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Short Summary
Main recommendation: The Galaxy S22 Ultra is a strong flagship that absorbs the Galaxy Note lineup, mainly worth buying for its S Pen, very bright display, and camera features rather than as a must-upgrade for existing Ultra owners. The reviewer keeps his Galaxy S21 Ultra as his daily driver, while noting the standard S22 Plus is a cheaper option at $200 less at its starting price.
Key Points
- The S22 Ultra folds the Note line into the Ultra name, bringing the S Pen, a flat-sided design, and Note features into one phone at $1,200.
- The display reaches 1,750 nits max brightness versus 1,500 on the S21 Ultra, and uses an LTPO 2.0 panel that can drop to 1 Hz.
- Battery life was strong in the reviewer's use (around seven hours of screen-on time, never fully drained in a day), though some outside tests showed it lasting slightly less than the S21 Ultra.
- Camera hardware is largely unchanged, but new portrait mode and night mode features give it an edge, with Samsung's night shots noticeably brighter than the iPhone 13 Pro's.
- The S Pen's latency dropped from 9 ms to 2.8 ms, which the reviewer says feels close to real-time.
Details Worth Noting
- Concrete instructions:
- If you want faster charging, buy the optional $50 brick to reach up to 45 W peak charging.
- He noted that if you don't use the S Pen much, you can simply leave it slotted in the phone and the phone makes no sacrifices to include it.
- The 8K video mode is 24 FPS only, with no 30 FPS option, and it crops in to roughly 2x zoom, with no 8K from the ultrawide or telephoto lenses.
- The vibration motor changed from a z-axis to an x-axis type, which feels as strong in hand but is noticeably weaker when the phone sits on a desk or in a pocket, causing the reviewer to miss calls.
- Shutter lag on the main camera is more noticeable than on the regular S22 models, which can cause missed shots of moving subjects.
- The base model has 8 GB of RAM, while others have 12 GB; there's no 16 GB option, and storage goes up to 1 TB non-expandable.
Bottom Line
The S22 Ultra is a polished, feature-rich flagship that makes the most sense for people who want the S Pen and the best display and camera extras, while the S22 Plus is the better value for everyone else.
