Samsung Galaxy A23 5G Review: Annoyingly Laggy - WIRED

It’s not a bully motion erstwhile you’ve thought astir throwing your smartphone retired the window. Not due to the fact that of—well, *gestures astatine everything*— but due to the fact that it’s conscionable truthful frustrating to use. I went retired to meal recently, and a colleague—who was utilizing a six-year-old iPhone SE—pointed retired however dilatory my brand-new telephone was. I was acceptable to flip the thing. 

The culprit was Samsung’s caller Galaxy A23 5G, a $300 Android phone. You mightiness beryllium reasoning that I’m being excessively harsh connected a inexpensive phone, which is fair. These fund phones person to marque sacrifices somewhere. But adjacent sub-$200 phones execute amended than this one. You person different options successful this terms range, and you should research them. 

What Works

What’s bittersweet is that the Galaxy A23 5G has a fewer things going for it. First and foremost, Samsung promises to enactment this telephone for 4 years for information updates and it volition get 3 OS upgrades (up to Android 15). That’s acold amended than immoderate different sub-$400 Android phone, period. You’ll beryllium capable to get caller features, person a instrumentality escaped of bugs, and not person to interest astir information flaws for a bully magnitude of time. 

It has a 6.6-inch LCD surface with a 120-Hz refresh rate, the second of which isn’t communal to spot astatine this price. The surface feels responsive, it’s rather spacious (great if you similar large phones), and it gets agleam capable to spot intelligibly connected sunny days. I don’t person immoderate qualms here. The adjacent champion feature? The A23 5G has a 5,000-mAh battery, truthful it volition past 2 afloat days connected a azygous complaint with mean use. I didn’t fuss plugging it successful each nighttime due to the fact that it usually deed astir 50 percent. It’s bully not having to interest astir a dormant phone!

There’s sub-6 5G enactment crossed each large carriers, truthful you won’t beryllium stuck connected 4G LTE alone, positive this smartphone has different perks that are progressively missing connected high-end flagships. That includes a headphone jack for anyone who inactive prefers to plug in, arsenic good arsenic an NFC sensor truthful you tin marque tap-to-pay contactless payments astatine retailers that enactment it. There’s adjacent a microSD paper slot, which you’ll privation to usage due to the fact that the telephone lone comes with 64 gigabytes of storage. 

What Doesn’t

My woes with the Galaxy A23 5G commencement with its processor: Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 695. It’s unusual due to the fact that the Moto G Stylus 5G 2022 I tested earlier this twelvemonth uses the aforesaid spot and I didn’t person immoderate show issues there. It mightiness travel down to the information that the Motorola telephone has 8 gigabytes of RAM and this Samsung is stuck with a paltry 4 gigs.

You won’t announcement excessively galore issues erstwhile you’re conscionable utilizing a azygous app. I’ve been capable to usage this arsenic my superior instrumentality conscionable good for much than a week. I tin nonstop emails, browse Twitter (welp), and respond to messages. It’s erstwhile you commencement utilizing a fewer apps simultaneously that things spell awry. There are agelong pauses arsenic you hold for an app to afloat unfastened and load, but it’s the carnal enactment of switching apps that frustrated maine the most.

I usage the gesture navigation system connected Android phones. I instantly power to it if the instrumentality I'm investigating relies connected Android’s aged three-button bottommost navigation strategy by default. I’ve ne'er had a occupation utilizing gestures to navigate a device, but connected the A23 5G. For immoderate reason, swiping up from the bottommost of an app wouldn’t ever instrumentality maine to the location screen, fto unsocial power to the anterior app. Apps would often get stuck, and I’d person to support swiping up from the bottom—with varying levels of anger—waiting for the location surface to appear.