Most of you are probably already familiar with the Galaxy S22 lineup, at least to some extent, but we still feel we need to preface the review by saying that expectations for the trio should be tempered. Not in terms of the quality of the products. That is still excellent, but rather in terms of major generational changes or innovations. After all, there are very few of those in the S22 line. Well, maybe with the exception of the rebirth of the Galaxy Note line in the S22 Ultra, but without the legendary “Note” branding.
The Galaxy S22 may not be everyone’s favorite model, especially those who want all the premium features in one phone. But our review of the Samsung Galaxy S22 shows that the device has enough high-end features to be considered one of Samsung’s best phones, especially at this price. If you’ve been putting off upgrading your phone partly because of the rising cost of flagship devices, the Galaxy S22 will remind you that you don’t have to spend a lot to get a quality phone.
The Galaxy S22 features a powerful Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset, improved camera sensors, a great display, and a software promise that would make even the Pixel 6 envious. However, the impressive performance could sometimes be too much for the phone, and the smaller battery could very well be the Achilles’ heel of this flagship.
Design
After the Galaxy S21 experimented with a polycarbonate back, the Galaxy S22 was equipped with an aluminum band in the middle and a glass back made of Gorilla Glass Victus Plus. This should increase the resistance, although dropping glass on hard surfaces can be disastrous we recommend buying one of the best Galaxy S22 cases to protect your new phone. At the very least, the new materials make the Galaxy S22 look like a more premium phone than the plastic Galaxy S21 FE, which is available for $100 less.
The materials may be different from those on last year’s flagship Galaxy S, but the design is the same, right down to the contoured appearance of the rear camera, where the three lenses stacked vertically on the back of the phone are contained in a protuberance that blends into the side of the device. The difference is that the camera field on the Galaxy S21 was a different color than the rest of the back of the phone; Samsung has equalized the colors on the Galaxy S22.
Display
The screen is smaller, but not too small at 6.1 inches diagonally. An interesting detail is that it is no longer as tall as the predecessor. Now it has an aspect ratio of 19.5:9, while the previous S21 had a larger ratio of 20:9. This new ratio is the same as the iPhones, by the way. The resolution is 1080 x 2340 pixels, which isn’t quite as high as the 1440p QHD+ that the S22 Ultra offers, but there’s no reason to go overboard with the smaller screen.
The S22’s pixel density is still 422 pixels per inch, which is sharp enough to cut you when scrolling. As for colors, Samsung’s Dynamic AMOLED display is simply gorgeous no surprise there, as Samsung’s displays have been consistently excellent for years. Of course, it also goes up to 120Hz for a buttery smooth refresh rate.
Performance and Software
The Samsung Galaxy S22 is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, which offers a CPU speed of 3.0 GHz. The phone works flawlessly for everyday tasks like browsing the web or opening/switching between multiple apps, operating the camera or playing back. Despite earlier rumors of a change, Samsung has decided to keep the old strategy and use different processors in the US and UK/Europe.
In the United States, the Galaxy S22 will ship with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip, while the UK and Europe will use a Samsung-made Exynos 2200 processor. Consumers have not been too happy about this in the past, as Exynos chips tend to run a bit slower and we even saw differences in camera performance between Snapdragon and Exynos versions of the same Galaxy model last year.
Cameras
The Galaxy S22 has the same basic camera configuration used by Samsung for the Galaxy S21, but with some notable hardware improvements. The main camera now has a 50MP resolution instead of the 12MP wide-angle lens used in last year’s phone. The sensor is also 23% larger to let in more light, as Samsung seeks to improve camera performance in low light.
The Galaxy S22 definitely managed to capture a lot of detail in this photo of some Star Wars Tiki cups in a dark corner of my kitchen. You can clearly see the holes in the black spoon that we keep in the Jawa cup, a detail that the iPhone 13’s camera couldn’t capture. However, there is an issue with the colors in the S22 shot, which we attribute to white balance issues. Although not as detailed, the iPhone 13 shot has better balance and more realistic colors.
Battery Life and Charging
Screen size is not the only thing that has shrunk from the Galaxy S21 to the Galaxy S22. This year’s model also has a smaller battery: a 3,700 mAh power supply instead of a 4,000 mAh one. Perhaps Samsung hoped that a more efficient chipset and another year of adaptive display would improve the Galaxy S22’s battery life. In that case, it made a major miscalculation.
Like every phone we test, we set the Galaxy S22’s screen to 150 nits and let it surf the web via the 5G cellular network, in this case until it ran out of power. The results were not impressive: the Galaxy S22 achieved 7 hours and 51 minutes of battery life, a little more than two hours less than the average smartphone. Turning off the adaptive refresh rate improved the situation slightly, with an average time of 8 hours and 2 minutes, although this is still lower than what we would expect from a high-end phone like the Galaxy S22.
Price and Availability
The Galaxy S22 was announced on February 9 and was available for pre-order until February 24, with sales beginning on February 25. The phone is available on Samsung’s website, at various retailers such as Best Buy and Amazon, and at all leading wireless carriers in the US. The Galaxy S22 costs $800, but there are many deals where you can get the phone for as little as $0. You’ll need to check with retailers or your wireless carrier to see how you can get the best deals.
Conclusion
The Galaxy S22 is that big things come in small packages. Although it does not have the most impressive specs, it offers excellent performance, which should be more than enough for anyone interested in a smaller flagship smartphone. Not too much has changed between the Galaxy S22 and its predecessor, especially in terms of design, but that’s okay.
Samsung has chosen to launch the Galaxy S22 as an evolution of an already excellent smartphone, and that shows in several aspects of the device, from the design to the cameras, which offer excellent performance. And thanks to the extended software support, Samsung is betting that you’ll own the Galaxy S22 for many years to come.
Of course, battery life is an important consideration if you plan to use the device on a daily basis. Samsung has strangely decided to reduce the battery capacity of the S22, so battery life is not the strong point of this phone. You should keep that in mind if you want to buy a new phone. There is also no microSD cards support here, so you might want to opt for the more expensive 256 GB variant.
