Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra with a stylus, i.e. a new Note under a different name [RECENZJA]

For over a decade, Samsung has been releasing new smartphones every year from two flagship lines – Galaxy S and Galaxy Note. The first was aimed at private users, the second focused more on business customers or professionals who used the potential of the stylus attached to the device.

In recent years, however, the line between the series has started to blur. In addition, the Koreans have released another two lines of top-shelf smartphones, this time folded – Galaxy Z Fold and Galaxy Z Flip. and Samsung will sooner or later abandon them.

This also happened, although the Korean manufacturer admitted it only at the end of February 2022. A dozen or so days earlier, three new devices from the Galaxy S series – S22, S22 + and S22 Ultra – had their premiere. The last of them fell into my hands for some time, which results in this review.

It looks like a Galaxy Note, but it’s called the S22 Ultra

The reference to the Galaxy Note line of smartphones was not accidental. Taking the Galaxy S22 Ultra into hand for the first time, many people will probably be convinced that they are dealing with the next generation of the famous Korean “notebook”.

Samsung Galaxy S22 Samsung

The Galaxy S22 Ultra looks like a Note and works like a Note. The design is very different from the other S models enclosed in rounded housings, in which we do not experience right angles. The Ultra version is larger, angular (just like the Notes in the past) and is distinguished by the lack of a camera island, characteristic of the last few Galaxy S models.

It also has an S Pen stylus – an absolute distinguishing feature of Samsung’s former line of “notebooks”. It is true that you had to buy separately. This time, the stylus has its place inside the housing and goes to the customer along with the smartphone.

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra photo by Bartłomiej Pawlak

As befits the Ultra version of the Korean company’s top smartphone, the S22 Ultra is large and quite heavy (weighs 229 grams and is 9 mm thick), but it fits well in the hand. Although it takes a few moments to get used to it. The traditional housing is also made of high-quality materials, sealed (IP68), and the fitting of its elements is at the highest level.

Almost 7 inches for handwritten notes

Probably the most important element of the smartphone with the note Ultra is the 6.8-inch panel made in Dynamic AMOLED technology (covered with Gorilla Glass Victus glass). Traditionally with a high resolution of 1440×3080 pixels, brilliant brightness of 1750 nits and support for adaptive refreshing with a maximum frequency of 120 Hz.

The quality of the image it displays is great. The black is incredibly deep, the contrast is almost infinite, and the colors are vivid and quite faithful. In addition, the screen is extremely bright, thanks to which it can cope with all conditions. This is something Samsung has got used to in recent years. Definitely Koreans know how to make smartphone AMOLEDs.

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra photo by Bartłomiej Pawlak

This time, the mentioned 6.8 inches is also the working space for the included S-Pen. So, just like in Notes, we also get a whole set of functions that will help you take full advantage of the stylus.

Removing it from the housing when the screen is locked allows you to take notes, while unlocked it gives you access to several other most important functions, such as translating selected text fragments or precisely cutting a screenshot and adding notes to it.

The stylus is also connected to the smartphone via Bluetooth, so there was no shortage of, for example, remote taking photos or controlling the camera application through gestures in the air. All this, however, was already in the previous smartphones from the Galaxy Note series.

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra photo by Bartłomiej Pawlak

Under the hood, a 4nm Exynos

The technical specification of the Galaxy S22 in the Ultra version is identical to the other smartphones in this family. The heart of the device is therefore the new Exynos 2200, made in the 4 nm lithographic process, which should place the work of Koreans somewhere in the forefront. In addition, we have 8 or 12 GB of RAM and 128, 256, 512 GB or even 1 TB (not available in Poland) of data space. There is also, of course, support for all communication modules along with the 5G network, which is already a standard on the top shelf.

In practice, the Exynos’ performance is at the highest level, and I have never had a situation where the S22 Ultra had to think about anything longer. Nothing unusual. After all, we are talking about Samsung’s flagship product, and in the strongest version.

Cameras and photo quality

The specification of the cameras almost does not differ from what we were served in the Galaxy S21 Ultra last year. So four cameras are available. The main one has a resolution of 108 Mpix (f / 1.8) and is supported by optical image stabilization.

In addition, we have an ultra-wide angle camera (12 Mpix, f / 2.2) and two 10 Mpix sensors with telephoto lenses with three and ten times zoom (also with optical image stabilization). What’s more, the Galaxy S22 Ultra also traditionally supports Space Zoom zooming the image (by combining optical and digital zoom) up to a hundred times. In practice, however, this is a rather useless function.

Photo taken with Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra smartphone photo: BP

The camera, like its predecessor, works very well and allows you to take great photos. It shows its possibilities not only during the day, but also at night. It is worth mentioning here, however, that the camera in poor lighting conditions can turn on the night shots itself, so you have to wait a while for the photo to be taken, but the final effect looks better than with a short exposure.

Anyway, you can judge the quality of the photos yourself:

Photo taken with Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra smartphone – main camera photo: BP

Photo taken with Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra smartphone – tele camera photo: BP

Photo taken with Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra smartphone – main camera photo: BP

Battery and faster charging

Samsung has put the S22 Ultra on a 5000 mAh battery, which of course translates into a very decent working time on a single charge. In practice, I managed to “squeeze” about 1.5 days of intensive work away from the charger. This is a decent result, not far from the competition’s flagships.

The Koreans have finally decided to speed up the loading process as well. Until recently, they insisted on max power at 25W, and now they’ve pushed the rest of the pack up a bit by adding support for 45W fast charging. It is still far from the new Chinese smartphones (Oppo, Xiaomi, Realme), but such power allows you to recharge the battery very quickly, e.g. before leaving the house.

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra photo by Bartłomiej Pawlak

On the other hand, we will not do it without purchasing a suitable charger that supports the standard used by Samsung. The manufacturer continues its policy and does not add the appropriate network adapter to the box with the smartphone.

Finally, it is worth mentioning that the Galaxy S22 also supports (slower) inductive charging and wireless reverse charging.

You have to pay a fortune for the new Note

Samsung decided this year to take a step that has been unofficially gossiped about for a long time. He released a worthy successor to the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra shown in mid-2020, but this time he called it the S22 Ultra.

The new model also continues the great series of flagship “Esek” with the note Ultra and in my opinion it should also appeal to those who have so far hunted for the best equipped versions of the Galaxy S series.

Unfortunately, the pleasure of using the Korean flagship smartphone costs a fortune. The smartphone was priced at PLN 5,899. And it is in the version with 8 GB of RAM and 128 GB of data space. The richer 12/256 GB option costs PLN 6399, and 12/512 GB as much as PLN 6899.