unboxing an impulsively bought samsung galaxy s23 ultra. love yourself, yeah?

february 2nd, philippine time.

I was in the office, minding my own business and working on piles of backlogs. One of my closest friends at work, D, dropped by my team's area and sat beside me. As usual, he went on and told me stories about his misadventures during fieldwork. I think it was also the same day he found this new guy at work sat somewhere in the corner of the lobby, and D just said, "Aira, I now have a new crush!"

Laughing, I engaged with his newfound kilig as he expressed just how handsome this guy apparently is. As an introvert and socially anxious person, I don't really look at people passing by, so I couldn't figure out who D was talking about, but he was adamant that the new guy was good-looking, so I'll trust him on this one. 😆

Once his excitement died down, he suddenly and randomly blurted, "The S23 series have been unpacked, what are your plans?" (Yeah, he never runs out of topics to talk about!) I was shocked. Weeks before, we were discussing how the S23 series look so far, particularly the S23 Ultra. I couldn't believe D remembered that I was interested. I also didn't know that it had been unpacked already -- I thought it was going to be somewhere in the middle of the day, Philippine time.

Hurriedly, I checked my carrier network's website. Lo and behold, pre-orders have started. I didn't tell D, but I was half-serious when I told him I was planning to upgrade. Besides, it was already around the time I could start renewing my mobile plan contract.

I was pretty undecided, though. On one hand, I've been thinking about just how expensive the S23 Ultra costs. On the other hand, I couldn't stop thinking about how much I covet it. Funnily enough, @debilog said, "You've been thinking about upgrading for a year already. People say that if you're considering something for a week already, just go for it!"

go for it? heck yeah, i did.

Seriously though, that was the nudge I needed. The icing to the cake. The "let's do this!" to my inner chant.

So... I pre-ordered the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra through my carrier network. A day later, they called. We talked about my postpaid plan details and shipping information. I also confirmed my pre-order: the S23 Ultra Lavender. My carrier network is offering the 512 GB storage, 12 GB RAM variant.

At this point, nothing's confirmed yet. The conversation I had with the quirky customer service representative was so informal, it seriously felt like I was talking to a long-time friend. I'm not kidding, it seemed as if we knew each other. 😆 She said I had a really big chance of getting approved for the plan upgrade, but just to be sure, I can start preparing additional financial documents in case they ask for it.

They didn't.

Hilariously, this was all I received in my email:

I was kind of expecting more details, so I thought, "Ah, they'll probably send more instructions within the day. Or tomorrow. Or within the week."

soon enough, i received an SMS saying... the phone was on its way to me.

I was in the office. I was like, "Excuse me? What???"

I was really under the impression that I would receive more instructions. You know, like:

• How much do I have to prepare? They didn't really say what the payment method was going to be.
• Do they still need additional documents from me?
• I don't know... more instructions.

I panicked. Thankfully, the delivery man was kind enough to say that I could reschedule, so I did. I rescheduled for the next day, but I still had enough time to buy accessories for the phone, like case and screen protector.

happy hearts' day to me!

I received the accessories the next morning, Hearts' Day, February 14th. That same afternoon, the new phone finally arrived. I was so excited, I just immediately unboxed it. I also used Samsung's Smart Switch to migrate my data to the S23 Ultra from my 3-year-old Note 10+. It was really seamless!

The color is so pretty, I'm in love! It's also very girly. When the CSR asked my second option, just in case my preferred color runs out, I said the green one. That one seems to look very cool, too! It's just that I really fell in love with the lavender color and really prefer that one. I was also thinking about the cream variant, and I was honestly torn between that and the lavender.

I also couldn't help but compare it with my 3-year-old Note 10+. They look almost the same, but you can still easily spot differences if you know where to look. They have the same screen size of 6.8 inches, but the Note was a lot lighter and thinner.

The Note is also much more curved compared to the Ultra, which is boxier. The grip in the Ultra also feels a lot more comfortable, even with my tiny hands. The S-pen's body in the Note has the same color as the phone, whereas for the Ultra, all variants have black body for the S-pen, with the only the tip matching colors with the phone's body. Even their slots' positions are on opposite ends, with the Ultra's S-pen at the left, and the Note's at the right (I prefer the right one).

The volume and Bixby/power buttons are on the right side for the Ultra, while it is on the left side on my Note. I'm still getting used to these changes in placements.

Of course, one of the most noticeable changes is the camera modules. The Ultra's cameras are huge. I'm not sure if it's right, but every time I take pictures, I think I can feel the shutter move in the Ultra.

I'm not really a good photographer, or even someone who likes taking pictures. But for the sake of just how expensive the Ultra is, I'm going to try, just so I can make the most of it. Here are some photos I took using the S23 Ultra. These are unedited, too!

my neighborhood.

view from the office.

stuff @debilog gave me.

dinner with friends. (I had to blur our faces out.)

of course, i also tested the s-pen!

For drawing purposes, mostly. I haven't tried it on the bare screen, though. I only go to test it when I've already placed a screen protector on the Ultra. I haven't finished the drawing, but I'll most likely post it on my @erangvee account when I'm through.

the unboxing.

Finally, here's my lousy attempt at unboxing. Technically, this is just a re-unboxing. I literally just put the phone back in the box, even with screen protector on already. 😆