Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra Unboxing and First Impressions
The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra is unlike any of the Korean giant’s top-of-the-line flagship model as it’s essentially a spiritual successor to the Galaxy Note, inheriting the signature design and the S Pen. The review will still take some time so we’re going to give you a taste of it first with our unboxing and first impressions of the smartphone.
Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra Unboxing
The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra has a packaging that’s very similar to last year’s top-of-the-line flagship by the Korean giant. It’s a slim black box with design patterns which clearly show the series that it belongs to. The reason it’s slim, as you might have expected by now, is because it lacks a charger. Inside the box, you can find the following items:
- USB-C to USB-C cable
- SIM ejector pin
- Quick Start Guide
- Regional Lock Guide
- Samsung Pay leaflet
- Warranty card
- The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra smartphone itself
Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra First Impressions
For our review unit, we received the Burgundy colour variant, which looks quite similar to the Mystic Bronze on the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra. Personally, this is one of two colour choices that I feel is the most attractive, right next to Green. The White and Black certainly looks clean but it also makes this device look rather bland. With that being said, no harm in going for either of those colours if you like them.
The rear has a matte finish, which is great because it’s not a fingerprint magnet and it’s easier to grip. Unlike previous years, the rear camera setup does not have a housing, so they protrude outwards individually. Apparently, this is done to help shave some weight off the device. I still dig the contour cut design from its predecessor, especially in two-toned colours and this one makes it look rather bare.
Flip it over and you will see its glorious 6.8-inch QHD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2X display with adaptive refresh rate ranging from 1Hz to 120Hz. Unsurprisingly, it looks gorgeous, and brightness has seen improvement in this model. However, we will leave further commentary on it in the final review. Like its predecessors, it has a punch hole cutout which houses the selfie camera as well as the under display fingerprint scanner. The bezels are thin and its solid build quality makes it pleasing to hold.
For the first time, we are getting a mainline Samsung flagship entry with a Snapdragon SoC instead of Exynos. To be precise, it’s the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip, which further builds upon the powerhouse that is the Snapdragon 888. As powerful as it is, there is a genuine worry that it might have inherited the predecessor’s thermal issues as well. This is something we will find out in the review.
Specifications
| SoC | Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, 4nm 1 x Cortex-X2 @ 3 GHz + 3 x Cortex-A710 @ 2.5GHz + 4 x Cortex-A510 @ 1.8 GHz Adreno 730 GPU |
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| RAM | 8GB | |
| Storage | 128GB UFS 3.1 | |
| Display | 6.8″ QHD+ (3080 x 1440) Dynamic AMOLED 2X Display Corning Gorilla Glass Victus+ HDR10+ 1750 nits 1Hz to 120Hz Adaptive Refresh Rate |
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| Rear Camera | 108MP f/1.8 wide angle camera, PDAF, Laser AF, OIS 10MP f/4.9 telephoto camera, 10x optical zoom, dual pixel PDAF, OIS 10MP f/2.4 telephoto camera, 3x optical zoom, dual pixel PDAF, OIS 12MP f/2.2 120˚ ultra-wide, dual pixel PDAF, Super Steady video LED flash, auto-HDR, panorama 8K@24fps, 4K@30/60fps, 1080p@30/60/240fps, 720p@960fps, HDR10+, stereo sound rec., gyro-EIS |
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| Selfie Camera | 40MP f/2.2 80˚ wide-angle selfie cam, PDAF Dual video call, Auto HDR 4K@30/60fps, 1080p@30fps |
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| Battery | 5000mAh 45W fast charging USB-PD 3.0 fast charging 15W wireless fast charging 4.5W reverse wireless charging |
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| Dimensions | 163.3 x 77.9 x 8.9 mm 229g |
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| Ingress Protection | IP68 | |
| Software | One UI 4.1 based on Android 12 | |
| Colours | Phantom Black, Phantom Silver, Green, and Burgundy | |
If you want to learn more about all three phones in the Galaxy S22 series as well as the prices, click right here. If you want to know the pre-order offer for all 3 devices, click here instead.
For now, the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra is in the middle of benchmark tests. I’ll be publishing my review of the flagship smartphone soon so stay tuned for that.
