I and my team has been using the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra for an ample amount of time. There are many things about the device which we liked and disliked. This would be our full Review of the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra.
Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra is the new sensation in the town at the moment. Not only within Nepal, but Galaxy S22 Ultra has also been a topic everyone is enjoying talking about globally. In Nepal, this device has made its entrance in three different colors i.e. Phantom Black, Green & Burgandy (my personal favorite shade) with a fortunate price tag of Rs.159,999 for 12+256GB and Rs. 1,69,999 for Rs. 12+512GB. We were very to get our hands on this device and honestly, we have been crushing our use of this device for the past 3 weeks, and definitely, we have built a lot of opinions on it.
Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra Specifications
| Display | 6.8 inches Dynamic AMOLED 2X, 10Bit, HDR10+, 1750nits |
| Refresh rate | 120Hz |
| Resolution | 3080 x 1400 pixels, QHD+ |
| Weight & Protection | 229g, IP68, Aluminum Frame, Gorilla Glass Victus+ |
| OS | Android 12, One UI 4.1 |
| Chipset | Snapdragon 8 Gen 1/ Exynos 2200, 4nm |
| RAM | 12GB RAM, LPDDR5 |
| Internal Storage | 256GB/512GB UFS 3.1 |
| Rear Camera | Quad Camera Setup Primary: 108MP f/1.8, OIS, PD Auto Focus Ultra-Wide: 12MP f/2.2, Dual Pixel AF Telephoto:3X Optical, 10MP, f/2.4, Dual Pixel AF, OIS Periscopic Zoom: 10X Optical, 10MP, f/4.9, Dual Pixel AF, OIS |
| Selfie Camera | 40MP, f/2.2, Phase Detection Auto Focus |
| Security | Under display fingerprint (Ultrasonic) |
| Battery | 5000mAh, Fast charging 45W |
| Connections | WIFI 6E, Bluetooth 5.2, 5G |
| S Pen Support | Yes |
| Colors | Phantom Black, Burgundy, Green |
Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra Full Review
Build and Design
When we initially looked at the Galaxy S22 Ultra, it took us back to 2020, the time when we saw Galaxy Note 20 Ultra. It looks very similar to that, the sharp square edges, the same boxy feel, the s-pen. On the other side, since it’s the Galaxy S line, the camera setup is exact of S21 Ultra except for the honking bump and has a frosted matt design at the back making it very minimalistic and sleek.
We found the new Galaxy S22 Ultra very sturdy and durable. Its side frame is made of Aluminium whereas the front and back are made up of Gorilla Glass Victus+. The device is 8.9mm thick and weighs around 228/229 grams which are pretty heavy for a handset but still lighter than the iPhone 13 Pro Max. The device gives a very premium feel and definitely feels luxurious. Galaxy S22 Ultra also has an IP68 rating making it dust and water-resistant.
Another fact that makes this new Galaxy S22 Ultra even better is its Spen, something that makes it connected with the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra. We all knew that S21 Ultra also supported the s-pen but the user would have to purchase it separately. But, the new Galaxy S22 Ultra comes with a Spen and its stylus building, and this time its latency rate is just 2.8ms acting as a cherry on top whereas on the previous note series was 9ms.
For us just by this factor, the new launch is already 10 times better than the S21 Ultra. We really enjoyed drawing arts and taking notes with the Spen to reflect our creative side. The S-pen has a rubber-like matte finish making it grip able and easy to hold. Not only limiting its usage up to that, but we also used the s-pen as a remote camera shutter, taking precise screenshots.
Display
Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra has 6.8 inches Dynamic AMOLED 2x display with QHD+ resolution and 120Hz refresh rate and supports HDR+. Both sides of this display are slightly curved blending into the back of the phone giving it a futuristic and stylish look. And on the top, there is a punch-hole design for the front camera.
Due to the features of its display, we found the screen to be very bright and vibrant. The device gives a very boxy feel due to its structure and large size of the display making it amazing for watching videos and movies. Also, the QHD display makes the content look sharp and in great contrast with deep blacks.
Along with that, the 120 Hz of refresh rate makes using UI super smooth. Samsung had claimed that the device can dynamically switch its refresh rate up to 1Hz, but honestly, we didn’t have experience with it.
