SAMSUNG GALAXY S22 ULTRA 5G Review

Ultra Performance with HUGE Display

As all may know, Samsung introduces three new devices in the lineup, namely the S22, S22+ and the S22 Ultra. All three devices has been garnering positive views and reception so far and it’s been a great journey as a start for Samsung so far.

Today we will dive in to the review of the Galaxy S22 Ultra, a device where the iconic S-Pen from the Note Series meets the S Series and so far only the S22 Ultra has it, at least in the Samsung’s Phone lineup this year so far at the time of this writing.

Design

The Galaxy S22 Ultra design goes with a slightly different design from S22 and S22+, which the back of the phone is much curves that is seemingly construct like a one piece of device together. This makes holding the device is seamless yet the overall texture feel is smooth. The Galaxy S22 Ultra does look taller and slightly wider compared to any average candybar smartphones however that being said, you still can pocket it on your jeans or on your handbag.

Over to the back/rear of the phone, it is made of Gorilla Glass Victus + with aluminum frames over the sides construct of the phone which is real solid overall at the same time it does merge certain design element strength of the combined S Series and Note series into one which everyone loved.

Towards the camera portion you will spot five lens bumps that is just slightly bumped up followed by a flat LED flash. Protection wise, you can purchase any of the first or third party cases online or directly from any Samsung Authorized Outlets. Personally it is done nicely with no sharp corners surrounding the lens egde areas.

Over the right side, there is a volume up and down button and a power button, while the top houses one microphone. Over to the bottom of the phone there is one dual NanoSIM slot, one microphone, one USB C port, S-Pen slot and a bottom firing speaker. All of the phone sides are made of shining gloss material with the same color tone overall finish to it.

The absent of the 3.5mm headphone jack which is expected as most of the flagship phones today does not include one, and with the increasing adoption of Bluetooth earbuds today, it should be easy to purchase one as majority earbuds today are relatively affordable, or just purchase the Galaxy Buds 2, which is a perfect companion as well.

Besides that the phone is also IP68 dust & water resistant up to 1.5m for 30 minutes and color choices wise, there is Phantom Black, Phantom White, Burgundy and Green to choose from.

Display & Audio

Display wise, the Galaxy S22 Ultra came with a huge, yet beautiful 6.8 Inch 1440 x 3088 pixels, 500ppi, 120Hz Dynamic AMOLED 2X screen with Gorilla Glass Victus + that supports HDR10+ and Wide Color Gamut. Display is brilliant on with great accuracy on color display, a adaptive refresh rate that goes up to 120Hz vibrant which is clearly meant for today’s standard balancing between display modes and dynamically adjusted down as low as 10Hz according to usage to preserve its battery use. On top of that, the fingerprint sensor is located beneath the display. Experiencing the Galaxy S22 Ultra with browsing, streaming and replying e-mails gave a great wide viewing angles with smooth scrolling and response when I am gaming as well with a maximum boost of the brightness up to 1750nits combined with the new Vision Enhancer which even viewing under the sunlight is still very visible. Widevine support is there with L1 certification for FullHD streaming with Netflix. From the audio side, by default it is on dual speaker setup tuned by AKG for further immersive sound and music effects that also has a built in equalizer.

Camera

The Galaxy S22 Ultra has sets of camera setup that is bumped and upgraded from the previous S21 Ultra and Galaxy Note 20 Series. Starting from the rear camera setup you will have one main 108MP wide lens with PDAF, Laser AF and OIS, one 10MP periscope telephoto Dual Pixel lens, one 10MP telephoto lens and another 12MP ultra wide lens accompanied with a flash. Experience with the rear camera capture shows a very good improvement from the previous generation with very good color reproduction and contrast level on most environment and portrait mode is well represented whether is day or night. Zooming above 30x may produce some noises but blur level is not noticeable . However when it comes to video recording, it support up to 8K 24FPS recording, but to my usage thus far, having 4K recording up to 60FPS fits myself and perhaps everyone as the stabilization is so good, thanks to the embedded Gyro OIS in the camera hardware.

