Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra review

Samsung’s largest cell phone in the test: The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra analyzed in detail.

There could be foldable phones in the future. But until that future where maleable teléfonos inteligentes cánido offer a seamless experience, cell phones will be the ones Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra Consumers will continue to be a preferred choice.

It doesn’t fold like the Z Fold 3 or Z Flip 3, however The Galaxy S22 Ultra is Samsung’s most advanced móvil to date. And as if that wasn’t enough, the model is a it combines Samsung’s two most habitual phone families into oneto put an end to this ultimate móvil.

And the truth is that “the ultimate móvil inteligente” cánido be a good headline to refer to the Galaxy S22 Ultra, a mobile phone that He cánido handle anything and everything he does, he does well. Its build quality is excellent, as is its impressive 6.8-inch screen, its four-camera system or its performance. As if that wasn’t enough, the integration of the S Pen adds that plus convenience that entusiastas of the Note series have missed so much. But excellence comes at a price, and the price of the Galaxy S22 Ultra is basically prohibitive.

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra, review and score

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra price and where to buy

The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra cánido be bought in Spain from February 25 at a price official price 1259 euros in its version of 8 GB of RAM with 128 GB of storage.

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra

Three other memory configurations are available, with 12 GB of RAM and 256, 512 GB or 1 TB of storage At a price of 1359, 1459 or 1659 euros.

It cánido be purchased through the usual distributors, including Amazon. It cánido also be found in Official Samsung en línea storewhere it is also possible to access a number of benefits and there is an option to buy the device i with exclusive colors not available anywhere else.

Where is the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra located?

The Galaxy S22 Ultra the most advanced and expensive model of the Galaxy S22+ series. play in a league Ultra Premium of the market where only phones like the iPhone 13 Pro Max or Xiaomi’s “Ultra” models cánido compete.

iphone 13 pro max

Therefore, it is not easy to find competitors for this device. Even more so when we consider that this year the features of the Note series have been added, making the Galaxy S22 Ultra a completely unique device in terms of features and capabilities.

Aside from an integrated S Pen, the The Galaxy S22 Ultra differs from other models in the S22 range to have a more complete camera system with two sensors tele which offers an optical zoom of 3 and 10 magnifications respectively and a main camera of 108 megapixels.

It’s also the only one of the three models to have a The LTPO screen cánido dynamically change its refresh rate between 1 and 120 hertz.

Technical data sheet

design

When the Galaxy Note20 Ultra is merged with the Galaxy S21 Ultra, it looks afín Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra. Samsung’s new flagship model takes the classic design lines of the Note familywhere the main features are straight lines and the corners are well marked.

One of the most important changes in this generation is the Galaxy S21 Ultra top and bottom edge their metallic basis, as they are now completely flat, to the point where it is possible Hold the device upright about himself.

All models have a matte back / Image: Christian Collado

Both the back glass and the glass that covers the screen they bulge on the sides until they reach the “Aluminum Armor” aluminum edge. The curve is sharper than the Galaxy S21 Ultra but less than the Note20 Ultra, and the glass fuses to the aluminum so the transition feels smooth as you slide your finger between content and content. .other. Despite the fact that Samsung has decided to decrease the angle of the curve on the side of the screen, personally I’m not yet entusiastas this design solution on mobile devices with an integrated S Pen, as it is very difficult to draw or write precisely freehand on the ends of the panel.

The 6.8-inch screen should already give us some clues to help us achieve that This isn’t exactly a small cell phone. The S22 Ultra is on one of the largest and heaviest non-foldable phones on the market today and undoubtedly one of the most difficult to use with one hand, even more so when you add a protective case that further increases its dimensions.

As with all high-end Samsung’s in recent years, the the quality of the materials and fenezca-tuning in the building Here are two features to highlight on the Galaxy S22 Ultra. The matte finish of the back glass feels very comfortable and the phone is built to feel good strong feel hard to find on other android devices. There are no rough edges or seams in the materials; Every detail is considered in its design and it espectáculos the care that Samsung has put into developing the best device in today’s Galaxy series.

On the other hand, its aesthetic sin is to be a little sober. While the Galaxy S22 and S22+ come with a completely symmetrical frontWith smooth edges all around the screen, the S22 Ultra holds one up Chin slightly wider than the top edge.

Likewise, the trademark of the Galaxy S series has not been on the back for two years: the a metal camera module incorporated into the aluminum casing that it is present in the other two S22 galaxies. In this case, Samsung chose a much less risky elabora but also with less personality that consists of Place each sensor independently with a metal ring around it.

Although perhaps the biggest issue with this new camera format is its capacity effortlessly attract dust and dirtThis makes it difficult for the device to stay clean if lint gets into the gaps between the sensors on the back.

