Galaxy S22 Review: What's New? 4r5k2n

O Galaxy S22 and its brothers were launched here in Brazil on February 15th and in the last few days I was able to test the new smartphone from the line of Samsung. There are several improvements and other things remain the same. 6n1517

The company decided to listen to Brazilian fans and brought the version equipped with the processor to the national market. Snapdragon 8 Gen1, leaving the version with the Exynos. In some tests the Exynos does better, but in the vast majority the chip from Qualcomm wins. Lucky for us, right? Maybe gamers are the only ones who won't be happy with this choice, as the Exynos 2200 (chip used in the S22 line sold in Europe) marked the union between Samsung e AMD to create the processor that takes the ray tracing to smartphones.

Before we talk about each of the features of the Galaxy S22, it must be made clear that despite being launched together, they are smartphones with differences that go beyond physical size, number of cameras and battery.

In the table below we list the main items that differentiate the models of the line Galaxy S22:

	S22	S22 +	S22Ultra
Wifi network	Wi-Fi 6	WiFi 6E	WiFi 6E
Storage	8GB of RAM with 128 or 256GB of storage	8GB of RAM with 128 or 256GB of storage	8GB and 12GB of RAM and 128, 256, 516GB or 1TB of storage
processor cooling	No	No	Yes
Battery	3700mAh	4500mAh	5000mAh
charging power	25w	45w	45w
Number of cameras	4	4	5
Rear camera resolution	12 SM 50 SM 10 SM	12 SM 50 SM 10 SM	12 SM 108 SM 10 SM 10 SM
Front camera resolution	10 SM	10 SM	40 SM
Zoom	3x optical and up to 30X digital zoom	3x optical and up to 30X digital zoom	3x and 10x optical and up to 100X digital zoom
Laser AF	No	No	Yes
Screen Resolution	2340 × 1080	2340 × 1080	3088 × 1440
Screen Hz variation	Between 48 and 120Hz	Between 48 and 120Hz	Between 1 and 120Hz
maximum screen brightness	1300 nits	1750 nits	1750 nits
screen contrast ratio	2.000.000:1	3.000.000:1	3.000.000:1
S Pen	No	No	Yes

My previous cell phone was Galaxy S20FE (I already reviewed it) which, despite being very good, after almost 2 years starts to show slowdowns on the camera — something that is very common on smartphones Android. When the S22 arrived the first thing I thought was: there is almost no difference between them. And indeed, there are a lot of similarities, and that's great. It indicates that even two years of difference does not mean having an outdated device, the Samsung has made handsets that will last a long time without you feeling like you need to change phones. Thanks, Samsung!

Among the novelties, we have the confirmation of 4 years of Android and 5 years of security update — until 2026 and 2027 respectively. THE Samsung is the first Android smartphone manufacturer to have a clear update policy — in addition to the Google, with the line pixel.

The front camera — despite being 10MP — makes spectacular records, the blur is much improved, and photos at night have gained a very good post-processing.

Anyway, see item by item what we think of this little guy.

Design 493g4d

I've been using one for about a year and a half. Galaxy S20FE and the first thing that caught my attention in the Galaxy S22 it was the fit of it in my hand. The S20 FE isn't uncomfortable, but the S22 is perfect: it's comfortable in both the fit and the weight. Measuring 146 x 70,6 x 7,6 mm and weighing 167 grams, anyone who doesn't have big hands will be happy with the S22.

It is covered by Gorilla Glass Victus + both at the front and at the back, which according to the Samsung is the first smartphone with such material. This choice can be justified by the criticism received on previous models that came with plastic on the rear. The sides are made of a material that the manufacturer calls a “polished aluminum frame Armor”, capable of “protecting the sides with a super-resistant material”. It's beautiful, but I would recommend using a protective cover, any drop will scratch and take away the shine and charm that the sides have with that chrome look.

Unlike the S20 FE which had 5 antennas, the S22 It has 6 antennas on the entire side and there is no memory card slot, only for the nanoSIM chip. Another thing that differentiates the FE line from the main line is the fingerprint sensor — optical on FE models and ultrasonic on normal ones. Let's see if the likely S22 FE will stay that way.

