Don't get me wrong One UI is a great UI for Samsung but pretty much all their software "Features" are really never used at all or never work the way they make it seem.
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Samsung Announces New Galaxy S23 Ultra With 200-Megapixel Camera
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I was specifically referencing software in regards to the camera and photos. My knowledge of One UI is several years old. I can understand your point as I have the same with my OnePlus 10 Pro - I use very little of those features and even use a different launcher.
I am invested in both ecosystems (14 Pro Max+Air Pods Pro+AWS4+Airpods Max+Macbook Air+iPad Pro M1, S22 Ultra (preordered S23 Ultra+Galaxy Buds Pro+Sony WH1000XM4+GW5+Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra+Gaming PC) and don't really see much of a difference nowadays. Airdrop is complemented by Naearby Share. You can attend calls on PC with Samsung phones and even text and Samsung Dex works with Windows. I use my PC more than my Mac and the Galaxy works better for my usage.
The only aspect where Apple really is better is the polish of apps on iOS and the battery life. Twitter, Instagram, Uber, TikTok are just superior on iOS. App design is consistent and works well and while my Tab S8 Ultra has a better display than the iPad Pro, app support for tablets isn't where it should be but I like it for content consumption due to the 16:9 aspect ratio. Battery life has been awful on Samsung for the past few years with my 14 Pro Max just demolishing my S22 Ultra with 2x the battery life but the S23 Ultra SOC is fabbed by TSMC and based on early previews is matching the 14 Pro Max. Can't wait to get hands on mine.
TBH Samsung doesn't do a great job advertising features on their phones which Apple genuinely lacks. The real standout feature of the S23 Ultra is the increased battery life which Samsung is not advertising anywhere. Early reviews show almost a 2x increase in efficiency almost catching up with A16 Bionic. This is apart from unique features like Clipboard history, Routines (ability to deactivate/activate features depending on time of day, limit charge to 85% or set a time limit where you want the phone to fast charge before switching back to normal charge, system wide ad blocking, multi window support, ability to resize the PiP videos, a proper file manager like on PC,S-pen for productivity etc). The S Ultra series is the kitchen sink of smartphones. My S22U feels more like a computer than the iPhone.
I have both the 14 Pro Max and the S22 Ultra and while the S22 Ultra does stutter a bit compare to the 14 Pro Max, its a far more convenient phone to use. Samsung has come a long way since their bad days back in 2013. I actually miss my S22 Ultra when I use my 14 PM for work. That's not to say I don't like the iPhone as well but they are both great phones and I buy both because I cannot choose between the two lol.
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200 MP on a sensor that small is going to have a ton of noise.
It's just a matter of physics. Now of course they will use noise algorithms to clean up the noise.
Anyone who has done photography for a little while with DSLR or mirrorless cameras knows even the best software for lowering noise messes up the detail of the image. There is that point of diminishing returns where you are nudging the sharpen and noise reduction sliders by tiny amounts trying to get the most out of the image.
This probably isn't doing that. People in Korea love the filter look from their phone cameras.
I'm sure its 200MP of squeaky clean cartoon land.
Or more likely, it's a lower MP sensor at 30 or 40mp doing the OIS trick of moving the sensor back and forth very quickly when taking photos. Then compositing them into an approximation of 200MP.
There are pro cameras that pull off this trick so it's not outrageous.
It's just a matter of physics. Now of course they will use noise algorithms to clean up the noise.
Anyone who has done photography for a little while with DSLR or mirrorless cameras knows even the best software for lowering noise messes up the detail of the image. There is that point of diminishing returns where you are nudging the sharpen and noise reduction sliders by tiny amounts trying to get the most out of the image.
This probably isn't doing that. People in Korea love the filter look from their phone cameras.
I'm sure its 200MP of squeaky clean cartoon land.
Or more likely, it's a lower MP sensor at 30 or 40mp doing the OIS trick of moving the sensor back and forth very quickly when taking photos. Then compositing them into an approximation of 200MP.
There are pro cameras that pull off this trick so it's not outrageous.
In theory, you can add any arbitrary amount of information to make even the crappiest image look photo-realistic.
However, if you do that, the image will look very different from "ground truth" (i.e, the actual scene).
More advanced AI can reconstruct bad images more convincingly, but it only goes so far.
Third party apps too, apparently.
Matt Birchler (@birchtree@mastodon.social)
@gruber @viticci@macstories.net Yeah, good luck finding a high quality text editor with markdown support on Android. Or an RSS reader close to Reeder/NetNewsWire.
mastodon.social
The Shocking State of Enthusiast Apps on Android
I recently commented on Mastodon that I thought when it comes to third party apps, iOS is remarkably far ahead of Android. My feeling is that you can take the best app in a category on Android, and that would be the 3rd to 5th best app in that category
birchtree.me
But since apps are how we interact with our devices most of the time, I will say that's a pretty huge deal.
That difference could be attributed to the Samsung driving a higher resolution screen than Apple. Also 120hz on Android is true 120hz while on iPhones since it scrolls fewer lines the real refresh rate never reaches 120hz and is more like 80-90hz.
