The world's leading mobile-maker Samsung, earlier in the month released the much-awaited Galaxy S22 series smartphones in India.
It comes in three variants-- a regular Galaxy S22, an above standard Galaxy S22 Plus and a top-end Galaxy S22 Ultra-- with prices ranging between Rs 72,999 and Rs 1,18,999, in India.
I used the Galaxy S22 Ultra 5G for close to two weeks and here are my thoughts on Samsung's latest flagship phone of 2022.
Design, build quality and display
As I mentioned in my first impression article, Samsung's new Galaxy S22 Ultra is completely different compared to its predecessor. It comes with refreshing solid metallic unibody design language. It features an armour aluminium enclosure and on top, is covered with Corning's Gorilla Glass Victus+, the sturdiest shield on any Android phone in the industry. On the front, the cover is transparent (for obvious reasons), but on the back, it has a frosted matte finish. Another notable aspect is that the device comes with an IP68 rating, meaning it can survive if you take it for a dip in the swimming pool. It is capable of sustaining water pressure up to a depth of 1.5 metres (around five feet) for close to 30 minutes.
The device is capable of resisting scratches from keys or coins in the pocket and even in small accidental falls with device edges taking the hit, but not sure if it falls flat with the display or the back facing the hard ground.
So far, I have been able to keep the phone scratch-free. I have to say, I did feel anxious while walking in the street with the phone in my hand. Prospective buyers are advised to get the cover for the Galaxy S22 Ultra 5G and it will certainly save you from expensive screen change repair service charges.
However, I just admire the design of the Galaxy S22 Ultra. It exudes a true premium hand-feel experience and really smooth all around.
On the back, there is no camera module to house the sensors, instead, Samsung has fused them to the shell case. This has helped in terms of greatly reducing the protrusion and also making the phone unique. Add to that, the burgundy colourway, makes it clearly distinguished from most of the premium phones in the industry. Also, it is easy to slip the device into the pant pocket without any fuss compared to the beefy predecessor.
On the front, it features the 6.8-inch Quad HD+ (3088 x 1440p) Infinity-O-Edge Dynamic 2X AMOLED display. It supports variable 1-120Hz refresh rate, and up to 240Hz touch sampling rate in Game Mode.
I had a really delightful time watching nature documentaries. The colours are most accurately produced on the screen. The blacks are darker and other shades too are as close to natural as possible. I have no hesitation to say that this device has the best display for any phone in the industry.
Even playing games with on-screen controls was an enjoyable experience. the screen is sensitive and can automatically vary the refresh rate according to the situation such as browsing or watching high-resolution videos and playing games.
Also, the Vision Booster feature really lives up to the hype. This feature can enable the display to hit peak brightness up to 1,750 nits when using the device outdoors with direct sunlight.
The images, videos and documents look crisp and bright. I never had to squint my eyes too hard to view content on the Galaxy S22 Ultra. Kudos to the Samsung engineers.
Also, the on-screen fingerprint is ergonomically placed, slightly above the base. Just, good enough for my thumb to open the lock screen. And, most importantly, works super fast in terms of recognising the finger impression and unlocking the screen. Also, it was able to correctly recognise the impression nine out of 10 times.
Performance
Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra houses Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 with 12GB RAM, and 128GB/256GB/512G/1TB storage.
For the uninitiated, the 4nm class Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset is based on 64-bit architecture. It comes with Kryo cores--one prime Cortex-X2 core with a peak clock speed up to 3.0Ghz, backed by three performance cores based on Cortex-A710 at 2.5GHz, and four cores based on Cortex-A510 at 1.8Ghz. Backed by the seventh generation Qualcomm AI Engine and Adreno 730 GPU, the device promises to offer efficient working in terms of the operating camera for 4K video recording, playing graphics-rich games and other heavy-duty tasks.
While playing Asphalt 9: Legends, the phone was able to work smoothly and though the device get warmed up, it never felt overwhelming. I noticed the device got warmer only when I performed the 3D Mark Wild Life Extreme Stress Test. This is normal given the body is made of metal and glass. All phones do exhibit such behaviour.
However, I'd like to note that the device never got overwhelmingly heated while performing day-to-day activities such as browsing the internet, operating the camera, recording 4K videos, and streaming content on YouTube.
The unique aspect of the Galaxy S22 Ultra is the S Pen, which has been the iconic companion of the legendary Note series. It makes phones productive by several notches be it creative doodling or taking instant notes during a meeting.
Though I have really bad penmanship, I loved playing with S Pen on the S22 Ultra. It mimics just like the pencil lead's rustic sound effect that emanates while writing on the paper. It makes it even more enjoyable to take notes or draw with the S Pen on the phone.
Also, for many Samsung fans, it is a very reassuring thing to know, the S Ultra series will take the Note series forward for years to come.
I'd like to add that Samsung has assured the Galaxy S22 Ultra will get Android updates for four years ( Android 16 till 2025) and an additional year of security software support. It is longer than Google offers the Pixel phones, which by the way get three years of Android updates. This is a welcome development and will help in building strong loyalty among the customers.
