Samsung Galaxy S22+ review: A versatile premium phone without ‘Ultra’ flab

The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra is a flagship smartphone with several strengths. It maxes out on almost all fronts — design, display, imaging, productivity features, ingress protection, charging technology, user experience, etc. The phone is, however, expensive. This brings us to the next best in the series, the Samsung Galaxy S22+. Priced Rs 84,999 onwards, the Galaxy S22+ has the same underpinning as that of the Ultra model but without fancy bells and whistles. That said, let’s take a look at how this premium smartphone fares in everyday use:

Design

The Galaxy S22+ is a lightweight smartphone made of premium material – aluminium body with Gorilla Glass Victus+ protection on the front and back. It comes in three colour options – phantom white, phantom black and green. The phantom black variant (review unit) has a frosted glass cover on the back. It is a flat glass cover with neat chamfered edges for comfortable ergonomics. Like the rear, the front side of the phone has flat glass on the display. That said, the phone looks uniform from all sides. However, it does not look much different from its predecessor, the Galaxy S21+ (review). Nevertheless, the Galaxy S22+ looks premium and boasts IP68-rated protection for water and dust resistance.

Display and audio

The Galaxy S22+ sports a 6.6-inch fullHD+ AMOLED screen of 120Hz variable refresh rate (48Hz – 120Hz). The screen dominates the entire front, leaving negligible bezels on the sides. Importantly, the bezels are uniform on all sides and the otherwise thick bottom bezel on many other smartphones is thin on the Galaxy S22+. As for the quality, the display delivers top-notch performance despite missing the fancy bells and whistles that are part of the Galaxy S22 Ultra’s display. It is bright, vivid and responsive. It remains legible under direct sunlight and is easy to read irrespective of light conditions.

Complementing the dazzling display is the stereo speakers with Dolby Atmos. The speakers are loud, balanced, and clear. With Dolby Atmos enabled, the speakers deliver an immersive audio experience with fine surround-sound effect. For gamers, there is a dedicated ‘Dolby Atmos for Gaming’ audio profile in sound settings; it amplifies the speakers’ performance in select game titles.

Camera

The Galaxy S22+ brings a new triple-camera set-up, featuring a 50-megapixel primary wide-angle sensor with optical image stabilisation (OIS), a 12MP ultra-wide-angle sensor, and a 10MP telephoto lens with OIS. The camera on the front, however, features the same 10MP sensor as that on the predecessor.

Details aside, the Galaxy S22+ delivers a wholesome imaging experience. It particularly shines in low-light conditions and portraits. Important to note, it is the primary camera that delivers consistent performance in all lighting conditions. The ultra-wide-angle and telephoto cameras deliver good results in well-lit environments, but they are not well suited for low-light conditions. Not that they are bad, but not of flagship grade. The OIS-backed telephoto lens, however, impresses with stabilised shots of distant objects. The zoomed shots (up to 3x) through the telephoto lens look detailed and, thanks to optimised algorithms, you can zoom-in by up to 10x and still get a usable shot.

Complementing the imaging performance is the new value-added features such as Expert RAW. Available through a separate app of the same name, available on Samsung Galaxy Store, the Expert RAW app enables manual mode to capture stills in 16-bit RAW format. It is good to see Samsung enabling this feature across the Galaxy S22 line, and not just on the Ultra model. Moreover, the experience of editing the RAW format picture on the phone itself using apps like Adobe Lightroom is also worth appreciating.

Coming to the front camera, it is a good performer with regard to both stills and videos. Though the same sensor as that on the predecessor, the front camera on the Galaxy S22+ takes better looking portraits with neat contour details and smooth background bokeh. The portrait magic extends to video, and the quality is impressive.

Performance

The Samsung Galaxy S22+ is an all-round performer, thanks to the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 system-on-chip. Be it regular daily operations or processor- and graphic-intensive tasks, the Galaxy S22+ handles everything with ease. Importantly, it does not warm up even after extended usage of processor- and graphic-intensive tasks such as gaming and video recording. Complementing the performance is the easy to use Android 12-based OneUI 4.1 interface. It is loaded with many add-on features from Samsung, besides the privacy and security features of the Android 12. Importantly, Samsung has let go all instances of third-party in-app advertisements, prevalent in previous iteration of the OneUI, from the user interface.

Battery

The smooth and swift performance is backed by a 4,500mAh battery, which keeps the show going for about a day on regular usage. Though not exceptional, the overall power efficiency of the phone is decent and in-line with other premium smartphones. Likewise, the phone’s 45W fast-charging is good but the phone does not make any record with it. Important to note, the Galaxy S22+ does not ship with a charging adaptor in the box but just the USB-C cable.

Samsung Galaxy S22+: Price and specifications

Display	6.6-inch fullHD+ AMOLED of 120Hz adaptive refresh rate
Rear camera	50MP OIS wide-angle, 12MP ultra-wide, 10MP OIS telephoto
Front camera	10MP
Battery	4,500 mAh, supports 45W fast-charge
OS	OneUI 4.1, based on Android 12
Processor	Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1
RAM	8GB
Storage	128GB and 256GB
Protection	IP68, Gorilla Glass Victus+
Price	Starts at Rs 84,999

Verdict

The Samsung Galaxy S22+ is a versatile smartphone with something in store for everyone. It delivers a wholesome experience despite the absence of fancy bells and whistles of the Galaxy S22 Ultra (review). That said, consider the Galaxy S22+ for its lightweight design, smooth experience, all-round connectivity, and feature-rich imaging.