The natural heir to the Note series, the S22 Ultra manages to excel in any area. The South Korean company has raised the bar even further. Galaxy S22 Ultra is the best Android smartphone of 2022. This statement would be enough to close our judgment. However, it would be simplistic not to delve into the impressions of the use of a product that, alongside the Galaxy S22 and Galaxy S22 Plus, is positioned light years away in terms of technical characteristics and perceived quality.
iPhone 13 Pro Max is its direct rival, for which, however, the creature of the South Korean company has an ace up its sleeve. We are talking about the S-Pen. An accessory that has historically characterized the Galaxy Note series, which the S22 Ultra has splendidly inherited. All of this has a cost: it starts from a list price of 1,279 euros, an important figure, which, however, reflects Samsung’s desire to make this smartphone its flagship par excellence. A goal fully achieved.
An Ode To Engineering
Starting with a single feature to tell you about this Galaxy S22 Ultra is challenging. There is one aspect that immediately catches the eye, namely the quality of the screen. Samsung has implemented a panel that is a masterpiece in terms of visual quality, color fidelity, peak brightness: 6.8 inches, 1,440 x 3,088 pixels, 120 Hertz refresh rate and support for the HDR10+ standard. Technical data that summarize the impressions of use we have just told you about for this Dynamic AMOLED display which is positioned at the absolute top of the category. Very little to add.
The only downside to the screen is the curved edges. The angle of curvature is essential, and this, together with the generous diagonal, makes the S22 Ultra difficult to hold, even with two hands. It is, therefore, necessary to use the cover, which, unfortunately, is not included in the package. The latter, however, is particularly “poor”, as it only has a smartphone and data cable. A choice that objectively clashes with the list price. The brutal grip creates some problems even for the use of the S-Pen. This accessory never ceases to surprise, and, in functional terms, it has nothing to envy now compared to the Apple Pencil of the iPads.
The ability to take notes on the fly, write letters on documents and, why not, even draw make the S22 Ultra a unique object for mobile productivity. However, this does not mean that the curved edges make the grip unstable when using the stylus—a shame. From a constructive point of view, however, there is little to add. The tactile sensation is that of a premium smartphone, beautifully assembled and complete with IP68 waterproof certification. Moreover, the choice of the satin finish for the back cover limits the phenomenon of fingerprints and scratches. Considering all the components present within this product, we are dealing with a short hymn to engineering.
Power To Spare, With Some Shade
There is always a debate about the hardware platform around Samsung’s top-of-the-line smartphones. Yes, because in Europe, they are marketed with Exynos chips, made by the same South Korean company. In the United States, on the other hand, they are based on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon processors, which, net of any considerations, have an edge in terms of performance and energy efficiency. Galaxy S22 Ultra arrives with the Exynos 2200 on board, combined with 8, 12 or 16 Gigabytes of RAM, depending on the version chosen.
We have tested the second variant, and there is little to report on the performance side: the smartphone always appears quick and snappy, even in the most complex operations. However, from time to time, it comes across some uncertainty which, from our point of view, depends more on optimization than on the brute power of the SoC (System-on-a-chip). A prime example is temperatures. It handles them very well, but the CPU suffers thermal throttling over extended intensive use—similar speech for the GPU.
The potential is considerable, but, at present, no resource-hungry game or application can take full advantage of it: Call Of Duty Mobile only works at minimum details, and Fortnite shows evident glitches. There is still work to be done from this point of view. All of this is reflected in autonomy. Inside is a vast 5,000 mAh battery, which peacefully guarantees daily use in standard contexts. In different situations, such as vacation days with many photographs and videos, the S22 Ultra suffers a little more while continuing to offer a reasonable duration.
There is, however, fast charging at 45 Watts and even wireless charging at 15 Watts. Everything else is from a real premium smartphone. There are 128, 256, and 512 Gigabytes or 1 Terabyte of UFS 3.1 internal storage. Excellent connectivity: 5G, Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.2, NFC, eSIM support (in addition to dual SIM) and ultrawideband. Added to this is the USB-C 3.1 port to complete a sector with no rivals. Although it could be better in the category, it is good stereo audio.
A Real Camera Phone
The photographic sector could only be a point of reference. Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra is equipped with four photographic sensors on the back: the main one with 108 megapixels optically stabilized; the 12-megapixel ƒ/2.2 wide angle with 120° field of view, a 10-megapixel telephoto with 3x zoom and a 10-megapixel periscope with 10x zoom. The results are excellent, as images appear sharp in any light condition. Fast focus and color balance are near perfect. In the dark, the night mode can work wonders, maintaining the details of the scene and limiting digital noise.
There is no doubt that the Galaxy S22 Ultra has the complete set of cameras in the smartphone world at its disposal, to which is added the excellent 40-megapixel front camera. Videos are also promoted, which can be recorded in 4K resolution at 60 fps (frames-per-second) or 8K at 24 fps. Movies are high quality and exceptionally stable, even when captured in motion. The only downside is the inability to switch between cameras while recording. Overall, however, on the video side, the iPhone 13 Pros have a little more details. However, we are at very high levels.
Galaxy S22 Ultra: The Best Android Smartphone
As mentioned at the beginning, we are facing the best Android smartphone and one of the best regardless of the operating system. There are competitors who, in separate areas, also manage to do better. But, in case there are no budget limits, Galaxy S22 Ultra remains the best possible choice in the panorama of the green robot for a complete 360-degree user experience.
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