Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra Impressions: Finally a New Note!

Samsung has launched the Samsung S22 Ultra 5G in Nepal. It is Samsung’s first flagship phone for the year 2022.

Samsung S22 Ultra 5G price in Nepal is Rs. 1,59,999 (12/256GB) and Rs. 1,69,999 (12/512GB).

I have been using this device for a couple of days and it’s fair to say that this device can be called Note 22 Ultra rather than S22 Ultra. Why? Let me tell you in brief in this impressions article.

Samsung S22 Ultra 5G Impressions

Design

• 163.3 x 77.9 x 8.9 mm
• 228 g
• IP68 dust/water resistant
• Corning Gorilla Glass Victus+

Samsung S22 Ultra carries the Note DNA as it has a similar form factor as the previous Note devices like the Note 10 and Note 20 Ultra. Perhaps most characteristics of the Notes, the sharp corners are now found on this S handset.

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While the S22 Ultra is a gram or two heavier than S21 Ultra at 228 g, it feels heavier. Also, it has that premium bulky feeling which was less apparent on the S21 Ultra.

Despite the S22 Ultra’s Note-like design, it still has a hint of continuity coming from the S21 Ultra. The back panel maintains the same frosted matte finish now upgraded to Gorilla Glass Victus+

S22 Ultra inherits its traits from the Note 20 Ultra and S21 Ultra along with some extra spice.

Though this phone inherits all its traits from the Note 20 Ultra and S22 Ultra, the camera setup is styled like no other Samsung phone. Well, not 100%. S21 Ultra’s camera block that blended to the side frame is now gone, and the only thing that remains is the individual sensors.

I loved the S21 Ultra camera module more than this one but it’s a matter of preference. However, this setup is prone to harboring lint in between the rings.

Upfront, it feels similar to the Note 22 Ultra with a boxy look and a small center punch-hole. There’s an ultrasonic fingerprint sensor underneath which feels better than the previous iteration. The right side houses a volume rocker and power button whereas the bottom has a speaker, USB Type-C port, mic, and a sim slot along with the Spen. Phew! that’s crowded.

Display

• 6.8 inches Dynamic AMOLED
• 120Hz
• 1440 x 3088 pixels
• 1750 nits
• HDR10+
• Gorilla Glass Victus+

Samsung arguably uses the best display panel and the S22 Ultra flaunts an amazing 6.8-inch 120Hz AMOLED panel.

S22 Ultra has an amazing display but it is not a generational leap.

Samsung claims 1750 nits of peak brightness which seems huge on paper but cannot be perceived by our eyes. Nonetheless, it is way better than what the other competitors have to offer.

The bezels look slightly improved and even though the S21 Ultra has the same 6.8-inches display size, the boxy screen of the S22 Ultra feels larger.

Moving on, Samsung S22 Ultra features a 120Hz refresh rate along with the new LTPO 2 technology. Samsung claims that the S22 Ultra can do 1-120Hz which we will be testing in our full review.

Camera

• Rear Camera: 108 MP, f/1.8, OIS
  • 12 MP Ultrawide, f/2.2
  • 10 MP Telephoto, f/2.4, OIS, 3x optical zoom
  • 10 MP Telephoto, f/4.9, OIS, 10x optical zoom

• Front Camera: 40 MP, f/2.2, PDAF

S22 Ultra features a familiar camera setup that is almost identical to last year’s S21 Ultra. The main highlight is the nona-binning 108MP main sensor along with autofocusing ultrawide sensor, and two telephoto lenses reaching up to 10X optical zoom.

MAIN + ULTRAWIDE CAMERA

The photos from the main sensor and ultrawide sensor look amazing with great details. You cannot notice major changes compared to the images from S21 ultra. Though the new Ultra doesn’t get a major bump up in the camera department, S22 Ultra uses some new software features.

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S22 Ultra utilizes a nona-binning technique which results in better images and brings down the size of photos. S22 Ultra also has a 23% larger pixel size which further improves performance in dimly lit environments. Likewise, it uses the AI Stereo Depth Map feature for taking portrait photos. I have been impressed with the portrait photos from the S22 Ultra, we will take a deeper look in our full review.

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FRONT CAMERA

On the front, there is a 40MP selfie camera. I like the face tone of the selfies and the exposure also looks good.

VIDEOS

Samsung S22 Ultra records up to 4K60 with all of its cameras. The main camera can also capture 8K videos but only at 24fps. In terms of stabilization, it gets video stabilization from all the sensors.

Performance

• Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1
• Octa-core (1×3.00 GHz Cortex-X2 & 3×2.40 GHz Cortex-A710 & 4×1.70 GHz Cortex-A510)
• Adreno 730
• 256GB 12GB RAM, 512GB 12GB RAM

Unlike every other year, Nepal gets the Snapdragon variant of the S22 series this year.

It is powered by Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 with an Octa-core (1×3.00 GHz Cortex-X2 & 3×2.50 GHz Cortex-A710 & 4×1.80 GHz Cortex-A510) CPU and Adreno 730 GPU. While there is an 8GB RAM variant, you can only buy a 12GB RAM variant in Nepal with either 256GB or 512GB internal storage.

As it should, the S22 Ultra performs smoothly without any hiccups. However, I have noticed that it gets a bit warm after using it for a while.

We’ll test its full performance along with gaming performance in our full review.

Battery and OS

• Non-removable Li-Po 5000mAh battery
• 45W Fast Charging
• Android 12

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra has a 5000mAh battery and comes with a 45W fast charging support.

Samsung has managed to keep the same battery capacity as the S21 Ultra even though it has had to manage space for the S Pen.

The S22 Ultra comes with Android 12 along with One UI 4.1. With this being a Note like device, it has all the S Pen features. One of the new additions is called Quick Note which lets you add entire web pages and scrapbook in Samsung Note. The S Pen also has an improved latency of 9ms which is substantial compared to 42ms of older Notes.

One UI has a new feature called Color Palettes which changes the accent color according to your wallpaper. These accent colors are applied on the dialer, the quick toggles, and other elements.

Follow Up

Samsung S22 Ultra feels more like a successor of the Note 20 Ultra rather than the S21 Ultra. It is a good thing for Note lovers but some people might not like the Note aesthetics used on the S22 Ultra.

As of now, I do prefer the shape and styling of the S21 Ultra over the S22 Ultra. Regarding everything else, it is a top flagship without a doubt but there have been concerns about Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 thermal and sustained performance. For this, I will be doing a deep dive in our review.

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What do you think about the Samsung S22 Ultra? If you have any questions or aspects of the device you want me to test for the full review, please let me know in the comments!