Samsung S22 Introduction:
Following on from our Galaxy S22+ and the larger Sang a song of high praise in their respective deep dives, it's about time we do a little more focused work for the vanilla Galaxy S22.
Many of you have probably been following the Galaxy S22 series launch to some extent or other, and most likely do not need a reminder for us but we will just say it anyway: keep your expectations in check as far as our review trio is concerned. With no respect to quality of goods. That is still great, but not so in terms of any large generational shifts or breakthroughs. There is almost none of that on the S22 line. Maybe minus the Galaxy Note line reborn in S22 Ultra form, only without holding "Note" status.
Samsung's flagship offerings have continued to be steady, albeit somewhat getting a tad boring (or tame would be a better word) over the last couple of years. In and of itself, that counts for quite a bit. That, for a fact, Apple kept proving time and over again with its iterative year-on-year approach to product development. So, to sum it up before we go on - a new camera system here with upgraded chipsets and slightly smaller battery than last year that Samsung says makes the difference in efficiency of chipset and display. The vanilla's and plus's displays are a tad shorter, but these should feature slightly more advanced tech.
This particular write-up focuses on the vanilla S22, which has gotten a lot smaller than its S21 predecessor. Actually, so much that for the first time in a long while we can label it one of those rare compact flagships. Relatively speaking of course.
It is 146 x 70.6 x 7.6 mm in size and weighs at around of the device sits the scale, only hitting149 grams), while also weighing a bit under half that410 (for of estimated for kindly Listen to weight175 g for per reading). That is in comparison to the S21 and its 151.7 x 71.2 x 7.9 mm,167g or whatever figure body dimensions The S22 line as a whole is now slightly shorter, aligned with the trend of more compact 6.1-inch displays for both models. A smaller body means a correspondingly small 3,700 mAh battery back as well sadly For comparison, that's down from 4,000 mAh last year.
The headline change, in addition to the switch from last year's flagship chipset generation (the Exynos 2200 for Europe) and decision is said Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 pretty much everywhere else), would be that new main camera - a thumping great big old Samsung-manufactured sliver of silicon boasting an impressive resolution: there is now a whopping-great mahoosive things-going-to-be-stupid-amazing-don't-drop-it-sweet-cheeses-Mother-of-Beelzebub-is-that-right-huge-now?
Also, a new 10MP telephoto with optical rather than hybrid 3x zoom. The ultrawide and selfie cams are carried over from the S21. One other thing Samsung has been doing exceptionally well in the past few Galaxy S generations is making a good deal of segmentation. The Ultra is undoubtedly in a feature league of its own this year, even if it’s lacking a “Note” moniker. However, the vanilla S22 and S22+ don’t leave a lot to differentiation as we shall see below. As you can probably guess, the S22+ is larger, boasting a 4,500 mAh battery and advertised 45W fast charging. We’ll get into more detail in the charging part. Suppose you don’t want this to be a spoiler. In that case, you can stop reading, but it’s not like the 45W versus the 25W on the S22 is a massive difference anyway.
And the lack of Ultra-Wideband (UWB) support on the base S22 is hardly a dealbreaker. However, the difference in display panels is actually a bit more nuanced than simply size. We'll unpack that too, though the vanilla S22 does not get those slightly but still welcome generational OLED brightness upgrades of the S22+ and S22 Ultra.
The omissions in the vanilla S22 aren't major and won't change its status as a well-rounded, full-fledged flagship at all. This is a great segmentation as it really means if you want an S22 or an S22+ your decision will likely be size (and obviously the cost).
On the topic of budgets, Samsung have also done a fantastic job keeping things well and truly steady. Full pricing for the entire S22 series and Galaxy Tab S8 can be found here, but the starting point is 50000 for an S22; this will sound familiar - it's what its predecessor used to cost. In addition, managing to stick at the same price point is no mean feat what with the current state of play around supply chain and material shortages in tech generally.
Overall though this is the S22 in a nutshell - an incremental, even boring upgrade for some and just business as usual, solid all-around flagship with no unexpected potentially deal breaking surprises or price hikes from Samsung. But as ever, the devil is in the detail. Tag along as we delve into just how the Galaxy S22 works behind these scenes.
Samsung S22 Unboxing:
After its S22+ and S22 Ultra sibling, the vanilla Galaxy S22 arrives in one of the most minimal retail boxes to be seen. Finally, to answer your question: nope, it still will not come with a charger. The Galaxy S21 family appears to have buried that method for good. The S22 family comes with a short but well-built USB Type-C to Type-C cable, too as a SIM ejector and your obligatory papers.
And that's it. Dry as possible, but then it is the order of operation.
And naturally, there is the ecological perspective. Samsung says the box in which you open your phone is both thin and compact to reduce waste, uses 100% recycled paper, while it's tried to limit its use of plastics throughout. The printing is also completed with soy-based ink, making this one of the most sustainable retail packaging out there.
Samsung S22 Design:
A design shared across both the vanilla S22 and its S22+ sibling is on deck for this generation of Galaxy S. This is another touch where the Note-like S22 Ultra sticks out effectively from every other person with an absolutely not quite the same as past looks.
Samsung has a fresh layout for 2022 that's chicer than in previous years and somewhat flatter. Although to be honest, neither factor entirely applies to the S22. The S22 may be a bit more flat than its predecessor - the differences here are clear as day next to an S21 Ultra, available in this comparison gallery - but it's still rounded and curvy where Samsung wanted. Previous design leaks and renders of the S22 made its middle frame appear fully flat, as per Apple's current iPhone aesthetic.
That is not the case, though. The frame is surprisingly flat aseptic pole Aside from a certain angle put objects looks too much. Its center line is symmetrical and sloped gently. The S22 is certainly a lot "flatter" overall than the swooping rear of the S21.
If we like the new silhouette, wow is it not good for handling. The S22 is also very slippery. The second is hard to grip securely without any sharp edges or chamfers. In addition, the aluminum frame has been treated with a finish that serves as a magnet for fingerprints. Because Samsung seemingly intended for it to be more matte than glossy and reflective even when greasy the frame is nigh-on presentable, but also slipperier.
Dirt is a different story with the S22 on its back, though. Indeed, save for the occasional dust mote which collects off that big flat area you barely get any grease haze at all. Of all the S22 and S23 design differences, that flat back panel style is arguably one of (if not) the biggest. It is almost totally flat - a huge switch up from the deep curves on the S21 Galaxy devices, They are backed by Gorilla Glass Victus+, as is the front side.
One more simplified section of this galaxy S22 is that the fresh camera island. The "wrap-around" looking back of the S21 family is gone, with the island kind of spilling over onto and around up to meet that metal flange. The difference extends to the plateau for the cameras, as on the S22 and S22+ that runs where ends in a middle frame (arguably less distinctive).
