News

Samsung Galaxy S23 Series: Focused refinement

‘Nightography,’ Gaming, Customization, and Sustainability

Published

February 2, 2023

Rodneil Quiteles

Refinement and polishing continues to be the theme for the Samsung Galaxy S Line. The Samsung Galaxy S23 Series has officially launched and consists of the Galaxy S23, Galaxy S23+ and Galaxy S23 Ultra.

If you’re looking for bombastic changes, you might not find that here. Instead, Samsung is doubling down on the things they’re already good at while improving in certain areas that they hope would make them more appealing to today’s young crowd. To do so, they’re highlighting four core pillars: “Nightography”, Gaming, Customization, and Sustainability.

Nightography

Samsung started using this whole “nightography” branding with the Galaxy S20 series and have since stuck with it. Essentially, this is their approach to producing clear, quality images even in dark shooting environments or situations.

It’s quite a treat to behold as the phones actually take a few seconds to process an image. At first, you’ll see the image as seen on the viewfinder. It shows a photo that looks like it was properly lit after the the software image processing kicks in.

On the Galaxy S23 Ultra, this is achieved, in part, thanks to the new 200MP Pixel Sensor — a first for Samsung. What it does is combine 16 pixels into one large pixel to make brighter shots in low light environments.

They’re applying the similar output effect to videos too. They’re calling the tech Adaptive VDIS which analyzes and subdivides movements and recognizes lighting conditions. Paired with the now 2x wider OIS (Optical Image Stabilization), Samsung is confident you can record at night and still come out with clear looking videos.

Mobile Gaming

No doubt, mobile gaming has picked up steam over the past few years. And more and more developers are creating mobile games that — at least looks-wise — can go toe-to-toe with those made for last generation consoles. Pair that with the wider exposure due to easier accessibility, it’s easy to see why so many people have turned to it and why Samsung is highlighting the phones’ gaming capabilities.

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 is powering this series. Yes, that’s across the board in all markets. It’s the the most advanced chip for smartphones right now.

However, gaming needs more than a powerful processor because a heating chip affects performance. To address that, Samsung took special care in improving the cooling system. Combined with the improved battery capacity for the Galaxy S23 and Galaxy S23+, this should ensure a smooth, immersive, and extended gaming experience.

Customization

Your Galaxy. That’s essentially the central idea behind Samsung’s whole customization approach. And they’re doing it on both hardware and software fronts.

For hardware, they have this whole BeSpoke thing going on. It’s essentially a bunch of cases, accessories, stickers, and whatnot that you can equip on your Galaxy device to make it truly yours. Other than global partners like CASETiFY, they also have country-specific partners to truly appeal locally.

Sustainability

Samsung has been pretty loud about their sustainability efforts especially during media presentations. With the Samsung Galaxy S23 series, they’ve taken things up a notch.

First, the packaging is made up of 100% recycled paper. Naturally, it doesn’t stop there. Recycled plastic was also used to craft the phones. The top speaker module, side key, and volume keys are made with recycled water barrels. Then, the back glass (deco film) and case front were made with recycled PET bottles. Meanwhile, recycled discarded fishing nets were used for the S Pen inner cover (for the Galaxy S23 Ultra) and bottom speaker module. Lastly, one of the layers for the front screen and the back cover were made using pre-consumer recycled glass.

For the Galaxy S23 Ultra, 12 internal and external components used recycled materials. That’s double the six from the Galaxy S22 Ultra.

Samsung Galaxy S23 Series Specs

Galaxy S23 Ultra

Display — 6.8-inch QHD+ Edge, Dynamic AMOLED 2X, 120Hz refresh rate, 240Hz touch sampling rate, Vision Booster, Enhanced Comfort
Processor — Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy
RAM and Storage — 12GB+1TB, 12GB+512GB, 12GB+256GB
Battery and Charging — 5,000mAh, Fast Wireless Charging 2.0, Wireless Powershare
OS — Android 13, ONE UI 5.1
Water Resistance — IP68
Cameras:
- 200MP f/1.7 Wide
- 12MP, f/2.2 Ultra-Wide
- 10MP, f/2.4 Telephoto, 3x optical zoom
- 10MP, f/4.9 Telephoto, 10x optical zoom
- 12MP, f/2.2 Front

Samsung Galaxy S23+

Display — 6.6-inch FHD+, Dynamic AMOLED 2X, 120Hz refresh rate, 240Hz touch sampling rate, Vision Booster, Enhanced Comfort
Processor — Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy
RAM and Storage — 8GB+512GB, 8GB+256GB
Battery and Charging — 4,700mAh, Fast Wireless Charging 2.0, Wireless Powershare
OS — Android 13, ONE UI 5.1
Water Resistance — IP68
Cameras:
- 50MP f/1.8 Wide
- 12MP, f/2.2 Ultra-Wide
- 10MP, f/2.4 Telephoto, 3x optical zoom
- 12MP, f/2.2 Front