The bezels on the screen are smaller and the side is relatively less curved compared to the S21. the design of Galaxy S22 is a sophisticated cut of the S21, it is unlikely that it will not please those who like Samsung's main line. Looking quickly and with the screen off, it is even confused with the iPhone.

Fabric 5p3y6b

The screen is beautiful. We are coming out of summer and the sun is still shining. If on the S20 FE I had a bit of difficulty using the phone outdoors wearing sunglasses, on the S22 that doesn't happen: the 1.300 nits of maximum brightness allows you to see the screen even in bright environments and wearing sunglasses. This is even one of the points addressed in the device marketing campaign:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSfdKeHLbEc

A Samsung always made excellent screens, no wonder it is one of the main manufacturers of the component in the world, even selling the screens that are in several iPhone models. It's no different here: clear images with very high quality, vivid colors and very good brightness, merit of the AMOLED screen.

At just 6,1 inches, it is one of the smallest high-end Android phones on the market today, second only to ASUS Zenfone 8 of 5,9 inches. For those who like even smaller cell phones, there is the mini line, from Apple . Last year I tested the first iPhone mini and told you everything here on review of iPhone 12mini.

With a resolution of 2340×1080 (425 ppi) and a maximum refresh rate of 120Hz, the Galaxy S22 It has a screen with high quality AMOLED technology. You can change the refresh rate to 60Hz in the settings if you want to save power. The display retains HDR10+ as seen in the past generation, ensuring video content has more contrast at all times. There is a small hole at the top of the display, which houses the 10MP front camera.

Fortunately, the screen is flat, unlike the Galaxy s22 ultra and some other phones, which have a curved design. I had the Galaxy S8 and it was very difficult to find films that stayed on the screen for a long time. So much so that in more than 10 years using smartphones, it was my only cell phone that had a cracked screen, as I ended up having to use it without film.

who has the Galaxy S21 there won't be any benefit switching to the S22 when it comes to screen, as the specs are the same (and that's not a problem, the screen was amazing and stays that way).

Camera u5d6v

The main lens (wide) and telephoto had changes in their resolutions compared to the Galaxy S21. While the ultra wide remains at 12MP, the main one went from 12MP to 50MP, and the telephoto went from 64MP to 10MP. Cameras have been making spectacular recordings in the daytime or in bright light for many generations. When I compared daytime photos between the Galaxy S22 and the S20 FE, the first thing I thought was: it's almost the same thing. I was wrong, especially about the front camera and in photos at night, where the difference is stark.

The improvements at night are significant, but the merit is mainly in the post-processing. In photos taken at night or in low light situations, after clicking and opening in the gallery, you see the magic happening.

S22 camera features 114n34

• Pro Mode
• professional video
• Single take
• Nightly
• Food
• Panoramic
• Super Slow Mo
• Slow motion
• Timelapse
• portrait video
• Director's Vision

S22 rear cameras: w4z4a

• 50 MP, f/1.8, 23mm (wide), 1/1.56″, 1.0µm, Dual Pixel PDAF, OIS
• 10 MP, f/2.4, 70mm (telephoto), 1/3.94″, 1.0µm, PDAF, OIS, 3x optical zoom
• 12 MP, f/2.2, 13mm, 120˚ (ultrawide), 1/2.55″ 1.4µm, Super Steady video
• Records videos in 8K at 24fps, 4K at 30/60fps, 1080p at 30/60/240fps, 720p at 960fps, HDR10+, stereo sound recording, gyro-EIS

S22 front camera: 1q445p

• 10 MP, f / 2.2, 26mm (wide), 1 / 3.24 ″, 1.22 µ, Dual Pixel PDAF
• Records 4K videos at 30/60fps, 1080p at 30/60fps

S22 main camera v5o66

That's 50 megapixels in one sensor Samsung ISOCELL GN5 (S5KGN5) with ISOCELL 2.0, an improvement over last year's ISOCELL Plus, which promises greater light sensitivity, further reducing light loss. Further down you will see that with post processing the photos at night are very good. This is part of the set of improvements that the Samsung call of “NIGHTOGRAPHY”

The 5MP GN50 is a Tetracell sensor, which means it combines four pixels to make 12.5MP photos that are transformed into 12MP photos with a resolution of 4000×3000 pixels. We have a 23mm lens with an aperture of f/1.8, Dual Pixel PDAF and optical stabilization for video recording.

