So far, in 2022, Samsung has been unstoppable. The Galaxy S22, S22+, and S22 Ultra are the first Samsung handsets to include a new chipset from Qualcomm and come less than a month after the introduction of the Galaxy S21 FE and the Freestyle Projector.
After using Samsung’s high-end S22 Ultra for a while, we can report on its many merits, both old and new.
Initial thoughts on the Galaxy S22 Ultra
The Galaxy S22 Ultra, like its predecessors, the S21 Ultra and S20 Ultra, features a bright display, a triple camera system, and a powerful CPU.
The S Pen, Samsung’s proprietary pen, has been included in this year’s flagship smartphones for the first time. The S Pen debuted on the Galaxy Note and has subsequently been adapted to other devices, including the Galaxy Z Fold 3 and the S21 Ultra. However, the S Pen was not included with any of them and was an extra, costly purchase. With this update, it also becomes the de facto new Galaxy Note.
This unique stylus, like the one in the previous Samsung Note, is stored in the phone’s bottom right corner and can be popped out with the press of a button. When you hover the S Pen above the display, a menu opens, allowing you to quickly access several functions like taking notes, taking screenshots, or navigating the user interface. It featured substantially reduced latency than other Galaxy phones with an S Pen, so swiftly scribbling on display did feel more like putting pen to paper.
We look forward to testing Samsung’s claim that it has reduced latency by 70% compared to the S21 Ultra and even further compared to the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra. There are no other S22 phones that are compatible with the S Pen other than the S22 Ultra.
Compared to the rounded corners and edges of the Note, the Ultra’s rectangular form and a bigger screen for writing make it very evident that it will replace the Note. The back is made of a matte aluminum and glass composite that is comfortable on the hands and resists fingerprints. Samsung’s “floating arrangement,” in which the lenses are arranged in parallel rows with each lens jutting out of the rear of the S22 Ultra, is the most notable design shift.
The S22 Ultra has a 6.8-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X display, which boasts vivid colors and an insane amount of detail, covering the entire front face of the device. It passed all of our tests with flying colors, making it ideal for viewing space operas and superhero movie trailers. We have yet to put it through a sunlight test to see how it performs.
The screen is excellent for gaming and consuming media since it has a complete color gamut and an adjustable refresh rate that ranges from 10Hz to 120Hz. Also, the 40-megapixel front-facing sensor is concealed in a tiny pinhole notch in the top center of the screen, making the device completely borderless.
The Galaxy S22 Ultra has Android 12 preinstalled, on top of which Samsung has placed its One UX 4.0 user interface. From our experience with the Galaxy S21 FE, we can say that the revised user interface does not include any significant new features. Still, it does improve the device’s responsiveness by making features like privacy controls more obvious.
The S22 Ultra is powered by Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip, so we anticipate improved performance. We found it relatively quick during our assessment time, but further testing in realistic conditions is required. Additionally, Samsung claims that the phone’s 5,000mAh battery will last for at least a day and that it will be compatible with Qi wireless charging (though you can also charge it through USB-C). We anticipate it to last more than a day if it is anything like the S21 Ultra.
Although visually distinct from its predecessor, the camera arrangement provides only minor upgrades. Like Apple with its iPhone 13 family, Samsung emphasizes enhanced software and bigger sensors. We are excited to see how the S22 Ultra performs compared to other high-end smartphones like the Pixel 6 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro. It has the same amount of megapixels as the S21 Ultra, as keen observers may have noticed.
- The ultra-wide photos, captured with a 12-megapixel camera, allow you to shoot large crowds or scenery without moving around. In this case, we anticipate the same high-quality results as with the 120-degree lens.
- The S22 Ultra’s primary camera has a high pixel count, which should convert to many details and excellent overall sharpness. With this lens, you may snap images of a resolution of 12 megapixels or, by combining pixels, an image with 108 megapixels. Regardless of the approach, the result should be an increase in the amount of data collected, resulting in an improved picture. We are excited to put Samsung’s claims to the test in the real world.
- With two 10-megapixel lenses, one with 3x optical zoom and the other with 10x optical zoom, Samsung offers 100x Space Zoom, just like the S21 Ultra.
Samsung has promised that they would improve the software, even though the hardware will remain the same. You may now change the focus during portrait video recording (much like Apple’s Cinematic Mode). The Portrait Mode has been upgraded to isolate the subject from its background further.
Finally, in the United States, the Galaxy S22 Ultra is a 5G-enabled smartphone compatible with C-Band, Sub-6, and mmWave frequencies. Wi-Fi 6 is also supported.
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