Speaker
To make consuming content even more enjoyable, the device comes with a dual stereo speaker giving loud, clear, and immersive sound quality. When we compared its sound quality with last year’s launch, we found S21 Ultra better than the S22 Ultra since the audio was even louder, immersive and the base was also better than the S22 Ultra.
Camera
Enjoying the tea of the international tech reviewers, how Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra’s camera is even better than the iPhone 13 pro max, we could not wait to test its camera. As we told in the previous lines, the Galaxy S22 ultra has a similar Quad camera setup to the S21 Ultra minus the camera bump. It has 108 MP of the main camera, 12MP of ultra-wide, 10MP of 3x, and 10x. For selfies, the device has a 40MP camera at the front.
We visited multiple locations around the valley to test out its camera capabilities and honestly, we were not surprised by how well it performed. The photos contained very good details, and colors vibrancy even better than the S21 Ultra. The dynamic range was also very good. They were a little sharper, but if you have clicked any picture from Samsung’s device, it is not a new thing.
Even the selfies were very good with great color vibrancy, sharpness, and detail.
The device is capable of up to 100x zoom which we tested out a couple of times. It is pretty better than the S21 Ultra but for us only up to 30x zoom seemed useful. Also this time, the camera has been optimized for different social media platforms like Snapchat, Instagram, and Tiktok.
For anyone enjoying mobile photography, you can install an app named Expert Raw App from where you can control the brightness, exposure, and all the other stuff even better for great results. For editing those clicked pictures, you can get Lightroom for Samsung which is specially optimized for Samsung users.
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Talking about the video quality of the device, it is capable of recording 8k video up to 30fps making it the best among all the devices available. But honestly, in our opinion, it is not as practical for the current time since you need to have an 8k monitor to enjoy it which is not widely used by many. Also, the video gets quite cropped while recording in 8K. For now, the 4K up to 60fps seemed the most useful one. The video was well stabilized and had a good dynamic range. Along with that, you also have the liberty to record from pro video mode on this device.
Performance
We were greatly excited that this time in Nepal the Snapdragon variant unlike the Exynos variant in the previous Galaxy S series.
This time the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra has Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset built under 4nm architecture. There’s no doubt that the Snapdragon Variant is far stronger than the Exynos one and capable of performing the ultimate. It’s one of the best chipsets available currently in the market but we kinda felt that this device has not utilized its full potential. We did the benchmark test on this device whose score was lower than other devices and the result of the CPU throttling test was also very stable.
We played a couple of heavy games and the performance was even better than the Galaxy S21 Ultra. You can play PUBG mobile on this device up to constant 60 fps and the frame drop rate was also very low except for sometimes. Also while performing some heavy tasks, the device got quite warm but did not affect the performance. Other than that, on everyday normal usage, we didn’t find any issues.
The device has 12GB RAM, enough for running different apps in the background without hindering the performance. Overall, we would say that we were very happy with its performance.
Software
On the software side, the new Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra runs on Android 12 with One UI 4.1. One UI 4 is one of the best Android skins on the market. We have been using One UI 4 its presence and we have really enjoyed the new updates like app lock, UI and Wallpaper customization, privacy & locations, camera features, etc.
Galaxy S22 Ultra would get 4 years of android updates (from Android 12-16) and 5 years of android security updates making it great for the long-term.
Battery
Galaxy S22 Ultra comes with a 5000mAh battery with 45-watt fast charging support which is larger than the last year’s Galaxy S21 Ultra. In our experience the battery of this device lasted for a day on average for usage like social media surfing, taking a few pictures, etc. but if you perform any heavy tasks on this device like playing games, heavy editing, or even clicking pictures mostly would drain the battery making the device to charge faster. When we put the device on charging, it took around an hour to reach from 0-100%.
Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra Full Review: Final Verdict
We definitely had a great time using the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra. After using the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra enough, we can say that it is the best android flagship smartphone available in Nepal currently. From its design to its camera, its display, processor Samsung has completely nailed it. Wrapping up the review, if you are someone who wants all the best features in one Android device, the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra is a definite win-win for all.