The bottom line is, obviously the S22 was more or less a smaller version of an S22+. Or maybe the reverse. But the fact is that their design details are identical. The same thought applies to the color choices. This one comes in both old and new versions In addition to the White and Phantom Black, which was known as just The Phantom last month. It comes with Green, and Pink Gold too. These are what we call "fundamental" colors. The camera island and middle frames are also color-matched with Phantom White coming in a way part from silver accents.
Plus four more colors exclusive to Samsung. com and the Samsung Experience store - Graphite, Cream, Sky Blue and Violet. While those all have different frames and color accents - Cream & Sky Blue are both silver, Graphite is blacked out, Violet gets a hint of soft gold in the same space as that iconic Lubbock wristwatch to remind wearers they're living in Tsar Alexander I's realm. We have not laid eyes on the former, but we reckon that one's distinct most-hued side is simply lifted from Pink Gold (the unit we are reviewing), 2 years later. Especially It has soft colors. But if you are not into that, Samsung certainly has its own bolder options.
It even wraps around the front of the Galaxy S22, where there's yet more flat Gorilla Glass Victus+. Although the S21 is a flat display as well, this one could be argued to appear flatter on from here in too. On top of the usual bend, you get a curve running on all edges of the S21 glass and into side frame that is sometimes referred to as 2.5D glass edge which was cut from earlier Galaxy designs This is with the entire screen assembly (glass and all) sticking out above the frame.
The S22 design is quite flatter in comparison to the 21s as well, since glass face appears materially shorter and deeper in relation. The two lie flush at nearly equal heights and meet right angles, which does help in making the overall surface a lot "flatter".
That said, insufficiently large bezels right on the front of the phone are not axe to grind for us -- far from it. A couple millimeters of space between where the edge ends and your device's display starts is also good for protection, as well as structural integrity. Even putting a very fancy and janky liquid adhesive thing onto the front side of your device to make room for an actual nice glass screen protector is worth it. Besides, the whole craze over "infinite displays" is by now also somewhat passe.
Nevertheless, the top and bottom are pretty minimal as well still immensely balanced. We can appreciate that.
Samsung S22 Display:
No doubt that Samsung is the king in mobile display segment. It has the best OLED panels and this Korean giant is not resting on its laurels. Quite the contrary. The Galaxy S22 enjoys the best of what Samsung Display has to offer, thanks to its continuous innovation outputs in display technology. However, to varying degrees. But Samsung has had some difficulties messaging the finer points of this year's display performance in the Galaxy S22 line, and as such is already having to clear things up multiple times.
The S22+ and the S22 Ultra support a higher max brightness compared to the vanilla model, this is another one of their features that varies from what we find in the regular Galaxy. The S22 Ultra is also getting LTPO 2.0 tech for the dynamic refresh rate while the more affordable S22+ and standard model are using LTPS across all screens. That said, there are a few caveats.
Let's start with brightness. One of the major improvements to brightness across the board on all Galaxy S22 phones. That said, the S22+ and S22 Ultra are also expected to achieve higher max brightness numbers than we have on the vanilla screen of our future Galaxy. You probably get tired of hearing about these two models' ridiculous 1,750 nits peak brightness -- the number has been put out there enough that it was proven in our lab testing.
Which is quite a bit more than we saw on its Galaxy S21 predecessor (and about as bright as the iPhone 13 Pro reaches).
This one is a little bit tougher to compute using Samsung's own OLED panel specs since official data isn't all that abundant and sources do offer conflicting info, but the numbers we've measured confirm pretty closely with crushing down figures seemly landing near or within what appears like it can be somewhat related to their theory valuing S22 Ultra / S22+ as sporting Samsung 'Next' M12 tech which 16% more light efficient. Meanwhile, the vanilla Galaxy S22 seems to be using M11 OLED substrates still if scattered resources have it right - apparently that configuration is also present in at least some examples of both the Galaxy S21 Ultra and iPhone 13 Pro/Pro Max. Sure enough, our real-world test results appear to confirm this notion.
Some other salient display brightness considerations. It is specifically in the way it comes under control. Samsung finally added an "Extra brightness" display option to the S22 line as well. Note it's also shy of the absolute brightest sunlight mode and only accessible with auto-brightness disabled. It gives you additional "manual brightness" on the slider. We measured 757 nits of max brightness on the Galaxy S22 with it, while - without Extra brightness turned on and slider not fully up - we only got this unit to go a bit over 465 nit.
However, merely glowing lighter is only a step of the way for enhancing the readability in bright sunlight. Samsung is also targeting the best picture, as long as that refers to contrast and colors. The S22 series achieves this using a tech called Vision Booster.
This uses the phone's light sensor data to identify what kind of ambient light is around and then does per-pixel tone mapping for better image. By definition, this should be a heavily color- and contrast-stretched image in terms of absolute measurements...the goal is to neutralize the ambient light as much as possible.
Quantifying the success of Vision Booster is challenging. However, we did see a more respectable image on the S22 than you would get from an Galaxy S21 outdoors in broad daylight. We can not say how much having Vision Booster in fact does anything due to the placebo effect, but either way it is no video game changer. It's definitely more of a nice to have rather than anything ground breaking.
The Galaxy S22 unsurprisingly also spoke of colors. Given the nature of Samsung's AMOLED color, there are the usual pair - Vivid and Natural. The former targets the DCI-P3 color space and is close enough that we would consider it essentially color-accurate. In particular, the default palette is a tad too cool. One move on the slider in from of manually going warmer lands deviation where actual content would hit about DCI-P3 accurate.
The other way is the natural mode, which aims for sRGB and does a pretty good job of it. As we can see the S22 is very color-accurate against sRGB.
Sure, granted our research on the matter turns out correct and we are indeed looking at a slightly older OLED panel tech used in vanilla Galaxy S22 which just isn't compromising that much both when it comes to brightness and contrast or colors. HDR support is also available. Software-wise, the S22 states it supports HDR10, HDR10+, and HLG. The one thing it lacks is Dolby Vision support, a standard. Of course, it also carries Google's best Wide vine L1 DRM license so that you can stream Netflix in full HD.
I live in the US and watched cartoons on Netflix with it - that 1080p HDR resolution max is just large enough to fill out most of my TV's pixels.
Although it has quite a small diagonal, the HDR experience is wielded by none so powerful as to Galaxy S22 - not only in smartphones.
High refresh rate handling
The Galaxy S22 offer a Dynamic AMOLED 2x display with up to 120Hz refresh rate. Auto refresh rate switching is here too. That's right of the both parts for the complete S22 range. But the way Samsung sort of screwed up its explanation of how refresh rate operates and is managed on the S22 and S22+ - which, it turns out through further testing to be different from what occurs in that respect on the Ultra model; more in a moment about this as well.
