This video is sponsored by Spigen.
iPhone 13 Max, S22 Ultra and Pixel 6 Pro.
It’s always tricky to compare such devices.
And that’s what I’m gonna do for you today.
But before we do that, I think it’s worth calming down a little bit.
Whilst many will try to tell you that one is better than the other…
I don’t fully agree with that, I would say though that there are features in each of
these phones that differentiate them.
Features that makes them “better” than others.
And you already know that, these are not brand new phones.
But in actually using all of them (not at once of course), but trying to fit them into
my workflow of running my own tech consultancy business AND being a content creator I found
some nuances… that hopefully you will find interesting or at least entertaining.
I am Alex and I do down-to-earth tech reviews.
If that’s something you like, welcome to my channel!
In general, these days you really can’t go wrong with any these flagship devices.
I know… it sounds like I am sitting on the fence and I don’t want to upset people,
but that’s not it.
For context, I still remember using a public phone to send a message to someone’s pager.
Yes, I am that old!
So to me these devices are nothing short of marvels of technology and engineering.
I could even include a few more options here but.. ahem…I ran out of funds!
Oh also…
I am what you could call an Apple fanboy so before you let me know how biased I am in
the comments, I couldn’t disagree with you.
If you cut me in half you will probably find my veins are lightning cables and my brain
lasts up to 10 hours without recharging.
But this version of me is 15,000 times faster than last year.
(In many ways that’s true!)
Anyway… Having said all that.
I have been genuinely more and more impressed by Android products recently.
Apple fans out there will probably hate me for this, but it’s true.
I feel that non-Apple devices have more freedom to innovate and bring things to their smartphones
that Apple will take 2-3 years to do.
They will rename it and call it something cool and we will go WOW!
Brilliant Apple.
But you and I know, they are not fooling us!
Both the S21 Ultra and the Pixel 6 Pro have really impressed me recently.
The amount of freedom we get on Android phones and some of the intelligence features available
on these devices now are kind of surpassing the iPhone in some areas for me.
But the iPhone to me, especially the Pro range still represents top quality and a smooth
user experience.
More specifically how their devices work with other Apple devices you may have.
AKA the ecosystem.
Some may call it Apple Prison, because once you’re in it..
It’s quite hard to get out.
And we really can’t take that away from them.
It is actually quite powerful.
The S22 Ultra here, has failed to impress me as much as the Pixel 6 Pro did.
Or even as much as the S21 Ultra did…
But there are THREE reasons for that.
One, I have the Exynos version which to me, does feel a bit choppy.
Even more so than the S21 Ultra also Exynos chip.
Come on Samsung, just give us all Snapdragon!
And two, it’s early days and I actually smashed the screen in the making of these
videos so..
I’ve had less time with it than the iPhone and the Pixel 6 Pro.
And THREE…
Well, before I talk about that, it’s probably a relevant time to show you these amazing
cases from today’s sponsors Spigen - which would have prevented this from happening!
They have cases for iPhone, S22 Ultra and the Pixel 6 Pro.
Spigen cases are super stylish and they actually have a couple of new options for the S22 Ultra
that I am really excited to share here.
They always come up with products that offer great functionality and have a different model
to suit your style.
For the S22 Ultra, they have this new Optik Armor, which has a cover for the camera for
extra protection.
That is brilliant!!
This feature is something I’ve always wanted to see and I am glad Spigen came up with it.
So if you’re worried about scratching the camera module when you are not using the phone,
simply close this cover here which clicks nicely into place.
Really well designed, I always like when there’s attention to detail and you can see that here
for the S-Pen cutout, it feels really well thought through, let’s you remove the S-pen
without any issues.
This is another well designed case, it’s the brand-new Cryo Armor case, which is designed
with gaming in mind.
And it looks great on the S22 Ultra!
This pattern is really cool, I love the texture feel as well, I love to fidget and this is
just heaven for that.
Keeping the phone cooler, actually helps conserving the overall battery health so great to see
that!
This is one of my favourite cases, this is the Tough Armor case.
I think it’s a beautiful protective case.
Last time I reviewed this case I made a criticism about the volume rockers and I am glad they
they fixed that now!
The power button has these groves on it which makes it really tactile now.
The kickstand is a nice touch too.
For me more cases should have this option.
It’s perfect when watching content and you’re not near a stand or something to prop it up
against.
Great protection inside too, with this extra layer of shock absorbing material.
And all around the front you get a decent clearance as well for when you put the phone
down.
