Samsung’s Galaxy S22 Ultra Is a Galaxy Note Reboot

If you may have an individual in your life who’s holding onto an outdated Galaxy Note within the hopes Samsung will revive its big flagship cellphone, as we speak’s the day: Samsung’s Galaxy S22 Ultra is right here, and it’s a Note in each method however its identify. (My mother can lastly surrender her Galaxy Note 8—hallelujah.)

Samsung simply introduced a trio of latest telephones, with the Galaxy S22 and S22+ becoming a member of the Ultra, however it’s the latter that’s the spotlight of the lineup for its Note-like qualities. Note customers beloved the outdated flagship’s gigantic display screen, angled corners, and the S Pen. The Ultra has all of that, and extra.

I went hands-on with the Galaxy S22 Ultra and its smaller siblings, the Galaxy S22 and S22+, and though I didn’t get to place the telephones by their paces (keep tuned for the evaluate), I did get to take a look at the Galaxy S22 Ultra’s Note-like capabilities. It’s secure to say that if you happen to’ve been lacking the Note, the Ultra checks mainly each field.

Meet the New Galaxy No…Er, Galaxy S22 Ultra

The Galaxy S22 Ultra is the biggest of the S22 lineup at about 6.4 inches lengthy and a little bit greater than 3 inches large, that are almost the precise dimensions of the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra. It is available in a number of colours, together with Phantom Black, Phantom White, Green, and a wealthy Burgundy, which you see right here within the images. The deep pink is beautiful in individual.

The Ultra sports activities a a 6.8-inch Edge QHD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2X Display, which suggests it’s Samsung-grade beautiful. It is as crisp and clear as you possibly can think about in individual. The display screen additionally has a 120Hz refresh fee that goes as much as a 240Hz contact sampling fee when utilized in Game Mode.

When it involves design, Samsung didn’t stray removed from the Galaxy Note’s traditional look. The rectangular corners set it aside from the Galaxy S22 and S22+, and the built-in S Pen nonetheless clicks out and in of the underside left (which stays a really satisfying expertise). Samsung mentioned it improved the latency of the stylus on the S22 Ultra by 70% over the S Pen for final yr’s S21 Ultra.

The S Pen is able to all the identical gestures on the S22 Ultra because it was on the Note, together with Smart Select, which helps you to crop out a portion of the display screen and annotate on it, and Air Actions, which lets you use the S Pen as a distant of kinds. The S22 Ultra’s S Pen additionally options enhanced Smart Capture skills, and you’ll scribble straight into textual content fields like a URL bar in a browser to navigate round.

The Ultra has a 5,000 mAh battery that prices as much as 45W when wired and as much as 15W wirelessly. You can even use the Note—sorry, I imply Ultra—like a battery pack to cost one other system, like a pair of earbuds. There are additionally wi-fi power-sharing capabilities for Qi-enabled gadgets.

The Ultra packs in a quadruple-lens rear digicam array with a 12-megapixel ultra-wide lens (f/2.2); a 108-MP wide-angle lens with dual-pixel AF, an 85-degree field-of-view, and an f/1.8 aperture; and two 10-MP telephoto lenses, one with a 3x optical zoom, and the opposite with a 10x optical zoom. The 40-MP front-facing lens looks as if overkill for selfies, however I’ll put it to the check.

The Ultra is powered by Qualcomm’s newest Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor with both 8GB or 12GB of reminiscence and anyplace from 128GB to 1TB of storage. Note that after you bump as much as 256GB of storage, the Ultra will get 12GB of RAM. Basically, this factor seems to be a powerhouse, and I can’t wait to place it by its paces on our benchmarking exams.

Galaxy S22 and S22+: Flagships for Everyone Else

The Galaxy S22 and S22+ are for many who don’t need a gigantic rectangle with a built-in stylus.

If you favor a smaller cellphone, the Galaxy S22, the smaller of the 2, is so cozy to carry with its 6.1-inch FHD+ show, whereas the Galaxy S22+ is a bit greater with a 6.6-inch FHD+ show. Both provide a 120Hz refresh fee and might bump as much as 240Hz just like the Ultra if you happen to’re into gaming. They’re each fashionable smartphones and have metallic trim across the edges just like the S22 Ultra. I most well-liked the smaller one for my grip.

Like the Ultra, the Galaxy S22 and S22+ are powered by Qualcomm’s newest 4nm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor, although each telephones are restricted to 8GB of reminiscence and as much as 256GB of space for storing. Their batteries are a little bit smaller, too. The Galaxy S22 has a 3,700mAh battery, whereas the Galaxy S22+ has a considerably bigger 4,500 mAh battery.

There can be a slight distinction in community connectivity. The S22 doesn’t have Wi-Fi 6E or ultra-wideband capabilities so that they’re not future-proofed.

The S22 and S22+ each provide a triple-lens rear digicam array with a 50-MP wide-angle lens, a 12-MP ultra-wide-angle lens with a 120-degree subject of view, and a 10-MP telephoto digicam with 3x optical zoom. The 10-MP front-facing digicam appears is underpowered in comparison with the Ultra, however a little bit extra my velocity.

New Android Features

One of the largest gripes of being a Samsung smartphone person is that its model of Android is totally different from Google’s. Samsung’s One UI interface has its upsides (and its downsides), however it’s good when Android flavors provide comparable options throughout gadgets.

The Galaxy S22, S22+, and S22 Ultra all run Samsung’s One UI 4 on prime of Android 12. And Google has announced some excellent news: Material You theming is coming to the Galaxy S22 collection. The capacity wasn’t accessible on Samsung gadgets with Android 12 earlier than this, and the end result was an interface with a Settings panel that didn’t match the Home display screen. You can count on the brand new telephones to come back with Material You out of the field, able to customise.

The Galaxy S22 collection may also be the primary to introduce dwell sharing on Google Duo, which helps you to do issues like watch movies with one other individual on YouTube and draw collectively in apps like Jamboard. And Samsung’s new smartphones would be the first to get YouTube video previews within the Google Messages app. These options are coming to different Android telephones finally, aside from Android Go version gadgets.

The Galaxy S22 could have Voice Access accessible proper out of the field, so that you gained’t must obtain a separate app to faucet, scroll, and navigate the totally different telephones along with your voice. This is vital for accessibility functions.

Price and Preorders

The Samsung Galaxy S22 begins at $800, and the Galaxy S22+ begins at $1,000. Both fashions will probably be on sale starting Feb. 25 by the corporate’s web site and choose carriers and retailers. Preorders for each gadgets begin as we speak. Samsung is even providing a number of offers, together with one which saves you $100 on a Galaxy Watch 4, plus 25% off of the Galaxy Tab S8.

Note lovers, you can even preorder the Galaxy S22 Ultra as we speak. It begins at $1,200 and can ship Feb. 25.