Tested the latest Samsung Galaxy S22: completely redesigned night photography

Samsung ended the history of the Galaxy Note last year, but did not change the format of the “spring” and “autumn” (well, or winter and summer, depending on what) flagships - flexible smartphones simply replaced the “shovels” with a stylus. Nothing happened to the Galaxy S - the series has existed since 2010, and it’s clearly not worth changing what works now.

Samsung did not reinvent the concept of the Galaxy S series this year - at least not yet. So we have three versions of the flagship: S22 and S22+, which differ, in fact, only in screen diagonal (and in proportion to battery capacity), as well as S22 Ultra, which combines all the company’s technical achievements, but is absolutely large. This year, however, the S22 Ultra stands out not only technologically, but also externally - it is designed in a completely different style than both “regular” S22. Let's start with it.

Return of premium materials

The design of the Samsung Galaxy S22 and Samsung Galaxy S22+ has not changed fundamentally. I would like to note the abandonment of the contrasting color of the camera module and the new color palette. The most important difference lies in the materials: the body is based on a frame made of reinforced aluminum, and Gorilla Glass Victus+ is installed on the front and back. Let me remind you that last year Samsung experimented with matte plastic called glastic, which tactilely resembles glass.

The design of the back cover of the older S22 Ultra is different. The five camera eyes are not combined into a single module, but are installed separately. This way the design doesn't feel cluttered despite the many lenses. The color palette is similar, only pink is replaced by a spectacular burgundy, also known as rich burgundy.

The Galaxy S22 series smartphones look more elegant than ever. The designers have very successfully chosen colors on which traces of fingerprints are almost invisible.

The only exception is black. I especially liked the regular Galaxy S22 for its lightness and compactness.

⇡#Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra

The Ultra version of the S-series flagship has finally replaced the Galaxy Note. If last year we were simply talking about support for input using the proprietary S Pen (which had to be purchased separately, and it was attached only to special cases), now everything is like in Note - the pen is complete, and there is a special socket in the case for it .

In fact, the entire design seems to have been taken from the days of the Note20 Ultra - a body with minimally rounded corners and a strongly curved screen that creeps up to the edge; The socket is in a place familiar to Note users - on the bottom edge. Materials - my respect: aluminum frame, Gorilla Glass Victus+ glass on both the screen and the back panel. Moreover, the back has a matte finish, so the smartphone turned out to be huge, but at least non-slip. Holding it in your hand is relatively comfortable - as comfortable as holding a smartphone with a 6.8-inch screen can be. However, this is slightly less than the S21 Ultra, which had 6.9 inches. Screen - Dynamic AMOLED 2X with support for 120 Hz frequency and QHD+ resolution (3088 × 1440 pixels).

Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra in two color variations

The case is protected from moisture according to the IPX8 standard - that is, it must withstand immersion in fresh water to a depth of 1.5 m for half an hour. This, by the way, also applies to S22/S22+.

Naturally, there is no mini-jack, otherwise everything is the same as usual: the activation key for the Bixby assistant (which still does not work in Russia) is missing, the speakers are stereo - paired with a speaker placed on the bottom edge, a conversational speaker works.

The rear cameras are designed a little differently than last year or in the Galaxy S21 FE - there is no separate block where they are assembled, the lenses are “fitted” into the body separately. It looks quite fresh - definitely better than the often used black fill of hefty circles or rectangles.

The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra has a total of four rear cameras, just like the S21 Ultra. They are updated, but not radically. Optical characteristics are almost identical - four basic focal lengths are available: wide viewing angle (13 equivalent millimeters; 12 megapixels, f/2.2), standard viewing angle (24 mm; 108 megapixels, f/1.8), 3x zoom (70 mm; 10 MP, f/2.4) and tenfold zoom (230 mm; 10 MP, f/4.9). Software zoom is available up to 100x. Only both zoom modules got new sensors - still 10-megapixel, but larger in size. At the same time, of course, Samsung promises significant progress in the quality and convenience of shooting - primarily thanks to improved algorithms and more effective image stabilization (combining a new optical system and an improved digital one - of course, it also cannot do without mentioning artificial intelligence).

The night shooting system has also been updated, now combining up to 20 photos. During our brief acquaintance with the smartphone, we could not fully appreciate its capabilities, but a couple of examples of shooting in low-light conditions can be seen above. We’ll leave any conclusions until a full review of the S22 Ultra.

The front camera is the same as last year - 40 megapixels, f/2.2, autofocus. All (rear, with any zoom, and front) cameras can shoot video in 4K resolution at 60 frames per second (rear - in 8K resolution).

All S22 series smartphones in Russia received the latest proprietary Exynos 2200 platform: 4 nanometers, Armv9 cores (for the first time), Samsung Xclipse 920 graphics processor based on AMD RDNA2 architecture, supporting hardware acceleration of ray tracing, a more powerful integrated AI system and a neural processor with three cores, all current modems (from 5G with mmWave support to Wi-Fi 6E).