All of their cases work well with Wireless chargers.
And this wireless charger from Spigen is awesome too, this is their PowerArc wireless charger.
When you pair this with their ArcStation wall charger, you get this really excellent solution
for your desk, very low profile, quite elegant design!
Spigen has thinner cases like the Liquid Air case, and ike all Spigen cases, it features
Spigen’s own Air cushion technology on all corners.
I love the texture at the back again, really quite sleek and make it feel quite premium.
And this is the Ultra Hybrid model which is their clear case.
Spigen use a very clear material!
Very transparent as you can see.
And their clear cases really stay clear for a long time!
In general I like clear cases because they kinda remind me of the colour of the device
I bought.
It is great for preserving that original look of your phone.
Right…
The third reason the S22 Ultra has not impressed me so far…
And Samsung fans I am sorry.
I have a sneaky suspicion that the S22 Ultra is not much of an upgrade… if you are coming
from an S21 Ultra.
I could be wrong of course, but it just hasn’t hit me yet.
Time will tell but we’re talking very little upgrades here.
It’s very comparable to the iPhone 12 Pro Max and the 13 Pro Max in terms of difference.
You know, very little between them.
But bro, Cinematic mode!
Seriously??
I’ve filmed my dog in cinematic mode.
Twice in the last however many months.
There are some significant improvements on the S22 Ultra.
For example if you care about the quality of portraits and video, the S22 Ultra has
really improved in those areas.
Other than that, it feels like a minor upgrade.
---- Although I haven’t been using 3 or 4 phones
at the same time.
That would be silly.
I have used them for entire days - Well the S21 Ultra I used it for about 9 months last
year as my main phone, so I got enough of an appreciation of which features are good
and which are not so good on them.
In the evenings, is when I reach for an Android device.
Watching content and browsing social media…
I just think it’s better on the Android.
Whether the Pixel or the Samsung.
It sounds silly but I enjoy that the device is comfortable to hold and even small things
like the slightly different aspect ratio on the Pixel and Samsung make enough of difference
for me to not want to pick the iPhone and pick one of these instead.
### DISPLAY The Display on these devices is incredible
right.
But indoors, there’s really not a lot between them but the S22 Ultra, my gosh it’s so
bright and the colours are incredible.
The iPhone doesn’t allow for much of a change in colours, it’s mostly TrueTone which is
meant to adapt to our environment and like many things on the iPhone..
It’s really good but doesn’t really try to go beyond that.
With the Pixel and the Samsung you have a bit more control.
Not so much on the Pixel but Samsung has a few more dials when it comes to colour settings.
As we can see, in direct sunlight the Samsung really comes alive.
I removed the screen protector here too so you can see a fair comparison.
I am using a spigen screen protector by the way, which is perfect for me.
The S21 Ultra which is now two years old was already incredible hitting 1500 nits max brightness.
That is obviously way superior but in real life, when does that matter?
Depending on the content that you’re watching, like HDR content the S22 Ultra will be even
brighter.
But more on that when I get the screen fixed!
Even though Samsung supplies display to Apple (or at least for some of the iPhones) it seems
that it does keep the best for their own phones.
[https://twitter.com/UniverseIce/status/1453599037865611265?s=20&t=1aCmj2TulEopG0QAMs26WA]
The S22 Ultra is hitting over 1700 nits.
**Show on screen:** The iPhone 1,000 nits max brightness (typical);
1,200 nits max brightness (HDR)
**Performance** From a performance point
of view, I know there are lots of cool benchmark numbers that will say this device is better
than the other.
I am not gonna do that.
All I will say is that the S22 Ultra is visibly choppier than all of these other devices.
Whether it’s opening the camera to take a photo or even just scrolling in the Home
Screen, there are jitters sometimes that you may not notice.
Most people probably won’t notice but when compared with these other phones, the S22
Ultra (Exynos variant) does feel a bit slower.
I am hoping this can be fixed with software updates and I will make sure I will report
back here.
Where I think the Android comes alive is with intelligent features, especially the Pixel
6 Pro.
I covered this in a lot more detail in my Pixel review but their computational photography
and speech to text features are mind blowing.
It’s first phone that I can honestly say, can be used as a true assistant.
You know, we take “usability” is that a word?
We take Ease of use, for granted sometimes.
The iPhone is a beautiful machine, powerful and delivers excellent results in everything
it does.
But there’s a lot to be said about the progress being made on Android devices.
Ultimately I think this is great because you as a consumer will be the real winner.
See you soon!