It is the first phone in the S series to come with a built-in stylus, a feature that it inherited from the ostensibly retired Galaxy Note series. Along with some interesting upgrades to its photography functions, it also continues to offer a very good 10x optical zoom. It also happens to be a fantastic phone, yet even though it belongs to Samsung’s popular S series, it still seems like the enthusiast gadget that the Note series stood for. At least Samsung has made it simple to choose which of these three phones is best for you. Get the S22 Ultra if you miss the Note and enjoy stylus use. Nothing else in Samsung’s range or really on the market is comparable to it. You’re definitely better off with the S22 Plus if you’re just a little bit intrigued about the pen, the 10x zoom, or you simply want a really lovely big-screen phone without a lot of bother. The S22 Ultra is a truly fantastic device for a select few people, but it is not for everyone. you will enjoy our article on Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra review.
Design
The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra is understated yet gorgeous all at same. We value the acute, squared-off angles, and we also value the absence of a blaring bump for the cameras. They blend in better with the handset’s back. The design is sleek and minimalist overall. Another benefit is that the display’s 6.8-inch screen is gently curved, which offers some aesthetic appeal without encouraging unintentional screen presses. The only issue we have is that it can be difficult to type words or move the cursor to the far left or right of the screen at times. The S22 Ultra weighs 8.07 ounces as opposed to 8.5 ounces for the 6.7-inch iPhone 13 Pro Max, while having a slightly larger display. The Galaxy S22 Ultra feels sturdy and reliable, as it should given that it has a Gorilla Glass Victus+ back and an armor metal frame. However, it will be interesting to see how this phone performs in drop tests. Phantom Black, Phantom White, Green, and Burgundy are some of the Galaxy S22 Ultra’s available colors. We usually don’t use a case, thus we’d probably choose the stark white model. you can check our article on Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra review.
Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra review: Display
The screen is enormous, measuring 6.8 inches diagonally, and it uses the same M11 Dynamic AMOLED technology generation as the S21 Ultra. It also has extremely thin bezels and an adaptable refresh rate of 1-120 Hz. The panel is protected with the most recent Gorilla Glass Victus, and there is a tiny punch-hole camera in the center top. Samsung has been the market leader in display quality for the past few years after working out the last few kinks with AMOLED technology, and this newest panel only strengthens that position. With the typical two color modes—a Vivid and a muted Neutral—you obtain wonderfully matched hues. The major news is that this phone offers 1,750 nits of peak brightness, which is the highest level ever for a phone. Sharper detail is one major benefit of the Ultra model over the S22 and S22 Plus due to the resolution, which is 1440 x 3080 pixels on the Ultra vs. 1080p on its other two siblings. Strangely, Samsung opts for a 1080p default option, and to change to a higher resolution, you must go to Settings > Display. Naturally, the display also supports HDR content playing, which is ideal for streaming Netflix on the road and even some modern YouTube videos. The fingerprint scanner has remained unchanged. As opposed to optical scanners, which shine brightly at night, Samsung uses an in-screen ultrasonic fingerprint reader. There aren’t many differences from the S21 Ultra, identification is precise and quick, and the scanner is a little higher up on the phone. There have been no issues for us. You also have Face Recognition, which only requires a picture and is therefore not nearly as safe as, say, Face ID on iPhones, which makes use of a 3D depth map. Nevertheless, it works and we are grateful to have it.
