Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra Review: A Note in All But Name

Value When Reviewed

From $1,199

Finest Costs At the moment: Samsung Galaxy S22 Extremely

$994.50

When Samsung revealed the brand new Galaxy S22 vary, it was largely enterprise as standard – for the Galaxy S22 and S22+, anyway. The Galaxy S22 Extremely, however, presents a way more radical change that brings it nearer than ever to the Galaxy Be aware vary, with a redesigned chassis and a built-in S Pen.

The query is, does the non secular successor to the Galaxy Be aware 20 Extremely provide sufficient to tempt customers, particularly at such a excessive worth level? Whereas it’s not the excellent smartphone, there’s rather a lot to like about Samsung’s top-end Galaxy S22 Extremely in 2022.

We now additionally know precisely how the Snapdragon and Exynos variants of the top-end Galaxy S22 evaluate. Learn on to search out out extra.

Design & Construct

• Galaxy Be aware design language
• Slick, premium construct
• Barely curved body is good within the hand

In comparison with Galaxy smartphones earlier than it, some may say the Galaxy S22 Extremely appears to be like a bit simplistic – however I believe simplicity appears to be like nice on a smartphone. We don’t all want in-your-face designs, refractive glass patterns, or massive, vibrant flashy logos, particularly on such a premium little bit of equipment.

With regards to the S22 Extremely, much less is definitely extra, with a slick mix of metallic and glass that does many of the speaking.  

Probably the most notable distinction in comparison with the remainder of the S22 line is the dearth of a digicam ‘island’ surrounding the rear-facing cameras. Whereas it does alienate the S22 Extremely from the remainder of the vary, it ties in with the minimalist design, with small particulars like polished metallic housing across the cameras contributing to the high-end look.

The sharp, squared-off corners are harking back to the Galaxy Be aware 20 Extremely design (I’m wondering why…) and assist make the S22 Extremely stand out from the ocean of rounded smartphones, however in contrast to the flat-sided
iPhone 13, it options ever-so-gently curved edges to assist it sit comfortably within the palm.

The curved edges of the 6.8in show aren’t wherever close to as excessive as waterfall shows like that of the
Motorola Edge a number of years in the past, with no actual drawback with unintended display screen presses or textual content disappearing off the sting of the show. It’s simply sufficient to see a little bit of curvature on the sting, which additionally makes for a {smooth} side-swipe expertise.

That 6.8in show – bigger than the
iPhone 13 Professional Max – does imply that the S22 Extremely is usually a bit unwieldy at occasions, measuring in at 8.9mm thick and 229g. It’s not an issue for me with pretty giant palms, however displaying the S22 Extremely to buddies actually demonstrated the way it’s probably not designed for smaller mitts – particularly in terms of one-handed use.  

In any other case, the Galaxy S22 Extremely appears to be like and seems like a premium little bit of equipment with a strong really feel within the hand. It’s protected by Gorilla Glass Victus+ on the rear to assist shield it from injury, and there’s IP68 mud and water resistance.

I’ve seen numerous different critiques get scratches on the again seemingly too simply, however probably from having a second telephone of their pocket which isn’t typical utilization. My pattern did take a tumble throughout a tiled ground and survived the incident unscathed. 

The Galaxy S22 Extremely is on the market in a variety of colors together with Phantom Black, Phantom White, Inexperienced and Burgundy.

Show

• Beautiful 6.8in AMOLED show
• Buttery-smooth 120Hz adaptive refresh price
• Spectacular brightness

The 6.8in AMOLED show of the S22 Extremely is undoubtedly one of many highlights of the smartphone and a key cause to purchase it over different telephones. It presents a vibrant, vivid, detailed expertise with a {smooth} refresh price.

The show sports activities a 3088 x 1440 (WQHD+) decision that equates to a pixel density of round 500ppi – a stark distinction to Apple’s top-end iPhone and its 2316 x 1080 (FHD+) show.