First up is the most recent Samsung determination: "We want to address any confusion concerning display refresh rate for Galaxy S22 and S22+.
When referring to displays, both devices offer between 48-120Hz and consequently Samsung's technology allows display refresh rates to be adjustable where data transfer speeds from AP-to-display can go as low as just 10Hz in an attempt help reduce power consumption. We were originally calling that a display refresh rate between 10 to 120Hz (refreshes per second) and later made the decision to update how we refer this specification in order for it appears more standardized - an industry norm. No changes to the hardware specs (consumers can rest easy!) as both device support up to 120Hz for super smooth scrolling, What we found was this: only the S22 Ultra truly uses an LTPO 2.0 substrate for its OLED panel and provides much-improved automatic refresh rate change-up capabilities as a result.
The S22+ and vanilla S22 instead make use of the more humble LTPS tech, but Samsung has managed to beef it up a bit for this generation.
In order to correctly explain our findings, we have to separate the screen refresh rate from (like before) UI rendering / framerate. Backing up this rumor are the Android 12 support APIs for S22 panel refresh modes, which include a fixed rates of 10Hz, 24Hz and sensible multiples: i.e., at least it will reportedly be capable to finally do what everyone else has been doing since last year - offer smooth screen transitions and silky animations in all scenarios. Same modes as the S22+". Note that the numbers above are not how many times per second the UI is actually being rendered. For this, Samsung has provided a tool in the Developer menu which (conveniently/peculiarly) is reflection of what Android Surface Flinger outputs to Graphics buffer - GPU Watch.
In other words, this is a frame per second indicator and not the display refresher settings.
All of this in mind, when we put the S22 through our testing process, it turns out it actually does a really good job dynamically managing its display refresh rate In essence, whenever you touch the display by any means-whether that be tap or swipe-the refresh rate instantly triggers to 120Hz for improved responsiveness. As soon as the phone is out of our hands, that refresh rate drops almost instantly again to a more suitable one for the fps happening on screen.
The S22 can idle a static image as low as 24Hz Though the software can report to a phone's display that it is capable of dialing down to 10Hz, we never saw cameras switch figures in any scenario during our tests. We at least did get some garnish, namely as low as 1fps readouts from the Android Surface Flinger, though we suspect these aren't an 'official' figure. Strangely enough, this actually fits quite well with some of Samsung's recent re-statements about how the S22 and S22+ generate battery savings. In fact power aside, in practice the refresh rate varies to as low as 24Hz along with an fps drop all the way down to a miserly single frame per sec.
More importantly however, the usual experience is that existing algorithms quite effectively match screen refresh rate to what you actually see happening in terms of frame-rate on screen. At rest or with a still image, the refresh rate of most apps will fall to 24Hz. If they are showing anything that number is most of the time 60Hz to accommodate movement. 120Hz is enabled upon interaction for the smoothest animations and most responsive feel.
It generally worked fine, but we were disappointed to find that you couldn't lock specific apps at 120Hz - web browsers, for example. Every single one we tested fell to 60Hz when the display wasn't being touched. You can easily verified this by running the great UFO test made from Blur Busters.
However, we can't actually think of a situation in the real world where it makes sense for something to be rendering at more than 60 frames per second on screen unless you're touching and painting yourself -- so maybe Samsung made this choice as an actual advantage.
One great thing about this is the refresh rate handling you in video playback, which also has a inclination to accompany fps of currently displayed video. Ivy says it can play a 24 fps clip and have the Galaxy S22 run its display at 24Hz. 30fps means 30Hz, and 60fp means so on... like that. This logic only occasionally trapped us. It works impressively well.
Even better, we confirmed that this feature worked perfectly well on local video playback and streaming from things like YouTube or Netflix. This goes both ways, either reducing the refresh rate at 72hz and increasing it up to match a weirdo 120fps video. However, we do have to mention that Samsung seems to be changing this as 48fps YouTube videos now keep the display at refreshed on our S22 unit while they did get it down to 48Hz on the initial review of the Galaxy S22+. Size wise it actually takes a slight step backwards, but nothing significant. Funnily enough when it comes to refresh rate behavior changes Samsung appears have repaired its previously-erratic HDR video playback, which now no longer locks the display at 120Hz as what we had tested with on our S23 review.
That means a 60fps HDR video will still remain at 60Hz live, and the same applies to lower frame rates in general. Samsung had initially led us to believe that this type Of automatic refresh rate switching with HDR only worked on the Galaxy S22 Ultra and its best-in-class LTPO 2.0 OLED display. Despite this, the LTPS S22 also supports HDR refresh rate switches as well alongside a slightly more dynamic native behavior compared to LTPO 2.0; it's not entirely exclusive to LTPO technology -
Next we ran it through a few games that are guaranteed to be able to render at well over 60fps. All of these operated as they should, the S22 cranking up its display to 120Hz for maximum fps figures.
Now that Samsung finally added a GPU Watch overlay we were able to very much have an in-game fps counter, or at least pretty close. Previously it was simply a visual guess.
All told, while we will still say that using an external plugin to see frame rates isn't ideal necessarily the loophole doesn't really give you any tangible advantage in terms of winning games (i.e. cheating). The other side it if Perf Z does pull some sort of windows management or rendering data which gives a significant impact on performance further hack away! It is available from the Samsung app store for a number of its phones, via an app called Game Plugins. If only Samsung could find a way to more effectively market these rare features. Nice Lock, which is still grossly under-mentioned. But, we digress. FPS read outs from Perf Z
Samsung Galaxy S22 also almost perfectly copes with both high and adaptive refresh rate – already based on the real content being shown and user requirements. The display refresh rate can be further reduced. In terms of marketing communication, Samsung made a lot of noise in the wrong way, but apart from that, we can say only good things here.
Samsung S22 Camera:
This is a new camera set-up for the Galaxy S22 generation, Samsung's upcoming high-end device family. The S22 Ultra gets two standalone camera setups in fact, because the snappers on it are quite different compared to both the vanilla S22 and again - surprise surprise! - they share precisely same cameras. Although not everything has changed. To cut a long story short and having done an unofficial side by side with the S22 from last year, Samsung is re-using two of their same cameras; the 12 MP, f/2.2, 13mm (ultrawide), Dual Pixel autofocus on all sides at once;, as well as the channels to refer people etc. Selfie Camera10. They should perform well and they both are known quantities.
