The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra: The S Pen Joins Forces With the Flagship
This year, Samsung shook things up with its flagship line-up. The Galaxy S22 Ultra, launched alongside its siblings, the Galaxy S22 and Galaxy S22+, took a bold step: it brought the S Pen stylus, previously exclusive to the Galaxy Note series, into the flagship fold. Adding to the excitement, the Indian market sees the S22 Ultra powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 SoC, a first for Samsung’s Indian flagship phones, marking a departure from their own Exynos SoCs. With strong first impressions, let’s dive into the real-world experience of living with the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra.
Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra: Price in India
The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra starts at Rs. 1,09,999 in India for the base model boasting 12GB of RAM and 256GB storage. The higher variant, with 12GB RAM and 512GB storage, is priced at Rs. 1,18,999. While some global markets offer 128GB and 1TB storage variants, these aren’t available in India. Samsung offers the S22 Ultra in Phantom Black, Phantom White, and Burgundy, with this review focusing on the Burgundy option.
Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra: A Design Inspired by Legacy
The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra sports a distinct design, diverging from its S22 and S22+ siblings, and even its predecessor, the Galaxy S21 Ultra. It adopts design cues from the Galaxy Note series, with elements like the expansive display featuring curved sides and flat top and bottom echoing the aesthetic of the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra. The S Pen gracefully takes center stage, featuring its own dedicated silo within the phone, solidifying the Galaxy Note legacy.
The S22 Ultra boasts a large 6.8-inch display centered by a hole-punch cutout for the front camera. The display is surrounded by incredibly slim bezels at the top and bottom. The sides seamlessly curve along the aluminum frame, adding a premium touch and masking the phone’s actual width. The S22 Ultra tips the scales at 228g, a noticeable weight in hand, but Samsung has strategically distributed the weight to facilitate comfortable one-handed use.
The rear camera setup, featuring a quad-camera system, deviates from the slightly raised modules seen on the Galaxy S22 and S21 Ultra. Instead, each camera lens protrudes individually, giving the back panel a minimalist look. A separate ring houses the laser autofocus sensor. The rest of the back panel is smooth and flat, apart from the Samsung logo. On the bottom edge, the S Pen rests comfortably in its silo, accompanied by a USB Type-C port, a speaker, and the SIM tray. The top edge has a single microphone for audio input.
Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra: Specifications & Software
A significant change for Samsung’s Indian market, the Galaxy S22 Ultra is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 SoC, currently the most powerful chipset available for Android smartphones. This shift marks a departure from Samsung’s usual reliance on their own Exynos SoCs. Storage expansion isn’t an option, but the base storage is sufficient for most users.
The expansive 6.8-inch AMOLED display boasts a quad-HD+ resolution and a 120Hz peak refresh rate, ensuring a smooth and vibrant visual experience. The display is HDR10+ certified and reaches a peak brightness of 1750 nits. The lower half houses an integrated ultrasonic fingerprint sensor. For added protection, Samsung has employed Corning Gorilla Glass Victus+ on both the front and back of the phone.
The S22 Ultra boasts an array of connectivity options, including Bluetooth 5.2, Wi-Fi 6, Ultra-wideband (UWB), NFC, and 5G compatibility along with 4G VoLTE support. The SIM tray comfortably accommodates two physical nano-SIMs or a single physical SIM and an eSIM.
The S22 Ultra and its S Pen are IP68 rated, ensuring dust and water resistance. The phone also features stereo speakers that deliver a loud and immersive audio experience enhanced by Dolby Atmos technology.
Powering the device is a 5,000mAh battery, identical to its predecessor, the Galaxy S21 Ultra. This is impressive considering the phone’s size and the inclusion of the S Pen within the chassis. The S22 Ultra supports fast charging at up to 45W, though a compatible charger is sold separately. The box includes a USB Type-C to Type-C cable. The S22 Ultra also supports wireless charging at 15W and wireless power share.
Samsung pairs the S22 Ultra with One UI 4.1, based on Android 12, offering a polished and intuitive user experience. The software feels familiar, yet a distinct Galaxy Note essence manifests when the S Pen is pulled out. A quick actions menu appears, showcasing the S Pen’s capabilities. The phone benefits from Android 12 features such as privacy indicators, which alert the user when the camera or microphone is being accessed. This includes an indicator for clipboard access, which needs to be enabled. The permission manager provides a comprehensive list of apps that have accessed location and other smartphone sensors.
The S22 Ultra boasts a ‘Game booster’ feature designed to minimize distractions while gaming. The phone has an ‘Auto manage’ performance toggle that automatically reduces performance when temperatures rise, which can be disabled for sustained performance.
Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra: Power & Battery Life
The S22 Ultra’s crisp AMOLED display, with its excellent viewing angles and punchy colors, makes watching videos a truly enjoyable experience, further amplified by the immersive stereo speakers. Performance is remarkably snappy, with even demanding apps and games loading quickly. The 12GB of RAM, coupled with Samsung’s option to allocate up to 8GB of storage as additional RAM, facilitates seamless multitasking.