Battery life
The battery life on any smartphone is subjective, as it depends on how much time we spend on gaming and streaming content on OTT platforms via mobile data. If you spend around one or two hours on the aforementioned activities including doom scrolling on social media platforms and rest on using messenger apps, taking calls or reply emails, the Galaxy S22 Ultra will still be able to have more than enough juice to last until you retire to the bed for the night.
The Galaxy S22 Ultra comes with just the Type-C-to-Type-C cable for the charging cable. If you don't have to charge brick, you got buy it separately.
The device supports 45W fast charging and also come with a 15W wireless charging capability. It also supports reverse wireless charging too.
As far the 5G connectivity is concerned, it supports multiple 5G SA/NSA bands-- N1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 12, 20, 25, 28, 38, 40, 41, 66, 75, 77, and N78.
It should be noted that the Indian government has confirmed that the 5G spectrum auction will be held soon and the commercial service may start by the end of 2022.
With Snapdragon X65 5G Modem-RF System onboard the Snapdraong 8 Gen 1, the Galaxy S22 Ultra users will be able to experience peak download speed up to 10 Gbps.
Photography
The Galaxy S22 Ultra 5G comes with a feature-rich quad-camera module-- main 108MP (with OIS: Optical Image Stabilisation, f/1.8, 23mm wide lens, 1/1.33-inch lens, 0.8um pixel size, laser autofocus, Samsung HM3 sensor) + 12MP 120-degree Ultra Wide sensor ( with Sony IMX563 sensor, f/2.2, 13mm, 1/2.55-inch lens, 1.4µm pixel size, dual pixel PDAF: Phase Detection Auto Focus, Super Steady video, ) + 10MP telephoto lens (with Sony IMX754 sensor, 3x zoom, f/2.4, OIS) + 10MP Periscope telephoto lens (with Sony IMX754 sensor, f/4.9, 230mm lens, 1/3.52-inch lens, 1.12µm pixel size, dual pixel PDAF, OIS, 10x optical zoom, 100x Space Zoom) with LED flash, and supports 4K video recording at 60 fps (frames per second) and even 8K at 30fps.
Samsung's premium phone captures good pictures in all conditions. Though the colours red, orange, yellow, come a bit warmer, the result pictures are really good to the eyes. They make the subjects lively and vibrant, worthy to be shared on social media platforms.
The 120-degree ultra-wide-angle shots too enable the phone to accommodate more area into the frame. Also, there is no stressing issue of bending at the right and left sides to fit in more objects.
The close-up shots too, come off great with minute details captured pretty well in the frame.
Like the predecessor, the new Galaxy S22 Ultra also comes with Object Eraser. It works like a charm and even better with S Pen. It is easy to outline the object and in this case, the security guard, and with a single tap, he was gone. Very nifty feature this and only Google Pixel series phone come close to matching it.
The biggest improvement I have noticed in the new Galaxy S22 Ultra is the Zoom and night mode. The pictures with digital zoom look sharp with less noise and colours are warmer but in a good way.
The space zoom shot of the moon is great. Yes, there is some noise, but it is a huge improvement over the predecessor and also stable to focus on it in the vast sky of the night.
In the night mode, the sky looks natural and the camera does a good job of absorbing a bit more light than others to make objects visible in near-true colours. I have noticed premium phones capture oil paint-like photos in the night mode, but with the Galaxy S22 Ultra, the picture looks really sharp. Even inside the controlled light condition of a restaurant, the camera does a fantastic job with good clear details.
The videos too, come off stable, much better than any of the premium Android phones out there in the market.
On the front, it boasts a 40MP (f/2.2, 1/2.8-inch S5KGH1 sensor). It takes fantastic selfies in all light conditions.
Also, it comes with some superficial editing tools to adjust jawline, skin tone, eye size and face smoothening. Compared to others, the latter was able to show a most effective change in terms of removing acne pores and scars on my face.
Final thoughts
The S Pen has made a huge difference to the Galaxy S series in terms of improving productivity and creative work on a phone. But, more importantly, it is very heartening that Samsung has kept the Note series legacy alive at least for a few more years. When the Galaxy Note series made its debut in 2011, it was ridiculed by rival brands for having a big screen and coming with S Pen, akin to an appendix in the human body, which may not add any value, as consumers could just use dexterous fingers. And the extra space for the S Pen holster could have been utilised for increasing battery capacity. But, as it happens, the Galaxy Note series went on to become one of the most loved and iconic phones not just for Samsung, but also for the industry.
Also, the camera hardware has been noticeably better in the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra over the predecessor and with Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 octa-core, the device was able to perform smoothly and last through the day thanks to the efficient adaptive display refresh rate feature.
And, the display quality of the Galaxy S22 Ultra is leagues ahead of any of the rivals in the industry. With the big beautiful screen, I never felt any strain throughout the review period.
The Galaxy S22 Ultra ticks all the checkboxes I expect in a premium phone to excel and have to say, there are no flagship Android phones right now at least in India, that can come close to matching the latest Samsung phone in the display, build quality, camera and performance.
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