Now that many sights have seen the S22 generation, and reviews are in left right & center it seems Samsung's new cameras might deserve a closer look at what draws both critique and praise. The brunt of the controversy has centered on that new 50-megapixel main camera and while we had heard rumblings about unique (if slightly different) optics being used, it seems plausible to us you could get a "lemon" with an imperfect bottleneck lens-that is consequently softer. Hopefully this hasn't been a wide-ranging problem, though that's the exact reason we recommend any potential buyers test their camera out ASAP and RMA if necessary.
Into the new hardware this generation - besides that 50MP cam, which replaces Samsung's tried and tested older 12MP main shooter (by Sony) - it is none other than a variant of one more Samsung ISOCELL GN5 sensor- not the largest Samsung has ever made by any means but at ~10.19 mm /1/1.56", It still looms larger than on an S21 for instance.
As for the Note20 series, there's also a new ISOCELL 2.0 - building on last year's ISOCELL Plus tech (the S10 and N10 used this). It also touts greater light sensitivity for the same photo sites than any other Nikon sensor by further miniaturizing that grid between each of respectively five color filter elements on top of a pixel. These, which in the original ISOCELL design were entirely of metal and therefore further absorbed light that hit the sensor.
ISOCELL Plus improved this somewhat, and ISOCELL 2.0 has replaced the bottom portion of color filter barriers with a material that can reflect light rather than just absorb it like silicon does to further reduce any wasted photons.
The 50MP GN5 is a Tetra cell sensor (Samsung-speak for Quad-Bayer) camera, so by default it should be able to make 12.5MP photos using pixel binning usually keeping four adjacent pixels in each photo-generated square(pixel). Galaxy S22 compresses those to 12 megapixels and stores them in that resolution (4000 x 3000 pixels) for a reason.
The S22's main cam is 24mm-equivalent; that's fairly wide for a primary camera. Of course that also translates to you getting the bokeh effect on both flesh in addition to objects, and adds Dual Pixel PDAF too with OIS being thrown into the mix for good measure. The S22 generation of smartphones ditches includes a new lens technology for Samsung: Super Clear Glass. light coming into the sensor.
Which is a bit of an ironic name, given the softness issues that a few units have exhibited. It boasts a 98% reduction in lens flare from light sources in low-light situations. Samsung has, for whatever reason, focused a lot of its camera efforts this generation on low light performance. A whole category of improvements is affectionately dubbed “NIGHTOGRAPHY”. Still, that Super Clear Glass, improved low light portrait, as well as an automated frame rate for low light video capture to maximize light intake, but I’m getting ahead of myself.
The other new addition to the Galaxy S22 is a 10MP telephoto camera. The sensor is a 1/3.94" type S5K3K9 with an f /2.6 aperture fixed-focus lens, which it complements the main camera while being aided by four lenses to deliver excellent depth sensing and photographing functionalities as well even in low-light or night-time situations too! The new camera is optimized for 70mm optical zoom, which should equate to a somewhat longer lens than the foldable phone shooter on last year's S lineup. The camera of the phone had a 1.1 x optical zoom lens then but with Samsung claiming up to 3x, it did all that by cropping from behind at its high-resolution sensor (64MP).
The 10MP telephoto comes with OIS, as well PDAF, which are the same specs we had here last year in terms of additional capabilities.
But first, a few words about the camera UI. The camera app is the usual affair you would see on any Samsung phone of today. There are different modes available depending on what you swipes left and right to switch between, but there's also an option to re-arrange or remove some of these from using up too much space in the viewfinder. Vertical swipes both ways toggle between front and back cameras.
Of course, you also get a smattering of compelling in-camera settings as well -- like the Auto FPS toggle that activates video recording at 30fps only when there's plenty of light to brighten JPEGs for Web sharing -- but this is more unusual on photo-centric devices than it used to be.
Night Mode is supported on all the cameras. On a related note, Pro mode (which at first was actually not supported by the telephoto lens) works across all three cameras now.
You can set ISO from 50 to 3200, shutter speed between a fastest of up to stop at very dark graduations (1/12000) and as slow as 30 seconds, contrast/highlights/shadows/saturation/tint. You can use some metering modes as well, and you have a choice of focus mode - manual only. By any standard, Pro mode gets deep.
Samsung S22 Photo quality:
Primarily, the 50MP main camera. As we said, it employs a Tetra cell (or Quad-Bayer) sensor and the mathematics in that have to produce 12.5MP images by default. Those stills are actually stored in 12MP by the S22. It's kind of the average resolution that all three rear cameras produce.
Sure enough, these photos match up near-perfectly with those we shot on our Galaxy S22+ unit. These still deliver a decent balanced performance with nice detail and sensible colors, not too drab nor overly primary-like but just sprinkled through the calmer side of things at times. The dynamic range is very good as well.
However, similar to on the S22+, these shots are not perfect and none come problem-free. The biggest one is softness. There are a lot of soft surfaces throughout, even in the shadows- and on them there's clear evidence of noise unlike what you'd usually expect from Samsung. It's not deal-breaking noise, but the softness is there. The same isn't perfect either being since Samsung was forced to heavily sharpen details across the frame in order to compensate for lost sharpness.
Unfortunately, we have to point out that our vanilla S22 review unit seems to exhibit less corner softness than the one of our readers-labelled "lemon" for its S22+. The good news, and bad news is that this suggests Samsung has some inconsistency with lenses. Plus, of course we're getting our review unit late anyway so it means by this point the software should be a little more stable but even still softness is not ideal.
Since we took the Galaxy S22 out to shoot at the same time last year, taking a few pictures with last year's Galaxy S21 in order for us to get identical conditions. It's also near-impossible to accurately and properly call one of the two Capital Cams any better than the other in a measured, repeatable way where it can't be scoffed at, but we actually like Samsung's older 12MP shooter ever so slightly more. If you want to see those, we have a lot more comparison samples with the Galaxy S21 in our Galaxy S23 review.
With the S22, you can make it shoot in its actual full 50MP resolution. This takes an extra second or two, but it's still one of the faster implementations that we've experienced. Here the regular 12MPs: and here are the 50MP ones. This involves all the positives things such as colors and dynamic range. There are slightly more detail to be had. Not much, though. Rendering of textures remains a little too fuzzy. Not to mention this approach really only works if we ditch the binning step - that, in and of itself is a separate blog post and has some drawbacks. The frame is filled with fine patterns that frequently suffer Moiré fringing.
Now, jumping to the other interesting new camera on the S22 and S22+ this year - 10MP 3x telephoto. Samsung is basically standardizing the resolution of its cameras and it saves 12MP stills from telephoto as well - in other amounts save format might be different). This does of course imply that there is some upscaling going on, which definitely isn't ideal. But then again, Samsung's been doing this for years.
The telephoto is fantastic in all regards. It takes sharp detailed photos. Impressively so, in fact. Definitely less sharpening is being applied than the primary cam. Noise is kept at a minimum. The color here looks nice and matches the main camera very well. As always, Samsung gets a lot of credit for consistency.
