Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra Review – Best Android Flagship of 2022

This year, Samsung is putting its best foot forward with the Galaxy S22 Ultra. It is extremely versatile, able to handle important work, taking down notes, playing games, and casual web browsing on a large screen, with the cameras being a clear standout feature of the phone.

In addition, Samsung has decided to use the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset for the Indian market. This is a first for the company, as all of Samsung’s previous flagship Galaxy smartphones came with Exynos chipsets.

Of course, you’ll have to shell out some extra cash for all those new features, but it’s not much higher than the last year’s flagship. Let’s go ahead with this Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra Review and find out if it’s worth the asking price.

Checkout: Recycle Your Old Phone Now! Get Rewarded

The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra 5G comes at a starting price of Rs. 1,09,999 for 12GB RAM and 256GB of storage variant. The 12GB RAM and 512GB storage variant cost Rs. 1,18,999. The top of the line variant with 12GB RAM and 1TB storage comes at a price tag of Rs. 1,34,999.

The base variant is available in four colour options: Burgundy, Phantom Black, Phantom White and Green. While the other two variants are only available in Burgundy and Phantom Black. You can buy the phone directly from Samsung’s official website or other online platforms like Amazin, Croma and more.

Planning to upgrade? Sell Your Old Phone in 60 Seconds From Home

The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra comes with the following items packed inside the box:

• Handset
• Ejection Pin
• Data Cable
• Quick Start Guide

Before we talk in detail about the device, let’s see what the on-paper specs look like:

• Display: 6.8 inches AMOLED
• Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1
• RAM & ROM: 12GB RAM 256GB Storage, 12GB RAM 512GB Storage, 12GB RAM 1TB Storage
• Software: Android v12
• Rear camera: 108MP + 12MP + 10MP + 10MP
• Selfie camera: 40 MP
• Battery: 5000 mAh
• Weight: 228 grams
• Dimensions: 163.3 x 77.9 x 8.9 mm

The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra is an excellent example of Samsung’s excellent design skills. It is simple yet breathtaking at the same time. I like how the corners are sharp and squared off and that the back cameras are not housed in a separate unit.

All in all, it has a very simple and modern design. The Armor Aluminum used to construct the frame is extremely sturdy and won’t bend. Outside, the metal has been polished to a near-chrome finish, and two sheets of Corning Gorilla Glass Victus+ protect it. Samsung offers four different colour options, including the black review unit we received.

The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra is larger than an iPhone, but its taller form factor makes it easier to hold. I’ll be honest here, the phone was a little bulky at 228 grams, but the weight distribution is just amazing.

Read More: Best Mobile Phones Under 30,000

The power button and volume controls are located on the right side and provide good tactile feedback when pressed. The S Pen, speaker grille, Type-C charging port, and SIM card slot are all located on the bottom of the device.

Everything about the design of the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra screams “premium,” which is exactly how it should be given the price of the device.

The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra is an absolute powerhouse when it comes to photography; it can do anything that other smartphones can do, but better. The Galaxy S22 Ultra comes with a quad-camera setup that includes a 108MP primary camera, a 12MP ultra-wide-angle camera, and dual telephoto cameras with 10MPs each that provide 10x optical zoom and even 100x space zoom. The smartphone has a 40-megapixel selfie camera on the front.

I think the cameras in the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra are fantastic, and they have to be since the competition is equally impressive.

The primary camera captures vivid and sharp images, regardless of how close or far the subject is. The colours are vibrant without being overly saturated, the contrast is excellent, and the dynamic range is spot on.

While 108 megapixels might seem overkill, but the pixel binning ability is what makes this phone’s camera so effective in low light. Although the quality is not quite as high as in daylight, the camera’s ability to capture detail in low light is remarkable.

Check Out: What is Gcam? How to install Gcam on any Android smartphone?

Images captured by the 12MP ultra-wide camera have 120 degrees. The ultra-wide camera on the Galaxy S22 Ultra takes consistently great pictures.

The Galaxy S22 Ultra has the best telephoto camera of any smartphone currently available. The improvement is most noticeable at zoom levels that are greater than 10x, which is when the 10x telephoto lens is able to team up with the phone’s other sensors to produce an incredible image.

It is possible to digitally zoom up to 100x, but the resulting images are extremely grainy and hard to properly frame. It only takes a slight movement of your hand to change the subject of your photo.

On top of that, you get a bunch of camera modes like Pro mode, Single Take, Dedicated Night mode, Super Slow-Mo, Hyperlapse, Portrait Video and more.

Selfies taken with the 40-megapixel camera were pixel-binned to 10-megapixels and turned out well both in bright light and low light. Images captured with the front camera have a vivid and bright appearance, and the Portrait mode is as impressive as it is on the back cameras. It does a good job of balancing the highlights and shadows, and the bokeh effect looks realistic.