Otherwise, It’s a classic devicewith a clean back with Samsung’s silkscreen and the rest of the text barely observable, some pages without more additions than necessary, and some Colors that are not too bright which reinforces the concept of the elegant móvil inteligente.

For all this we must add other features that are already among the classics of the best Samsung teléfonos inteligentes, such as: Free IP68 certification, which supports water resistance up to 1.5 meters depth for 30 minutes. This should save you from most accidental splashes or slumps. I’ve tested it by holding it under running water and the phone still works perfectly, the latest generation of Gorilla Glass protecting the screen or taking into account the lack of a 3.5mm headphone jack.

Screen

As the world’s largest manufacturer of OLED panels, it’s not surprising that Samsung is taking advantage of this better displays on your reference devices.

And that shouldn’t be any different with a cell phone like the Galaxy S22 Ultra. your screen is in every way one of the best yet seen on a mobile device.

the huge slab 6.8 inch LTPO there is a Quad HD+ resolution resulting in better sharpnessa variable refresh rate that reaches 120 hertz to offer a smooth experience and an impressive maximum brightness of 1750 nits that allows the screen to be seen in any bright environment, even with sunlight shining directly on the panel.

A huge 6.8-inch screen takes up almost the entire front of the Galaxy S22 Ultra / Image: Christian Collado

As a matter of fact, its main advantage is its high brightness compared to other competing models. Now that high-end móvil screens have reached high quality levels, Brightness is one of the few features where manufacturers still have room to further perfect, and the Galaxy S22 Ultra is the main exponent of it. Comparing the screen of the S22 Ultra with the screen of another model with an excellent quality screen, the Pixel 6 Pro, brightness is undoubtedly the differentiator that elevates the Korean model’s screen above this one and all others. another android phone.

In comparison, its biggest contrincante today: the iPhone 13 Pro Max, The Galaxy S22 Ultra’s screen is in a good place in terms of sharpness, viewing angles and brightness, although the Apple model is ahead in terms of it Colour reproduction It is still ahead of the other teléfonos inteligentes on the market today due to its excellent calibration.

And that’s it The Galaxy S22 Ultra’s screen isn’t perfect. Or at least not when the phone is taken out of the box.

And that means another year, Samsung continues Keep the “Vivid” display mode enabled, which saturates colors indiscriminately. Although I understand the reason for this decision – a panel with saturated colors attracts more attention than a well-calibrated one – and it’s an issue that’s easy to fix – just enable “Natural” mode in the display settings – – a questionable strategy considering that the S22 Ultra is a mobile phone that focuses as much on consuming multimedia content as on creating it.

The slight curvature of the Gorilla Glass Vitus+ is combined with the “Armor Aluminum” bezel / image: Christian Collado

Another trait inherited from previous generations is the Fingerprint reader integrated under the display glass. It’s the same ultrasonic sensor found in the Galaxy S21 Ultra, so it’s not surprising that the controls are essentially the same.

The reader it’s fast and accurateand since it’s not an optical sensor, the area of ​​the screen where the finger rests doesn’t need to be illuminated to recognize the fingerprint.

hardware and performance

The version of the Galaxy S22 Ultra sold in Spain is equipped with the processor Samsung Exynos 2200. It’s a small step up at the únidad central de procesamiento level over the S21 Ultra’s Exynos 2100, which Samsung claims delivers just a 5% increase in performance over the previous generation. However, it’s not as if the Exynos 2100 lacked performance exactly.

Manufactured in a format of 4 nanometers, higher energy efficiency must be observed. In addition, ARM Cortex X2 reference cores are still used, instead of Samsung-modified cores like in previous generations of the Exynos family, which on paper reduces the In the past there was a gap between models with a Snapdragon processor and those with an Exynos chip.

The big change in this generation lies in the GPU’s. Samsung left ARM Mali graphics to bet the first GPU based on the AMD RDNA 2 architecture seen on a móvil inteligente, which would offer better performance in games and, in general, a better experience in all those tasks that generate a high graphic load.

The Galaxy S22 Ultra performs well thanks to the Exynos 2200 / Image: Christian Collado

We have to supplement this technical repertoire 8GB LPDDR5 RAM in the device that I was able to test, although there are configurations with 12GB of RAM.

In each of the selected storage and storage variants, The phone’s performance will be excellent in completing everyday tasks. Everything moves smoothly and application loading is instantaneous. maybe the The variation isn’t as noticeable as the Pixel 6 or the iPhone 12 ProHowever, this is more due to the type of animation Samsung emplees in its programa rather than a performance issue of the device itself.

Which isn’t too surprising its graphics performance. The new GPU promised to take the device experience to another level, but the truth is, due to a lack of optimization – which perro be more than logical since it’s a new processor and doesn’t use GPU architecture. previously in a móvil inteligente – or due to the inability of the GPU itself, the gaming experience is still far away is offered by the latest Apple models with the A15 Bionic processor.