Beyond note-taking, the S Pen works as a remote for the phone’s camera system, allowing users to switch between sensors, shooting modes, and capture photos. The S Pen offers a convenient browsing experience, letting users hover over hyperlinks to preview the linked pages.
Benchmark scores show the S22 Ultra’s prowess. In AnTuTu, the phone scored 8,51,648 points, slightly lower than the Motorola Edge 30 Pro and iQoo 9 Pro. In Geekbench 5’s single-core and multi-core tests, the S22 Ultra scored 1,231 and 3,313 points respectively. The S22 Ultra excels in graphics benchmarks, achieving a maximum score in 3DMark’s Sling Shot test suite.
In real-world gaming, the S22 Ultra performed admirably, handling games like Asphalt 9: Legends at High Quality and Full HD+ resolution without any hiccups. However, the phone did exhibit some heating, which is expected with high-performance gaming. Call Of Duty: Mobile ran smoothly at Very High graphics settings and Max frame rate, but a 6% battery drop and a slight warm feel were noticeable after around 20 minutes of gameplay. Extended gaming sessions will result in the upper half of the phone becoming noticeably warm.
Battery life was impressive with typical usage, extending to a comfortable day and a half without any issues. However, gaming or extensive camera usage caused a quicker battery drain. In the HD video loop test, the phone lasted 16 hours and 21 minutes before shutting down, a respectable result.
Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra: Capturing the Moment with Versatility
The S22 Ultra’s camera setup, while retaining much of its predecessor’s configuration, boasts improved low-light performance, dubbed "Nightography". The quad-camera system comprises a 108-megapixel primary camera (saving images as 12-megapixel files by default using nona-binning), a 12-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera with a 120-degree field of view, and two 10-megapixel telephoto cameras equipped with 3X and 10X optical zoom capabilities. The front camera is a 40-megapixel shooter.
The 100X "Space Zoom" feature, initially introduced on the Galaxy S20 Ultra, returns. Framing shots at higher zoom levels is streamlined, similar to the implementation in the Galaxy S21 Ultra. When exceeding 20X, a secondary viewfinder appears offering a snapshot at 20X, with crosshairs for precise subject targeting. When focus is locked, and the phone is steady, the secondary viewfinder changes to yellow, indicating readiness to shoot.
The camera app also features hard stops at 2X, 4X, 30X, and 100X. Image quality is excellent at the optical zoom levels but does experience a slight dip with hybrid zoom. Objects captured at 100X are recognizable but fall short in terms of quality.
Daylight shots captured with the primary camera exhibit impressive dynamic range. Autofocus is responsive, and colors are accurate. Switching to the ultra-wide-angle camera results in minimal color tone differences but a subtle decrease in detail, noticeable upon magnification.
Close-up photos are sharp and pleasing, with the laser autofocus minimizing focus hunting, even in low-light scenarios. The focus enhancer feature automatically switches to the ultra-wide-angle camera to capture macro shots. Portrait mode, which defaults to the 3X telephoto camera, offers excellent edge detection and vibrant colors, but users can switch back to the primary camera for a wider perspective.
Low-light shots from the S22 Ultra are good enough to share directly on social media, without relying on Night mode. However, slight noise in darker areas is visible upon closer inspection, which Night mode effectively eliminates. The telephoto cameras can be used in low light, though color accuracy might be slightly off. Night mode, however, limits the zoom to 10X and utilizes only the primary or 10X telephoto camera.
Selfies from the 40-megapixel front camera (pixel-binned to a 10-megapixel output) are excellent in both daylight and low-light conditions. Video recording capabilities peak at 8K 24fps for the primary camera, resulting in a cropped frame for stabilization. The selfie camera supports recording up to 4K 60fps. Videos from the S22 Ultra are highly detailed, with reliable stabilization and accurate colors in both daylight and low-light settings.
Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra: The Ultimate Samsung?
The Galaxy S21 Ultra was the first non-Galaxy Note phone to offer S Pen support, and the writing, so to speak, was on the wall. The anticipated merger of Samsung’s iconic Galaxy Note and Galaxy S series has been realized with the Galaxy S22 Ultra, creating a culmination of Samsung’s technological prowess. This phone combines the best camera features of the Galaxy S series with the productivity-driven charm of the Note series.
The Galaxy S22 Ultra’s powerful hardware and polished software deliver a true flagship experience. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 SoC handles everything with ease. Samsung maintains its dominance in camera performance, outperforming most competitors. For demanding users, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 SoC might exhibit some heating under heavy loads. The high price tag could also deter potential buyers.
The Galaxy S22 Ultra appeals to a broader audience than its predecessor, particularly as there’s no other phone in the market offering the same combination of features. The S22 Ultra is essentially unrivaled. If you can overcome the high price, the S22 Ultra solidifies its position as one of the best Android smartphones currently available.
