The Galaxy family spans so many generations of devices, and they are carrying on the tradition with the Samsung Galaxy S22+. I am a Samsung user in my personal life and have had the opportunity to check out a few of their options through CGM, like the Z Fold2, Z Fold3 and the A52 5G. My favourite thing about Samsung and the Galaxy line is that every device is user-friendly, and whenever you upgrade, they make the process as simple as possible.
Seriously, switching between phones used to be a huge ordeal. So much so that I wasn’t originally interested in smartphone reviews when I started writing. Now, with the consistency of the brand’s software and Samsung Smart Switch being available, I just throw the phones down to swap things over, and I’m done. There is rarely a learning curve between each new device, so I’m left with a positive outlook when diving into the new phone. The Samsung Galaxy S22+ was a great experience overall, though not much of an upgrade from the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra. It was, however, a massive leap forward from the Z Fold3 and the device was set up in no time.
The Samsung Galaxy S22+ comes in four colours, Phantom White, Phantom Black, Phantom Green, and Pink Gold. It features a 6.6 inch FHD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2x Infinity-O display running with a 120hz refresh rate, making for a very crisp looking picture. The size allows for a comfortable grip, and it’s perfect for watching videos on the go.
The Corning Gorilla Glass Victus+ held up well against my clumsiness and my toddler, so I can’t ask much more than that. I prefer this shape and style of phone over the bulkier Z Folds, smaller models like the Z Flip3 or past devices like the S20 Ultra with edge screens. It feels more durable and comfortable in my hand, while still giving enough screen surface to work on or stream media.
I usually stick to a mid-range phone, and the S22 line came out with a trio, the S22, S22+ and S22 Ultra. I rarely need top of the line features, but I love a decent camera. The S22+ cameras are just what I need to help me capture moments with my family. It features a triple 50MP Wide-Angle rear camera, compared to the Z Fold3’s 12mp camera. It was a massive improvement. There is also the 12MP ultra-wide camera and the 10 MP telephoto camera if you want to catch things from a distance.
Being able to record 8K video at 24fps, 4k at 30 and 60 fps, 1080p at 30 and 60 fps, and 720 at 960fps, is a lot more than I require, but the S22+ can do it. Its ability to take decent photos was what I was really excited about though, especially coming from the 12MP camera on the Z Fold3. I was able to catch a wiggly toddler, a crisp snowfall, and crashing waves all with excellent clarity. I was really fond of the 3x optical zoom. The camera captured vibrant colours so well up close, and the zoom gave me the freedom to see a great range without needing to move very much.
The selfie camera doesn’t do anything outstanding at 10MP, but has an 80 degree field of view, and Dual Pixel AutoFocus. Essentially it’s your standard low megapixel camera, perfect for soft focus selfies. I should mention that much like the Z Fold3, the newer Samsung Galaxy devices struggle to connect properly to TikTok filters. Unfortunately, the S22 line may not be the ideal choice for someone heavy into social media.
With 8gb of ram and 256 GB (or 128 GB depending on the model) of storage, the device is not a powerhouse, but can handle light gaming and stores plenty of photos, videos and apps. There is also no space for a storage upgrade which seems to be Samsung’s way as of late, a frustrating choice for anyone who lives on their phone. Fortnite ran smoothly thanks to the Qualcomm SM8450 snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset and Octa-Core CPU, and the graphics were passable on the s22+’s Adreno 730 GPU.
“The Samsung Galaxy S22+ is a great device for someone looking to jump into the Samsung Galaxy family…”
Even with light gaming, consistent social media browsing and answering emails all day, the Samsung Galaxy S22+ battery could last me into the evening. It supports fast wireless charging 2.0, which usually gains about one percent battery each minute, double that when charging with a standard cable. I use a wireless charger each night, and aside from missing the mark once, I typically only needed one overnight charge to get through the day. Pairing the wireless charging stand with the S22+’s Always On Display, I had myself a nice little alarm clock setup.
The Samsung Galaxy S22+ is a great device for someone looking to jump into the Samsung Galaxy family, or for anyone who wants a good product without expecting top of the line hardware. The S22+ will suffice for the majority of uses, and the $1399 price point isn’t too far off from similar products. The people I will warn, however, are those upgrading from a previous Samsung device.
Because the Galaxy line is released in tiers, if you’re coming from an Ultra, even a few generations old, it may actually be better for you. I was shocked to find out the S22+ is actually a downgrade from the S20 Ultra in a lot of ways. Of course, the S22+ running on Android 12 instead of 10 (upgradable to 11) is a plus, and there have been upgrades to the chipset and GPU as well. These are standard upgrades to a new device, and a boost to power is always nice. The boost from the S20 Ultra to the S22+ came out to around a 20% performance upgrade.
Where you’re going to suffer, though, is in the RAM and camera capabilities. Obviously, the “Ultra” is top of the line for Samsung, but being 2 generations old at this point, I would have assumed the S22+ would surpass it. The S20 Ultra features 12 or 16 GB of LPDDR5 RAM, with 8 GB of LPDDR5 for the S22+.
“The Samsung Galaxy S22+ is the perfect combination of hardware and features for this tier of the Samsung Galaxy line.”
The cameras are what shocked me the most, with a 10MP selfie cam on the S22+, and a 40MP selfie cam on the S20 Ultra. The main camera on the S22+ is 50MP, whereas the S20 Ultra is 108MP. If you want to compare phones that are on the same tier, the jump from the S20+ or S21+ to the S22+ is still an improvement to the software, and slight changes to the cameras.
My warning is this: Just because the number is higher, doesn’t mean the phone is better. Make sure you take into account what you’re doing with the phone before you purchase, because for me, a 108 MP camera is going to take the cake over a new processor or GPU. If the hardware is what you’re focusing on though, chances are you’ll be looking at the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra anyway.
What I do prefer about the S22+ is the shape and size. The S20 Ultra is bulky with curved edges, which I find much more delicate than a flat screen. Even though the S20 line is only slightly larger at 6.9 inches, the S22+ sits much more comfortably in my hands.
The Samsung Galaxy S22+ brought just enough to the table with its storage, speed and camera to warrant an upgrade from other mid-level devices, but it is not a complete overhaul compared to other “Ultra” models. Improvements that were made to the device were done so without bringing overwhelming changes that could scare off a regular Samsung user. The Samsung Galaxy S22+ is the perfect combination of hardware and features for this tier of the Samsung Galaxy line.