Looking at the analysis of American portals, where that Galaxy S22 Ultra will be sold with Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and Adreno GPU, everything indicates that this lower graphics performance is typical of the model with the Exynos brain.

battery and charging

The battery that integrates the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra Capacity 5000miliamperio-horaa value that seems to have established itself as the estándar in the high-end campo in 2022.

But if the ultra autonomy in the Galaxy S21 was one of the strengths, in this new generation we have a slightly bittersweet taste in our mouths, seeing that the battery life has suffered somewhat.

It is not difficult to complete a day of use with some battery left on the device. However, it lacks something more since it is a Samsung reference móvil inteligente and competing models have upped the frente in this respect with their latest proposals.

As an argument in this sense it should be mentioned that Loading speed is increasedsupport a 45W peak power, allowing the S22 Ultra’s large battery to be fully charged in about 60 minutes. unfortunately, The charger is not included.and it has to be paid plus to take advantage of the device’s fast charging capabilities.

On the other hand, and how could it be otherwise, counts Support for Qi wireless charging and the already classic reverse charging feature, which allows you to charge coincidente accessories simply by placing them on the back of the phone.

The S Pen offers an enhanced experience for creative tasks like editing photos on mobile phones

programa and experience

The Samsung Galaxy S22 family comes with a a new version of Interfaz Only, the company’s Android-based operating system. Only UI 4.1 introduces some interesting new features, but overall it’s an experience almost identical to what we’ve already found on Samsung devices updated to Android 12 with One UI 4.

The interfaz hasn’t changed much, the only difference from previous editions is the inclusion of Function afín to dynamic theme You Themes. However, Samsung’s implementation does not offer such profound changes as those that we perro find in the programa of Pixel devices with the same version. Only a few UI elements change color to match the wallpaper tones, and some third-party aplicaciones don’t seem to work well with Samsung’s Material You.

When publishing this analysis, it should be noted that The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra runs programa that is not final. The device that will finally reach the hands of the users should have an updated version that should fix several errores in this edition, including screen problems present in various devices with the Exynos processor.

Otherwise, A usuario interfaz remains a consistent and stable layerPacked with useful features of all kinds and would probably require a separate article – or several – to cover them all.

Likewise, Today, Samsung is the manufacturer of Android devices with the best update policy Is there. The Galaxy S22 Ultra as well as the other models in the Galaxy S22 series and previous models are the only Android ones to receive at least new versions of the operating system four yearsand at least security updates 5 years. Not even the Google plus Pixel cánido compete with that.

This is a key feature Difference to the Galaxy S22 Ultra from the other models in the family: the S Pen. Unlike the Galaxy S21 Ultra the S Pen of this model is integrated into the bodywhich is located in the lower left part of the case, since the Galaxy Note brand was familiar to us.

There is a Nice matte finish consistent with the rest of the design, and in this generation, Samsung has improved the experience with the style by reducing the Touch latency of just 2.8 millisecondsa 70% improvement over the S Pen latency of 9 milliseconds on the Galaxy Note20 Ultra.

The S Pen is integrated on the underside of the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra / Image: Christian Collado

If we add a to this a large repertoire of functions Designed to take advantage of this accessory, including some classics, like the possibility Take aprecies with the screen off, record clips your aplicaciones or websites, or just control the mobile phone more precisely; as well as other new ones, the most interesting of which is the election write freehand and that the cell phone translates the doodles into text, no matter what language we do it in.

Anyone who has opted for the Note for its S Pen integration in the past will likely be delighted with the great experience the accessory offers in this new generation of the Galaxy S range – one of those who believe I will rarely use the S Pen Before you forget it’s almost entirely there, one of the other two models in the Galaxy S22 series might be a more interesting alternative for you – and for your pocket.

cameras

On paper, the Galaxy S22 Ultra’s camera system brings no improvements over the Galaxy S21 Ultra’s camera system. In fact, given the numbers, the array of sensors used by Samsung in this new generation below last year, by number two sensors tele 3 and 10 increased smaller than that of the Galaxy S21 Ultra.

However, the photographic experience no damage has occurred. But on the contrary. To this impressive technical marvel we must add the array of sensors that are built into the device much better programa, which raises the quality of photos to a higher level. level is is The Pixel and the iPhone don’t achieve that yet Latest.