The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra is equipped with a 5000 mAh battery - and finally supports really fast (though not phenomenally fast, of course) charging up to 45 W via wire. However, the kit again does not include a charger - you will have to buy it separately (price - from 2 to 3 thousand rubles).

The S Pen is integrated into the body, which is also improved compared to last year - it is claimed that the response time has been reduced by three times. Otherwise, this is a familiar pen, implemented like in Note. The name of the smartphone has changed, but the essence is still the same.

The smartphone runs on the Android 12 operating system with the OneUI 4 shell – we will again tell you the details in the upcoming full review. Finally, about configurations and prices. The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra will be available in six color variations (burgundy + grey, phantom black, phantom white, green, blue, red), with 8, 12 or 16 GB of DDR5 RAM and a drive of 128, 256, 512 GB or 1 TB at a price of 118,990 rubles (for the 8+128 GB version). The smartphone should go on sale in March.

Night cameras

The camera layout remains the same: wide angle, ultra wide angle, telephoto lens with 3x zoom and a second 10x periscope on the S22 Ultra. This year, Samsung is focusing on night photography; both modules and software have been improved specifically for this. Below are several pictures from the company’s office, taken on different smartphones. We'll do a full night test in our review of new products.

The front cameras received autofocus, f/2.2 optics and the ability to slightly adjust the viewing angle if you need to take a group photo. The S22 Ultra has a 40-megapixel module, while the S22 and S22+ are content with 10-megapixel sensors with slightly larger pixels.

Gorgeous screen and other characteristics

One of the features of the Galaxy S has always been AMOLED displays; Samsung has been perfecting this technology for many years. The updated Galaxy S22+ and Galaxy S22 Ultra increased peak brightness to an impressive 1750 nits. By comparison, last year's Galaxy S21 Ultra produced 250 nits less, which was already impressive. The base model makes do with a 900 nits screen. All three new products can adjust the screen refresh rate from 24 to 120 Hz, and the S22 Ultra can even lower the frequency to 1 Hz for additional energy savings. The displays are pleasing not only from the technical side, but also from the outside: the frame is uniformly thin, the corners are rounded, and the front camera fits neatly into a small O-shaped cutout.

The photo shows the Galaxy S22, its brightness is almost half that of older models

The flagship 4nm Exynos 2200 chip (in Russia and the CIS the version with Samsung’s own design is officially sold), 8 GB of RAM, up to 1024 GB of internal memory for the S22 Ultra, stereo speakers, IP68 and capacious batteries. The remaining characteristics of the new products fully correspond to the specified level.

Bottom line

Now I'm looking for an Android smartphone for my mom. The choice fell on the Galaxy S21 and S22. And I understand that the S21 can be grabbed for a much lower cost, which speaks in favor of last year’s flagship, but how good is the S22! Despite the fact that the smartphones are very similar in appearance, the new product feels completely different. And I like them. All that was needed was to change the materials and increase the rounding radius of the edges.

Wide selection of accessories

Frosted glass is certainly a practical and durable material, but for peace of mind about the condition of the device, you should get a case. The company has traditionally prepared a very wide range: transparent or leather, with or without a kick-stand, plain or with a cover.

Also this year, Samsung collaborated with The Simpsons, Marvel and Star Wars for the first time. The straps for the S22 Ultra case and protective pads for smaller smartphones are designed in their style.

Price and release date

Unveiled on February 9, 2022, you can pre-order the Samsung Galaxy S22 starting at RUB 79,990 for the 8GB RAM/128GB storage model. For 256 GB of memory it will cost 84,990 rubles. See the widgets at the end of this page to see where you can buy them.

If you need a larger screen and battery power, you can buy the Samsung Galaxy S22+ with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage for RUB 94,990, or get 256GB of storage, which will cost RUB 99,990.

S Pen stylus included

Last year, the Ultra smartphone received stylus support, but it had to be purchased separately and stored in a case. The half-measure has been corrected, the S Pen is now built into the body of the S22 Ultra, as if you were holding a Note series phablet in your hands.

The pen is suitable for creating quick handwritten notes, the text in which is recognized automatically, as well as for creating sketches. Samsung engineers have once again worked on responsiveness and tripled the response time for a more natural input experience.

Single ecosystem

Among other things, Samsung is betting on its own ecosystem, which also includes tablets. This is one of the reasons why three Galaxy Tab S8 tablets were presented along with smartphones. The lineup is built in the same way as smartphones: the record-breaking 14.6-inch Tab S8 Ultra is at the head, as well as the 12.4-inch Tab S8+ and 11-inch Tab S8 to help it.

Tablets are aimed at content makers. Included with each device is an S Pen stylus, which features reduced latency, and keyboard cases are optionally available. The software has been supplemented with Samsung Dex mode, which adds a full-fledged desktop mode with multi-windows to Android. High performance is provided by the completely fresh Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 with new cores and graphics.