Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra Ongoing Review: My Sweet Valentine

Last year, Samsung disappointed one of its most-loyal audiences by skipping the Galaxy Note. A few months after the Galaxy Note would have launched, we have the Galaxy S22 Ultra, a phone that is every bit a Note in everything but name. The key defining characteristics of the Galaxy Note series are all present in the Galaxy S22 Ultra. The new S Pen feels smoother than ever, the classic large display – Galaxy Notes in recent years have always had the biggest screens in Samsung’s mobile portfolio – and the sleek flattened design. However, this year, the Galaxy S22 Ultra also combines the best of the Ultra range, namely the excellent camera array.

The Galaxy S22 Ultra also shows that Samsung has learned from its recent successes. With the existence of its foldable range as the undeniable superstar of the Galaxy lineup – a position once held by the Galaxy Note – and phone prices topping out at over $1,200 for the Galaxy S series, the Galaxy Note was aiming to solve a problem that didn’t really exist anymore.

In offering the Galaxy S21 Ultra with a great camera, and the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra with the S Pen and Note design, Samsung ultimately forced its customers to compromise in one area or another. The market for customers willing and able to spend $1,200 on a new phone is small enough as it stands, even before you ask customers to compromise, although some of these excellent Galaxy S22 Ultra pre-order deals do soften the blow.

After using the Galaxy S22 Ultra for the past four days as my daily driver, it’s safe to conclude that compromise is something this phone refuses to do. It’s symbolic of the Galaxy Note phones of past years, offering the best of everything that Samsung has to offer. Yes, there’s no headphone jack, no expandable storage, nor a charger in the box, but the number of people who truly still care about these are few and far between. I’m still testing the Galaxy S22 Ultra, but so far, this is quite possibly the best Samsung phone has ever made, and it could yet surpass the Galaxy Z Fold 3 as my Android phone of choice. And given the choices of having no Note vs having this phone, Note lovers will very likely accept this as their Valentine, as I have.

About this review: Samsung USA has provided us with a Galaxy S22 Ultra for review. Samsung had no input in the contents of this review.

The Galaxy S22 Ultra is the Galaxy Note we’ve all been waiting for

Samsung faced a few problems going into the Galaxy S22 series, and its solutions have proven to be quite fortuitous. The biggest issue was how to separate the Galaxy S22 Ultra from the rest of the Galaxy S22 series without gimping either (the Galaxy S21’s plastic back did not have many fans), and opting for the Galaxy Note-like design really makes this feel like a phone in a class of its own. While writing this review, I’ve written Galaxy Note more times than I will admit, and that’s because the design and S Pen have effectively made it a Note.

While the Galaxy S22 and Galaxy S22 Plus feature rounded edges, the contour cut design around the camera on the back, and Samsung’s trademark Galaxy S design language, the Galaxy S22 Ultra borrows the design of the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra and runs with it. It features the same flatter edges and feels more like a notepad.

Last year’s Galaxy S21 Ultra was heavy thanks to uneven weight distribution, which made it uncomfortable to use. The Galaxy S22 Ultra is much more evenly balanced, and although it weighs the same as last year’s flagship, it feels lighter. The lack of a camera bump, the beautiful matte finish, and the sleek Note-like design all help it stand out from the rest of the Galaxy S22 series while simultaneously satisfying the desires of Note lovers. The Galaxy S22 Ultra is still a large phone though, and it scares me that I’ll drop it so you’ll want to grab a Galaxy S22 Ultra case – trust me, it’s a necessity.

The new S Pen lives inside the Galaxy S22 Ultra – a first for any Galaxy S series device – and helps this feel like the spiritual successor to the Galaxy Note range. In the past, I’ve been a huge fan of the S Pen, but interestingly, I didn’t miss it that much when I didn’t have one for the past 18 months. Yes, I know the Galaxy S21 Ultra and Galaxy Z Fold 3 supported the external S Pen, but it’s not the same as the Note experience.

I’ve already used it to jot down quick notes while walking, annotate and sign some documents, and doodle in Pen Up. Samsung said it reduced latency by nearly 70% through hardware and a new prediction engine, and it’s definitely noticeable as it feels more like pen on paper than ever before. However, there’s also the question of whether the S Pen is necessary in the current world, where we’re all next to our keyboards and computers. Granted, as life enters the new normal and we all return to offices or travel more frequently, the S Pen could reenter the realm of necessity instead of its current ‘nice-to-have’ status. Either way, if you’re looking at holding onto a phone for two-four years, it makes sense to get one with an S Pen than one without it at the same prices. You may not need it right away, but it’s nice to have indeed.

The best displays are now even better

Whether it’s a mid-range phone like the Galaxy A52, a flagship like the Galaxy S22 Ultra, the Galaxy Z Fold 3, or even Samsung’s tablets, you’re guaranteed to get one thing: a stunning display. The Galaxy S22 Ultra continues Samsung’s dominance in the display department with a vibrant, gorgeous 6.8-inch Dynamic AMOLED display that’s immersive and stunning.