Earlier than you get too excited, it’s price noting that the S22 Extremely comes operating a decrease 2316 x 1080 (FHD+) decision out of the field and also you’ll need to manually change the setting your self. That’s as a result of that top decision can actually drain the battery, particularly when gaming. The excellent news is that, even on the FHD+ decision, the show appears to be like good and crisp.  

One saving issue is the adaptive refresh price, which not solely makes apps and video games feel and appear {smooth}, however the means to shift from 1- to 120Hz means it’ll draw much less battery energy than a regular 120Hz show with none actual noticeable distinction in efficiency.

The S22 Extremely is simple to make use of exterior, even in direct daylight, with one of many brightest smartphone shows in the marketplace proper now. Samsung claims at normal ranges it may well attain as much as 1250nits, whereas a boosted brightness mode (ultimate for outside use) cranks it as much as a good greater 1750 nits.

Even when it didn’t hit fairly such lofty heights in benchmarking, scoring 711 nits through a Spyder X, it’s comfortably brighter than most different flagships proper now. That’s thanks partly to Samsung’s Imaginative and prescient Booster tech that’ll mechanically regulate the brightness, colors and extra relying on ambient lighting circumstances for an optimum viewing expertise.

Hidden beneath the show is an ultrasonic fingerprint reader, and whereas they’ve had a foul rap up to now, I discovered it to work near-perfectly on the S22 Extremely. It’s situated roughly a 3rd of the way in which up from the underside edge, which is the place my thumb naturally lands, and the unlock course of is near-instantaneous.

You do even have facial unlock, nevertheless it’s not as safe as PIN or fingerprint – it’s no Face ID, in spite of everything.    

There’s additionally a small 40Mp holepunch digicam, centrally positioned on the high of the show, however the giant dimensions of the show meant it was barely noticeable on the whole use.

S Pen

• Unimaginable low-latency efficiency
• Saved inside the smartphone when not in use
• Strain and tilt delicate

Whereas final yr’s Galaxy S21 Extremely supplied compatibility with the S Pen stylus, the S22 Extremely goes full-Be aware by including help for an built-in S Pen, thus finishing its transition to Be aware-but-not-Be aware. Should you love the expertise on provide from the Be aware 20, the Galaxy S22 Extremely is its successor in all however identify.  

The sunshine and versatile stylus is hidden inside the physique of the telephone when not in use, accessible by pushing down on the pen to pop it out. It’s not more likely to fall out unintentionally both, with a grippy end on the pen requiring you to actively pull it out of its hidey-hole.

Whereas it’s personally just a little small for this reviewers’ palms, the stylus is a pleasure to make use of – and that’s primarily all the way down to Samsung’s latency magic, lowered from 9ms to an unbelievable 2.8ms on the S22 Extremely.

That interprets to near-instant response when writing textual content, offering extra of a pure pen-to-paper feeling when jotting notes on the go and doodling utilizing PenUP – particularly when mixed with Samsung’s scribbling sound results.

It’s simply the most effective stylus experiences in the marketplace, even when in comparison with the Apple Pencil 2’s 9-20ms response time, and it comes at no additional cost both.  

Except for being useful for notetaking and drawing, the S Pen permits additional performance, together with the power to make good choices of something on display screen, annotate screenshots, doodle in AR and the power to translate handwritten textual content to plaintext.

The button on the aspect of the stylus even doubles up as a distant set off, permitting you to set off photographs and movies with out being behind the digicam.

Not everybody will make full use of the additional performance on provide from the built-in S-Pen, however the means to make use of a high-quality stylus everytime you like is one thing that’ll enchantment to rather a lot of customers – particularly with an expertise as true-to-life because the S Pen. It’s simply my favorite function of the S22 Extremely, and the function I’ll miss most as soon as I transfer again to my common smartphone.

