Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra long-term review

Design or lack thereof

The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra is an amalgamation of the Galaxy S20/21 Ultra's classic S design and the Galaxy Note's old design. But somehow, in combining them, the S styling got lost in translation, and we're left with a boxy phone with hardly any lines or creases.

Gone is the camera island that molded into the frame, ditto the curvature on the top and bottom of the front and back panels, and, sadly, also the sense of uniqueness. The Galaxy S22 Ultra is the essence of a utilitarian phone. Granted, this simple look has a certain kind of beauty, and the form enables the ability to put a stylus compartment and a big battery in a phone not much larger than its predecessor. But we miss the old design of the Galaxy S21 Ultra and its feel in hand.

Samsung deserves a big pat on the back for its work in making the Galaxy S22 Ultra a familiar phone. Its button placement is the same, and the phone's general shape and size made for a seamless transition from the Galaxy S21 Ultra.

The symmetry of the Galaxy S22 Ultra is exquisite. When you look at the phone from the side, you can hardly tell the difference between the display and the rear panel. And the camera array is as flush as it can possibly be. It still wobbles on a table if you're the sort to type with your phone flat on a table.

Then there's the subtle hint of bronze on the frame, which contrasts ever so slightly with the black rear panel.

Like the front, the back panel is Gorilla Glass Victus+, and it has a matter finish, like its predecessor. It makes the phone silky smooth to the touch. The finish also fends off fingerprints and smudges and is easy to wipe clean. It also achieves a satin look that screams premium-ness.

The S Pen sticks out like a sore thumb on the Galaxy S22 Ultra's bottom panel. It's noticeably glossier than the rest of the surface. We've had it accidentally pop out in the pocket, but it won't slide out of its socket on its own, so it's fine.

Samsung has kept the unfortunate placement of the main microphone right next to the SIM slot. It's only too easy to stick a needle in the mic instead of the SIM slot if you are not paying attention.

The Galaxy S22 Ultra is easy to handle, despite its large frame. The balanced design carries over into a balance of weight - it's not as top-heavy as last year's Ultra. The fingerprint scanner area is right where the thumb lands naturally. The buttons on the right side are just where the thumb would expect them to be.

The bottom speaker doesn't have the best placement. It's easy to muffle it when you are watching a video in landscape orientation. You learn to adjust your grip, but it would've been better to put the speaker on the right side, like on Samsung's own Galaxy S22/S22+.

The built-in S Pen is a huge benefit of the Galaxy S22 Ultra, we hear. Personally, we seldom use it for anything outside of the camera app. Well, we did have to sign an embargo agreement on the fly and mail it back; I guess that wouldn't have been harder with another phone. I would always prefer to have an S Pen even if it doesn't see frequent use.

How has it held up?

We've always used the Galaxy S22 Ultra in a case. So we can't speak to dents from falls.

The display has a few micro scratches, most of those a sequence from a single incident. We guess it was a zipper that did it, though it's said that zippers haven't got the hardness to damage glass. Otherwise, the surface is clean and looks unmarked for its 9 months of use.

The oleophobic coating that gives the display its smudge resistance has certainly worn off. This reviewer admits being guilty of washing the phone with soap occasionally, which isn't exactly specified as okay in the user manual. As a result, the screen is constantly smudged up, and cleaning it has a short-lived effect.

Unfortunately, glass screen protectors are out of the question due to Samsung's choice of fingerprint scanning tech - it's ultrasonic instead of optical. You can use a plastic one, sure, but it scuffs as easily as, well, plastic and feels less smooth than glass.

Moving to an optical reader might make the fingerprint unlock a bit slower (if at all) but would open up the Galaxy S22 Ultra to a world of quality glass protectors, the nicer of which have fresh oleophobic coatings applied.

On a positive note, the fingerprint scanner is just as fast as on day one, despite the accumulated smudges over it.

The display has a razor-thin top bezel, a slightly thicker bottom bezel, and padded side bezels that allow you to hold the phone without accidental touches. Combined, they achieve the look of a complete screen when looked at from the front.

Moving to the back panel, it's accumulated some scuffs, despite keeping it in the case. The marks are peppered around the panel and appear like glossy blotches. It took some macro magic to point them out, so they're not that noticeable in real life.

Display and speakers

The display of the Galaxy S22 Ultra is the pinnacle of Samsung smartphone display technology available to the public as we wrote in our original review of the Galaxy S22 Ultra. That still holds true 9 months later. I'll briefly recap the technical details. The display can light up to 1300 nits, and the Vision Booster Ultra applies different tone mapping to boost shadows and color.

Technicalities aside, this is the largest non-folding display you have access to on a modern flagship smartphone (well, except the Vivo X Note, which we've yet to get our hands on). That's why the Galaxy S22 Ultra has been the main screen for this reviewer for everything from Netflix, movies, Boxing matches, MMA events, F1 races, web pages, you name it. The Galaxy S22 Ultra's big screen also does great as in-car navigation screen.

Refresh rate handling is excellent on the Galaxy S22 Ultra's LTPO 2.0 display. For practical purposes, the display of the Galaxy S22 Ultra can match the refresh rate of any video content, SDR or HDR, whether it be 24fps, 30fps, 60fps, what have you, and saving battery life by doing so. When you're not touching the screen (for example on the homescreen), the phone will sit at 24Hz. Touch it, and it springs to 120Hz for the smoothest experience. Cleverly, when the screen is idle, and there's no dynamic content on it, the display can drop as low as 24Hz, but the phone turns off its GPU completely (showing 1fps) to save battery - an example of this is the Always On Display.

The superb screen goes nicely with the quality set of speakers. They're loud and crisp and give body to any content.