One of those is Samsung overload and the S22 also has a 30x digital reach beyond its already impressive 3x optical. Though impractical, shots remain remarkably serviceable at 30x. Decent enough for the situation, too-it's not tungsten-sharp or anything, but it is acceptable. Many of them sound cold and methodical, like placeholders in an algorithm gone wrong. All the same, these are workable shots.
We will run through some portrait photos on the S22 before moving onto other cameras. Great portraits through the main camera The subject detection and separation is nearly flawless, not prone to errors. The detail and colors are the same as in normal photos. The background bokeh effect is also of a high standard.
The Galaxy S22 can also shoot portraits with its telephoto camera, like its big brother. They look good enough but are quite a bit softer than the main camera’s portraits. Additionally, the lack of autofocus means you’ll often end up uncomfortably close to your subject at the usual portrait distance. You should probably only use it to snap a portrait if you really have to from farther away; alternatively, you should use the main camera. The 12MP ultrawide camera is taken from the S21 series. It is a 13mm 120-degree f/2.2 lens with a fixed focus. The vanilla S22 and S22+ have fixed-focus ultrawide. Autofocus is only available on the S22 Ultra, similar to the S21 Ultra from last year. As a result, you can’t take better close-up shots with the ultrawide, known as that nifty trick on some other phones.
The Galaxy S22 also delivers telephoto portraits, like its larger sibling. They're acceptably crisp here, but overall a bit softer than the primary camera shots above. Also, you wind up with far too close shots at anything approaching a normal portrait distance. Which means, if you must take a portrait from far away we would stay with the main camera.
The 12MP ultrawide camera is also rethanked from the S21 generation. It is the regular 13mm, f/2.2(120-degree) unit we all know and relatively love but it features fixed focus in contrast to auto-focus on its primary counterpart. The S22 and the S22+ have fixed-focus ultrawide while only the Ultra gets autofocus on it. Just like the S21 Ultra from last year. That's a bummer since you can't do any neat macro shots with the ultrawide. Struggles with short-distance focus on the main camera.
The telephoto camera can help you get nice close-up images, but since the ultrawide is 0.6x this time instead of 0.5 in UI, we used it a lot less for walking and shooting because the primary camera is significantly broader on the S22. It is a 12MP snap in the same vein as the two back cams. Ultrawide images are strong for a camera of this type. They are pretty sharp and detailed, but there’s softness, which is present pretty much throughout the frame. There is also some noise, but it isn’t distracting. It’s done softly and doesn’t over-sharpen or bother the noise much.
The colors are similar to those from the main and telephoto cameras. With just a touch of pop, i.e., not dull and boring, yet neither oversaturated. By default, distortion correction is enabled and it only trims a small amount of the frame Alternatively, a toggle in the camera settings can also turn it off -- if you are looking for that bulging barrel distortion aesthetic.
Selfie Camera:
The 10MP selfie camera is another bit of hardware Samsung thought was just fine as-is from the S21 generation on, and we echo that sentiment. The selfie side does a great job too, with shots that are very detailed and sharp in wider angles. Autofocus is generally excellent though the resolution isn't great and the focus indicator can flicker on a bit so i frame when calibrated it would be half useful then inactive but passed whether by subject tracking or sustaining eye aut for video without fail populations as demonstrated. Dynamic range is great too.
We love the colour science - we just wish they looked a bit more like the other cameras. However, that's nothing new nor is it likely to change at this point. A toggle to choose if the selfie is heated or not
Just as it was on the main cameras, Portrait mode for selfies isn't quite up to par either but S22 still does a decent job.
Upon closer inspection, we see the occasional error along these edges (where subject meets background) but no outright gaffes like clipped ears and such. The dynamic range is wide in portraits as with regular selfies which is a nice touch.
Low-light photo quality:
Samsung seemed something different with the S22 generation - or at least its PR department did: a big focus on low-light photography, going so far as to coin up whole new word for it: "Nightography."
Samsung Galaxy S22 low-light main camera portrait So, possibly marginally better than it usually manages. Naturally, that is not to suggest low-light shots look better than daylight ones in any real terms. At worst... that is literally impossible to judge and at best, logically improbable. When we say slightly overprocessed, what we mean is that it better suits low-light conditions. All the while, detail is superb and dynamic range awesome. The only downside is the noise level, which isn't perfect but still very good in my opinion.
There isn't that much of an advantage in low-light environments when switching to 50MP mode. You gain so little extra detail it is not worth that opportunity cost.
This might be a bit of a gamble to enable Detail Enhancer. It occasionally captures a tad more fine detail, depending on the particular shot and lighting conditions. In other cases, its algorithm just happens to iron out that surface in the smoothing process - removing any noise as it does so (but also losing all of whatever texture and detail might be present). Detail Enhancer would sometimes also increase the overall exposure level and clip some highlights.
In low light, you might be better off just not using the 50MP modes at all.
Samsung Scene Optimizer stands as one the smartest, most-dependable and non-intrusive ai scene detection & optimization layers today It's never actually in your face, and even when it sees something like a piece of paper, the Note offers only to crop and "scan" instead of just doing so. The good news is it never actually ruined any of our shots, but the result was some not so accurate colors, even when taking a scene we had vouched for as IRL True (and Slush Pile). Which made us want to shoot everything with Scene Optimizer off... if only that were possible!
You can also set Scene Optimizer to automatically switch on Night mode under extremely low ambient light conditions. Below that you can manually turn on the one I typically use You will notice its automatic exposure and stacking time is generally a lot longer. Taking a Night mode shot with the main camera (manual) needs amounts to 3-4 seconds - which is an expected normal.
While night mode does make a difference, for the most part it is an improvement. Shadows often reveal some more detail and high lights are retained a lot better. This is also better handled, meaning less blowout colors and weird hues due to light sources that are causing all types of odd issues. Overall, exposure and sharpening get more evenly spread throughout the images, and in places where there may not have been an additional abundance of detail coming from it to begin with gets evened out hefty.
Photographs taken in Night mode also show a little more "processed," and like with any sharpening, not everyone will find the effect appealing. In our heads that is a small price to pay, because of how well it performs scene-to-scene.
Without a doubt, the winner when it comes to optical zoom is this year's new 10MP telephoto camera over last year's lens offering just half that range with its variable aperture of f/2.5-3.0 at up to 3x magnification using digital cropping and processing only on the S21 (for an effective focal length equivalent), which makes for quite dim results under low light compared against today where even phones have bright 'fast' lenses like those found in high-quality compact cameras nowadays! This model also has a larger pixel size so that will account for some of it as well.