Samsung says these displays are its brightest ever; while I’ve not really been able to max out the brightness – unlike the saying, it’s not always sunny in Philadelphia – I’m using it on a lower brightness setting than I have done on Ultra phones before. Normally, I’d set this to about 50% brightness most of the time, but with the Galaxy S22 Ultra, I’m keeping this at 25-30% with no effect on the experience. I’m looking forward to testing the max brightness – which Samsung claims is 1,750 nits – and seeing just how bright these displays can go.

The immersive experience is helped by the new VisionBooster feature, which automatically adjusts the contrast and color of the screen and the brightness based on the ambient lighting condition. I’ve not been able to test this in bright sunlight, but videos seem to be sharper than other phones in the dark of the night. I’ll continue to look out for this during the course of this review, but there’s no option in the settings to enable or disable this, so it’s hard to test the exact difference it makes.

Galaxy S22 Ultra’s battery life and performance is excellent

Whenever I’ve been heavily testing the Galaxy S series in the past, the battery life has always felt hit and miss. So far, the Galaxy S22 Ultra has been surprisingly good, and it’s on track to have the best battery life of any Galaxy I’ve ever used.

Out of the box, the display is set to FHD+ resolution. It’s one of the first things I changed, as I was willing to sacrifice battery life for the denser WQHD+ resolution. Despite this, the max brightness – which Samsung claims is 1,750 nitsS22 Ultra has been an absolute battery life champion. In four days, I’m yet to get below 38% despite a whole day’s usage, and usually, this is with more than 4 hours of screen-on usage.

We’re going to do some extensive battery life testing in the coming weeks, but I have no doubts that this phone can handle your average day. It’s likely that the lower brightness required for day-to-day use, software optimizations, and the large 5,000mAh capacity all play their part. Based on the past four days, I’d guess that it can last a solid 36 hours on a single charge and deliver at least 6 hours screen on time. These numbers would rank the Galaxy S22 Ultra as one of – if not the outright best – the best battery life phones on the market.

Like the battery life, the Galaxy S22 Ultra is a performance champion. There have been no instances of the phone overheating at all, and the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor seems to be able to handle anything I’ve thrown at it. All apps launch quickly, and transitions in the software feel smooth and fluid. I haven’t run the benchmarks yet, but so far, it delivers everything you’d expect from a high-end $1,200 smartphone. In some regions, the Galaxy S22 Ultra will be powered by the Exynos 2200, and it’ll be interesting to see how it compares to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. However, Samsung says there should be no noticeable difference between the two, but we’ve heard that a few times in the past too.

The Galaxy S22 Ultra has all the cameras you need

If there’s one thing I’ve truly missed while using the Galaxy Z Fold 3, it has been a great camera experience. Sure, the Galaxy Z Fold 3 has a few cameras, and they’re okay. But okay doesn’t cut it, and every time I take a photo, I’m reminded of just how much I’m missing. I’ve got a lot of testing planned for the camera over the next few days, but so far, it seems to deliver on everything that Samsung promised.

Like the Galaxy S21 Ultra, the Galaxy S22 Ultra comes equipped with a 108MP main sensor, a 12MP ultra-wide, and two 10MP telephoto lenses. The laser autofocus also fills the fifth ‘camera’ you’ll see on the rear. While the Galaxy S22 Ultra features the same camera hardware as last year, Samsung says low-light performance has been vastly improved thanks to its new Adaptive Pixel feature.

The Galaxy S22 Ultra uses a process known as pixel binning – combining multiple pixels into one large pixel to let in low light – to capture photos in low light. Still, new to this year’s hardware is the ability to combine this pixel binned image with a high-resolution image. The result should be the best of both worlds, and so far, low-light photography has been impressive on the Galaxy S22 Ultra. This new feature is present on all three phones, resulting in improved low-light performance across the board.

There’s also the zoom factor, with the Galaxy S22 Ultra using the same 100x Space Zoom found on the Galaxy S21 Ultra. Like the phones that came before it, it’s very capable at the lower zoom levels, thanks to the 3x and 10x optical zoom offered by the two telephoto lenses.

When you get up to 100X Space Zoom, there are also big improvements in the stability of the image and the post-processing picture. However, it’s quite bad at the 30x interval in between; out of 10 samples images I’ve taken so far, nine have been blurry, and the camera viewfinder is jerky and unstable. We hope this will be improved with future updates, but for now, stick to 10x zoom, or go all the way to 100x – don’t expect anything in between to be usable.

Early thoughts on the Galaxy S22 Ultra

The Galaxy S22 Ultra feels like a phone in a class of its own. It offers the best of everything that Samsung has to offer in a regular smartphone and won’t deter anyone away from Samsung’s higher-priced Galaxy Z Fold 3. The new lowlight camera is a highlight, as is the S Pen, the gorgeous display, and the Note-like design.

Whether you should buy it or not depends on what you are currently using, so check back soon for the next installment of this ongoing review and our final verdict. That said, my first impressions of the Galaxy S22 Ultra were so positive that I placed a pre-order for my own unit – this one is a review sample from Samsung – and so far, I have no plans to cancel this pre-order. I’m loving this phone enough to vote with my wallet too, and Burgundy is the right color for me in this month of Valentine’s.