Samsung Galaxy S22 Plus review: stable and reliable
Samsung's sensible flagship, now in a larger size.
The Galaxy S phones from Samsung have long been the crown jewels of Android's mobile dynasties. The brand new Galaxy S brood champion, the S22 Ultra, recently received a five-star review, but where does that leave the S22 Plus, its slightly smaller sibling with more vanilla styling and pared-back specs?
The S22 Plus retains the same features that made the Galaxy S21 and S21 Plus stand out - smaller bodies than the Ultra, the same core interface - One UI - and, most importantly, a lower price.
While the S22 Plus is less expensive than the Ultra, at £949, it is still a pricey contender. It will also face some less expensive competition, including the Google Pixel 6 Pro, OnePlus 9 Pro, as well as Xiaomi's upcoming 12 Pro.
Design and Display:
The S22 Plus expands on the design language of last year's S21 Plus, with clean, smartphone-by-numbers, iPhone-like styling, and a rich-to-the-touch frosted glass back.
The S22 series as a whole introduces Gorilla Glass Victus Plus, a version of tempered glass exclusive to Samsung, along with an Armour Aluminium frame & IP68 water and dust resistance. These features make the phones durable, though not drop-proof, and the color options add softness and style to the mix.
The S22 Plus is widely available in Green, Phantom Black, Phantom White, and Pink Gold, but it is also available exclusively online in Cream, Graphite, Sky Blue, and Violet. There's nothing wrong with the S22 Plus's styling, which is complemented by a great in-hand feel - but the phone isn't as eye-catching as the Note 20 Ultra or Pixel 6 Pro.
The screen on the S22 Plus measures 6.6 inches and is powered by Dynamic AMOLED 2X technology with a refresh rate of 120Hz. The phone's 240Hz touch sampling rate is noticeably slower than some of the most responsive phones we've seen; for example, OPPO's new Find X5 Pro has a 1000Hz sampling rate that should be ideal for gaming. Although, for those who prefer flat screens to curved ones, the image quality of the S22 Plus is likely to be the best available right now.
In addition to 1700 nits of brightness, the S22 Plus includes Samsung's Vision Booster, which brightens up parts of the display but not others for power-efficient, effective picture enhancement in bright environments. We didn't have such sunny climes in London during Storm Eunice to fully test this out, but it looked great and viewability was excellent in our studio conditions.
The S22 Plus supports HDR10+, allowing the phone to display a wide tonal range, and in person, it combines stellar viewing angles with natural color handling. The phone's screen resolution, Full HD+, has a pixel density of fewer than 400 pixels per inch, which is lower than most flagships. Unless you examine it under a microscope, you won't notice any difference in clarity.
Performance:
On top of Android 12, the S22 Plus comes with Samsung's new One UI 4.1. That means great app support, top-tier security features, and a wide variety of customization options. In fact, aside from S Pen support, its interface and overall performance are virtually identical to the more expensive S22 Ultra.
While it provides flagship performance and remains cooler than comparable Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 smartphones we tested, it does not outperform some of the competition. Furthermore, when playing demanding games like Genshin Impact, the Plus loses some frames compared to the Snapdragon-powered OPPO Find X5 Pro and Red Magic 7.
The lower frame rates may be due to the fact that the S22 series ships with a 4nm Exynos 2200 processor in most regions - the version we tested - while the phones in China and the US are powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. Because of the Exynos chip's more limited nature, optimizing for it may take a little longer.
With 8GB RAM and either 128GB or 256GB storage, even power users should have enough space for everything, so the lack of an SD card slot should not be a problem.
Eco highlights
When compared to the S21 Plus box, the volume of Samsung's new S22 Plus packaging is down 19%, saving on materials and shipping impact. Other than Apple, this is less than half the volume of almost every competing smartphone maker's packaging. Samsung also uses recycled plastic for the phone materials in the S22 series, while the box and the other packaging are plastic-free.
The S22 Plus box also lacks a power brick. Any USB-C cable plugged into a power source should work, and if you have a 45W charger for your Tab S7 Plus or Tab S8 Plus, you can charge your S22 Plus in half the time.
Camera:
Despite the fact that the cameras on the S22 Plus are less powerful than those on the S22 Ultra, they have been significantly improved over last year's S21 Plus. A primary 50MP wide camera with an f/1.8 aperture and OIS is at the helm. It is flanked by a 12MP ultra-wide camera with an f/2.2 aperture and a 10MP telephoto camera with an f/2.2 aperture.
The S22 Plus improves on its predecessor in more ways than one. It also has more optical zoom than the S21 Plus - three times zoom, to be exact - which makes a significant difference in real-world situations.
The overall imaging experience on the phone is solid, if not always class-leading.When capturing subjects less than a meter away, the main camera detail impresses with sharp focus points as well as a pleasing amount of depth blur. The zoom camera can also provide enjoyable depth, making it a multifunctional addition.
Colors in photographs are vibrant, with a heightened liveliness that creates a slightly exaggerated image. As a result, skies appear bluer, sunsets appear fierier, and nights appear late afternoon - so if you want a camera phone that puts your best foot forward, this is it.
For those who want to avoid this rose-colored photo processing, Pro Mode gives you complete manual control over your photos and videos. Expert RAW, which will be available to the Galaxy Store shortly after the phone is released, will support multi-frame 16-bit RAW file capture. This produces a file that can be edited in professional-grade software such as Lightroom.
The S22 Plus also has some excellent portrait features in both photo and video modes, with Portrait Video excelling at separating foreground and background objects, emulating the coveted DSLR look. Meanwhile, improved iOS-style Portrait Lighting features on the S22 line benefit photography.
With a maximum recording resolution of 8K and stable video captured at up to 4K, video from the rear camera is consistently good in bright environments and respectable, if not excellent, in more dimly lit scenes.
Sample
Battery life:
The S22 Plus has a satisfactory 4500mAh battery. Despite being 300mAh smaller than last year's S21 Plus, it still lasts a full day, but no longer. It also has 45W wired charging, but you'll need to purchase a charger separately.
The S22 and S22 Plus bring back 15W wireless charging as well as reverse wireless charging, allowing you to charge your smartwatch, earbuds, or even a smartphone.
Conclusion:
The Galaxy S22 Plus has nothing wrong with it; it just doesn't scream value for money. That said, if you don't want the oversized Galaxy S22 Ultra and think the vanilla S22 is a little too small, but still want a big screen and the latest and greatest hardware and software from Samsung, the Plus could be ideal.
It combines liable design with a capable feature set, a fantastic triple camera system, and one of the best smartphone screens we've seen to date. It will be more than capable of gaming, watching movies, and even scrolling through Instagram on it.
TechliciousOfficial says...
Score: 4/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐✰
While you can get more for less money, the S22 Plus is still an excellent value.
- Good Stuff
+ Outstanding display
+ High-quality design
+ Excellent camera system
- Bad Stuff
− Expensive
− There is no expandable storage.
− There is no SD card slot.
Tech specs
Screen: 6.6in, 1080 x 2340 Dynamic AMOLED, 120Hz refresh rate, HDR10+, 1750 nits peak brightness
CPU: Exynos 2200
RAM: 8GB RAM
Storage: 128GB or 256GB, no SD card slot
Camera: 50MP primary camera with f/1.8 aperture, 10MP 3x zoom camera, and 12MP ultrawide camera
OS: Android 12 with OneUI 4.1
Battery: 4500mAh non-removable
Dimensions: 157.4 x 75.8 x 7.6 m
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