Software
The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra runs One UI 4.1, the most recent version of Samsung’s Android interface software, in addition to being an Android 12 device and one of the greatest Android devices available. Like most Android overlays, this one duplicates some utilities, like the web browser and photos apps, and adds a tonne of clever software touches and practical tools, like Samsung’s new Wallet, that should improve the Android experience instead of serving as a primary means of imposing a custom design aesthetic on top of pure Android. For instance, Samsung’s built-in photo and video editing tools are effective. We particularly enjoy the feature that allows you to magically remove an object from a picture; instead of consuming a photo of a dozen donuts, we simply selected each one and took it out of the original picture. There were a few unmistakable artefacts that the software left behind, but it would be difficult to determine what they were before we digitally deleted a doughnut. There is also a free software called Expert Raw that allows you to capture raw photographs and provides you access to all the professional shooting options (ISO, white balance, focus, and shutter speed). We then altered these raw images on our phones using Adobe’s Lightroom programme. However, the existence of both the Messages app and the Samsung Messages app is not ideal. Despite having identical icons, the two apps are different. This stupidity is what will always keep the Android messaging system behind iMessage on iOS. We want one system with full cross-app interoperability, and the new RCS (Rich Communication Services) is fine.
Hardware and performance
As is customary with Samsung flagships, there is some debate over the internal processor. While the UK and Europe will receive a Samsung-made Exynos 2200 processor in place of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 in the US, those Exynos chips have historically been a little bit slower and a little bit less power efficient than their Snapdragon counterparts.As you can see in the graphic above, the Snapdragon processor outperforms the Exynos 2200 variant by about 10% in terms of CPU speed (less so in terms of multi-core performance), and we wouldn’t be shocked if this differential also carried over to battery life and perhaps camera quality. Of course, further testing is required, so hold off on making any conclusions just yet. It’s interesting to note that the Galaxy S22 Ultra’s base model has less RAM than the previous iteration did: the base model has 8GB instead of 12GB (a 12GB S22 Ultra is still an option for a slight premium). Additionally, remember that phone configurations vary depending on the country. We must briefly digress to discuss One UI and Samsung’s quirks before moving on to the benchmark results. First off, it’s clear that this phone is speedy because it boasts the most potent chip that the Android operating system has to offer. Nevertheless, a few problems with One UI have persisted over time and need to be resolved. The second issue is a peculiar jitter that occasionally occurs while scrolling. The micro-stutter that you experience on vertically scrolling apps like Twitter or when browsing the web is specific to Samsung phones; you won’t experience it on other phones. Nevertheless, those two issues are minor and won’t affect how well the S22 Ultra performs in a speed test. Here are the benchmark results, which are in line with what you should anticipate from a 2022 flagship.
Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra review: Camera
“So, it’s basically a new Samsung Galaxy Note, right?” people will often ask. To show them the camera array, which is identical to that on the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, we must turn the phone over. But don’t worry, this is not some smartphone design Frankenstein’s monster. The S22 Ultra’s array of five lenses fits in perfectly since Samsung removed the contour box that raised the entire thing up about a millimeter above the back of the S21. The cameras are nearly identical, not only in appearance. Two 10MP telephoto lenses are available, one with an f/2.4 field of view (FOV) and a 36-degree FOV, and the other with an f/4.9 FOV and an 11-degree FOV. Along with the 108MP main wide camera (f/1.8) with an 85-degree FOV, there is a 12MP ultrawide camera with a 120-degree FOV. The technology supporting these lenses has improved, though. Samsung has made improvements to optical image stabilization, digital image stabilization (for a better Super Steady system), and image processing, even though the image sensors haven’t changed since the S21 Ultra. The outcome is improved performance across the board for all lenses, but especially for zooms. The zoom capabilities of the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra far exceed anything we have ever seen from a mobile phone camera. The 3x and 10x optical zooms are undoubtedly reliable and provide clear photographs of far-off objects with sufficient clarity to let you to crop in on specific details without noticing much pixelation. When using Samsung’s technique, at least in earlier generations, you might see noticeable imperfections in your images when using the 30x and, in particular, the 100x Space Zoom.