The photo system of the Galaxy S22 Ultra is dominated by four sensors / Image: Christian Collado

Before you start evaluating the experience with the camera, it is convenient to give a review the various sensors that’s it:

• main sensor: Samsung 108 megapixels, f/1.8, sensor size 1/1.33 inch, PDAF, OIS, field of view 85º
• ultra wide angle sensor: 12 megapixels, f/2.2 aperture, 1/2.55 inch sensor size, Dual Pixel AF, 120º field of view
• 3x telesensor: 10 megapixel Sony IMX754, sensor size 1/3.52 inch, 1.12 μm pixels, focal length 7.9 mm
• 10x telephoto sensor: 10 megapixel Sony IMX754, sensor size 1/3.52 inch, 1.12 μm pixels, focal length 27.2 mm
• Laser autofocus sensor
• Front camera: 40 MP (wide) f/2.2, PDAF, Coche HDR

Like I said, On a technical level, there are few differences. We have a camera system that was very afín to last year, which isn’t a bad thing as the Galaxy S21 Ultra was more than able to play in the series thanks to an extremely versatile camera systemand with excellent quality in almost every scene.

One trait common to all sensors is capability White cómputo calculation and pleasing color rendering in most scenes, even night scenes.

The main camera takes up 108 megapixels by default, Free 12 Megapixel Photo, by grouping the pixels by the technique already well known Pixel binning. His images espectáculo a wide dynamic range and a good level of detail. Even in scenes with too much contrast, the camera does a good job of keeping noise at bay, and this is one of the features that have improved the most compared to the Galaxy S21 Ultra.

The pair of sensors tele It’s still the most fun to use. Both cameras to allow Take some of the best pictures with you zoom that we have seen removed from the mobile phone so far, with surprisingly afín quality as the largest sensor. It’s only when the light hits it, or when we try to get past the 30x magnification limit, that we begin to see significant data loss or noise in the captured images.

In the end I left the camera in my opinion It’s the worst of the four which we found on the back of the Galaxy S22 Ultra. The 12 megapixel sensor In terms of the ultra-wide-angle lens, hardly anything has changed compared to the previous generation. And since we already saw the first defects in the sensor last year, they have been more serious this year since then. the rest of the sensors offer a definite improvement.

Photos with the ultra wide angle lens suffer significant data lossand its colors are not as accurate as the colors of the rest of the cameras.

Finally, the front camera for autofotos It offers the expected level, with a high level of detail, large dynamic range However, processing tends to be a bit aggressive with the white cómputoso that the pictures have a sound hotter we neither.

Photo gallery with the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra

With the Galaxy S22 Ultra, Samsung has reintroduced the option Record 8K resolution vídeos at 24 FPS. However, the 4K vídeo recording at 60 FPS remains the main strength of this devicebe able Download clips in excellent quality in good light, with a good stabilization system and the addition that offers the possibility of using the “Nightography” system to record better quality vídeos in dark environments.

Finally, it should be mentioned that the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra coincidente with the RAW Expert aplicación from Samsung, which allows you to capture images in RAW format using any of the four sensors on the back of the device.

With this it is possible to get RAW archivos that mezcle Samsung’s advances in computational photography with the flexibility of this archivo type to give the usuario greater control over each recording. The results they perro be amazingbut it is very likely that most buyers of the S22 Ultra do not intend to entrar this world unless they only intend to share photos on Instagram.

Speaking of Instagram, that’s worth noting The Galaxy S22 Ultra integrates some of its native camera features into third-party aplicaciones, including Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok. This way functions like that Night mode or switch sensor when zooming in.

General, The camera system of the Galaxy S22 Ultra is characterized by its great flexibilitymezcle with a more than reasonable quality under all circumstances. It doesn’t quite match the reliability offered by the latest iPhone or Pixel, but the improvements in processing espectáculo that great progress on the right track.

other details

A flagship is much more than the sum of its parts, and certain details that are often overlooked in cars from other ranges should be analyzed more closely in a device of the S22 Ultra category.

Without a doubt, the Galaxy S22 Ultra is the most complete and advanced model in the history of the series / Photo: Christian Collado

Having used the S22 Ultra as a personal cell phone for a little over two weeks, here are some key details that I feel need to be evaluated:

• stereo speakers They offer excellent sound quality, with no distortion even at the highest volumes, and with a cómputo between the two speakers that’s much better than my Pixel 6 Pro.
• engine vibration of the Galaxy S22 Ultra is the best I’ve tried on a Samsung phone so far – and I’ve tried a lot -. The answer is firm and precise, and if there’s anything to complain about, it’s because Samsung doesn’t use it more often when interacting with the UI. Fun fact: This year the engine vibrates which is integrated in the same module where the speaker is locatedand is larger in size than previous shipments.
• signal reception It’s great in almost every situation. And even with a bad signal, the connection remains stable and there are no drops in range.

This device has been thoroughly tested Independently thanks to a move of the brand. The article contains purchase backlinks for which Andro4all may receive a commission. take part to the market channel Andro4all to find out about the best deals before anyone else.