratches.

Performance and Software

The Galaxy A23 is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 680 4G chipset, which is a mid-range processor with eight cores (four Kryo 265 Gold at 2.4GHz and four Kryo 265 Silver at 1.9GHz) and an Adreno 610 GPU. 

The phone comes with various memory configurations, ranging from 4GB to 8GB of RAM and from 64GB to 128GB of internal storage. The storage can be expanded up to 1TB via the microSD card slot.

The phone performs well in everyday tasks, such as browsing, social media, messaging, and streaming. It can also handle casual gaming, but not very demanding titles or high graphics settings. The phone supports 5G connectivity, which is a plus point for future-proofing. However, it does not support Wi-Fi 6 or NFC, which are common features in other phones in this segment.

The Galaxy A23 runs on Android 12 with Samsung’s One UI 4.1 on top. The software is smooth and user-friendly, with many customization options and features. 

Some of the notable features include Dark Mode, Edge Panel, Always On Display, Game Launcher, Secure Folder, and Samsung Pay (only for some regions). The phone also gets regular security updates and will receive two major OS updates.

Camera and Battery

The Galaxy A23 has a quad-camera setup on the back, consisting of a 50MP main camera with f/1.8 aperture, phase detection autofocus (PDAF) and optical image stabilization (OIS), a 5MP ultra-wide camera with f/2.2 aperture and 123-degree field of view (FoV), a 2MP macro camera with f/2.4 aperture and a 2MP depth camera with f/2.4 aperture. On the front, there is an 8MP selfie camera with f/2.2 aperture.

The main camera takes good photos in daylight, with plenty of details, accurate colors, and dynamic range. The OIS helps to reduce blur and shake in low-light situations, but the noise level is still noticeable. The ultra-wide camera captures more scenery but suffers from distortion and softness at the edges. 

The macro camera can take close-up shots of small objects, but the quality is not very impressive. The depth camera helps to create bokeh effects in portrait mode, but the edge detection is not very accurate.

The selfie camera takes decent selfies in good lighting conditions but struggles in low light or against backlight. The video recording capability of the phone is limited to 1080p at 30fps for both front and rear cameras. The videos are smooth and stable thanks to OIS but lack detail and sharpness compared to other phones that can record in 4K resolution.

The Galaxy A23 has a large 5000mAh battery that can last for more than a day of moderate usage. The phone supports fast charging up to 25W via Power Delivery (PD), but you need to buy a separate charger for that as the one included in the box is only 15W. The phone does not support wireless charging or reverse charging.

Pros and Cons

The Galaxy A23 has some advantages and disadvantages that you should consider before buying it. Here are some of them:

Pros:

• Large and smooth display

• 5G connectivity

• Good main camera with OIS

• Long-lasting battery

• MicroSD card slot and headphone jack

Cons:

• No water or dust resistance

• Plastic build quality

• No Wi-Fi 6 or NFC

• Limited video recording

• No fast charger in the box

Is Galaxy A23 worth the price?

The Galaxy A23 is priced at around $300 in the US, ₹17,499 in India, and BDT 31,599 in Bangladesh, and GH₵ 2,479.00 in Ghana. This makes it one of the most affordable 5G smartphones in the market, competing with the likes of Realme 8 5G, Moto G50, and Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 5G. 

However, the price also reflects some of the compromises that the phone makes in terms of design, software updates, and video recording.

The Galaxy A23 is worth the price if you are looking for a phone that can offer fast internet speeds, a large and smooth display, a good main camera with OIS, and a long-lasting battery. 

However, if you are looking for a more premium and versatile phone, you might want to spend a bit more and get a phone that has better build quality, water resistance, Wi-Fi 6, NFC, 4K video recording, and faster software updates. 

Some of the alternatives that you can consider are Samsung Galaxy A53 5G, OnePlus Nord N200 5G, and Google Pixel 4a 5G.

Verdict

The Galaxy A23 is a decent budget smartphone that offers some features that are rare in this price range, such as 5G, OIS, and a 90Hz display. However, it also compromises on some aspects, such as design, software updates, and video recording. 

If you are looking for a phone that can handle your basic needs and offer fast internet speeds, the Galaxy A23 might be a good option for you. But if you want a more premium and versatile phone, you might want to look elsewhere.

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