The S22 is no different here either, as with most other phones carrying a standalone telephoto there are systems in place when the light isn't right that force them to switch over from the proper camera (tele) to cropping at 3x on the main side. Although the switch is almost seamless and hard to find, we took what images from the telephoto frame not camera main.
They appear sturdy with decent definition and dynamic range. Overall colour reproduction is pretty accurate as well.
Really, the only thing we have to complain about with these shots is noise, and it's still not bad enough even for a serious concern.
The telephoto camera is excellent for night mode. And it does so without destroying much in the way of detail, both shadow and highlight. Admissions should look over processed, when pixel peeping the shots they do, however whatever man its worth it lol.
The limitation would not apply to the Galaxy S22, and you can still refer 30x zoom in low light. Give it time, and you really could take decent shots even at 30x then again that kind of depends on what your definition is, for us most if the "detail" in these will be more generated than actually photographed but there.
The portrait mode performance is slightly better in low-light situations but still not worth boasting about. This means the main camera and telephoto can both be used in low-light, just as they would during daytime shooting.
Both deliver very good subject detection and separation as well as believable out of broke.
Obviously the main camera is going to give you much cleaner and crisper images. The telephoto portraits are missing depth in facial features, and it also feels weird to get up close with a normal portrait distance.
The S22 will let you turn on Night mode for portraits, provided that ambient light is low enough. The result can frankly be quite staggering, as it will brighten up the entire scene and finally make both a little more vivid; this energy is highly essential in all your images for complexion.
Just don't expect any miracles from it. You are not getting skin texture back or anything similar. On the other hand, night mode makes a huge difference to Telephoto portraits in particular. Because you always get sharper faces, and that's good enough for us to give it a few seconds of our time while the magic happens in post.
Not surprisingly, the S22 ultra-wide cam was not able to show any low-light magic. There are always some dimmer situations where it couldn’t expose your shots brightly enough just scenes – it is simply not able to expose brightly enough to get a usable shot, unless you find it some well-lit streets. Our usual advice (consider Night mode) shows effect here, too. In this case, the Night mode dramatically improves shadow development and actual texture where there was simply mush. The noise is also thoroughly removed. Don’t expect miracles again, because these are our needs for shots destined for the social network.
Low-light selfie photo quality:
The 10MP selfie camera is able to record an all-around impressive in low-light shots. The detail is good enough to capture smaller facial features and gives a respectable sense of skin texture, as well. Being able to render the colors faithfully also counts for a great deal. Dynamic range is good, though not perfect: you get little noise. The autofocus is also incredibly reliable even in the dimmest of light,
Night mode works in the selfie cam also, and can have as little or a lot more potential impact on your image depending how dark things around you are. We never found that it actually made a shot worse, though. Seems like glass half-full to me.
The Scene detection triggers an automatic night shot, as needed.
While it is inevitable that the results are going to end up a bit more heavily-processed selfies.
Samsung S22 Performance:
Samsung is a company that has an obnoxious track record of dismissing chipsets in its phones. That has kind of been par for the course for a while now, with Apple maybe even jump-starting this current era of concentrating on features and experiences above all else in product reveals and ads. That leaves the chipset situation as perhaps one of the most intriguing parts of this Galaxy S22 family. Yep, yep, those in Europe (keep your eyes peeled at local retailer just to be sure) will get an Exynos chipset while the rest of us round planet earth are getting a Qualcomm Snapdragon chip and that is all. The first of those, in the case of this phone would be the new flagship Snapdragon 8 Gen 1.
Both of its versions have a model with 8GB of RAM and 128GB from UFS 3.1 storage, ran by Samsung's new in-house Exynos chipset that powers the device [Exynos2200]. It's a 4nm chip, same as the Qualcomm brother. ARMv9 core integration, one of the first chips
The octa-core processor is configured with one Cortex-X2 core to flex its muscle at up to 2.8GHz, three performance-oriented Cortex-A710 cores working at up to 2.5GHz and four power-efficient Cortex-A510 little cores ticking along as high as1. Just overall, it is kind of the same layout as the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 but with slightly different clocks on their cores.
But the Exynos 2200 is more noteworthy for its GPU. Samsung has been working with AMD on using its monster RDNA2 architecture to power the Xclipse 920 GPU inside of their new Exynos 2200. It is described by Samsung as a "unique hybrid bonding" solution and enables novel features like ray tracing on mobile, variable rate shading for the first time available in smartphone chips.
That all sounds swish and sexy, but it's important to bear in mind that extra work is needed on the part of game developers as well for proper support. At the very least, a driver-wide blanket approach to exploit some level of their benefits is stoically held as an option but there's no definitive information on this just yet - which isn't great news for what seems like otherwise promising hardware. But, we digress.
The Exynos 2200 has a shiny new NPU too, with twice the performance of that within the Exynos 2100. Other Exynos 2200 specifications include support for a single lens of up to 200MP, as well as the ability to record video in 8K and display at resolutions with refresh rates up to QHD+144Hz or FHD+. I have already discussed the S22's wonderful array of connectivity options.
As for the numbers themselves, we have to point out that these are scores realized thanks to a recent software update Samsung provided us with on both devices before running each benchmark. You know, the one where it explained how it was going to restrict performance for certain apps and sort of made up a recent "controversy" in doing so. We reckon that the original Samsung approach is a whole lot sounder for providing genuinely good 1% low stability under extended load, but that's an entirely more conversation. Fortunately the Game Launcher now has toggles to flip this however you wish. Although by default the S22 has now been tuned to put its foot down harder and faster up front-largely paying little attention instead of long-term thermal throttling and stability.
Benchmarks are weird short in general so you can pop high burst performance scores out of it like we did between the not-pre-update reviewed S22 and the tested (but now updated) S22+ This is not (to reiterate) the same as the mostly-non-functional "Max processing" option located further down in Settings > Battery.
With all that said, this shows a lot of promise for the Exynos 2200 and its Xclipse 920 GPU. The Exynos 2200 manages to slide into the middle of all that, and while there are still some early kinks being ironed out it is a fantastic flagship chipset overall. While we love the gaming experience that you get here, with low jitter and minimal latency meaning lag isn't something to worry about when using fast touch controls which is one of our favorite aspects, what ultimately determines whether it's worth jumping on board right now has got little to do with any as-of-yet unseen ray tracing pushing its pixels or variable rate shading - both features waiting in the wings because Samsung needs these software goodies available at parity for all Exynos AND Qualcomm-based devices.
So we decided to stay optimistic about it. However, if you just want the most simple straight-up experience possible look no further than the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. Of course, without any of the shiny new RDNA2 goodness. Which is somewhat of a fringe point, given that most people won't get to freely choose between the two chipset variants at all.