Read More: 10 Easy Tips and Tricks For Better Smartphone Photography

When it comes to video, the S22 Ultra is capable of recording in both 8K and 4K resolutions; however, at the higher resolution, the video frame is largely cropped in order to stabilise the video.

The front-facing camera can record videos at up to 4K resolution at 60 fps. The videos were very detailed and showed accurate colours in both bright light and low light.

Overall, you can’t go wrong with the camera system on the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra.

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra packs a beefy 5000 mAh battery. This is the same capacity as seen on the Galaxy S21 Ultra. I used the device for a couple of days, and the battery life seemed quite promising.

Light users can expect a two day battery life from the phone, whereas I got about a full day of heavy use. My usage involved Instagram scrolling, browsing, taking pictures and playing games.

Read More: Top 10 Tips To Keep Your Smartphone Battery Healthy

The phone can fast charge at 45W; however, you don’t get to see a charger in the box. It takes a little more than an hour to fully charge the device from 0 to 100 per cent. A 15min quick charge can juice the battery to around 35 per cent.

The S22 Ultra’s 6.8-inch AMOLED screen is one of the phone’s best features and a major selling point. It provides an excellent viewing experience that is bright, vivid, and detailed in addition to having a smooth refresh rate.

It has a maximum brightness of 1750 nits, a refresh rate of 120 Hz, and a 2K resolution. This indicates that you shouldn’t have any problems using the Galaxy S22 Ultra outside, even when the sun is right above your head. This AMOLED display has the most lifelike colours I’ve ever seen.

Read More: Best Mobile Phones Under Rs 10000

The adaptive refresh rate is one factor that helps save battery. This feature not only makes applications and games appear and feel smoother, but its ability to shift from 1 to 120Hz also means it will draw less battery than a usual 120Hz display while maintaining the same level of performance with no actual noticeable difference.

The display also supports HDR content, making it ideal for streaming platforms like Netflix and even some videos on YouTube. In terms of overall display quality, the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra is simply amazing. Samsung is in the business of manufacturing displays, and they know what they are doing.

The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra 5G is one of the first Samsung phones to be driven by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor. Samsung, however, will have its own Exynos 2200 chip available in select international markets. It is paired with 12GB of RAM with up to 1TB of internal storage.

The performance was lightning fast, and even intensive applications and games loaded in a flash. The 12GB of RAM really helped with multitasking. Furthermore, you can allocate 8GB of internal storage towards RAM expansion.

The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra can handle everything from casual web use to video calls, streaming movies, and intensive gaming without breaking a sweat. There was no noticeable delay or stuttering, and I didn’t had to wait much for apps to load.

Check Out: Samsung Galaxy S22 Review – Best Compact Flagship You Can Buy Right Now

The gaming experience on the S22 Ultra was likewise immersive. I tried a couple of heavy games, including BGMI, COD Mobile, Apex Legends and Asphalt 9. All of the games ran well in their highest graphic settings without any issues. BGMI and COD Mobile ran at Very High graphics and Max frame rates. I did not experience any shutters and lags while playing these games.

One thing to note is that the phone gets a little warm after 20 minutes of gaming. If you have a habit of playing for extended periods of time, you will notice that the upper side of the device gets more hot.

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra runs on OneUI 4.1 skin which is based on Android 12. According to Samsung, this new interface is more user-friendly and feature-rich than earlier versions, and it also includes a new privacy dashboard to give users more peace of mind.

Samsung has a useful in-house photo and video editing feature. I particularly liked the ability to erase an object from a picture in a seemingly magical manner, which performed flawlessly.

Check Out: Xiaomi 12 Pro 5G Review – Most Value For Money Flagship Phone

Samsung is also promoting its Samsung Wallet app, which can store all of your digital payment information, IDs, and more in one convenient place. Video chats just got better with Google’s new Duo app, which allows users to share media and files with one another during the video call. There is also the added bonus of DeX support, which, when connected with a monitor, replicates the experience of using a desktop PC.

Samsung has promised a total of five years of software updates, which is more than any other smartphone manufacturer. This covers the next four major versions of Android (up to Android 16 in 2026) and also five years of security patch updates.

All in all, the S22 Ultra has fantastic software and UI. The majority of users will have a great time with One UI 4.1, which I think is great even though not everyone might agree with me.

The S22 Ultra has stereo speakers, just like many other flagship phones. I was a little let down by the audio quality compared to other flagship devices, but it’s definitely better than what you get with a budget smartphone.

These speakers are excellent for video conferences and speakerphone use but fall short when playing music or a movie.

The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra is equipped with a wide variety of wireless connectivity features, including 5G, 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, Ultra-wideband (UWB), and NFC among others.

Check Out: POCO F4 5G Review – Kills the Competition Under 30000

Talking about the biometrics, the Galaxy S22 Ultra comes with an ultrasonic fingerprint scanner which works great and quickly unlocks the phone in just a single try. You can also use face unlock which was also quick and accurate.