S Pen
The smoothest S Pen we’ve yet used is on the Galaxy S22 Ultra, and Samsung has achieved this by reducing the delay from 9 milliseconds to only 2.8 ms. As a result, you are enjoying a 70% improvement. The nicest aspect is that, unlike with the Galaxy S21 Ultra, you can store the S Pen without using a bulky case. The phone comes with a S Pen holder already attached. Additionally, the Galaxy S22 Ultra makes use of AI to anticipate your hand movements and replicate the experience of a pen and paper. When taking notes, the writing is not just fluid, but it also emits a nice sound that simulates writing on paper. When writing on the display, the S22 Ultra and S21 Ultra’s responsiveness differ noticeably from one another. For instance, when writing “This is the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra,” we felt as though the words were emerging in real time as we scrawled on the S22 Ultra, whereas the S21 Ultra appeared as like it was lagging behind and attempting to keep up with the S Pen. Other noteworthy S Pen updates from Samsung include more precise handwriting-to-text translations and the ability to rapidly store your notes in emails and Microsoft Office documents. you read our article on Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra review.
Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra review: Battery life
5,000mAh45W wired charging15W wireless chargingWireless Power Share
At this pricing, 5,000mAh batteries are essentially the standard for premium smartphones. While it matches the 5,000mAh of the Galaxy S21 Ultra, the Galaxy S22 Ultra’s battery is an improvement over the 4,500mAh seen in the Note 20 Ultra. It’s a good place to start. Numerous elements, such as screen brightness, resolution, and refresh rate, CPU/GPU output, background activities, and more, affect battery life. We conducted our tests using the Galaxy S22 Ultra with the FHD+ resolution, adaptive 120Hz refresh rate, and “optimal” CPU speed control settings instead of “high” or “maximum.” Any of these adjustments might affect how long the battery lasts. The Galaxy S22 Ultra easily completed a full day with its default settings and still had some battery left over. Depending on how we used the phone throughout the day, the phone would typically conclude the day with 25% to 35% of its battery still left. The battery was closer to 20% on days when we worked it pretty hard. That included around 6.5 hours spent staring at a screen. While it is reasonable for an Android flagship phone, it trails well behind the advancements made by Apple, particularly with the iPhone 13 Pro Max, this phone’s direct opponent. Although there is no charger in the box, the phone may be charged at a maximum power of 45W with a cable charger that is USB Power Delivery PPS-spec’d. We put the phone through tests using both 30W and 45W chargers. It normally takes the 30W charger 100 minutes to fully charge the phone from 20%. That is undoubtedly not good at all. Charge times were significantly accelerated when using a 45W charger. With the quicker charger, it took less than 50 minutes to go from 25% to 100%. Since you must buy the 45W option anyhow, it is obvious that this is the best choice. You will require a charger compliant with the USB Power Delivery Programmable Power Supply (USB PD PPS) protocol in order to fast charge the Galaxy S22 Ultra at the fastest possible rates.
Price and availability
With the least costly Galaxy S22 Ultra, which starts at $1,199 and only includes 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, Samsung made an odd choice. With 33% less RAM, it has the same starting price as the Galaxy S21 Ultra. The Galaxy S22 Ultra’s remaining variants come with 12GB of RAM and more storage. Samsung provides other variants with 512GB and 1TB of storage for $1,399 and $1,499 respectively, in addition to the Galaxy S22 Ultra with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. Phantom Black, Phantom White, Green, and Burgundy are the four colours that merchants and carriers offer for the Galaxy S22 Ultra. Only those who order the phone via samsung.com can get it in the additional hues of blue, red, and grey. The Galaxy S22 Ultra is currently available for presale, and delivery is anticipated to occur on or about February 25.
Conclusion
Powerful hardware and well-designed software on the Galaxy S22 Ultra work together to provide a flagship experience. It doesn’t really matter what you throw at the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 SoC. When compared to the majority of the competitors, Samsung has retained its advantage in camera performance. If you use your device intensively, you can notice that the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 SoC warms up. Many fans will be turned off by the expensive pricing. Since there is no other phone on the market with the same feature set as the Galaxy S22 Ultra, it will likely appeal to a larger audience than its predecessor did. The Galaxy S22 Ultra is undoubtedly one of the best Android smartphones available right now, if you don’t mind its exorbitant price.