Samsung S22 Thermal throttling:
With all that as background, it is no surprise pays the most attention to peak burst chipset performance or at least its easy level of comparison data. Furthermore, and in practice there are next to no real-world experiences where you can 100%-peg a phone's chipset for long enough. Short of the users who are crunching Pi or rendering out hour-long videos, gaming is about as close to this worst case scenario that we're going to find and it's why we focus on thermal-throttling when talking mobile chipsets. Of course, we also had to stress test the Exynos 2200.
That is strongly evidenced when looking at the numbers, as it does lose a decent amount of its maximum performance after several minutes subjected to stress. It's not great, but also well short of the worst we've seen. Also, remember the S22 is a small device with little thinness for thermal dissipation surface.
It is more significant to see that the Galaxy S22 elegantly faded away its performance over time instead of suddenly decrease and jump which caused stuttering. It further pulls this trick off despite Samsung's software update re-tuning the performance curve to a more aggressive version. That, if we have to say so ourselves, is the single most important angle on a smartphone thermal performance profile. This kills the immersion, stutters in-game give an ugly experience and occasional sudden drops in performance suck.
For the most part, as heat accumulates during gameplay this graceful-requested ramp-down probably won't be centrally felt by the player at all - except given just how malleable and scalable various modern mobile game engines can thankfully still show themselves to be.
We saw a massive drop at the 40 minute mark of an all-load stress test, which is unrealistic to be with.
Throttling test:
The S22 does get warm on the outside during extended use but it never becomes hot to touch, which is more than we can say for some other devices tested with similar performance metrics. They still aren't as tiny as the S22, either.
Samsung Galaxy S22 • S22+
The Galaxy S22 with the Exynos 2200 is a new powerhouse all-around so we assume that it should be as good as Samsung makes them in just about anything. It will devour everything you throw at it, and do so with amazing stability. One UI 4.1 is fluid and full of features, and it sails along on the S22
Closing the gap between its Snapdragon and Exynos versions remains one of Samsung's most challenging tasks in it flagship launches. Granted, that has been easier to implement in some seasons than many others and we have often executed on it better than not. Let's not beat around the bush here - The Exynos 2200 and the Xclipse 920 GPU specifically present some significant challenges
We overlooked a few small issues and some early shaky numbers on the GPU front in our analysis, deeming initial performance good enough to warrant optimism for future updates streamlining an already solid experience.
Samsung S22 Battery:
As it happens, the Galaxy S22+ and S22 with 3mAh less than last year is one of Samsung's most daring decisions this generation. This has left the S22 with 3,700 mAh instead of the expected 4,000 mAh in the older model - presumably Samsung hoped to bridge that gap via its more efficient chipsets and software plus time-specific adaptive refresh rate skullduggery.
Well, unfortunately, this is not completely true. Just like its big brother, the vanilla S22 is not what you would call a battery wizard, yielding 85 hours in our battery test. Which is honestly a good performance on its own, taking into account the battery and the size between the two, but nothing stellar.. All the other on-screen values seem reasonable, as is the in-call time, and the worst part was, honestly, the 3G standby consumption, the SD 2200 struggling there. On the other side, this is still a new SoC, so we hope things could turn around with updates.
But as it is now, the S22 lets you travel for fewer hours on a single charge compared to its S21 predecessor. Despite that, legacy technology upgrades still poke their heads out in places like the higher web browser score than on a S21. The Exynos 2200 and the Exynos 2100 versions, to put it simply.
However, we did experience some strange behavior regarding S22 (and indeed the entire S22 generation) dynamic refresh rate that hopefully a future software update & improvement will resolve. At the outset, employing the automatic refresh rate during our video playback test does what it should and is actually able to drive a 24Hz output from end-to-end of this display even then by some miracle took more power than playing back that selfsame video at 60Hz.
Performance numbers vary wildly, possibly our SmartView testing suite has app-compatibility problems with it or we are facing some system-wide issue. Well, the space can always be better.
Samsung S22 Charging speed:
Samsung is determined to go at it alone and not fully embrace the current hotness of ridiculously fast battery charging among other flagship makers. Do not get us wrong, we love the convenience. But at the end of the day, power is still pushed ever more quickly back into a battery cell until it destroys itself and/or condemns even an otherwise perfectly serviceable phone to obsolescence alongside. Either by you, but probably someone else and hopefully the best that can be wished for is a large portion of what has become an incredibly intricate yet difficult to recycle gadget.
But that is a story for another somewhat more meaningful conversation. Tl: Dr, we forgive the Galaxy S22 because higher 25W charging support. Incidentally, a rate that is hardly out of line with those being demanded for today's Apple iPhones so Samsung isn't completely alone in its stance on battery charging.
The Galaxy S22 does manage to fit that pattern well with Samsung's more recent charge speeds - expect the phone from completely dead will take it small north of 60% in half an hour, and a complete fill-up needing just over an hour. That is pretty much true for all recent Galaxy phones as you can see in the table below with the exception of the Z Fold and Flip series which have two separate batteries to charge under their skin.
The Galaxy S22 was charged over a 25W charger (EP-TA800) provided by Samsung - in fact some sellers and carriers are offering the same EP-TA800 bundle with an S22, which will not be included right out of box from Samsung. It's a legacy style of charger, actually. However, since we have already benchmarked the S22+ and Ultra as well as both the older 45W Samsung charger and this new one with all its potential improvements, it is safe to say that any of a Galaxy S22 trio makes for better than an hour from a rock bottom battery situation. Something as simple and constant.
Samsung S22 Software:
All three phones in the Galaxy S22 family obviously run Samsung's new One UI 4.1 on top of Android 12 - that much should be obvious by now, really. The January 1 Android security patches are also included on the device. That would be an incremental "point-one" update from One UI 4, which is the version now on the Galaxy S21 generation. Despite that, Samsung did not introduce any significant universal software feature to be found with the Galaxy S22. In fact, you get that same UI adorned with all the customizability and value-add features. The Ultra naturally receives those extra "Note" software features being that it complements an S Pen, but the vanilla S22 is just par for course.
But first, a significant announcement buried beneath the tour of mostly familiar (to most) software that is Samsung's Galaxy S22 family. Its 2022 and, even more retroactively, its 2021 flagships were on a path to four OS updates (plus five years of security patches). The Z Fold3, Z Flip3 and the Galaxy S21 family (S21 FE). Bonus point for the heart and an arguably even bigger win over recycled plastics.
Even though not prioritizing all major UX changes, those upgrading from a few-year-old Samsung device might still find some new additions and slight improvements. A large number of those landed with One UI 4, however - new widgets that can be customized to the nines and a fresh crop of emojis/GIFs on keyboard. OneUI 4 also brings in enhanced privacy with a new dashboard that provides different controls and various ways to keep track of your permissions. Some cool feature, Color Palettes only are really an Android 12 core features.
