Galaxy S22 Ultra Review // Two Months Later!

I think that is saying a lot now. After setting a pretty high bar with last years, s21 ultra, i was super fascinated to see how samsung would follow things up with this his model. But as always, i wanted to let the dust settle a bit wait for a few software updates and use this phone for an extended period of time, and so two months after the release of the s22 ultra im. Finally, bringing you my full review so lets dive in now. First things first design and i know a lot of people have said that they think this phone is quite a bit more boring in comparison to last years, s21 ultra, given that we no longer have that camera bump, that flows around and onto the side of the Phone, but i personally much prefer the look and feel of this phone for one. The lack of that huge camera unit helps this phone to feel a bit slimmer and therefore more comfortable in the hand. But secondly, i also really like that theyve gone with this boxy squared off design, very reminiscent of the note liner. I mean its no secret that this ultra lineup has now replaced the note lineup, but i always loved the design language of the note devices. So i, for one am happy to see the ultra lineup adopting its design language now, given that this is the replacement of the note lineup. We also now fittingly have the s pen built right into the chassis of the phone and, whilst im not the biggest s, pen user.

I actually really like having it available right away in the off chance that i do want to use it, and samsung have got the latency of this new s, pen down to an incredible 2.8 milliseconds, which means it pretty much does feel like youre using an actual Pen, its great the back of this phone also has the same really premium. Matte texture, weve, seen on all of samsungs top end devices over the past year. However, i still feel like the matte coating they used on the note 20 ultra and the galaxy z fold. 2, a couple years back felt just that little bit more premium, but to be fair, the difference is pretty negligible. Now, funnily enough, for the first time ever, the review unit i received from samsung was actually a secondary review unit, meaning someone else used it before me, and let me tell you now: whoever that person was gave this phone a really good beating. There are light scratches all over the display and even some little gouges in the corners of the frame, and so for me its very clear that the person before me should have been using this phone in a case, preferably one from channel sponsor rhino shell. After receiving my unit and seeing some of this damage, i immediately put it into this super sleek classic black case to prevent any further mishaps from happening. But on top of that, the case just looks and feels incredible, and if you want a more unique look, then rhino shield also has a range of impressive customizations.

You can make on their website and even to choose your own design from an almost endless amount of collaborations, like pac man, nasa and even vincent van gogh. Whichever way you go rhino shields, entire lineup of cases are highly protective and if you buy one of their impact screen protectors to go with then youre all but guaranteed to keep your phone in pristine condition. Unlike this unit, was they make cases for a huge collection of phones, all of which come with a lifetime warranty plus? They also offer free worldwide shipping for qualified orders, and if you use the code sam ultra at checkout, you can have 20 off their cases in the first week of this video going live now real, quick in terms of haptics. Ever since i reviewed the regular pixel 6 last year, it has actually been the benchmark for haptics and no phone has really come close. But, ladies and gentlemen, we have a new contender and thats because, with the s22 ultra samsung have absolutely nailed. The combination of tight clicky, but also subtle, haptics, most flagship devices, just go overboard with their haptics, preferring very tight and clicky haptics without any of that subtlety, but its actually that layer of subtlety that lifts the haptics in this phone to another level. So hats off to samsung in terms of the fingerprint sensor, similar to all of samsungs other top end phones. The sensor in this phone is really solid and reliable, although funnily enough, the actual, unlocking animation is a little slow and delayed which can give the illusion that its not as fast as it actually is the length of time.

