My Thoughts On Samsung Galaxy S22 -Almost Perfectly Unique

The Almost Perfectly Perfect, Pocketable Galaxy with a minuscule upgrade. Comes the Samsung Galaxy S22 Review.

Galaxy S22 Specifications At a Glance

Body: 146.0×70.6×7.6mm, 168g; Glass front (Gorilla Glass Victus+), glass back (Gorilla Glass Victus+), aluminum frame; IP68 dust/water resistant (up to 1.5m for 30 mins).
Display: 6.10″ Dynamic AMOLED 2X, 120Hz, HDR10+, 1300 nits (peak), 1080x2340px resolution, 19.5:9 aspect ratio, 422ppi; Always-on display.
Chipset: Exynos 2200 (4 nm) – International, Qualcomm SM8450 Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 (4 nm) – USA/China/India.
Memory: 128GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 8GB RAM; UFS 3.1.
OS/Software: Android 12, One UI 4.1.
Rear camera: Wide (main): 50 MP, f/1.8, 24mm, 1/1.56″, 1.0µm, multi-directional PDAF, OIS; Ultra wide angle: 12 MP, f/2.2, 13mm, 120˚, 1/2.55″ 1.4µm, Super Steady video; Telephoto: 10 MP, f/2.4, 70mm, 1/3.94″, 1.0µm, PDAF, OIS, 3x optical zoom.
Front camera: 10 MP, f/2.2, 26mm (wide), 1/3.24″, 1.22µm, Dual Pixel PDAF.
Video capture: Rear camera: 8K@24fps, 4K@30/60fps, 1080p@30/60/240fps, 720p@960fps, HDR10+, stereo sound rec., gyro-EIS; Front camera: 4K@30/60fps, 1080p@30fps.
Battery: 3700mAh; Fast charging 25W, USB Power Delivery 3.0, Fast Qi/PMA wireless charging 15W, Reverse wireless charging 4.5W.
Misc: Fingerprint reader (under display, ultrasonic); NFC; Samsung DeX, Samsung Wireless DeX (desktop experience support), Bixby natural language commands and dictation, Samsung Pay (Visa, MasterCard certified), Ultra Wideband (UWB) support.

Galaxy S22: Unboxing & Handss On

Its already a trend whats inside the box. a USB cable, Paper work and the phone its self. Nothing eye catching. But there are a few thing worth noting.

When it comes to the Samsung Galaxy S22, Samsung has opted evolution over revolution. While the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra essentially resurrects the Galaxy Note, the regular S22 closely resembles its predecessor.

That is not a terrible thing. Last year, in my Samsung Galaxy S21 review, I praised the phone’s design, performance, display, and cameras. For a while, it was my go-to Android smartphone, until my fondness for Material-UI prompted me to switch to the Google Pixel 6 Pro.

Galaxy S22 Review: Design

The Galaxy S21 debuted the radical new Contour Cut Camera housing to the Galaxy S series, giving the erstwhile slab a distinct contour, and the Galaxy S22 mostly follows suit. There are some tweaks, like as the camera array being somewhat slimmer and now being color-matched to the rear of the phone rather than the opposing hues offered last year, but it’s essentially the Galaxy S21 redux.

You may choose from a broader range of hues, including graphite, cream, sky blue, and violet.

Speaking of the back, it’s worth noting that the standard S22 now has glass covering its internals, replacing the plastic of last year. We complained a lot about the ‘flagship’ S21 having plastic back, more out of principle than a genuine distaste for the material. Other media sources, too, voiced dissatisfaction with Samsung’s decision. Whether the public outrage was completely responsible or whether there were other factors at play, all three phones now feature Gorilla Glass Victus+ front and back.

Camera Design

The way the camera surround touches the frame is another small alteration for this generation. It’s less flowing, less ‘contour’-y, but more crisp and sculpted. The camera island still appears to be part of the frame, but there is less consistency between the two elements than on previous models.

The island itself is virtually identical and protrudes a bit – not too much, nor too little.

Size

The S22’s display diagonal has been reduced by 0.1-inch, making what was already a reasonably compact phone even more pocket-friendly. The smallest of the three S22s is 0.6mm slimmer than the previous year’s model, but it’s also roughly 6mm shorter. And, with a footprint of 146×70.6mm, it’s just slightly smaller than an iPhone 13 or 13 Pro. Its 168g weight is likewise notably lighter than the 204g weight of the 13 Pro, while the 7g difference against the 13 is more or less trivial.

What we’re getting at is that, thanks to the all-glass build. The Galaxy S22 is now as premium as the most premium Galaxy, but it’s also more pocketable than last year’s model – an unfortunate combination of circumstances for someone who recently defended the iPhone 13 Pro as the ultimate premium compact.

Galaxy S22 Review : Display

If you know Samsung phones, you’ll know they have good-looking displays. And the screen on the S22 is no exception, with colors that look bright and bold, dark blacks and a high max brightness.

6.1-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X panel
FHD+ resolution (1080 x 2340)
120Hz refresh rate (adaptive)

When it comes to refresh rate, Samsung hasn’t gone overboard, offering a dynamic 120Hz panel. So the phone can automatically adjust whether the handset is refreshing what’s on its screen 48 times or up to 120 times per second. It all depends on whether the content requires that extra cycling to appear visually smoother.

