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00:00I am shocked Samsung didn't call this the S22 Note.
00:05Because in all but name, this is the new Galaxy Note we've been waiting for.
00:09I mean, yes, it's the flagship of the new S22 series, but when you put it next to the
00:14Note 20 Ultra from two years ago, especially in this new burgundy colour, it's a Note.
00:20It is missing a few classic Note features though, there's no microSD card support unfortunately,
00:25no headphone jack and we still don't get a charger in the box.
00:27But still, after a couple of hours playing with the new S22 Ultra, I've come away more
00:32impressed and more excited than I expected, particularly with this new camera setup.
00:38So here is the family and I'm actually making a whole video comparing the S22, the Plus
00:43and the Ultra, so make sure you have subscribed and you've hit that bell icon as there's
00:47some pretty big differences between them.
00:50But the Ultra is the big dog, both in terms of specs and also size with this 6.8 inch
00:56screen up front.
00:57Although deceivingly, it's not actually any thicker than the S21 Ultra, they're both 8.9mm,
01:03but it is 2mm wider and you do feel that along with their boxier design.
01:08Round the back, the so-called mirrored camera wall from the S21 is now integrated into the
01:13body so now we just have these, well, five sticky-outy bits.
01:17I am slightly concerned the lenses may get scratched more easily or it'll scratch your
01:21desk or your table, but the good news is on both the front and the back, we get the new
01:25Gorilla Glass Victus Plus.
01:27In fact, the whole S22 series are the first phones to use it.
01:31Although it is a little hard to say how much difference this Victus Plus glass will make
01:35in terms of durability and scratch resistance, I am sure I will find out within the first
01:39five minutes of opening it up because I always end up scratching my phones or indeed when
01:43I have these other phones in my pockets and I'm doing camera comparisons, I never learn
01:48to put cases on it or screen protectors, but it always ends up scratched.
01:51So I will report back in my full review whether the glass makes any difference.
01:56There is definitely a hint of the LG Velvet to the Ultra's camera layout, but it still
02:00has a nice, clean, uncomplicated aesthetic and I think the burgundy or actually maybe
02:06the green is my favourite colour.
02:08It does also come in Phantom Black and Phantom White, so there's four to choose from, although
02:12you'll still probably want to put a case on this anyway.
02:16Front and centre though, we have this huge, absolutely stunning screen.
02:20It is still QHD+, AMOLED, HDR10+, and 120Hz like the S21 Ultra, but now the LTPO panel
02:27can actually adapt from 1 to 120Hz, which is a slight improvement from the 10 to 120
02:32before, so we could get a slight battery boost from that.
02:35I wouldn't have said no though to a 144Hz option at 1080p.
02:39More games are being optimised for this as more gaming phones come with a high refresh,
02:44so for gamers, perhaps that would have been nice, but alas, not this time.
02:48However, I think more importantly, Samsung have actually upped the peak brightness of
02:52the S22 Ultra to a whopping 1,750 nits, which is up from around 1,500 before, but that's
02:59only half the story as we're also getting this new Vision Booster technology which boosts
03:04the brightness and the contrast and the colour based on that ambient lighting, so you don't
03:08just get a brighter but washed out screen, it still looks vibrant and it's colour accurate.
03:13We do still have this central hole-punch selfie camera up front, perhaps an underscreen selfie
03:19camera like we saw on the Fold 3 would have been nice to have, but then again, that did
03:23compromise the quality and didn't look great.
03:26Speaking of compromises, and at this point you're going to say, ugh, Tom, stop it, or
03:31you'll say, yeah, that's a good point, let's wait and see.
03:34Snapdragon vs Exynos.
03:36Again we're going to have two models of the S22 Ultra, in fact the whole S22 series, powered
03:41by either the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 or the Exynos 2200.
03:45So far we haven't been able to run any tests, although a big focus is on AI performance,
03:50which powers a lot of the camera tech and helps the phone run more efficiently.
03:54There is one notable downgrade though, and that is the entry-level model of the S22 Ultra
03:59only comes with 8GB of RAM, previously we had 12GB, which considering the price, which
04:04I'll put in the description below, feels pretty stingy, although there is also a higher-end
04:0912GB model and storage tops out at 1TB.
04:12Although there is a new RAM boost option, to, well, boost the amount of RAM you have,
04:17so effectively the 8 can become 16.
04:19I'll tell you what is impressive though, how they managed to squeeze a 5,000mAh battery
04:25in this, because the last phone to come with an embedded S Pen, the Note 20 Ultra, had
04:31a 4,500mAh cell, and while I do need to put this through its paces myself, one product
04:36tester I spoke to at my hands-on event, who has actually been using a prototype of this
04:40for months, so pre-retail, he still found the battery to be quite a lot better than
04:45even the S21 Ultra, suggesting a proper 2-day battery.
04:51So he was using the Exynos variant of the phone, so perhaps that's a lot more efficient,
04:55or they're using a new battery cell technology, or it's just AI efficiency improvements,
05:00but fingers crossed it can actually challenge the current battery king, which is the iPhone
05:0513 Pro Max.
05:07Plus it now supports 45W charging, up from 25, Samsung are finally catching up to everyone
05:12else, but you're willing to pay about £45 for the privilege as you don't get a charger
05:17in the box.
