With smartphone competition hitting a fever pitch over the past 12 months, from Apple hitting hard with its iPhone 13 Pro Max, to Google finally hitting its stride with the Pixel 6 Pro, and even old favorites like Sony stepping up their Playing with the Xperia 1 III, Samsung’s new flagship, the Galaxy S22 Ultra has a lot to prove.
We absolutely loved the Galaxy S21 Ultra last year. It was a stellar smartphone with a powerful zoom worthy of a true successor – but why does the new Ultra look so much like a Galaxy Note?
While the other two S22s – the Galaxy S22 and Galaxy S22 Plus look like evolutions of last year’s S series, combining flat screens and backs with a smart but confident style, the S22 Ultra sports a heavy curve on the left and right sides with a flat top and bottom – just like the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra.
Now, we liked the design of the Note 20 Ultra when it launched in 2019, so when it comes to Samsung recycling its look, no harm, no fault. That said, Samsung can’t afford to release a recycled smartphone. The whole package has to be packed with cutting-edge technology to justify the S22 Ultra’s £1,149 price tag.
Design and screen: oh Note they didn’t
Okay, we all got the point that the S22 Ultra is an almost carbon copy of the Note 20 Ultra at first glance. Fortunately, it comes with significantly updated specs, fixing many of its shortcomings – and one of them is durability.
The S22 Ultra benefits from stronger materials than previous Galaxy phones: Gorilla Glass Victus Plus curved on the front and back of the phone and an Armor Aluminum metal frame, both exclusive to Samsung. Indeed, the phone feels solid at 229g – somewhere between the weight of an iPhone 13 Pro and a Pro Max.
We did everything in our power do not drop the phone when examining; A few drop tests have surfaced online though, and it’s the camera glass that shatters first. Meanwhile, the rear panel and display did a much better job of fending off cracks. Despite that, you’ll probably still want a case.
S Pen: new old S Pen
The S22 Ultra is the first S-series phone to feature a built-in S Pen, and it comes with reduced latency from 9ms to 2.8ms, so it’s super responsive. Samsung says it achieved these instantaneous speeds by using AI to predict where the stylus would go before you actually took it there – weird and excellent.
Samsung’s handwriting recognition has also been improved to support up to 88 languages, while bringing back all S Pen Air actions, so you can use the stylus as a shutter button when the camera is on. , or a pause and play button when watching a movie or listening to music.
Wacom, best known for digital design and drawing tablets, also played a role in the S22 Ultra’s S Pen, so the phone recognizes 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity, making it a great tool for drawing. digital art with proven pressure on ClipStudio, Sketchbook and most other designs. apps available through the Google Play Store.
Screen: blindingly good
Larger than most phones, the S22 Ultra’s Dynamic AMOLED display measures 6.8 inches, topping the iPhone 13 Pro Max by 6.7 inches. With its QHD+ resolution, it’s wonderfully sharp, and its ultra-smooth 120Hz refresh rate means menus and web pages glide by like melting butter on a pan.
While its base specs match those of the Note 20 Ultra and S21 Ultra, Samsung is adding a few clever elements to the S22 Ultra’s display under the hood. For starters, it gets ridiculously bright at up to 1750 nits, beaming brighter than anything else on the market. This should improve visibility in direct sunlight, and we had no issues seeing what was on screen in our time with the phone.
The phones also offer a 240Hz touch sampling rate when gaming, so swipes and taps are even more instantaneous than they look – and they look great. Viewing angles are also stellar, colors are vibrant, and movies look so good. Coming from an iPhone 13 Pro Max, it’s also nice to only deal with a punch hole versus a notch cutting off a full-screen video.
Performance: Fresh cucumber
In the UK we’ll get a new Exynos 2200 processor, while in China and the US Samsung will launch the phone with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. Both 4nm chips, offer peak power, and in the UI and running most apps, we experienced no slowdowns – and the phone stayed nice and cool.
When playing, titles like Injustice 2 and Trials of Mana play beautifully. However, running Genshin Impact at maximum graphics settings resulted in lower frame rates, which we did not experience with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 phone. As a result, some demanding games will likely need to be optimized for the Exynos platform given the novelty of the 2200 chipset.
The phone runs Android 12 and Samsung’s One UI 4, so also promises excellent app and game support and a host of customization options like Edge Bar for quick shortcuts and Link to Windows. This cool feature, exclusive to a number of Microsoft and Samsung Android devices, puts your PC in control of your phone, with the ability to open multiple phone apps on your computer screen or just take calls and to respond to text messages.
