😎 Good morning, and welcome to a new week, a fresh edition of the Daily Authority! Paula here, covering for Andy, and tomorrow I’ll be leaving you in Hadlee’s capable hands. Today we’ve got some excellent headlines for you, including our take on Samsung’s Galaxy S23, everything we know about Google’s Pixel Watch 2, and a snow-themed Monday Meme, so keep reading.

Samsung Galaxy S23: A giant among small phones

Our Ryan Haines reviewed Samsung’s vanilla Galaxy S23, so without further ado, let’s dive into his take…

The Vanilla S23 is “the series‘ pocket-sized sidekick,” writes Ryan.

• It packs a 6.1-inch Dynamic AMOLED panel with Gorilla Glass Victus 2, 120Hz refresh rate, and brightness of 1,750 nits, matching the S23 Ultra, plus an IP68 rating for water and dust resistance.
• This time around, you’re getting a 3,900mAh battery, slightly larger than the S23, with 25W wired and 15W wireless charging (more on that later).
• There’s also 8GB of RAM and 128GB or 256GB of onboard storage.
• The S23 is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy chip, built on TSMC’s 4nm process.
• Changes to the camera are purely aesthetic, with the familiar 50MP main sensor, 12MP ultrawide, and 10MP 3 x telephoto sensors.
• Samsung also upgraded the selfie cam from 10MP to 12MP.

First impressions, and that battery

• The S23’s design is almost identical to the S22, save for the slimmed-down camera design.
• “The Galaxy S23’s mix of clean design and premium materials are better than they’ve ever been — even if they’re not revolutionary,” Ryan writes.
• Onto that battery: “The Galaxy S23 handles battery life much better than its predecessor, but charging power still lags behind,” he says, and he’s definitely got a point when it comes to charging power.
• The Galaxy S23 offers just 25W wired charging, while the S23 Plus and S23 Ultra bring 45W wired charging to the table.
• Ryan shares, “In my experience, it takes just about 80 minutes to fill the 3,900mAh cell using a USB Power Delivery PD brick. In fairness, that’s around 20 minutes faster than an iPhone 14 and Pixel 7, but it’s still a disappointment when you consider that a compatible plug can top up the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s beefy 5,000mAh cell in under an hour.”
• Ryan has a final battery gripe, too: “Although the phone will prompt you to turn Power Saving mode on, it doesn’t toggle itself back off when you finish charging your battery. Unless you go back in and turn it off, you can go through entire days with limited background network and location use and a refresh rate limited to 60Hz — trust me, I’ve done it.”

How’s the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy?

The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 bumps to four performance cores compared to the trio on offer with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, and splits its load across the Cortex A710 and A715.

• This means it handles multi-core performance better as well as supporting older 32-bit apps.
• The “Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy” branding brings higher CPU and GPU clock speeds, too.
• Ryan sums up his thoughts, “I didn’t notice any problems with apps starting slowly, and the thermal performance was mostly under control, other than when first running through the setup process.”

What else?

• The Galaxy S23 camera setup “settles for familiar reliability” and Ryan seemed impressed with his results, which you can check out in all their glory over at our Google Drive link.
• Samsung also offers its best in business update policy, with four years of Android updates and five years of security patches, making the S23 a future-proof investment.

In summary, the vanilla Galaxy S23 is “a giant among small phones,” writes Ryan. “It knows where it sits and what it offers, and it won’t ask for a penny less.”

But is the best, most complete small (or at least small-ish) Android phone out there? We think so.

“The Galaxy S23 will always be compared to its larger, more powerful siblings, but that’s no reason for it to stand in their shadows.”

Roundup

⌚ Late for a very important date: Users report Pixel Watch is not on time sometimes (Android Authority).

👀 Speaking of, here’s everything we know so far about Google Pixel Watch 2, and what we want to see (Android Authority).

🍦 Android 15 goes cold and creamy for its dessert-themed code name (Android Authority).

👉 On the subject of Android versions, we rank the best, but which one came out on top? (Android Authority).

💬 Get the inside story of how ChatGPT was built from the people who made it (MIT Technology Review).

🎵 A thing of beauty? Nothing speaker leak shows off a peculiar design (Android Authority).

📱 This is our first (unofficial) look at the Xiaomi Mi Band 8 (Android Authority).

🦞 How much ocean are we willing to sacrifice? The mining industry’s next frontier is deep, deep under the sea (Wired).

😲 And scientists have mapped a secret hidden corridor in the Great Pyramid of Giza — where it leads remains a mystery (Ars Technica).

🌞 Our C. Scott Brown retrofitted his blinds to make them smart, and it’s been awesome (Android Authority).

Monday Meme

With snow forecast this week for Scotland, this seems appropriate…

Have an un-brr-lievable week!

Paula Beaton, Copy Editor.