Selfie camera wise, it came equipped with a 40MP sensor with HDR and Dual Pixel PDAF, live portrait video recording is also supported with capture satisfied picture quality that makes it a good candidate as a vlog phone for all your social media feeds and posting.

All the sample shots above are taken with the Galaxy S22 Ultra in various mode and environments with a mixed of 10x zoom, normal, 50MP, 30x zoom, 100x zoom, Portrait, Selfie and automatic shots.

Performance

Hardware and specs, this time around, instead of Samsung’s own Exynos Processor, the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Octa Core SOC with 4nm process, up to 512GB of internal storage and 12GB RAM. It is running on the latest Android 12 over Samsung’s OneUI 4.1 that brings in a fresh and improvement from RAM Plus extension to enhancements over camera features and Priority mode on your daily device usage needs. Call quality is good whether its over VOLTE or 2G while WoWIFI option is available as well when enabled, delivering very good HD voice quality with the Carrier that we tested so far.

5G with UWB connectivity readiness is there equipped with WiFi 6E support, Bluetooth 5, NFC with payment capability were all present with all the stability there while streaming, gaming, browsing, downloading over my home internet connection has no issues at all. With WiFi 6 band you will also gain much speed over 2000mbps transfer rates with ease with my local NAS depending on your router specifications.

Gaming wise, this phone is a solid performer with some games such as Mobile Legends can reach over 90FPS with very minimal drop on frame rate and smoothness is felt on all times. Surely games like Genshin Impact will be needed to be set between High and Medium graphic settings to ensure the best experience you can get over domain and party hunting on large maps while Call Of Duty mobile matches can be enjoyed at maximum settings.

S-Pen and it’s Features

As we mentioned, the Galaxy S22 Ultra does come with the S-Pen that is ever so popular from the Galaxy Note series, which is now properly embedded and can be slotted in the phone and take it out to be used whenever you need it with improve low latency on taking notes, drawing and scribbling, this make the S-Pen is very close to holding an actual pencil with accurate pressure sensitivity. All of the S-Pen compatible apps are also compatible with it including those from Adobe as well.

Benchmarks

Benchmark performance is as good as any flagship device, including the smaller S22 series siblings, delivering incredible benchmark points results as shown above. This is pretty much one of the best premium SOC that you can get in the market right now today and I say again, this is a combo of a huge device with ample fast memory and speed to cater any applications you throw at.

Battery performance wise, you will get roughly around 12 hours of it, a mix of calls, surfing, email, streaming, and a few game matches. Turn on the battery saving mode under 20% will get you around extra 2.5 hours of conservative usage. Basically you can use the phone moderately for the whole day. The Galaxy S22 Ultra 5G does not come with a charger, you can always get any third party compatible PD charger. A 45w or above charger will charge up the phone in less than 2 hours from 20% to 100%.

Specifications

Conclusion and Verdict

The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra is a true beginning over the S Ultra series that finally merges best of S Series and Galaxy Series features to one device that leads the way of premium phone that represents power, design and productivity in your hands that keeps all your work and play going. With at least of 4 years with future Android OS upgrades, you get to enjoy what a flagship series users enjoy as well, such as 5G, WiFi 6E, S-Pen, Samsung DeX which is a desktop environment that further enhances the productivity usage together with your laptop or PC of your choice. With the price starting from RM5,099 for the 128GB model, RM5,499 for the 256GB model, and RM5,899 for the 512GB model, we would recommend this device for those who wishes for an all in one device and to those wanting to upgrade from their Galaxy Note phone.

Pros

• 120Hz Refresh Rate Display
• Has reverse charging
• Flagship class processor
• Great Android software and security update support

Cons

• No MicroSD Card Slot
• Can be quite heavy (on the weight)

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