Galaxy S23

Display — 6.6-inch FHD+, Dynamic AMOLED 2X, 120Hz refresh rate, 240Hz touch sampling rate, Vision Booster, Enhanced Comfort
Processor — Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy
RAM and Storage — 8GB+256GB, 8GB+128GB
Battery and Charging — 3,900mAh, Fast Wireless Charging 2.0, Wireless Powershare
OS — Android 13, ONE UI 5.1
Water Resistance — IP68
Cameras:
- 50MP f/1.8 Wide
- 12MP, f/2.2 Ultra-Wide
- 10MP, f/2.4 Telephoto, 3x optical zoom
- 12MP, f/2.2 Front

Finance

HONOR, Fidesmo partner for contactless payments across Europe, Middle East

Enabling contactless payments on the HONOR Watch 6

Published

September 16, 2026

GadgetMatch

HONOR and Fidesmo have partnered to launch contactless payments across Europe and the Middle East on the HONOR Watch 6.

Powered by Fidesmo Pay, the integration enables users to connect an existing Mastercard or Visa card to their watch and complete contactless transactions directly from the wearable device.

This brings Fidesmo’s network of over 900 banks and financial institutions to HONOR’s customers. Users can connect an existing card to the HONOR Watch 6 instantly through the HONOR Health App, which installs a unique token directly onto the watch.

Acting as a secure reference to the payment method, this token allows customers to pay without storing their actual payment details on the device. Once installed, users can tap the watch at any
contactless terminal to pay, just as they would with a card or phone.

HONOR joins a group of device partners that already includes Swatch, Polar, and Mondaine as Fidesmo continues to build momentum across categories.

Entertainment

Max vs 100 will feature Max Verstappen race against 100 go-karters

The live event will stream at midnight on September 17.

Published

September 15, 2026

Luigi Leonardo

As a child, one of my favorite thought experiments is to imagine who would win in a fight between my favorite characters at the time and a number of other random beings. For example, will Superman prevail against 100 Magnetos? Those are the ways I kept my young mind occupied. Now, as a former child, I still do the same thing but with more realistic people, like imagining if Steph Curry can win against 100 high schoolers. This week, ESPN and Disney+ are making one of those imaginary fights real: Formula 1 legend Max Verstappen versus 100 go-karters.

In an upcoming live event streaming exclusively on Disney+, Max vs 100 will pit the four-time world champion against 100 go-karters from everywhere in pop culture. This gaggle of 100 will include popular content creators such as Twitch streamer ExtraEmily, car photographer Larry Chen, and NBA shooting coach Chris Matthews.

All 101 drivers will race around one of the most iconic tracks in Formula 1 history, Silverstone in England. The track will be reconfigured to match the special race.

Of course, this is more than just a parade of go-karts. Max Verstappen will start at the back of the grid, meaning he has to overtake all 100 racers to win. Now, the Dutch driver is no stranger to winning from the back. In 2024, he won the Sao Paulo Grand Prix despite starting from P17 (out of 20 racers). Max vs 100, though familiar for the driver, presents a different challenge. Can he overtake 100 times to win the race?

Max vs 100 will stream live through Disney+ on September 17, 12:00am PHT.

Apps

Apple’s best feature to cure motion sickness is finally on Android

Google copies a good page from Apple’s playbook.

Published

September 15, 2026

Luigi Leonardo

As an Android user, I’ve been jealous of iPhone users for a while now, but it’s not for the reason you might think. See, I’m ridiculously prone to motion sickness when I’m not driving. So, when I discovered that Apple has a software-based cure called Vehicle Motion Cues, I wanted it immediately. Now, Android does have third-party apps that do the same thing, but they’re not as good as a fully native version. Well, those dark, nauseating days are about to come to an end. Android 17 is finally getting a similar tool called Motion assist.

Before that, let’s rewind for a bit. What do these features do? How can they cure motion sickness?

Whenever you open Vehicle Motion Cues or Motion assist, the interface spawns a series of dots on the screen. These dots respond to movement. For example, if the vehicle turns to the left, the dots also go to the left, mimicking the movement. Without cues like this, the stationary nature of the screen clashes with our brain’s perception of movement. The disparity creates that feeling of nausea. Basically, our eyes are desperately trying to focus on the static screen, but our brains are telling us that we should be seeing motion. Having moving dots reorients our brain and places the phone inside our perception of movement.

Now, you can enable the same feature on your Android 17 device through Settings > All services > Motion assist under Personal & device safety. You can also set it so that the feature turns on automatically when the phone detects that you’re in a moving vehicle. Finally, you can also tweak the shape, color, and opacity of these dots.

Android 17’s Motion assist is rolling out now to compatible devices.