Colors, sharpness, everything is great, there is nothing negative to point out. See the photos below:

S22 telephoto camera 3r4a6y

Many people complained that there was a downgrade of the Galaxy S21 on the telephoto lens — which had 64MP and now has 10MP — but the fact is that the S22 does not use digital zoom to make the crop in the image, now the same lens who has the zoom, which significantly improves the final result.

We have an S5K3K1 sensor with individual pixels in a 70mm lens with f/2.4 aperture that has PDAF and optical stabilization features. The South Korean decided to keep the 3 cameras with a resolution of 4000×3000, or 12MP, which means that the cell phone makes a Upscaling from 10MP photo to 12MP, which is not ideal.

The quality of the photos is excellent, making photos sharp and rich in detail, with minimal noise and very beautiful colors. The portrait mode is well evolved, but it's not perfect — the contour on the hair strands helps deliver, but it's improved a lot.

Finally, we have the 30x digital zoom in addition to the 3x optical zoom. It's not perfect, of course, but it's decent.

ultra wide camera 2q1u5q

We have the same camera here S21: same field of view, 12mm lens with f/2.2 aperture, fixed focus and 120º aperture. Unfortunately only the S22Ultra has the possibility to use this lens for macro photos, as well as the S21Ultra last year. What's different here is that in the camera app you see the option of 0,6x, instead of 0,5.

In closing, this is the only lens that is not enabled for portrait mode.

S22 front camera j36v

Look, it surprised me. It is common for the blue of the sky to burst and become almost white, or a well washed blue. At the Galaxy S22 it happens, but much less. In the record below, the front camera focused on the central object (me) and captured the clarity of the sky in the background very well. The shadows on the trees became dark, it's all very good! Evolutions very welcome!

Portrait mode has evolved a lot. Since cell phones do portrait mode, the hair strands have always given away that the photo was taken on the cell phone and that the blurred background was software at work. At the Galaxy S22 this is well softened, it's not perfect as a professional lens could do, but it's much better, the feeling of depth is more natural.

Even at night the photos come out very good, even in conditions without much light.

Photos at night with the S22 264y6n

A picture is worth a thousand words, right? Without a tripod, holding the Galaxy S22 and S20FE and I made the records below using the main camera so you can see the evolution:

The sharpness, the amount of light, the details, everything was better in the record made by S22. Samsung implemented a post processing (which you can see working, when you open the photo you see it loading to be updated) that greatly improves photos taken at night. The night mode is to be congratulated!

I love long exposure photos. In the review of the S20 FE I did several. O Galaxy S22 luckily it keeps the Pro mode and records like this are possible to be done at 22:30 controlling ISO and shutter speed:

At night it is common to notice grainy spots in dark or shady places and bursts in bright places. O S22 handles this contrast well, as you can see in the following photo: in the black frame, the projected shadow, despite not having much definition, was not very noisy, and the light points did not burst.

The ultra-wide has the weakest results at night. The night mode helps a lot, but it doesn't work miracles. As the other two rear cameras make up for it, I think it's okay to overlook it, right? Mainly because there isn't a lot of aliasing or noise, the dark goes dark.

It is worth ing that the Pro mode, which allows you to control ISO, shutter speed, photo, white balance and other things, now works on all lenses, before telephoto was left out.

Battery 4i148

Perhaps it is the weakest point of the Galaxy S22. compared to the S21 the battery dropped from 4000 mAh (which wasn't much) to 3700 mAh. In 11 minutes of using the camera, I took 21 shots alternating between rear and front camera and saw the battery jump from 21% to 19%.

With the 25W adapter (which, despite not coming in the box, You can order for free within 30 days of purchase) the device takes just over 1 hour to be fully charged. To complete, the Galaxy S22 does not have 45W charging, like the S22+ and the S22 Ultra. The battery is smaller than the predecessor, the charger doesn't come in the box and they still limited the maximum charging capacity. hey, Samsung...

If your usage profile is intense, this is definitely not the phone for you, maybe it's better to choose the S22 + or the S22Ultra, which have larger batteries.

Over time, the device will understand its use and the artificial intelligence will do its job to save energy when needed, so much so that after many weeks of using it, I hardly notice any more heating.