05:18Which also feels a bit stingy, I mean maybe give me the option if you want the new fast
05:23charger when you buy your £1,000 or £1,100 phone, I do appreciate the flip side is that
05:27it's better for the environment, and actually Samsung say that they've reduced the packaging
05:31by a further 19% even over last year, so every little helps, but this is quite a significant
05:37new feature and you have to pay extra for it.
05:40But let's talk about this.
05:42The S22 Ultra is the first S-series phone to come with an S-Pen built in.
05:47The S21 Ultra did support it, but you had to carry it around separately, and as a long
05:51time user and fan of the Note series, the only reason I use it is because it's so convenient.
05:56To pop it out and make some notes, sign or mark up documents, use the pen as a remote
06:00shutter for the camera, the usual stuff.
06:03But actually, functionally, there isn't much new here.
06:06The big upgrade is they've reduced the latency from 9ms down to 2.8, which is very impressive
06:12and it makes the pen feel even more responsive.
06:15So that, and also handwriting to text conversions now support a few extra languages, but the
06:19big deal is it's more responsive and it is, you know, inside the phone, both of which
06:24by the way are IP68 water and dust resistant.
06:28The thing is though, as nice as it is having the S-Pen, not everyone needs or uses it.
06:33So I think, for me, the biggest upgrade, surprisingly, is actually the camera.
06:38Because at first glance, the setup looks very similar to last year, with a 108MP main lens,
06:44a 12MP ultra wide and dual 10MP telephoto lenses which give us 3 and 10x optical zoom
06:51respectively.
06:52And we can still punch into that ridiculous 100x space zoom.
06:57Handy for spying on someone or maybe checking your gate at the airport from a distance,
07:01not so much for taking a quality photo.
07:04And then around the front, we have a 40MP selfie camera.
07:08But if you dig a little bit deeper, past the megapixels, actually the main camera and both
07:13telephoto lenses are completely revamped.
07:16New sensor, new lenses, the processing, although sadly the ultra wide and the selfie haven't
07:21been significantly changed, they're basically the same as the S21 Ultra.
07:25So this is the first phone to come with Samsung's new ISOCELL HM3 sensor, with 2.3x larger pixels
07:33than the S21 Ultra.
07:34And side by side with the S21, albeit with a pretty grubby screen protector on I'm afraid,
07:39which kind of washes the colours out, but you can still see there's a big difference
07:42in the detail.
07:44My face, my t-shirt, the camera.
07:46Also for the first time, photos combine a full res 108MP shot with a binned 12MP shot.
07:54Previously it was one or the other, and so that helps give us the most detail while also
07:58reducing noise.
08:00Plus the main camera uses a new super clear glass lens which helps to reduce lens flare.
08:05This is a surprisingly big upgrade, although Samsung are actually spending more time talking
08:09about the low light capabilities, particularly with video.
08:13For example, when you're shooting at 30fps, whether it's at 1080, 4K or 24fps at 8K,
08:19The S22 Ultra now shoots 12-bit, up from 10-bit for what they call Super HDR video.
08:26And so more dynamic range means better true-to-life contrast between the lightest and darkest
08:30areas of the scene.
08:32Portrait photos and videos have been improved as well, again particularly in low light with
08:37more natural separation between your subject and the background, and that's thanks to
08:40improved AI depth mapping.
08:43And also the bigger sensor plus multi-frame exposure results in better low light shots.
08:49There's also a new auto-frame video option that can track up to 10 people in a scene
08:53within a 5-metre radius and then reframe and centre the video.
08:57Honestly it feels like I've just scratched the surface of the camera on the S22 Ultra.
09:02They've also extended the single take by 5 more seconds, there's a new expert RAW mode
09:06and so I cannot wait to test it against some of the other best phones on the market like
09:11the iPhone 13 Pro, the Pixel 6 Pro, Oppo's upcoming flagship.
09:15So again make sure you have subscribed, lots of versus and comparisons to do.
09:21So altogether we're getting a refreshed Note style design, new processors, we have the
09:26built-in and more responsive S Pen together with a 5,000 mAh battery which is not something
09:31we've seen together before, faster charging, a brighter and more durable screen, a surprisingly
09:36big camera upgrade thanks to the new and bigger sensor and smarter AI.
09:40But in terms of downsides, well as I say there's no microSD, no charger, the ultrawide
09:46and the selfie haven't really changed and once again we may see a disparity between
09:49the two chips.
09:50It is also a very big phone and once you put a case on it, it might just be too big for
09:54most people, although for other people and probably myself included, that's exactly
09:59what I'm looking for.
10:00I want the biggest and the best.
10:02And I also think if you're still rocking a Note 10 or Note 20 Ultra, particularly if
10:07it's the rubbish Exynos version, this is what you've been waiting for.
10:11I guess the other consideration is if you're not that bothered about the S Pen, is the
10:15S22 or the S22 Plus a better value option?
10:19And of course how is it going to compare to the Oppo Find X5 Pro and also the OnePlus
10:2410 and the iPhone 13 Pro Max?
10:27But first impressions, very impressive actually but lots more tests to run before I can give
10:31you a full review and recommendation.
10:34But what do you think?
10:35Are you tempted to upgrade?
10:36Also if you have any questions or anything you'd like me to test, let me know in the
10:39comments below.
10:40Thank you so much for watching guys and I'll see you next time right here on the Tech Chap.