[00:01] exact same price one is a brand new budget phone and the other is a premium flagship from 3 years ago. So, which one's actually the better buy? Is the old flagship chip still faster? How do the cameras compare? And which one will
[00:14] thinking about this for a while, and originally I was just going to review this. This is the Galaxy A17, a $200 phone. But then it got me wondering like actually spend it on this or would I rather buy a used flagship phone? And it
[00:30] turns out the S23 I found on Amazon for $23. This is a refurbished one and I actually going to be like and how these phones could actually compare in terms of speed, cameras, and the overall experience. So in this video, I'm going
[00:45] to go through these as like a procon procon and talk about the wins for each overall. So, let's start off with the first win for the Galaxy A7. Even though sizes here, you can note that you're able to get the S23 Plus. You can see
[01:01] right here. Uh, and it's going to be maybe an extra $30 to $50 if you wanted that larger size, but for the sake of having the same exact price, I'm going to go with the S23, a slightly smaller phone. And with that, you're getting a
[01:13] significantly smaller battery. So, the new phone here, the A17, has a 5,000 mAh battery, while the old one was 3,900. That aside, the new one also has a
[01:25] you're probably going to be drawing less power. You should be getting a slightly better battery life on the A17. That in addition to any used phone you're around for a while, somebody has probably been using it for a little
[01:39] while. That means the battery might not be at 100% capacity anymore. When you getting the same battery life you would have when this phone was brand new. Fortunately, you can actually check this if you go into Samsung members app and
[01:53] they don't really tell you as much as I would like, but if you go to battery status here, it just says battery life is good. It doesn't say exactly what percent battery health I'm at, but nonetheless, the battery life on this
[02:05] does seem to be pretty decent. Also, the diagnostics, I skipped a bunch of them just to get through that quicker. And the only one that was uh not acceptable to update this and I will do that a little bit later. First of all, you have
[02:17] little bit later. First of all, you have an IP68 water and dust resistance on the S23, while the A17 is still respectable at IP54, but definitely on the low end. to dunk this underwater, and I'd be a little bit more careful about getting
[02:31] this near any kind of dust and water like that. You also have a glass back and aluminum rails on the S23, which again feels more premium in the hand. plastic here on the A7. Some people like
[02:44] crackproof, but the plastic is often easier to scratch in my experience and it's generally going to be viewed as a less premium device. That said, maybe doesn't really matter. A big win for the Galaxy A7. A little bit of a caveat with
[02:59] this one is the support. So, this is a brand new phone. Samsung promises six years of support and six generations of OS upgrade. The S23 only got four years years of security. Now that this is 3 years old, that means the S23 will be
[03:14] out of date and unable to get Android in about 2028. Realistically though, most apps will still work on this phone for a little while after that. And let's say you could realistically use the S23 until about 2029. The A7 is technically
[03:29] probably about 2023 is when it's going to not really run as well. But that is going to be very dependent on do you think these phones will actually last think these phones will actually last until 2028, 2029 or 2032. And when
[03:43] you're looking at that, obviously the speed is going to be a big question there. And that is a huge reason why I would be tempted to lean towards the S23 in this comparison. And if you look at these, you have a Snapdragon [snorts] 8
[03:55] Gen 2. the processor on the S23 versus an Exynos 1330 on the A17. If we do a app operations. I'm gonna open up Chrome. I'm going to find some photos. maybe I want to make them my wallpaper. You can see through all of that, the S23
[04:12] is significantly faster. And then an even more smoking gun test here is going to be a video export. So, I downloaded Cap Cut and then I just exported I I kind of adjusted the video in some way that would make it take a little while
[04:25] them. It took a couple seconds on the S23 and took maybe four to 5x as long on the A7. Without a doubt, that is a landslide win for the S23. And based on
[04:37] that testing, I would strongly suspect the S23 will actually outlive the A17 in its usable lifespan despite having less of a software support window. That said, people are okay with slower phones, and maybe the A7 could last longer. The S23
[04:53] also wins again with some of the other features on here. So, this has wireless charging and reverse wireless charging, where the A7 does not have reverse or regular wireless charging. And for anyone who hasn't used it before,
[05:05] reverse wireless charging just means I could charge my earbuds on the back or my watch or I could charge another phone on the back and you're just transferring your battery power to something else. It's not always something I use often,
[05:17] but it's nice to have that in a pinch. The S23 also has Samsung Dex. I made a full video about that, but it's kind of a cool hidden feature where if you plug in your phone to uh any kind of display, whether that is a projector, a TV, a
[05:31] monitor, you're able to get a full desktop interface, and it's kind of a pinch. All right, you see this right here? This is another downside of getting an older phone. This is the third update I had to get in a row. And
[05:43] kind of annoying. It doesn't just have one bulk update. It just updates and immediately starts another update and then another update. And so I hope this is the last one, but I'm just going to schedule the install for later just so I
[05:56] can actually continue filming this video. It's constantly asking me to date, that should never be a problem again. Aside from the updates, again, should never be an issue again. But getting back to the features that the
[06:09] S23 being a a former flagship phone, the features that that has that the A series right here, is the always on display. It's a little tough. It's a little tough to see uh on camera, but basically if you go into your settings, you'll see
[06:22] I'll show on both of them. The always on display does exist for the S series, but everyone cares about that, but again, you're going to have a stack of features like that that are existing on the flagship, the S23, but not the A series.