So, with all of that in mind we will be doing a light overview. The lock screen is identical to before, with those two monochrome shortcuts (dialer and camera).
It will probably be the default for most users because it is under-display fingerprint reading, but you still can use face unlock either as a back-up or at the same time. While this is obviously more convenient in many cases, but it's not as secure since the trickery is just getting passed that selfie camera.
It does have an always-on display available - it's the more basic one from One UI 3., though. You can select one of the clock faces available in Theme Store or you can go for Image Clocks. Music info is also supported. It can be always-off, always-on, scheduled from 10pm -7 am on certain days of the week or shown only when there are any new notifications available even though Screen wise will show notify ring badge regardless ]or tap-to-show for 10s.
This lock screen remains largely unchanged as noted, but offers a good amount of customization.
The OneUI 4.1 in this looks even much cleaner than the v.3 from before! The interface is different in iOS x, but the logic remains hot - actual home screen (instead of a widget), widgets for quick viewing info and performing commands from some apps, notification center to view notifications or perform related actions with surrounding switches nearby, task switcher to close app/s previously opened and finally an app drawer.
Samsung also some cool Smart Widgets as well, with the ability to group different data points together in a single device, for less space. It is also much more customizable. More emojis and stickers make the Samsung keyboard feature-rich Source: XDA Developers
Color Palettes is a new feature of One UI 4 Implementation of vanilla Android 12's Wallpaper colors Typically, there are four Color Palette options next to the default one known as One UI Blue/Black. They are automatically chosen by your device based on your existing wallpaper. The color you select will be set as the primary midzone in your new theme (like Windows' 'accent colour').
This is placed on the dialer, quick toggles and some other small UI changes. You can apply it for app icons too!
And the dialer offers a choice between two in-call screen layouts. You can also apply a background image or video to that screen, but it is going to be consistent for all of your calls - no separate one on a per-person basis.
A new Privacy Dashboard in Settings Beneath this, you can quickly look at what apps are accessing the key (for privacy) permissions. You can control camera and apps access, clipboard alerts (in case you copy your passwords, SSN or IBANs) and of course permission manager with full features if you are into that level.
You probably get as many possible ways to use your Galaxy with other devices based on the list)++; - It has DeX, the proprietary phone-as-a-'computer' feature you can activate with a monitor and keyboard through HDMI connectivity or wirelessly.
Or you can use the Link to Windows feature, which gives you a mirror of your phone on PC with ability to transfer images and manage notifications from it or even makes calls directly.
Slightly more limited but in a similar vein is the option Continue apps on other devices. You have to be signed into your Samsung Account from both devices, on the same Wi-Fi network with Bluetooth turned-on and use either connected through a samsung internet browser or via notes.
From here you can share text and images back and forth, open the same tabs in your browser.
More proprietary Samsung software comes in the form of Edge panels - those panes that show up when you swipe from a side edge and serve as docks for shortcuts to tools, apps or contacts. We completely foretold about the game launcher which acts as expendable options for you when it comes to play now, and keeps out from distraction as well; this is not going.
Otherwise, software is as you'd expect on a Samsung phone with their in-house Gallery app, the Game Launcher app and an proprietary file manager. The Samsung Internet web browser is present on the Galaxy S22 as well.
The new Object Eraser inside the Gallery. You will get Object eraser option in More options if you go to photo edit mode. This sounds more refined and fancy but is essentially the trick to be able to tap on an object in order autoselect or simply paint over it. And then you cross your fingers that - provided the enviros surrounding object are not too complicated - a great result will come. Otherwise - it's a mixed bag. Additionally, Samsung has now announced its own beta shadow and reflection removals])]
Apart from that, you also get a smorgasbord of standard Samsung and Google apps as well as Microsoft apps.
Yes, this list has gotten a little longish too but there is nothing we'd see as bloat in the traditional sense. As ever if you are not a fan or do want the app on your device, shortly after booting them up they can simply be uninstalled or in some cases - disabled.
We were purely curious so we decided to test if a Galaxy Note model or the S22 Ultra Stylus is also working on our review unit, as we did with the regular S22+. But it doesn't work and that shouldn't be too surprising since Samsung's stylus needs-extra display hardware. But still, if anyone asks "but have you tried?" - Yes, we did.
As always One UI absolutely fly’s though and comes jam-packed with the best custom android features you will get from any other manufacturer.
Samsung S22 Conclusion:
Ditto for the vanilla S22, which is already looking like a pretty incremental update from virtually every other phone in the Galaxy S23 line. Samsung is at it again, playing it safe -- no big breakthroughs in innovation and nothing too bold or disruptive to upset the status quo. It plays on a known quantity, one that has been proven time and time again successful in luring vast amounts of satisfied though often uninspired visitors.
There are very few notable negatives with the Galaxy S22. We can go on dreaming of micro SD cards and 3.5mm jacks, but it's obviously not going to happen. Yes, it could have given a slightly better battery life or even as good compared to the S21; and maybe Exynos 2200 was over-promised while delivering less than launch expectations.
Nonetheless, the whole S22 series is as robust as ever. Whether or not that is a good thing, is pretty much the definition of "a safe choice." When it comes to smartphones, consistency is key and can be one of the hardest things for a flagship. Being disruptive is fine until you are out here trying to push the boundary of things like having crazy charging speeds or price-defying specs while cutting back on other aspects that inevitably will lead off from just pushing it too far, and this ain't how you stay ahead of the game. Samsung and Apple, among other others have shown repeatedly that the secret is relentless consistency with a mind for detail changes when needed on top of continued growth on an already grounded cycle yearly. This is how you get your new iPhone and the next Galaxy S - or whatever device spec bumps happen to have been made.
The other side of that coin is evidenced by the fact that, as difficult a task it was to put together an S22 we could all live with and most like benefit from - wasn't exactly going to set the world alight. Boring in a reliable way, too: This certainly is not the phone that will light many deep passages of saliva-hankies any time soon. Of course we would love for there to be more action in smartphones like the good old days when even giant like Nokia could have a go at something different, but.. On the other hand, you could also argue that it's nice to have a consistently reliable option in those latest (and greatest) Galaxy S phones. That is a huge appeal for so many people who are using it.
That, and the vanilla S22 especially has size in its corner as well - for those looking to get a proper flagship experience in the smallest package possible. This is in addition to those customers who were just looking to grab the most affordable of the S22 trio.
If you think of yourself as fitting well into either bucket, the case for buying a Galaxy S22 is clear-cut. So if "default" is not your thing, there're hundreds for more interesting and exciting devices out there waiting for those brave enough to explore them.
This content was last updated on 23 November 2024.
