Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra Review: A Notable Flagship

Samsung has finally unveiled their latest flagship smartphone to the market, the Samsung Galaxy S22 series and the best of them all is the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra and today, we’re going to review the smartphone as it features a groundbreaking camera and a brand new Snapdragon processor inside for the Philippine market.

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra Review: Design and Construction

As expected from Samsung, it’s a solid and premium just like the previous Ultra smartphones from Samsung, they’re blocky and thicker than their other brothers but of course, that thickness comes with more features for the smartphone.

We got a flat top and bottom on the smartphone and they’re more squarish that before but it still got some curves at the sides of the smartphone and at the back, there’s the matte glass as well which is a little bit slippery but it feels really premium and for the camera module, the smartphone does have a minimalist look now as the lenses are now the protruding one at the back and yes, I do suggest that you get a case for this smartphone to protect it from cracks and damages.

Below, there’s the USB-C port on the smartphone and beside it is the card tray and the S-Pen slot. As for the S-Pen, it was useful and most of the S-Pen features that we love are here. Of course, we got the Notes app which is especially useful for taking notes and the other features such as Screen Write, Live messages, AR Doodle, and more. It might not be as big and thick as the S Pen that we have for the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 but I really didn’t had problems writing with it as I only sign documents and only annotate

Since this is a large phone, holding it might be a little tough for people who have small hands so a case would help on this smartphone. However, reaching the power button and also the volume rocker of the smartphone won’t be a problem as my hands can easily reach that.

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra Review: Display

The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra packs a display that is superior compared to its competitors. The smartphone features a 6.8-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X display with 120Hz refresh rate and unlike the Samsung Galaxy S21, this smartphone features a slightly curved display on the sides. This adds to the beauty of the smartphone, but it gets problematic when you use the S Pen of the smartphone to the sides.

The smartphone also features a 120Hz refresh rate which is why the smartphone does have a smooth motion even on games and since we have a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 on the smartphone, everything was silky smooth on the smartphone.

Nonetheless, it’s bright with its 1750 nits of brightness so using the smartphone outside won’t be a problem for the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra. The colors of the display were popping too, and it was very vivid. The bezels on the smartphone are even thinner as well and the punch-hole at the top isn’t annoying and it’s small to notice. The display of the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra is the best that we’ve ever seen.

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra Review: Battery

When it comes to the battery, the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra comes with a 5000mAh battery which is decent enough for its large size. This time, Samsung has reintroduced the 45W fast charging on the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra 5G but unfortunately, you’ll have to use selected chargers in order for this to work. The normal GaN quick chargers that are available in the market won’t work automatically with the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra.

As for the battery life, we tested the smartphone in PC Mark Work 2.0 Battery test and we got a battery life of 10 hours and 1 minute. A decent score compared to the Exynos smartphones that we’ve reviewed before. The standby time of the smartphone has improved as well as I’m getting smaller battery drains whenever I’m leaving the smartphone overnight.

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra Review: Software and performance

The smartphone comes with One UI 4.1 that is based on Android 12 and overall, I did love the experience that we’re getting from the smartphone. It is smooth and I haven’t encountered any bugs at all. The S Pen does bode well with its software and it was a breeze using the smartphone for anything. 

As for the apps included, it’s pretty much the same as we got here the Microsoft apps as expected and there are Samsung apps as well in which some of them are pretty useful but what I like about the Samsung ecosystem is the accessories. I didn’t had any problems with my Samsung Galaxy Watch4 and also the Galaxy Buds2 with the smartphone and connection was seamless as well.

As for the performance, the variant that we got in the Philippines is the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 along with 256GB of internal storage and 12GB of RAM. That’s a decent amount of memory but it was a surprise that the Philippine market now packs a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor instead of Exynos processor with AMD GPU. Is the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 bad? No. It’s the processor that a lot of Filipino power users have been hoping for and finally it’s here.

So what can we get from the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Processor? Basically, the smartphone will have better compatibility with most games as a lot of developers are optimizing their games and apps for Qualcomm processors as they’re used by a lot of manufacturers. Basically in games and emulators, you won’t have any problems with the Snapdragno 8 Gen 1 whether that’s a AetherSX2 or EggNS.

When it comes to benchmarks, it’s a slight upgrade when it comes to numbers but there’s a noticeable difference compared to the predecessor. Check out the benchmarks below:

As expected, the numbers are great and it’s currently the most powerful smartphone that we’ve ever reviewed. Too bad we didn’t breached 1 million in Antutu but the 3DMark Wild Life score proves that the smartphone is definitely good in gaming. 

When playing Genshin Impact, the smartphone can easily run the game at the highest settings possible at 60fps but I noticed that the smartphone does heat up which is why throttling is noticeable on the smartphone. In PUBG Mobile, the smartphone wouldn’t have a problem running it at HDR graphics settings at Extreme (60fps) frame rates. While in Wild Rift, we were able to play it at highest settings at 60 fps. Playing games on AetherSX2 was a breeze as well.

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 of the smartphone proves that it’s definitely the most powerful chip out there and you can get to play it now on the Samsung Galaxy S22 series.

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra Review: Camera

The camera is one of the biggest reasons why you should buy the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra. Whether you’re planning to use the smartphone for taking a video or taking photos well, the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra is an amazing smartphone for that function. The smartphone features a 108MP main camera, 2x 10MP telephoto camera, and a 12MP ultrawide camera. And of course, the smartphone still comes with an up to 100x zoom which you’ll rarely use. For selfies, the smartphone features a 40MP selfie camera on the punch-hole display of the smartphone.

Compared to the predecessor, the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra’s camera is a big upgrade. The shots that we got are sharper, accurate and a whole lot better. One of the reasons why the camera of the smartphone is great is because of the AI and post-processing on the smartphone. Every shot that we got on the smartphone were great, whether that’s a selfie, night shot, ultrawide or a normal shot. Everything about the smartphone’s camera was great. The portrait shot of the smartphone is a lot better than before but it is still not 100% perfect.

Check out the shots that we took using the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra:

Zoom:

For the video, the smartphone can record up to 8K videos at up to 24 frames per second but come on, who uses 8K on their smartphones? 4K is enough and the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra is doing a damn good job at that. The colors of the shots that we got are vivid and they’re wonderful. Even the night shots does produce a brighter image and they are still sharper than expected. The dynamic range of all the shots that we got was also amazing thanks to the camera an AI of the smartphone.

Another cool addition to the smartphone is the Samsung Galaxy S22 ultra features a background eraser. Basically, if you have a lot of people in your background, you can just highlight them and the smartphone can delete that for you. It’s a pretty cool feature and I love that it comes with the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra.

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra Review: Verdict

The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra is an excellent smartphone. It might have the same design language as the Galaxy Note series smartphones, but it does offer the features that we need on a smartphone – a solid design, a powerful hardware, and functional features.

First, the camera of the smartphone is amazing and now, we now have a Snapdragon processor inside which a lot of Filipino consumers have been craving for. The display of the smartphone is top-notch and I’m really happy that we finally got a built-in S Pen for the Galaxy S series – a feature that a lot of power users would love to have.

The smartphone finally got a 45W charger, but you’ll have to use a Samsung charger to use it nonetheless, everything about the smartphone was amazing. It ticks all the boxes that we want on a flagship smartphone and it should be one of your choices if you’re looking for the best smartphone out there.

The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra is now available, and it starts at Php68,990