Galaxy S22 Review: Camera

Quad rear cameras
- Main: 50-megapixels, f/1.8 aperture, dual pixel autofocus (PDAF), optical stabilisation (OIS)
- Wide (120 degrees): 12MP, f/2.2
- Zoom (3x): 10MP, f/2.4, PDAF, OIS
Front-facing camera: 10MP, f/2.2

The camera array on the Galaxy S22 may appear to be identical to that on the Galaxy S21. But things have changed considerably behind the hood. The most significant improvement is to the primary wide-angle camera. Which now has an amazing 50MP sensor at f/1.8 and utilizes “tetra binning” to produce more brighter and more detailed 12MP shots. This is comparable to what we’ve seen with Samsung’s 108MP sensor on the S21 Ultra and now S22 Ultra, as well as Google’s Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro.

The telephoto on the Galaxy S22, on the other hand, reduces to 10MP at f/2.4 (down from 64MP at f/2.0). But it now has a 3x optical zoom rather than the 3x hybrid zoom. On the surface, this appears to be a downgrade. But the optical zoom is far more important than the extra megapixels. The ultra-wide (12MP f/2.2) and front-facing (10MP f/2.2) cameras remain same.

While there are some quibbles regarding the telephoto modifications. The primary camera is a significant boost in low-light performance due to the 24 percent bigger sensor size. Coupled with Samsung’s advancements with what it is now branding as its Nightography mode. You can get some excellent results in pretty terrible lighting conditions.

Galaxy S22 Review: Performance, Battery Life, Graphics & Software

Performance (Chipset)

In yet another episode of the Great Processor Divide, the Galaxy S22 versions will be available with either the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 or the Exynos 2200 chipset, depending on where you buy the phone, and it’s unclear which market gets which SoC this year.

Both chipsets are manufactured using a 4nm technology for maximum performance and power efficiency. The CPU arrangement is likewise comparable, with both Qualcomm and Samsung choosing for a 1+3+4 architecture, with small changes in peak clock speeds.

In the past, debates have erupted over the primarily academic benefits of the Snapdragon over the Exynos in direct comparisons, but this year, the Samsung in-house silicon may garner more positive attention. The Xclipse GPU in the Exynos 2200 is the result of a cooperation between Samsung and AMD, and it is the first mobile GPU to incorporate ray tracing for the most lifelike rendering of light in your games, as well as variable rate shading (VRS) for maintaining constant refresh rates.

Both processors, of course, offer 5G connectivity.

Battery Life

The S22 has smaller power packs, and the repercussions are one of the things we’re most interested in investigating. There are a number of factors at play here, such as thinner panels, more advanced adaptive refresh rates, better chipsets, and so on, but we’re never thrilled to hear about diminished battery capacity. And, while the S21+ was no slouch in terms of endurance, the S21 left us wanting, and we’re afraid the S22 won’t be a step forward.

Another semi-related aspect of the S22’s specifications that bothers us is its 25W charging capabilities. When the two larger phones can take up to 45W.

Here’s my battery rule of thumb: if you use your phone all day, forget to charge it before night, and wake up with some energy left in the tank, you’ve got decent battery life. That’s excellent battery life if your phone lasts until day two. The battery life on either of these phones is pathetic.

Since I started testing it, I haven’t been able to count on the Galaxy S22 to last a full working day without having to plug it in at least once. That hasn’t been much of a dealbreaker for me.

Software: OneUI 4.1 and Android 12

The S22 runs OneUI 4.1 on top of Android 12. It’s a newer version than the OneUI 4.0 that’s been operating for at least a month on the S21 generation and foldables, but the (relatively) substantial improvements occurred from 3 to 4, and the upgrade after the decimal point isn’t making much of a difference.

OneUI 4’s core phrases, according to Samsung, are customisation and privacy.

This year marks the first time Samsung has promised four generations of significant OneUI and Android OS upgrades. As well as five years of security fixes.

Galaxy S22 Review: Conclusion

The Galaxy S22 at $799 should be a killer option for those that aren’t sold on the iPhone 13 with all of the true flagship phones that Apple didn’t bring to its non-Pro models this year. However, the battery life is a crushing blow to many of the power users that will appreciate those extra features.

Using the 120hz display for gaming or recording 4K video will leave you with a dead hunk of glass and metal hours before you are ready to turn in for the night. The lack of the new 45W fast charging adds insult to injury as you could otherwise just spend 10 minutes to easily power it up for the rest of the day. Now if you aren’t bothered by sticking to 60Hz, aren’t gaming or spending hours on photos or video work or you simply take some time to charge up your phone a couple of times during the day then this isn’t a dealbreaker.

The rest of the package is so enticing that the poor battery life should not deter you from choosing the Galaxy S22. However, it should prompt you to consider the Galaxy S22+. Which includes a considerably larger 4,500mAh battery as well as a larger 6.6-inch display. For those who want a compact form factor. The Galaxy S22 is without a doubt the most pocketable flagship phone I’ve ever used; just have a charger accessible.