Finally, a post on this blog that isn’t related to the Lynxmic brand itself, but that’s besides the point. The point of this post is, I switched phones again after less than a year.

If you’ve been following Lynxmic on Twitter and/or the Fediverse in the past month, you might have noticed me posting screenshots from the A23 5G over to the two social platforms; been owning the phone since late January.

Taking a quick look at the phone itself (before turning it on), it doesn’t look or feel any different from my previous main phone, the Galaxy A13. Same camera setup, USB-C, headphone jack, whatever.

At the same time, the A23 5G and the A13 belong to the same 2022 generation. Except that the A23 5G is obviously superior, which you can already tell from the model. The inclusion of “5G” in the model makes it my first 5G phone, and literally just as I’m typing this, I really can’t believe it was over 10 years ago when I got my first Android phone - running 2.3.7 Gingerbread - which only supported 3G at most.

Actually using it

Usual setup phase and all that, until I noticed there was a “Samsung Free” app preinstalled (which you can’t even disable). Opening it, at the first glance it looks like some news app. At the same time, I can’t even think of a point why is this app a thing? My experience using the phone felt much smoother thanks to the display’s 120Hz refresh rate, which is not supported by the A13.

After all this, I updated the phone to Android 13 as it had already rolled out by then. I shared my experience on Android 13 with One UI 5 in an opinion video I made over a month ago, where I also ranted about the lack of seamless updates in general on Galaxy phones (over 6 years since they were first introduced by Google):

What about the camera? Generally nothing special, until you look at “More”.

From here, the A13 doesn’t have slow-motion and night modes. The night mode does its job relatively good enough for a mid-range device. As for slow-motion, it does its job just as well. Should note that slow-motion only supports 720p (so if you’re used to 1080p recording like me, then you either have to deal with it or idk), but both modes are a welcome addition regardless.

You may also notice that, while on the A13, the button on the top directs you to Deco Pic, on the A23 5G, it directs you to “AR Zone” instead; though you can still access Deco Pic from the AR Zone menu (with a catch - you have to download and install it from the Galaxy Store first).

Just like Samsung Free, you can’t uninstall, nor at least disable AR Zone (you can only hide it from the apps screen). On the other hand, on the A13 you can uninstall Deco Pic, so… shrug

Back to the cameras topic, with slo-mo and night modes (and AR) out of the way, it’s nothing special compared to the A13. Just like I said earlier. The quality is the same, the options are the same, everything is the same, which is rather expected, nothing much of a deal compared to the A13.

With all those features out of the way, the experience overall is generally the same. Except for the usual feeling of buying a new phone that will fade after a few days/weeks of actually using it, after which it’ll be just yet another typical Android phone put on a table ready for use at any moment.

So, why did I switch?

There’s a good explanation to this. I’m considering giving my previous main phone (the A13) to another family member, and just live with my new A23 5G (which is now my main phone), and with my secondary phone, the Galaxy A12 (original variant), which I’ve been using for almost two years now (and was my main for just as much as my A13).

However, rest assured, this should be the last time I’m switching phones after less than a year. Planning to actually keep this phone as my main for at least 1-2 years from now on hopefully.