Audio 1q5573

The sound is loud and clear, without much distortion. If you're coming out of a cell phone with no stereo sound, you'll notice a big difference. The speakers are positioned at the bottom and top, which helps a lot in the sound experience, especially for those who don't like to hear the sound with greater intensity on one side than the other, as in traditional iPads that only have the sound emitted. from one direction (I told you about it in iPad 8 review).

As usual, we don't have a P2 input for headphones, and the device doesn't come with headphones anymore in the box.

performance and processor 5p3y9

The performance in general is as expected from a device that costs more than 5 thousand reais: very good. THE Samsung has been doing a great job on Android since the Galaxy S6, and year after year it just gets better. It still doesn't compare with what we found in the iOS da Apple , but it is very fluid in everything, simple and heavy tasks. When opening the camera app there is a small delay, longer than I've noticed on iPhones, but it's very subtle.

O Galaxy S22 is the first South Korean smartphone to ship the Snapdragon 8 Gen1, the most powerful processor made by Qualcomm. It comes with the promise of several improvements, but it's worrying how much it heats up. The warning signal lights up when we see that it is not something isolated, other devices such as the Motorola Edge X30 present the same problem. Will there be a fix in the future to alleviate this? We don't know, but for now we will have the battery - which is already low - being drained by energy inefficiency caused by the processor.

O Snapdragon 8 Gen1 it is a 4nm octa-core, against 5nm of the previous model. This means, in theory, that it uses less battery. The cores are divided as follows:

• 1 Core 3.00 GHz Cortex-X2 (heavy activities)
• 3 core 2.40 GHz Cortex-A710 (also for heavy activities)
• 4 core 1.70 GHz Cortex-A510 (light activities

In practice this means that in gaming, rendering and recording videos or any heavier activity, the main cores will be used and will consume more battery. Light activities like browsing the internet, using social networks and apps like WhatsApp, will use the simplest cores, draining less battery and leaving you more time unplugged.

Until the publication date of this review, for some reason the Snapdragon 8 Gen1 does not run games Google Play Store at 120Hz. This limitation should be resolved in the future with some update, as previous models like the S21 and S20 higher refresh rate in games.

In 2022 we know that experience in practice counts for more than scores and rankings, but for those who like benchmark tests, in AnTuTu the Galaxy S22 with Snapdragon appears in 15th place. And here's a curiosity: the S22 with Exynos appears in 10th, and the only item it got the best (almost 15% more) was in the GPU, proving that the partnership of Samsung to Olos technology AMD did bring improvements.

It's strange to see the We 12 Pro and Motorola Pro Edge 30 in 1st and 2nd place respectively, while the S22 Ultra, S22+ and S22 are in 5th, 7th and 15th place respectively, as they both have the same processor.

System 2u6jb

A One UI has become one of the most complete interfaces on the market. Which, although positive, has its negative side. Many s do not even imagine the infinite possibilities of the Galaxy line. Android has always been a system recognized for its more possibilities when compared to its main competitor — iOS — and natively Samsung puts innumerable resources, for example: there is the possibility of remastering a photo in the gallery, something similar to what the Remini application does, but directly through the system without ing programs that fill you with advertising.

Perhaps there is a lack of educational campaigns showing the possibilities, the company is one of the largest cell phone manufacturers on the planet, it can be useful for many people.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tk-sM3GCAIQ

A Samsung pioneered the DeX, a platform that transforms the cell phone interface into a computer interface. The idea is promising, but it still needs tweaking and little by little other companies are adopting similar ideas: Motorola today has Ready For and Xiaomi has PC Mode.

The device comes with Android 12 factory and as we said above we will have 4 years of system updates and 5 years of security updates, that means it will receive Android 13, 14, 15 and 16. Great news, right?

Another good news is that the system now switches the camera when you are going to zoom in on the Instagram, for example. In the past he used only one of the lenses and gave digital zoom, which significantly reduced the final quality of the image and now when zooming he switches between the lenses. Amen! The recording quality is really better. The partnership of Samsung with Instagram started on the S10 (who re it even had a dedicated Insta button in the camera app?) is finally bringing real results.

who hated gadgets Samsung on behalf of TouchWiz and are thinking of migrating back, give it a chance: One UI is beautiful, fast, and without those unexpected crashes. In fact, the device did not show any crashes in my tests.

