We have reviewed the Samsung best-selling A-series, the Samsung Galaxy A53 5G, and their top-tier Samsung Galaxy A73 5G. I received a more budget-friendly in the Galaxy A-series line-up, the Samsung Galaxy A23.

So in this review, we will see whether it’s worth the RM 999 that you will be paying for this smartphone.

Samsung Galaxy A23 Specification

Design

The Samsung Galaxy A23 has a pretty similar design to the 2022 Galaxy A-series smartphones but it has a glossy surface instead of the matte that is found on the Galaxy A53 5G and Galaxy A73 5G. The reflective and rounded corners remind of me the colorful and cheerful Apple iPhone 5C but in a more pastel way.

The volume rocker and power buttons are on the right while on the left is the Hybrid SIM card tray. There’s a 3.5mm audio jack at the bottom alongside the USB C port and loudspeaker.

It may use only plastic on its body but the overall build is sturdy and has no flexing or squeaking.

Display & Speaker

Receive no love from the vibrant AMOLED instead it gets a 6.6-inch PLS TFT LCD display. Glad it is equipped with 2,408 x 1,080 Full HD+ resolution on this large display. The scrolling is smooth and responsive thanks to the support of a 90Hz refresh rate.

The display is just decent with enough brightness for indoors and lacks color punch compared to AMOLED. The bezels and chin are rather thick for 2022’s smartphone IMHO.

A single down-firing speaker that’s loud and features Dolby Atmos which only works on wired and wireless earphones or headphones.

Performance

Coming to performance, the Galaxy A23 is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 680 processor based on a 6nm process. It’s a mid-range chip paired with Adreno 610 GPU with a clock speed of 750MHz.

It’s a quad performance core Kyro 265 Gold at up to 2.4GHz and quad efficient core Kyro 265 Silver at up to 1.8GHz.

Paired with a decent 6GB of memory plus up to 4GB of RAM Plus that use additional virtually by using the internal storage. Samsung is also generous enough to offer 128GB of storage which can also be further expanded via a microSD card.

There’s no issue playing graphics-intensive games like PUBG, Asphalt 9, and even Genshin Impact at low or medium graphics settings. The Samsung Galaxy A23 delivered a fair competent performance for everyday day-to-day use, especially for what you pay for.

Here are the synthetic benchmark test results;

Camera

One of the key highlights of this device is the 50 megapixels f/1.8 main camera with the inclusion of OIS Optical Image Stabilization. This not only helps take steadier photos as well as videos.

Paired with a 5 megapixels f/2.2 ultrawide, a depth sensor, and a 2-megapixels macro lens.

Here are some photos captured with the Samsung Galaxy A23

It can take good photos in daylight with great details and sharpness with the main camera. I noticed that the photos white balance are sometimes not consistent and it’s very obvious in low light. I’m sure some software tweaks would resolve the problem.

Due to fixed focus and low 5-megapixel sensor, the photos come out noisier and the software bumped up the colors to make them look eyes pleasing. The macro photos are soft and dull in color.

Worth noting, that the Samsung Galaxy A23’s camera can only shoot Full HD at 30fps.

Battery

The battery life on the Samsung Galaxy A23 is great, even for heavy users, it should easily last a day on a single charge. I get around 6-7 hours of screen-on-time with casual usage plus some gaming and benchmark test. With PCMark it scored over 14 hours which is impressively good.

The 5,000 mAh battery supports 25W fast charging and it takes less than 2 hours to fully charge from 0%.

One UI 4.1

In terms of software, it runs on Samsung’s newest One UI 4.1 based on Android 12. As I have experienced with Samsung’s flagship device, the UX is clean and easy to navigate. There aren’t many apps installed beside a few games and benchmark apps, the scrolling, and switching between apps are seamless.

Although it’s a full-fledged One UI 4.1, it doesn’t support Samsung Pay or Bixby Routine which is only available on the Samsung Galaxy A33 5G and above.

Where to buy

• Samsung Malaysia eStore
• Lazada Malaysia
• Shopee Malaysia