You need to hold your finger on. The sensor is silly quick, so perhaps samsung could remove the delay with the software update. That said, id love to know why samsung insists on only allowing us to enroll a max of four fingerprints. I always like to enroll my two thumbs and my two index fingers and then also my right thumb twice to improve speed and accuracy even further, but i just cant do that with samsung phones, so samsung. If youre watching. Please let us enroll more than four fingers with a future software update so from there. We have the display and im not going to spend too long on this one, because this is pretty much the exact same incredible display that we saw on last years. S21. Ultra super crisp and sharp with a wqhd plus resolution. It also gets really bright and is very viewable in sunny conditions plus. It, of course, has that buttery 120 hertz refresh rate that has become the norm on all high end phones. At this point, samsungs top end phones have always had the best displays. In my opinion, and the display on the s22 ultra is no different. Real quick in terms of battery life and ive actually started pretty much ignoring screen on time as a worthy measurement over the past six months or so, and rather i prefer just seeing how much juice my phones have at the end of each day, when im getting Into bed and the good news is that ive never once had to reduce this phone.

Due to battery issues, though, there was one day where it died after i hopped into bed during some pre sleep scrolling at around 10 45 p.m. But most days the phone is sitting at around 20 to 30 percent of battery life left when im plugging it in to charge. Just before i go to sleep. So whilst i would say that this phone has easily an all day battery its definitely not more than that so solid, but not ground, breaking battery life, now touching on software for a moment and the galaxy s 22 ultra ships with one ui 4.1, based on android 12. and without a shadow of a doubt, this is by far the best version of samsung software. Today it takes all the best parts of the android 12 update that we saw on pixel devices, including all of those amazing animations. I raved about in my review of the pixel 6 pro, and then it adds in a bunch of other handy features that really enhance the overall experience, for example, by default. The stock launcher is pretty plain and not amazing, to look at, but if you download the good lock application from the galaxy theme store and then grab the home up module, you can unlock more grid sizing options and some other fun settings as well. And then, if you use the theme park app, you can actually install third party icon packs, and so what youre seeing right now is actually a home screen setup created using the stock samsung one ui home screen launcher pretty crazy stuff.

Now one thing i will say, though, is that the software doesnt feel quite as fluid or as silky smooth as most other versions of android, particularly the pixel version of android 12. with one ui. It always just feels like theres, this very slight delay whenever im swiping or opening apps, but look that is in reality, a very small complaint i have with the software and by and large ive actually just really enjoyed the software experience on the s22 ultra and then We come to what is arguably my favorite aspect of this phone, the cameras and, whilst the main ultra wide and three times telephoto lenses are all amazing, producing some really fantastic results in pretty much all lighting conditions. What really sets this camera configuration apart? Is this 10 times periscope lens? Like just look at these videos, i was able to capture all of my kids at the beach. Not only was i able to get these really close and intimate shots from a long distance away, but look at how crisp the footage is. Oh and its also impressively stable as well, without looking warpy and unnatural and thats, not to mention just using this ten times lens for photography as well, where in bright conditions, it can capture some really gorgeous shots. I just have so much fun using this lens. On my phone – and i really wish more smartphone manufacturers would join samsung in adopting this strategy of giving us camera configurations with four different lenses.

Having both a 3x and 10x lens is amazing and the entire lens configuration on the s22 ultra really does mean im able to shoot pretty much any sort of photos or videos i want, and so to be completely honest. This might be my favorite samsung device ever released. Its got the incredible design language that i loved from the note lineup. The best samsung software ever released. Four amazing cameras with that 10x lens being a highlight in particular, and then all the other bells and whistles to go with. I think battery life is the only area worth being concerned about, but its not like its a slouch in this department, its just nothing, to write home about now. Is it the absolute best phone out right now? Well, that depends on what you prioritize in a phone like if you prefer a smaller form factor or long lasting battery life, then no, this probably aint the phone for you, but for power users who, like a big phone with an impressive list of features, then i Seriously have no problems recommending this phone, its not cheap, thats for sure, but with samsungs impressive trading program, you can actually bring the price down to something a little more reasonable, either way well done, samsung on yet another fantastic high end phone, a big. Thank you to rhino shield for supporting the channel dont forget to use the code sam ultra at checkout to get 20 off your order for the next week or 10 after that.

But aside from that, hopefully you enjoyed the video.