Available with 8GB or 12GB of RAM, and with storage capacities of 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB, most people should have plenty of space ready to go. That said, if you think you might struggle with 128GB, add the extra for a larger capacity alternative as the S22 Ultra lacks a memory card slot.
Eco-friendly highlights: Honey, I shrunk the packaging
The packaging of Samsung’s new S22 Ultra is down 19% from the S21 Ultra, saving on materials and shipping impact. That makes it less than half the volume of nearly all packaging from competing smartphone makers other than Apple.
There’s also no power supply in the box. Any USB-C cable plugged into a power source should work – and if you have a 45W charger for your Tab S7 Plus or Tab S8 Plus, you can charge your S22 Ultra in two runs.
Camera: Hubble Hubble
The Galaxy S22 Ultra’s zoom is nothing short of stellar, and as a whole it impresses on most fronts. We captured this handheld shot at 85x zoom, something we doubt we’ll be able to recreate on other periscope smartphones.
With a similar setup to the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, the S22 Ultra brings back the 108MP main camera, alongside a 12MP ultra-wide camera and two 10MP telephoto cameras, one with 3x zoom and the other with a 10x zoom. Although the hardware is familiar, Samsung says the S22 Ultra’s shooting experience is unique thanks to a new imaging NPU (neural processing unit).
We were dubious at first – we’ve seen these specs before, but the S22 Ultra is categorically the best of the best when it comes to Samsung imaging. It outperforms the S21Ultra in zoom clarity and overall color reproduction. His images are sharpened and heightened, so purists might challenge their zingy pop, but anyone who can’t be bothered with editing his photos is a winner.
Samsung has also improved night photos and videos, outperforming competition like the Google Pixel 6 and Huawei P50 Pro when it comes to lighting up a dark scene. Again, Samsung is taking a massive amount of licensing, turning night into day, but if you’re really restless you can shoot in Pro mode for a more realistic shot.
There are too many highlights to talk about imaging on the S22 Ultra. From Auto Framing, which turns the S22 Ultra into a cameraman, automatically tracking up to five people and cropping them into an optimal part of the frame, to enhanced Portrait Lighting features. Take our word for it, this is one of the best camera phones you can buy, if not the best.
Even the front camera is outstanding – the S22 Ultra gets a punch-hole 40MP selfie shooter. Its portrait mode is super sharp for a single-camera setup, and its photos are clear, yet flattering. The fact that it also records stable 4K video is excellent.
Battery life: One day
The S22 Ultra brings back the large 5000mAh cell of the S21 Ultra, and we found it comfortably lasted a full day with between 10-30 per cent remaining.
In the first couple of days after the phone was initially set up, the battery drained pretty quickly, but it normalized soon after. Battery life isn’t quite as strong as the S21 Ultra – and with the brighter displays and more powerful internals of the S22 series, that’s no huge surprise.
While it doesn’t surpass its predecessor, the real benchmark for smartphone batteries is one day, and the S22 Ultra hits it quite comfortably. Moreover, it charges up to 45W which is nice and fast and also supports wireless charging.
Verdict
The Galaxy S22 Ultra is jam-packed. We’ve only scratched the surface in this review – touching on the basic highlights and specs, but if you start using the phone you’ll see for yourself it’s packed with features.
It also checks all the boxes of our smartphones: Stunning screen? To verify. Rich styling? To verify. Want a pen? To verify. Top notch camera… and the list goes on.
There’s no getting around the fact that the S22 Ultra isn’t cheap, starting at £1,149 and climbing up to £1,499 it’s even more expensive than the iPhone 13 Pro Max. That said, if you’re an Android fan, a tech lover, and can justify the cost, the Galaxy S22 Ultra is the most feature-packed Android phone of 2022.
Technical specifications
Screen | 6.8-inch, 1440 x 3088 Dynamic AMOLED, 120Hz refresh rate, HDR10+, 1750 nits peak brightness |
Processor | Exynos 2200 |
Memory | 8-12 GB RAM |
Cameras | 108MP, f/1.8 main camera, 10MP 10x periscope zoom camera, 10MP 3x zoom camera, 12MP ultra wide camera |
Storage room | 128GB-1TB, no SD card slot |
SE | Android 12 with OneUI 4.1 |
Battery | 5000mAh non-removable |
Dimensions | 163.3×77.9×8.9mm, 228g |