Samsung has officially released the Galaxy S23 Series, and there are plenty of neat-picky things that have been optimized and improved with the device. It is obviously based on Android but has some different behavior than Google’s Stock-Android.
Samsung One UI 5.1 has already started rolling out, and there are a couple of things that have been improved including the reachability behavior. It also has good relations with Google and with the recent rumors suggesting Samsung is not going to remove Google Apps in India even after having a chance of doing it.
There is a new Message app, which is a Stock Message app but with a customized skin. You can verify this by heading over to Google Play Store and checking for the Google Message app which shows that the app is pre-installed. It’s more like Google having more control over the Android experience than Samsung does, which is kind of normal as millions of people use Samsung smartphones compared to Google’s smartphones.
Samsung has a lot of things that do not even roll out on Google devices. Starting with Google Messages with Customized, they are the only OEM to allow doing this. Samsung devices receive 4 years of software upgrades with 5 years of security patches whereas Google devices have 3 years of OS upgrades and 4 years of security patches. We would also like to mention that Samsung devices receive OS upgrades even before Google rolls them out or on the same day when Google announces their latest version of Android.
On the other hand, there are some exclusives that even Google Pixel does not have such as native Google Duo integration where you can watch YouTube videos with somebody while doing Duo calling. It’s a feature with Google products but it does not come with Pixel devices. Whereas Google Pixel should be the default Android smartphone. Yeah, Samsung is a default Android phone and that’s how it controls experience. Notably, Samsung’s smartphones are the best choices for the masses which definitely is a safe thing to do so. One of the best things about Google devices is their Android experience but it does not seem to be a differentiator.
That’s true that Samsung devices receive first updates, followed by Google Pixel sometimes. If you want an Android flagship device you have Samsung globally. It’s a nice and great device too. You need to buy a charger though! A safe bet is Samsung. You can buy this smartphone for a lower price than the launch date as last year S22 came with a deal for under $699 as brand-new or $439 as refurbished. So except for losing 1 year of software upgrade the device is still pretty good. Most people do want 128GB of memory configuration and this year there is no microSDXC card.
