Hello!
Since I've done so in the past, I wanted to share my thoughts and ideas for improvements for Samsung flagships: specifically 2023's S23 and Tab S9 device lineup. My hope is that any and all of these improvements can happen before manufacturing the S23 and Tab S9 series begins.
- Seamless updates with A/B partition (it means after you install an OTA update, you just reset the device: no need to sit at the update screens for 10 minutes). With a greater commitment to updates, it shouldn't be a pain to actually update one's device.
- LPTO screens/ Variable refresh rate from 1 to 120hz in all models (helps with battery life; they are flagships after all, it shouldn't be a S22 Ultra exclusive)
- 256 GB base memory standard (If the micro-SD slot is not coming back, more base storage should be the norm: it costs Samsung pennies on the dollar for 256 GB memory vs 128 GB UFS)
- Dual-tone LED flash (it somehow fell through the cracks and never got implemented despite really helping flash performance; it's a small ask since Apple uses a quad-tone LED)
- The newer, larger and faster Qualcomm 3D sonic max ultrasonic fingerprint scanner for both the phones and tablets. The current ultrasonic sensor on the S series and optical sensor on the Tab series aren't horrible, but they could be way better and ought to be. When you're buying a "flagship", you should get the best parts.
- 10-bit HDR recording natively, regardless of resolution and frame rate. It shouldn't be an option in settings and not work at 60 FPS or higher. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 and its Exynos counterpart should pack the power to process the data stream just fine.
- Better, more vibrant colours for all regions. It seems stupid to have the colors of expensive phones be so dull and lifeless, especially since Apple has more lively offerings themselves. I would love to see a "Candy" or "Crimson" Red, "Navy" or "Electric" Blue, "Electric" or "Forest" Green, etc. These colors would really make the devices pop. And as I said, no arbitrary region restrictions. I remember with my S9+ to get blue, you had to buy from Best Buy in the US. So dumb.
- For the S23 series phones, this would be really cool but not strictly necessary: an OLED screen on the rear, next to the camera array, similar to the Z Flip 4. Instead of trying to improve the front-facing selfie camera any further, why not add a small screen so people can frame shots and take selfies/group photos with the main sensors? The selfie cam would still be the go to for video calls but wouldn't need to play the resolution race or wide-angle race, especially with such a small sensor. It would also be a great standout feature for the phones compared to the competition.
- For the Tab S9 Ultra: Bring the bezels back so the front facing cameras fit in them without a notch or hole punch set-up. The notch looks terrible and wouldn't be solved with a hole-punch display. Worse yet, notch/hole punch in landscape mode eats at video content on screen in a way that it doesn't on phones. Since the hole-punch camera is only visible when content is zoomed in on the phones, it's fine. For the tablet, it's always there if you want to use the full screen for streaming video content, and that is just horrible. Tablets need bigger bezels than phones so you can hold them easily and not touch everything on screen. It makes no sense to have smaller bezels if the front facing cameras can't fit within them and it comes at the cost of handling.
Now, before any other users says anything; would I love to see the headphone jack, removable storage, IR blaster, IR iris scanner, hard press home button and other legacy features return? Of course, but that's not likely to happen. It sucks but it's just the way it is and we have to move on or go to another brand like Sony. For the future of Samsung devices, though, I believe the listed items would be both appropriate and necessary for competition and the betterment of Samsung devices as a whole.
To any Samsung employees reading, I truly hope you can share this with the hardware and software teams. I want my next devices to still be Samsung and seeing a logical and clear progression in improvements would make me very happy.
Thanks for reading!