Negative points 154f45

The device heats up. In 11 minutes using the camera, the phone got much hotter than usual. The S20 FE never got this hot, not even doing several things at the same time.

Another negative point is the amount of limitations that the Galaxy S22 has compared to the other models of the S22 line. The price difference isn't even that big between the S22 and the S22+ to justify taking away so much, like Wi-Fi6E .

One thing that is not clear is the S22Ultra have macro mode on the ultra-wide lens and the others don't, since they both have the same lens, same processor and the same sensor.

Price 4k3v1d

All of this comes at a price and is quite salty. This year the Samsung started sales of Galaxy S22 at the same price as the S21 last year: R$ 5.999,00, with the possibility of dropping to R$ 5.399,00 in cash payment — but it is already possible to find the device for BRL 4.699 at Magazine Luiza.

We shouldn't normalize the abuse of prices practiced on phones in the country. Almost 5 minimum wages on a cell phone that is similar to its predecessor and which currently costs around R$3.000,00 is quite unrealistic. Fortunately, to alleviate this, the Samsung offered as a gift the Galaxy Watch4 for those who bought the smartphone in the pre-sale. Those who buy today pay the same values ​​but don't have that caress that is very welcome.

Conclusion a5r1x

It's an evolution. Companies, in general, need to keep their cards up their sleeve to keep the public's interest, bringing little news, but always bringing improvement. From the Galaxy S21 to the Galaxy S22 we have incremental advances in camera, processor, features and end. If you have the S21 or even the S20 line the update is not necessary.

The S line is almost a gem, and it continues to shine on the S22, but if you have intense cell phone use during the day, do heavy activities and use it for games, maybe the S22+ is more suitable, since it has a bigger battery and you won't need it. keep putting it to recharge throughout the day.

Use the Galaxy S10 or any cell phone from 2019 or earlier? The upgrade is valid, especially when we consider that we will have 4 years of software updates and 5 years of security updates. You just need to be aware that the battery is a big downside and can let you down — get an external battery.

Technical Specifications 396051

Córdoba	Galaxy S22
Colors	Phantom Black, White, Pink Gold, Green, Graphite, Sky Blue, Violet, Cream
Memory and Storage	8 GB of RAM and 128 or 256 of storage
Display	Dynamic AMOLED 2X, 120Hz, HDR10+, 1300 nits 6.1 inches 1080 x 2340 pixels, 19.5:9 aspect ratio (~425 ppi)
Dimensions & Weight	146 x 70.6 x 7.6 mm weighing 168 grams
Cameras	Back camera: 50 MP, f/1.8, 23mm (wide), 1/1.56″, 1.0µm, Dual Pixel PDAF, OIS 10 MP, f/2.4, 70mm (telephoto), 1/3.94″, 1.0µm, PDAF, OIS, 3x optical zoom 12 MP, f/2.2, 13mm, 120˚ (ultrawide), 1/2.55″ 1.4µm, Super Steady video Frontal camera: 10 MP, f / 2.2, 26mm (wide), 1 / 3.24 ″, 1.22 µ, Dual Pixel PDAF
Processor	Snapdragon 8 Gen1 Qualcomm (1x 3.0GHz Cortex-X2 + 3x 2.5GHz Cortex-A710 + 4x 1.8GHz Cortex-A510)
GPU	Adreno 730
Expandable memory and SIM card	Does not accept MicroSD card. Use Nano SIM
Battery	3.700mAh
Loading	25W fast charging Fast Qi/PMA wireless charging 15W 4.5W wireless reverse charging
Operational system	Android 12 Samsung OneUI 4.1
speech	Wi-Fi 802.11 a / b / g / n / ac / 6, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot Bluetooth 5.2, A2DP, LE GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS, GALILEO
Payment	NFC, Samsung Pay, Google Pay
Standard	NFC, under-screen ultrasonic digital sensor, accelerometer, barometer.
Authentication	Digital, Face recognition, PIN,
Audio
Institutional	Rear: 8K@24fps, 4K@30/60fps, 1080p@30/60/240fps, 720p@960fps, HDR10+, stereo sound rec., gyro-EIS Front: 4K@30/60fps, 1080p30/60fps
Water resistance	Yes, IP68
Price	BRL 4.699 at Magazine Luiza