Android has a lot going on than iOS so the fact that it's so close to the 14PM is impressive.
True. End of the day both Android an iOS have their pros and cons but really the difference these days isn't as glaring as one would think.Third party apps too, apparently.
Matt Birchler (@birchtree@mastodon.social)
@gruber @viticci@macstories.net Yeah, good luck finding a high quality text editor with markdown support on Android. Or an RSS reader close to Reeder/NetNewsWire.
The Shocking State of Enthusiast Apps on Android
I recently commented on Mastodon that I thought when it comes to third party apps, iOS is remarkably far ahead of Android. My feeling is that you can take the best app in a category on Android, and that would be the 3rd to 5th best app in that category
But since apps are how we interact with our devices most of the time, I will say that's a pretty huge deal.
That’s true — Google’s main mode of business is still to know as much about you as possible, and through your phone they could get to know an awful lot about you.
YOU don’t quite understand how it works. The sensor is 200MP but it uses pixel binning. The iPhone does it too.
In this chapter of the megapixel race, it’s all about pixel binning. Samsung already employs this with its 108-megapixel sensor, and taking a super high-res photo isn’t the point — rather, combining individual pixels into four-by-four or two-by-two configurations is.
YOU don’t quite understand how it works. The sensor is 200MP but it uses pixel binning. The iPhone does it too.
In this chapter of the megapixel race, it’s all about pixel binning. Samsung already employs this with its 108-megapixel sensor, and taking a super high-res photo isn’t the point — rather, combining individual pixels into four-by-four or two-by-two configurations is.
We need to stop using the word binning here. It’s not what it means by definition.
The pixel are being quartered in the iPhone 14 Pro series and possibility the same as well as by 6th in the Galaxy 23 Ultra’s camera system as it can do both. There is no difference in quality per pixel in the cameras here.
Binning is being thrown around incorrectly to substitute what is actually being done.
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These colours look so blah and bland.
Honestly it’s like watching the colour of cars and clothes in a 1980-1983 blockbuster movie today. Pastel colours. At least no OS has such drab colours.
Yup I disagree with liking these colours.
Crazy to know the original iPhone had that while feature phones 2-3yrs prior had 3.2MP cameras with great quality even using an LED or released the same year with a Xenon flash! https://m.gsmarena.com/sony_ericsson_k850-2003.php
Sorry but in terms of Android phones I’d prefer the ZTE RedMagic 8 Pro slate
I suspect that number will improve once Samsung rolls out an update or two.
Still, for the launch that is fairly impressive. Didn’t think it would be that close.
That sounds like a crazy camera. If rumors are true I suspect Apple wants the iPhone Ultra to compete with the insane specs that these kinds of Android phones have (even though I think the iPhones we have are fine).
Also the S23U is very new and will surely get better with updates.
The S22U battery endurance is now better than it was at launch.
Galaxy S smartphones finally don't have a big battery handicap and I've seen a lot of iphones users per-ordering the S23U, well ex iphones users as some of them already sold their iphone.
I just order the S23U myself and I will already say it: the S23U will be by far the most popular Android Flagship of the year, most sold Android Flagship in the last 3 years(beating the S22U and S21U in units) and The Phone Of the Year award winner from most major tech sites and YouTube channels.
I got mine for the same price I would get a base 128Gb iphone 14 Pro, well 70$ cheaper actually, plus it was the 512Gb S23U variant plus I also got a 100$ voucher to buy accessories. Great deal I would say.
He didn't say anything wrong.
All people here making assumption about Samsung's 200MP don't really seem to know what they are talking about.
First it needs to be establish that the S23U DOESN'T take 200MP PICTURES BY DEFAULT. By default it takes 12MP images, so no different than any smartphone of the market.
In terms of details the S23U improved a lot vs the S22U, while if you would follow the logic from people here ranting on Samsung's 200MP camera the S23U should actually perform worse than it's predecessor which is obviously not the case.
Second, Samsung is a company with a long history in photography and a lot of experience and technologies related to this field. They not long ago made very good dedicated cameras. The 200MP was developed by Samsung and even if, even I was skeptical I first, Samsung obviously knew why were doing when they chose to create this sensor.
The 200MP sensor is not a "low end camera sensor" with just high mega-pixel count like a lot of users here are trying to suggest, its a state of the art new camera sensor which performs as well as you would expect a high-end smartphone camera sensor to perform.
Third, regarding pixel binning. The S23U combines 16 pixels into one and there are already comparisons between the default 12MP mode and the 200MP mode. The default 12MP mode massively improves dynamic range and low light performance(so also cleans the image really good when it comes to noise) while the 200MP is incredibly detailed in decent light conditions and it's a huge step up from the 108MP used in previous Samsung flagships.
All in all, in the camera department the S23U is definitely not a disappointment and brings solid improvement from Samsung.
And Apple's main mode of business is hyper-upcharging for commodity consumer electronics and vendor lock-in, driven off the back off misplaced brand loyalty ties to outdated conspicuous consumption.
I agree. The battery was the one thing holding Samsung back. Well that and the shutter lag and the inconsistent animation stutters. I do see iPhone users considering Samsung this gen