[06:36] There's also some Galaxy AI type features that translation and generative wouldn't really worry as much about those because you could just download the Gemini or Chat GBT app and you would get probably a better experience like
[06:49] that anyway. But talking about that, there's a huge advantage to the A17. A refurbished phone such as this S series here is definitely a gamble. Now, I feel you're buying this, I bought this on Amazon and you had three different
[07:04] options. you could buy good, fair, or acceptable. I bought the lowest quality all, it was a perfect price match at $200. And second of all, I wanted to see what that would actually mean. So, looking at this, we've got a little bit
[07:18] aluminum rail. I'll get some close-up B-roll to show you exactly what that dings. If you put a case on it, you would never know the difference with that. But the hidden gamble is I don't know what the former owner did with this
[07:32] lot of heat or a lot of cold really aggressive with the USB type-C port and maybe eventually anything like that is going to get damaged or maybe the IP rating on here, the IP68 rating,
[07:47] worn. They might be kind of damaged and it might not be as waterproof as it says not a brand new phone and you don't get about a 3-year-old phone, there's going to be a gamble with this. In this
[08:01] situation, I think it turned out pretty good. I'm not worried about this and I great condition. However, I'll talk more about warranty in a minute. But another A series, as you can see, has a side
[08:14] like that on the button right there. So, you just press it, that wakes it up, and tap your thumb in the middle and that signs in. I find the ultrasonic fingerprint sensor in the S series is much faster, very reliable, and I like
[08:28] it quite a bit. But again, just, you know, two sides of the same coin there. You'll also notice that the display is significantly better on the S23 compared to the A17. So, the A17 is a fairly large display. It's 90 Hz refresh rate,
[08:42] which is fairly fast, but it doesn't feel nearly as fast. Maybe because of the processor, maybe because you have 120 Hz, but it doesn't feel nearly as something that you're really going to capture on camera because I'm filming
[08:55] this in 30 Hz and looking at 90 or 120 is not going to be captured on that. The S23 also gets brighter, but I have to say for $200, a brand new phone, the display is actually very impressive on this A series here. You're not only
[09:07] you're getting a pretty fast display. You're getting a really impressive brightness. And the only downside that you can really notice side by side besides, you know, a slightly less colorful and bright display is the the
[09:19] really symmetric. So, a little bit larger on the bottom and definitely thicker all the way around with that kind of U-shaped cutout for the camera versus a hole punch as you see here. But a big win for the A series is that the
[09:31] a big win for the A series is that the A17 has expandable storage in the SD you're like, you know what, I really wish I had more storage for photos, you can add that with a very affordable SD card putting it in there. Now, I think
[09:45] Before we show them side by side, I want to just take a look at the A series. This is the new phone, of course. Um, the camera when you give it enough light actually does a pretty good job. And I'll show these on screen, but like I've
[09:58] got a photo of I my parents cat. I was hanging out with them and I mean in the Good color, very saturated, very vibrant, and pretty good sharpness and definitely impressed with that. Similarly, if I go outside, a lot of
[10:12] contrast here, very bright snow. The trees are a lot darker. The sky is probably oversaturated in my opinion here, but I mean it's kind of a pretty a usable camera and it's impressive that at the $200 entry price point, you're
[10:26] getting a decent camera in most, you know, easy camera settings like that. that's where you really see the difference. And I think it's time to actually show a comparison here between these two phones cameras. So, so
[10:38] still life shot here, you're getting much better color and much better resolution on the S23, which is no surprise. If we go to the ultra wide lens, uh they're not really like that that different. Ultra wide, you're never
[10:51] going to have like a ton of detail in there anyway, but again, significantly better for sure on the S23, but I mean, I think both are definitely usable. Once difference because I mean, megapixels aside, you know, I don't really care as
[11:04] much about megapixels. You have a telephoto lens on the S23, whereas you don't have that on the A17. The A7, the third lens is actually a macro lens. I'll take a look at that in a second. But once you zoom into 3x or even 10x,