Cameras

• Among the finest rear digicam setups round
• Huge enhancements to the 100x area zoom
• Nice low-light efficiency

Many regarded the
Galaxy S21 Extremely’s digicam setup as the most effective available in the market in 2021, and it appears Samsung agreed – as a result of the sensors on the rear of the telephone are nearly an identical to its predecessor.

The S22 Extremely has the identical 108Mp important vast lens, 12Mp 120-degree ultrawide and twin telephoto lenses providing 3x and 10x optical zoom on the rear, with the latter able to extending to 100x, and a 40Mp selfie digicam on the entrance.  

Right here’s a group of photographs taken on the S22 Extremely throughout testing:

One of many solely notable adjustments to {hardware} is the pixel measurement of the principle 108Mp snapper, which has elevated to a formidable 2.4μm. Mixed with the f/1.8 aperture, that interprets to much-improved low-light images with extra element, mild and extra balanced distinction.

It’s nonetheless not fairly as clear as daytime photographs, nevertheless it’s definitely spectacular to see how a lot it may well decide up in darkish circumstances.

There’s additionally improved optical picture stabilisation (OIS) and a greater picture sign processor (ISP), however the outcomes of those adjustments are tougher to note in day-to-day use. As an alternative, many of the digicam enhancements appear to be software-based and that’s not a foul factor contemplating the {hardware} remains to be top-of-the-line in most regards.

For one, the S22 Extremely has vastly improved the Tremendous Regular System used with the 100x area zoom, which helps preserve these excessive close-ups from wobbling as you are taking snaps.

It appears the picture processing of those extreme-zoom pictures has been improved too. Whereas it’s nonetheless blurry at occasions, there may be lastly the potential to get usable pictures for sharing on social media. They nonetheless have the Picasso-esque watercolour impact, nevertheless it’s a lot much less noticeable this time round.

There are additionally enhancements to Samsung’s pixel-binning tech on the principle 108Mp lens, dubbed Adaptive Pixel by Samsung. The concept is straightforward; it takes a nona-binned picture (combining 9 pixels into 1 for higher picture mild, distinction and element) and combines that with a full 108Mp picture with nice outcomes.

There’s loads of element, distinction and dynamic vary are nailed, and hues look vibrant, if not just a little too saturated at occasions. Crucially, you’ll be able to get pleasure from extremely detailed images with out having to retailer full-res 108Mp pictures.  

Frankly, that’s a recurring theme throughout all of the S22 Extremely’s cameras, that are in a position to ship a number of the finest snaps I’ve seen on a smartphone. Are they the most effective round? That’s possible down to private choice, however there’s definitely rather a lot to get pleasure from with Samsung’s succesful digicam tech.

Video seize is simply as spectacular at as much as 8K@24fps with spectacular optically-stabilised video seize, no noticeable artifacting and nice audio high quality too. It has tried to tackle Apple’s Cinematic Video mode with Portrait Video, nevertheless it’s not fairly as superior as what’s on provide from flagship iPhones, solely in a position to apply the faux-bokeh to movies with faces clearly seen.

Nonetheless, with perks like the power to change between lenses on the fly and the power to pause – not finish – a video recording are very useful choices not accessible on Apple’s flagship, so it’ll largely rely in your video makes use of.

Specs & Efficiency

• Exynos 2200 lags behind Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 in benchmarks
• Not noticeable in use, feels snappy within the hand
• Occasional freeze/restart

Like its predecessors, the chipset discovered inside the Samsung Galaxy S22 Extremely is dependent upon the place you’re on the planet. Should you’re within the UK or Australia, you’ll discover Samsung’s personal 4nm Exynos 2200 chipset inside, whereas these within the US and most different territories are handled to Qualcomm’s 4nm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1.

That’s paired with both 8GB or 12GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 128GB/256GB/512GB/1TB of super-fast UFS 3.1 storage. For what it’s price, I used to be equipped with a 12/256GB variant for evaluate.   

