Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra Review: The Galaxy Note Lives On
Phones
Speaker 1: With its giant screen stylist and high end camera, the galaxy S 22 ultra is the note sequel that we never got last year. But does that make it worth $1,200? Let's find out
Speaker 1: Samsung hasn't said it's killing the galaxy note, but it doesn't have to the galaxy S 22 ultra is a spitting image of Samsung's older stylist equipped phones, the entire look and feel of the new ultra [00:00:30] is just like the galaxy note. And most importantly, it comes with an Spen that you can actually store inside the phone galaxy S 21 ultra buyers. On the other hand, had to buy the Spen last year. Many of the other upgrades that you get with the galaxy S 22 ultra are pretty standard issue. A newer processor, a slightly better camera and faster charging.
Speaker 1: It's not just the Spen itself. That's new Samsung also says it's reduced the latency of the Spen and the Spen should [00:01:00] also be better at predictive where you're going to scribble next. It feels pretty smooth to write with, and I haven't had any issues so far, but the Spen always felt pretty responsive. So I'm not sure how much of an upgrade this actually is so far, I've been using the Spen a lot for jotting down reminders and grocery lists. And I've also used it for taking notes during the course of this review when I'm not near my computer still, I do feel like the Spen probably would've been more useful pre 2020 when I was still doing a lot of my meetings in [00:01:30] person in the past. I used to use the Spen to take notes during an interview or meeting when I didn't have a laptop nearby.
Speaker 1: But now that most of my meetings take place at home over zoom. I never find myself in that scenario anymore, but if you all are an Spen fan, you'll get a lot of the same features that you used to get with the galaxy note. That includes the air command menu, just pop the stylist out of its holster, and you'll see a list of apps and features that work with the Spen. You can also just jot down a quick note by taking the Spen out of its slot without even unlocking your phone. [00:02:00] Another hand me down from the note, that's a big part of what makes the Spen so useful in the first place. If you can just take it out and already start writing something down without having to unlock your phone or open an app. If you're not already an Spen user, the galaxy S 22 ultra probably won't convert you, but it's still a nice bonus, especially since Samsung hasn't raised the price of this year's phone compared to last year's S pen aside, I'm a big fan of the galaxy S 22 Ultra's new design.
Speaker 1: I've always preferred the [00:02:30] more boxy angular corners of the galaxy note over the galaxy S so this really feels like an upgrade in my book, but most importantly, the new look makes the galaxy S 22 ultra feel distinct from the S 22 and S 22. Plus I, as it should considering the gap in price, you'll also notice that there's no more camera bump on the back of the phone. The lenses sit almost flush against the back of the device, which gives it a more streamlined look. Overall. Samsung also says the galaxy S 22 ultra has one of the brightest [00:03:00] displays it's ever put in a phone, and I'm not doubting that claim so far. I've been using the phone with the brightness set to about 25%. And it's been plenty for me.
Speaker 1: Samsung is also making a big deal about the galaxy S 22 Ultra's camera, like the S 21 ultra. It comes with a 108 megapixel main lens, a 12 megapixel wide lens, and two 10 megapixel telephoto lenses. And also like the S 21 ultra. It has a 10 times optical zoom. [00:03:30] It's generally pretty similar to the galaxy S 21 Ultra's camera. So you might be wondering what's different. One of the biggest upgrades has to do with taking or photos at night, thanks to some under the hood improvements. Unlike the S 21 ultra the new phone can combine two different camera functions that together produce better photos in dark situations. It blends the detail from the 108 megapixel sensor with a process known as pixel binning, which improves brightness. In other words, Samsung's [00:04:00] older phones were able to improve brightness through the pixel bending process, but they weren't able to combine that with the detail from the main sensor that's changing with the galaxy S 22 lineup to put these claims to the test.
Speaker 1: I took several photos with the galaxy S 22 ultra and the galaxy S 21 ultra first. I snapped some pictures in my apartment with all of the of lights turned off. And then I took some photos in a candle at bar the galaxy S 22 ultra was much better at taking photos of people in the dark. The subject looks crisper and there's [00:04:30] a lot more detail, but it had a harder time focusing on still objects in the foreground, like the stack of books. These night photography changes also applied to the regular S 22 and S 22 plus. But since the ultra has a higher resolution main camera that works to its advantage, still the cheaper galaxy S 22 plus also takes decent photos in the dark. Although this photo I took doesn't have as much detail compared to the ultras photo. You also might be wondering how the galaxy S 22 ultra stands up against the competition. [00:05:00] The 22 ultra was better at taking pictures of people than the pixel six pro, but Google's phone was able to focus better on still objects, even though the picture was darker. Overall, the iPhone 13 pro on the other hand was better than the S 22 alt when shooting still objects, but not low light portraits.
Speaker 1: You can check out our full written review for more details about the S 22 ultras camera.
Speaker 1: The galaxy S 22 lineup is also getting a new processor, [00:05:30] the Qualcomm Snapdragon eight gen one it's Qualcomm's latest smartphone ship. That's sure to arrive in a bunch of new mobile devices throughout the year. So far performance on the galaxy S 22 ultra feels exactly like you to expect from a device at this price. The camera launches quickly games run smoothly and scrolling around the interface feels fluid. That's also likely because the display can boost its refresh rate up to 120 Hertz, just like last year's phones. And yes, the galaxy S 22 and S 22 plus can do that too. [00:06:00] I imagine most of the improvements that we're seeing with the new processor are actually being put to use in specific features rather than raw performance. For example, some of the new camera features like the nighttime photography are probably partially powered by the new processor in this phone, after a little more than a full use, the galaxy S 22 ultra had 43% of his battery left. That sounds about the same as last year's galaxy S 21 ultra, which lasted for about a day and a half in our testing. That's not bad, but it would've been nice to [00:06:30] see some improvements over last year.
Speaker 1: Overall, the galaxy S 22, all ultra is really a successor to the galaxy note 20 ultra. Sure. It does have some things in common with the S 21 ultra, especially when it comes to the camera, but in terms of what sets this phone apart from the other galaxy S 22 S the design, the giant screen, and the included stylist are a big part of that. In other ways, the galaxy S 22 ultra is just an iterative update on the galaxy S 21 [00:07:00] ultra. Sure. It has a new processor, a fresh design and faster charging, and Samsung did deliver on its promise to improve low light photography. But those camera upgrades are kind of incremental. Plus you can also get them on the S 22 and S 22. Plus the photography improvements are much appreciated, but they're probably not enough to get pro photographers really excited about this phone.
Speaker 1: Again, there have been some really great changes to the way photos are processed that make them look more detailed, but there's nothing that feels truly [00:07:30] new about photography on this phone. Since this is basically a galaxy note, you might also be wondering how it compares to the galaxy note. 20 ultra from 2020, the display is a bit smaller than the note 20 ultras, but the S 22 ultra does come with a new processor, a sharper selfie camera, an extra telephoto lens, a bigger battery, and twice the optical zoom range. Plus, don't forget about all those night photography improvements, but again, these are more or less improvements to existing note, 20 ultra or features rather [00:08:00] than something that's entirely new. If you really like big phones, we're a fan of the note series and have a galaxy phone that's older than the S 20 ultra or note 20 ultra. This will be a nice upgrade for you, but if you already have one of Samsung's recent ultra phones, you probably don't need to rush out and buy this right away. Don't forget to check out the link to our written review in the description below. And thanks for watching. I'll see you next time.