[11:18] looking at this clock right here, the numbers are just so much more readable and sharp on the S23. The front-facing camera, uh, they both like to do a turn all of that off and they don't try to smooth your face out or anything,
[11:30] You can leave a comment and let me know which one you think looks better. I think again it's not surprising the S23 should be higher quality here. And then looking for bokeh or separation, that natural blur in the background of a
[11:44] photo, you're going to get a better experience with that on the S23 here as lavender plant. Still not perfect if you zoom in on it, but I mean, I still think that looks a lot better. The S23 does not have a macro lens, nor does it have
[11:57] a macro capability. So some flagship phones you can use the ultra wide as a macro lens. that doesn't exist on the S23. So, if you hold it up close, you get this blurry shot right here. Whereas the A17, you're able to use a macro
[12:10] shot, which sounds great until you realize you could just use the telephoto lens on the S23. And yeah, it's definitely better. We'll get into a video test next, but something to note is the S23, you can shoot in 4K on the
[12:23] front and 4K on all the rear lenses, or you can shoot in 8K on the rear lens as well. Uh, so you can get a much higher resolution where the A7 is limited to 1080p on all lenses. So this is a front-facing video test. Wow, the
[12:37] difference is wild. Look at that contrast on the A7. And look at the smoothing on the S23. So you can let me know which one you think looks better. The A7 is only filming in 1080p. This is also a microphone sample, so you can
[12:50] hear the A7. And then this is the S23 filming in 4K. Uh, let's flip around and see the rear lenses now. All right, rear video test on both of these. Limited to 1080p on the A7. You can see the noise and the grain in that corner. While the
[13:04] colors look much more natural on the S23. It's kind of a low light right now. It's about sunset. This wall is actually kind of like a seafoam bluish green, I think is what they call it. So, that looks much more accurate on the S23. I
[13:17] don't hate the colors on the A7. They did a pretty okay job, but without a doubt, this has to be a win for the S23. Also, let's check out the zoom. So, if Also, let's check out the zoom. So, if we zoom out to uh let's see, ultra wide.
[13:31] So, you have kind of a steady zoom on the S23 and it just jumps for the A7. the S23 and it just jumps for the A7. There is no 6x. It just goes, you know, 0.5 to 1. And you can have a gradual zoom on the S23. You can also zoom in up
[13:46] to 10x versus 30x. And if we go to 10, sorry, not 30, 12x. If we go to 10, I
[13:58] think looks better. Now, of course, the warranty, I've talked about that before. That's a huge win for the A7. One of the biggest reasons I would maybe recommend the 17 over the 23, and that is because you're getting a 12-month warranty when
[14:10] warranty guy, but if you're spending, you know, your hard-earned money, 200 something that is kind of a gamble, then I mean, you could really be persuaded to new. You know, if anything goes wrong in the next 12 months, you're able to get
[14:25] that fixed and or or get it replaced, you know, if if necessary. Whereas phone, that just might not be the case at all. So, my conclusion between these phones, it's always a bit of a risk to be buying a used phone. So, if you have
[14:39] definitely leave a comment below. I would love to hear your stories if you had a good experience, bad experience, and maybe where you bought the phone. But personally, if I could find a reputable source to sell me an S23, I
[14:52] would much prefer it to the A7. The build is higher quality, the cameras are far superior, the phone is much more performant, and there are tons of additional features on there like always on display, Dex, wireless charging, and
[15:06] things like that. This was once an $800 flagship just three years ago. That bit safer, you want something new, was never owned by somebody else, and you want peace of mind knowing that you have that 12-month warranty, the A7 can
[15:20] definitely make sense. Just know that cameras are definitely a bit more going to do a great job in very bright, well-lit environments, but when you're in darker environments, when you're zooming in, uh when you're doing things
[15:33] limit of this camera fairly quickly. And the only real complaint I have is that if you're patient and you're okay with that, it's definitely a usable phone. and why. Thanks for watching. I'm Michael O'Brien and I'll see you in the
[15:48] Michael O'Brien and I'll see you in the next video.