I’ll delve into the distinction between the 2 chipsets in additional element under, however the Exynos 2200 efficiency appears comparable within the CPU division in benchmark exams when in comparison with near-identical 8 Gen 1 telephones just like the Oppo Discover X5 Professional.

Nevertheless, Exynos 2200 graphics efficiency at WQHD+ trails barely behind 8 Gen 1 telephones, and it’s solely when the S22 Extremely drops all the way down to FHD+ that it beats the QHD+ efficiency of the likes of the Oppo Discover X5 Professional and
Xiaomi 12 Professional in exams – as you’ll count on.

It can also’t fairly compete with Apple’s iPhone 13 Professional Max and its A15 Bionic within the CPU division, however Apple’s lead in that regard is unsurprising at this level.

Whereas that gives a good suggestion about basic Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 efficiency, I managed to get my palms on a Snapdragon variant (thanks Qualcomm!) of the S22 Extremely to pit the 2 in opposition to one another, face to face.

With the above in thoughts, it shouldn’t come as a lot of a shock that when evaluating the 2 variations of the Galaxy S22 Extremely, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 variant bests the Exynos 2200-equipped mannequin in GPU benchmarks – and by fairly a methods in some exams.

Nevertheless, whereas the Snapdragon variant presents higher sheer efficiency, it’s bested by the Exynos when it comes to battery effectivity. It’s not simply by a small margin both, with the Exynos mannequin providing an additional hour or so of screen-on time on common.

That does imply you may theoretically select between the Exynos and Snapdragon variants relying on whether or not you worth efficiency or battery life extra, however with both one or the opposite accessible in most areas world wide, it’s not a alternative you’ll be able to simply make.

Nonetheless, in case you’re curious, you’ll be able to see how the 2 evaluate right here:

After all, benchmark numbers solely inform half the story, and it ought to come as no shock that efficiency is mostly speedy throughout each variants, with the Exynos-equipped Galaxy S22 Extremely in a position to deal with absolutely anything I may throw at it in real-world use.

Apps are likely to load immediately, there’s little or no stutter (apart from Twitter, which I assume is a bug within the app) and video games run nicely, even in titles like Name of Obligation Cellular with high-end textures and VFX enabled. It feels attentive to the contact because of the adaptive refresh price, with buttery-smooth animations including to the general high-end efficiency on provide.

There are bugs that must be ironed out, with the telephone utterly freezing and restarting twice in my week-long check, however I’m assured that Samsung will get on high of those points shortly.

Efficiency apart, the Samsung Galaxy S22 Extremely comes with all of the bells and whistles you’d count on from a top-end flagship in 2022 together with help for the most recent 5G connectivity, Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.2, UWB tech and NFC for digital funds.  

Battery Life & Charging

• All-day battery life
• May squeeze 1.5 and even 2 days with display screen changes
• Quicker charging, however not as quick as rivals

The Samsung Galaxy S21 Extremely packs the identical 5000mAh battery as its predecessor, so it ought to come as no shock that battery life is comparable with final yr’s S21 Extremely in testing.

Total battery life is dependent upon components together with refresh price and determination, with the S22 Extremely in a position to final all day with the mixture of an adaptive refresh price and WQHD+ decision with common use, nevertheless it received’t fairly span a full second day. That may be prolonged to round 1.5 days in case you drop all the way down to FHD+ although – one thing that received’t be noticeable to most customers anyway.

In testing, the S22 Extremely managed to final 10 hours and half-hour in our benchmark check at full WQHD+ decision, and dropping all the way down to FHD+ supplied an additional two hours of battery life, coming in at 12hrs half-hour.

Charging is an space the place the S22 Extremely has improved, up from a quite pedestrian 25W to a sooner – however nonetheless not main – 45W when charged through USB-C. The catch is, like most different Samsung telephones, you don’t get a 45W charger within the field.

