If you recognize Trogdor, you're an internet OG. The Galaxy S22 Ultra with a massive
S on the box, for dragon, is here, with a box made of recycled packaging. Pretty cool.
Nice work, Samsung. Today we're going to find out how durable this matte black S22 Ultra is
and how well it can stand up to everyday life. Inside the box we get the phone
and a USB-C charging cable, and that's about it. Right off the bat I do have to say I'm a fan
of these individualized camera bumps, but we'll get to that more in a second. Let's get started.
[Intro]
Samsung has combined their Note line and S line of phones into one and I'm definitely
okay with that. The phones were basically the same anyway minus the s-pen so it just makes sense.
Let's start with the scratch test. Samsung says they are running Gorilla Glass
Victus on the front and back of the phone. There doesn't appear to be
any plastic screen protectors installed. Those would scratch at a level 2 or 3,
while tempered glass scratches at a 5 or 6, and sapphire would scratch at a level 8 or 9. We
do get some rockage with all the cameras being on one side, but that's not too big of a deal.
We see the screen start scratching at a level 6 with deeper grooves at a level 7. So far so good.
Also, on camera you'll notice this super weird flashing of the display. I think that's the super
low refresh rate Samsung is talking about, but it does not show up in real life to the naked eye.
Speaking of eyes, cyclops up here in the center is a 40 megapixel selfie camera, along with very
minimal bezels and an earpiece slit about the thickness of a human hair. And as per usual,
Samsung has included the typical micro plastic protection on all sides of the phone. They should
probably stop doing this. The phone is made from metal and it'll last just fine in a cardboard box.
The buttons are also made from metal and still also removable, so if you find someone with the
same phone as you but a different color, you can swap buttons and be best friends forever.
The top has more of this dumb plastic,
along with the other side of the phone. If I really wanted this much Saran Wrap, Samsung,
I'd check my grandma's fridge for the leftovers.
Down at the bottom we have more micro plastics, along with 45 watt fast charging USB-C port
and the new s-pen hijacked from that no lineup. We also have a singular SIM card tray with no
expandable memory. Now, I've been a huge fan of the Note lineup for its whole existence, so
I'm glad it's continuing in spirit through the S22 Ultras. I honestly don't use the s-pen very often,
but I like having tools on hand if I ever do need them. This time around Samsung has improved the
response time of the pen from the last Note taking it from 9 milliseconds down to 2.8. Response time
is always very important. The s-pen itself seems to have about the same construction as it usually
does. The tip doesn't seem to want to come out though so maybe those aren't replaceable this
year. It is watertight though so it'll be fun to see how they accomplish that from the inside.
Slicing it open so we can get a good look. It's sealed pretty good with the black plastic all
around the exterior. Once we get in we see the copper coils around the shaft that let the phone
wirelessly detect the s-pen's presence, as well as the pressure sensitive tip
that can detect 4096 different pressure levels, along with a rubber ring. We should have known.
When in doubt, throw on some rubber, it usually does a pretty good job of waterproofing.
The back half of the shaft is also encased in plastic. And once again we see a capacitor
inside instead of a battery. The capacitor is what allows the s-pen to hold power while it's
away from the phone so it can do it's clicky takey pictures thing. There's also a ton of glue in here
to keep moisture off the circuits. Pretty cool. Thumbs up if you like seeing the insides of stuff.
The phone does want its s-pen back inside, which is unfortunate. Not sure how I'm
going to explain that the pen is not in fact somewhere safe, but let's continue.
The back of the S22 Ultra is matte black and has a smooth frosted surface. Camera-wise up at the
top we have a series of 5 mirrored lens rings. A 12 megapixel ultra wide in the corner, then a 108
megapixel camera below that, and a 10 megapixel 10x optical zoom periscope camera at the bottom.
On the right side we have a normal 3x 10 megapixel telephoto with a glass covered flash, and the
laser auto focus circle up top. I'm kind of a big fan of this design. It's minimalist without any
rectangular excess, and each of the sides of the little circle bits are encompassed with a
metallic mirrored metal. Speaking of encompassing, if you're looking to differentiate your rectangle
from all the other rectangles out there, there's always dbrand's leather skins. Channel sponsor
dbrand has always taken skinning your phone quite literally this time with 100% real full grain
leather. Hide fine enough to make even your wallet jealous. Now it's possible to look all outdoorsy
and stuff without ever leaving the house. So if you've ever wanted your phone to smell like
a high end shoe store, I'll leave a link down in the description. It comes in black, brown,
or tan to match whatever rodeo cowboy cosplay you got going, and even breaks in over time,
just like a nice pair of boots...which are those things people wear when going outside. I'm sure
the next thing we'll see from dbrand is a skin made out of broccoli so we can appease the vegans.
The screen of the S22 Ultra is pretty interesting. It has a variable refresh rate
which is why sometimes it looks screwy on camera. Human eyes don't see the refresh rate fluctuating,
but my camera can capture it moving from 1 hertz on still images to 120 hertz while scrolling.
One hundred and twenty hertz is super useful for getting that microscopic hit of diluted dopamine
milliseconds faster. The 6.8 inch 1440p dynamic AMOLED display lasted 20 seconds under the heat
from my lighter before going white with a permanent little on screen blemish.
Lastly, before the bend test, we have an underscreen ultrasonic fingerprint reader.
Instead of optically seeing a fingerprint, it uses an ultrasonic pulse to bounce
waves off of the ridges of my digit. And after adding extensive level 7 deeper grooves on top,
it does appear to still be functioning just fine. So scratches don't deter the waves.
Finally, we have the bend test. While most phones survive, some do not, like the OnePlus 10 Pro,
which means we do have to test them all. Samsung has pretty much always had some
really solid devices. We don't need to bring up the Note 7 though because that would be rude.
When bent from the back consistent with history, this S22 Ultra is as solid as they come. Same
thing when we flip it over to the front – solid as a rock. Now you're probably asking yourself, 'Hey
Jerry, are you going to upgrade your two and a half year old Note 10 Plus to this new S22 Ultra?'
And the answer is no, no I will not. My current phone still works really great. You don't need
the latest processor or the highest resolution to doomsday scroll yourself into crippling depression
over current world events. Older processors can handle that just fine. There's no reason to be sad
and poor when you can just be sad. If my current phone was broken I would consider the S22 Ultra
as a replacement, but my phone is not broken and works just fine. Plus we still need to see
if Samsung has made their batteries easier to recycle before I ever pick up a Samsung as my
daily driver again, but I'll cover more of that in the teardown. Until then, nice work, Samsung.
The S22 Ultra passes my durability test. Do you like the new camera layout? Let me know down in
the comments. Hit that subscribe button so you don't miss when we take this guy apart. And
come hang out with me on Instagram and Twitter. Thanks a ton for watching. I'll see you around.