(upbeat ambient music) - Last week
we covered the new Galaxy S22 Ultra,
which is really a Note by another name.
There's a built-in S-Pen, boxier design,
and yada, yada, yada,
and people are pretty excited about it.
But today I want to cover Samsung's other new phones,
the S22 Plus and S22,
which at first glance are a little more boring.
By most indications, last year's Galaxy S21 and S21 Plus
fell short of Samsung's sales goals.
They just didn't do enough to stand out
from a very crowded Android pack,
not to mention Samsung's many other phones.
And the company cheaped out on the regular S21
by using plastic on the back instead of glass.
So with the new lineup,
Samsung is trying to right some of those wrongs
and reestablish the S22 as the go-to reliable flagship.
And, well, yeah, I'd agree that now
is a pretty good time to buy a Samsung phone.
The hardware is as well-built and refined as ever before
and somehow we've ended up in a situation
where Samsung's software is proving more stable
and consistent that what's on Google's Pixel 6.
Now, unlike the new Ultra, the S22 Plus and S22
share a pretty similar overall design
with their predecessors,
especially the camera module on the back.
And this time around, you can expect a premium design
no matter which model you choose, Plus or standard.
Even so, early on, I think only one of these phones
is gonna end up worthy of a recommendation.
And that's the plus sized S22.
For 9.99, it's a solid flagship package.
It looks like its predecessor, sure,
but the hardware specs are nothing to sneeze at.
There's a 6.6 inch full HD display with nice thin,
symmetrical bezels.
That display also gets brighter than ever
with a peak brightness in direct sunlight of 1715 nits.
The refresh rate tops out at 120 hertz
and just like on the ultra,
there's a new vision booster feature
that keeps everything on screen more contrasting
and colorful at any brightness level.
Whether you're in direct sunlight, or sitting in the dark.
On the inside,
it's powered by a new four nanometer processor
and a more efficient chip should hopefully help balance out
the fact that Samsung actually downsized
the battery from last year to 4500 milliamp hours.
Still respectable, but a drop nonetheless.
No matter which model you choose,
you get the same camera system on each one.
There's a 50 megapixel F/1.8 main sensor
that's 23% larger than on the S21.
A 12 megapixel ultra wide
and a 10 megapixel telephoto camera
with three times optical zoom.
Samsung says its AI and HDR camera tricks
are more advanced than ever before for 2022.
Night mode, which they now call a nightogrophy
is supposedly improved and more detailed.
And there are also new video features
like auto frame to make sure up to 10 people
stay in focus when you're shooting a clip.
But perhaps most impressive
is that Samsung claims portrait images
can now separate a single strand of hair
in the background of your subject,
whether it's a human or a pet.
It's a big claim, so stay tuned for a full review
to see if the S22 actually pulls it off.
As for performance, the whole S22 lineup
includes the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor
in the US and a few other countries.
And Samsung's Exynos chip set everywhere else.
The S22 and S22 plus have less RAM at eight gigs
compared to the 12 that you can get with the Ultra.
But otherwise that'd be just as fast.
For a $1,000, the Plus model has most features you'd want,
whole 5G support, Wi-Fi 6E, ultra wideband,
Speedy 45 Watt wired charging and so on.
Now like I said earlier,
Samsung's new phones might initially feel a bit boring,
but the quality and fit and finish is there like always.
Samsung's OLED screens are always just that much nicer
than what's on a pixel.
God knows the fingerprint sensor is a lot better.
The S22 Plus and the S22
have Corning's Gorilla Glass Victus+ on both front and back.
They're the first phones to have that
and they're using Samsungs more rugged armor aluminum
with an IP60 dust and water resistance rate.
As for software, Samsung just committed to four years
of major Android updates for all of it's recent phones.
At the time of this video,
that's a longer guarantee than Google itself can give you.
Meanwhile, One UI has gotten to a very good reliable place.
Sure, you still deal with some bloatware
and doubled up apps from Samsung and Google,
but the list of features is long,
and since these phones come with Android 12,
you get greater control over your camera
and mic privacy settings.
There's also a new Samsung wallet out
that combine Samsung Pay with driver's licenses
and even cryptocurrency.
So you can tell by now that I'm pretty high on the S22 Plus.
Do I wish the display was higher resolution?
Maybe.
Would have been nice
if it had the same cameras as the Ultra?
Definitely.
But I can't point to any one glaring weakness of this phone.
That optimism starts to fade
with the regular S22 which has a 6.1 inch screen
and it really comes down to price.
Much of the hardware vitals, 120 hertz screen, processor,
RAM, camera system are identical between the two.
And Samsung's mercifully gotten rid
of the S21's plastic back and gone back to glass.
But as usual, the small phone gets shortchanged
with a smaller battery, 3700 milliamp hours
and slower 25 Watt charging speeds.
Samsung even drops the peak brightness
and ditches Ultra wideband from the standard S22,
so you won't get the same precision
when you're tracking down lost items.
So a lot of sacrifice and settling
when you consider that the S22 costs 7.99.
That's when there's a better argument
for competitors from Google or OnePlus and everybody else,
I'd sooner buy Samsung's own S21 FE
and its bigger battery for 6.99
than to live with a plastic back.
Both new S22 models go on sale February 25th.
There's an easier case to be made
for the plus size than the regular
but I have no idea if they're gonna prove more popular
than last year.
Again, they look and feel samey to what came before.
What I do know
is there something to be said for consistency.
And these days Samsung is on its game.
So that's the S22 Plus and S22.
There are a lot of new gadgets coming from Samsung lately.
So stay tuned to the verge.com for full reviews.