Should you do get your palms on one, count on to see round 66% in half an hour and a full cost in round an hour. That’s not on the identical stage because the
Black Shark 4 Professional’s 120W quick charging tech, nevertheless it’ll suffice for almost all of customers.

It’s an identical story with wi-fi charging, with the 15W lagging behind the super-fast wi-fi charging on provide from key rivals – however at the very least the low energy necessities imply you’ll be capable of use most third-party Qi chargers.

Software program & Apps

• Ships with the most recent Android 12 with Samsung OneUI 4.3
• Superior options – particularly photo-editing instruments – baked in
• Samsung dedicated to as much as 4 years of OS updates

The Samsung Galaxy S22 Extremely comes operating the most recent Android 12 out of the field with Samsung’s OneUI 4.3 utilized on high.

It’s not probably the most dramatic change to the Android OS in comparison with skins like Xiaomi’s MIUI and Oppo’s ColorOS, however there are nuances to the design and performance that may take just a little little bit of getting used to – particularly as Samsung determined to ship its personal variations of the Messages app and Calendar app alongside pre-installed Google variants.

It is among the stronger Android skins although, particularly in terms of its picture and video-editing capabilities. Utilizing the built-in enhancing instruments inside the Gallery app, you’ll be able to carry out actions like object removing, reflection removing and extra, with usually spectacular outcomes.

There’s additionally the added perk of DeX help, which gives a desktop PC expertise when plugged right into a monitor.

Crucially, Samsung has dedicated to ‘as much as 4 generations’ of Android OS updates, not simply safety updates, which may probably see the Galaxy S22 Extremely supported right through Android 16 – one thing refreshingly completely different to most Android producers. Even Google solely commits to 3 years of OS updates for its Pixel vary!

Value & Availability

The Galaxy S22 Extremely is among the many most premium smartphones in the marketplace, beginning at £1,149/$1,199 for the 8GB/128GB variant, though that does characterize a $100 drop in comparison with its predecessor.

You may get an upgraded 256GB of storage and 12GB of RAM for a further $100/$100, with further 512GB and 1TB fashions accessible for people who want much more storage.

Right here’s how a lot the Samsung Galaxy S22 Extremely will set you again in all its configurations:

• 8GB + 128GB: $1,199/£1,149/€1,279
• 12GB + 256GB: $1,299/£1,249/€1,379/₹109,999
• 12GB + 512GB: $1,399/£1,329/€1,489/₹118,999
• 12GB + 1TB: $1,599/£1,499/€1,689

These taken with shopping for the premium smartphone outright can accomplish that from the likes of
Samsung and
Amazon within the UK and US, whereas these taken with a contract can head to carriers together with
EE and
O2 within the UK and
Verizon within the US.

To see the way it stacks up in opposition to the competitors, check out our choice of the
finest telephones. 

Verdict

There’s rather a lot to like in regards to the Samsung Galaxy S22 Extremely; it appears to be like premium, the WQHD+ AMOLED show is top-notch, the cameras are among the many finest round proper now and, for the primary time, the Extremely mannequin has a built-in S Pen – identical to the Be aware line.

This, coupled with the truth that the design mirrors the Be aware 20 Extremely greater than the remainder of the S22 vary, signifies that the Galaxy S22 Extremely is a Galaxy Be aware in all however branding – and that’s no unhealthy factor. The S Pen efficiency is unbelievable, providing decrease latency than the Apple Pencil for an unmatched writing and drawing expertise.

Regardless of Samsung’s work with AMD on the GPU of its new Exynos 2200 chipset, it lags behind near-identical Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 smartphones in benchmarks. That stated, it’s not that noticeable in on a regular basis use, providing a largely buttery-smooth expertise when Instagramming and gaming.

It’s not the proper smartphone – the charging speeds are a lot slower than rivals, the big dimensions will put some off and it’s very costly – however the Galaxy S22 Extremely will tick lots of containers for lots of people.