JOIN USSamsung Galaxy S22+ review: Just Excellent!
Samsung's Galaxy S22 comes in three variants--a generic S22, premium S22 Plus and top-end S22 Ultra with prices ranging between Rs 72,999 and Rs 1,18,999.
I have already reviewed the two of three models and am ready with the S22 Plus.
Design, build quality and display
Like the compact Galaxy S22, the S22 Plus too, features the same design language inspired from the predecessor S21 series.
Our S22 Plus review unit is phantom black and it looks spectacular and undeniably most visually appealing among the peers in the sub-Rs 90,000 class. Most importantly, it can be instantly recognised as a Samsung phone.
The company has done a fabulous paint job, as the beautifully carved camera module blends perfectly with metallic rail around the edges also the glass-plated shell on the back. Yes, there is a bit of protrusion at the top left corner, but it never posed an obstruction when sliding into the pant pocket.
Also, the build quality of the device is excellent. It has an armour aluminium frame and the back the front is protected by Gorilla Glass Victus+ series shield, the sturdiest cover on a premium Android phone in the industry. And the matte finish is just top-notch and a does fine job repealing the fingerprint smudges.
The stereo speakers of the S22 Plus is excellent and liven up even a large living room and don't distort even when the volume is set to maximum.
It comes with an IP68 rating, meaning the device can survive underwater for close to 1.5 metres (approx. five feet) depth up to 30 minutes.
On the front, it flaunts a wonderful 6.7-inch full HD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2X Display, supports variable refresh rate (10-120Hz) and 240Hz Touch Sampling Rate in Game Mode. I have no hesitation to say that this is the best display on a phone in the market, no rival brand comes close to this in terms of the viewing experience.
Like the S22 and S22 Ultra, this model too boasts Vision Booster and Eye comfort shield features.
Combined with sensitive sensors and Samsung's proprietary Vision Booster technology, the phone can automatically detect the light condition of the surrounding area and appropriately adjust the colour, contrast, and brightness of the display.
To be true, the Vision Booster really works both indoors and outdoors. I had no issues when even while reading and consuming multimedia content even under direct sunlight.
Also, the in-display fingerprint sensors are wonderfully well both in terms of speed of recognition of the fingerprint impression and quick unlocking of the screen.
Performance
Samsung Galaxy S22 Plus comes with a 4nm class Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 silicon. It can clock up 3.0Ghz CPU speed. And, it is backed by 8GB RAM and 128GB/256GB storage. It should be noted that the device supports Ram Plus, where users can extend the physical memory by up to 8GB. This means the RAM can be bumped up to 16GB, provided there is enough space in the storage.
During the entire review period, the device worked smoothly be it normal day-to-day chores such as browsing the web, opening apps and doing heavy-duty tasks such as 4K video recording and playing the power-hogging games such as Asphalt 9: Legend. Overall, Samsung's premium phone is a fantastic performer.
Under normal usage, the phone, which houses a 4,500mAh battery consistently offers a full day (active hours 16 hours) battery with more than 20 per cent juice left in the tank, when I retire to the bed.
Though the phone supports up to 25W charging speed, the retail box comes with just the Type-C-to-Type-C cable and you have to buy the adaptor separately. This is an effort by Samsung to reduce the impact on the environment for developing and assembling products.
Users just have to rely on the charger of the old to get the S22 Plus phone charged up every day.
Another notable aspect of the Galaxy S22 Plus is that some of the key components are made of repurposed fishing nets and other recycled metals for buttons and motherboards.
Add to that, Samsung has promised to offer four years of Android support (up to 2026) and an additional year of security software (up to 2027). This not ensures the phone will be usable for five years, but also builds loyalty among the customers.
With such initiatives, device owners need not have to buy a new phone every alternate year. And this will have a positive effect on the environment as companies don't have to regularly mine for raw materials.
Photography
Samsung Galaxy S22 Plus has camera hardware as the standard S22. It boasts a 12MP Ultra-Wide Camera (f/2.2, FOV: Field-Of-View 120-degree) backed by 50MP Wide Camera (with dual pixel AF, OIS, F1.8, FOV 85-degree) and a 10MP Telephoto Camera ( with 3x Optical Zoom, OIS, F2.4, FOV 36-degree) with LED flash on the back.
Like the S22, the bigger sibling too, takes excellent photos in all lighting conditions. The photos come with minute details and colours are well processed and worth sharing on social media platforms.
Even the ultra-wide shots, the phone's camera is able to cover the wide expanse of Nandi hills with the Sun closing to settle in the late afternoon.
I am sure you'd love the grey cotton-hued cloud draped Sun with the light peaking through the little pockets of space in between the clouds giving an excellent evening shot.
The Optical Zoom feature works great with loss-less quality photos. As far as the digital zoom is concerned, the device manages to control the noise, but only to an extent. Beyond 10X, it gets grainy.
The night mode photos are beautiful. The picture sample was taken in the pitch darkness in an agricultural field with lights emanating from houses very away from the scene and yet the resultant picture was like an artistic oil painting. The green leaf of the coconut are near-natural and the overall picture quality is far better than any of the competition in the ultra-premium phone segment.
It is also one of the few phones in the world to support 8K video recording. Yes, the videos are really good and stable too.
On the front, it boasts a feature-rich 10MP front camera (f/2.2, 26mm wide lens, 1/3.24-inch sensor, 1.22µm pixel size, Dual Pixel PDAF: Phase Detection Auto Focus). It takes fantastic selfies and like the S22, it can easily capture a group of four please with ease in close range. The portrait pictures too come off really good. Even the 4K videos taken on the front camera too, are of excellent quality.
Final thoughts
The Galaxy S22 Plus is well placed between the compact S22 and the top-end S22 Ultra both in terms of the feature and the price range.
It has great camera hardware, and remarkable build quality and performance-wise too, be it the battery life or the playing graphics-rich games, the Samsung premium phone does an excellent job.
It comes in two storages-- 128GB and 256GB-- for Rs 84,999 and Rs 88,999, respectively.
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