Samsung Galaxy S22 preview – PhoneArena

By Krishna Rao On Jan 27, 2022

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Intro

The big flagship star of 2022 has got to be the Galaxy S22 Ultra with S Pen, new design and all the bells and whistles, but if you love compact phones, there is another one to be excited about: the regular Galaxy S22 model!

With a more compact size than last year’s model, the new S22 goes straight for the heart of mini phone lovers. While the screen size has gone down from 6.2″ to 6.06″, seemingly not a huge change, leaked dimensions show this phone is actually about as big as the Galaxy S10e, a super compact device that you may remember from a few years ago.

Despite this downsizing, few compromises have been made in the process: leaks point to a smaller battery being the biggest casualty of the move (3,700mAh one on the S22 vs 4,000mAh on the S21, or a 5% reduction in size), but the camera system remains the same as on the larger S22 Plus model, and so is the processor and the whole connectivity stack.

Unfortunately, all of that compact beauty now comes at a slightly higher price. Samsung is bumping prices by a full $100 across the S22 range, and this miniature phone is no exception. Finally, let’s not forget that we are still talking based on leaks and rumors. The official Unpacked event is scheduled for February 9th, and that’s when we’ll get the grand unveiling and final confirmation about all things S22. Still, we seem to know pretty much everything even now, so let’s get on to exploring the Galaxy S22!

Design

One for the compact phone lovers

When talking about the design changes, we really have to focus on the downsizing, partly because not much else has changed and the Galaxy S22 looks almost exactly like the S21. Sure, you no longer have that stunning violet color option, but instead the Galaxy S22 color list now includes a new green version that looks classy, as well as a pink gold model, along with the two traditional staples, Phantom Black and Phantom White.

And just like before, the Galaxy S22 is easy to notice in a crowd with that camera unit seamlessly blending into the frame. It’s a thing of beauty, plain and simple.

Let us also give you the exact dimensions of the Galaxy S22, notice how it is considerably smaller than the S21:

S22 dimensions: 146 x 70.6 x 7.6mm
S21 dimensions: 151.7 x 71.2 x 7.9mm

Plus, the S22 has also shed a bit of weight, it’s 167g versus 171g on the S21, barely noticeable but still.

The one single detail we still have no final say on is whether the back of the S22 is made of plastic or glass. What we do know, however, is that the front is shielded with the latest Gorilla Glass Victus toughened glass, and the mid-frame is made of aluminum as are the buttons.

Look a bit closer, and you would notice a few delightful details: the borders around the screen now appear perfectly uniform, and the side of the phone is almost flat, with only a slight curve to it. IP68 water and dust protection is very much here still, ensuring your Galaxy will survive a bit of rain and an accidental drop in water.

Display Quality

Wider, super bright screen

The screen is smaller, but still quite spacious at 6.1 inches in diagonal. An interesting detail is that the screen is not as tall as on the previous model, and now you get a 19.5 to 9 aspect ratio, which also happens to be the same as on iPhones (and the previous S21 had a 20 to 9 aspect ratio). The resolution is 1080 x 2340 pixels, not quite as high as the 1440p you get on the S22 Ultra, but definitely sufficient for most users.

For all else, you have Samsung’s Super AMOLED tech in all its glory, this time with uniform bezels all around, gorgeous colors and an adaptive refresh rate reaching up to 120Hz.

AMOLED screens improve very gradually, and this year the key new spec is higher brightness. The S22 can reach a max brightness of 1,500 nits, higher than the S21 which maxed out at 1,300 nits and way higher than the 800 nits on the iPhone 13. Naturally, you get full HDR video support, so you can watch a Netflix movie (or even some YouTube videos these days) in full glory.

To securely unlock the phone, Samsung uses an ultrasonic in-screen fingerprint reader. We have not tested it yet, but leaks suggest it will be very similar to the one on the S21. We will be updating this article as soon as we test it. You also get face recognition using the front camera and 2D images, so not quite as secure as Face ID, but we are definitely glad to have this option.

Performance and Software

The Snapdragon-Exynos divide lives on

Despite rumors about a change, Samsung sticks with its old strategy of using different processors in the US and UK/Europe. In the United States, the Galaxy S22 will come with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip, while the UK and Europe seem to be getting a Samsung-made Exynos 2200 processor. Consumers were previously not too happy about that as Exynos chips usually run a bit slower and last year, we even saw differences in camera performance between Snapdragon and Exynos versions of the same Galaxy model.

Image courtesy of @Universeice

Early pre-release benchmark runs show that the Snapdragon chip still has a nearly 10% CPU advantage over the Exynos one, so not much has changed here. Of course, don’t make early assumptions and best wait out the in-depth testing that we’ll add here once we get to test the S22. On the specs topic, know that the S22 ships with 8GB of RAM on board.

As for storage, you are getting a 128GB base model as well as a 256GB version that will cost a bit more (the S22 Ultra also gets a 512GB version, but not the regular S22). You cannot expand that storage as there is no microSD card slot on the Galaxy S22, so choose your storage wisely.

The Galaxy S22 ships with Android 12 customized with Samsung’s One UI 4.1 on top. Samsung has a software update policy of 3 years of major updates, so the S22 should get Android 15 some time in the future, which is nice. The One UI 4 software at launch, however, does not look like other Android 12 phones and instead keeps the familiar Samsung look.

Camera

Finally, a real zoom lens

Apart from the usual main and ultra-wide cameras, Samsung pulled a weird trick with the S20 and S21. Those phones did not have a “true” telephoto lens, but instead used a high-megapixel 1.1X sensor and cropped in to achieve an advertized 3X zoom level. This changes in the Galaxy S22, the first in a while to get a “true” 3X zoom lens.

Take a look at the camera specs of the S22 below, if you like to nerd out over camera sensor sizes and megapixels.

Camera Specs	Galaxy S22	Galaxy S21
Main (wide) camera	50MP, 23mm, f/1.8 aperture, 1/1.56″ sensor size (1um)	12MP, 26mm, f/1.8 aperture, 1/1.76″ sensor size (1.8um)
Ultra-wide	12MP, f/2.2 aperture, 1/2.55″ sensor size (1.4um)	12MP, f/2.2 aperture, 1/2.55″ sensor size (1.4um)
Telephoto	10MP, 3X native zoom f/2.4 aperture, 1/3.94″ sensor size (1um)	64MP, 1.1X zoom (3X hybrid) f/2.0 aperture, 1/1.7″ sensor size (0.8um)
Front Camera	10MP, f/2.2 aperture, 1/3.24″ sensor size (1.22um)	10MP, f/2.2 aperture (1.22um)

To save you the number crunching and comparison, let’s just say that for the most part the camera hardware on the S22 is remarkably similar to the S21, with a slightly larger main sensor being the notable change.

But where Samsung usually excels is camera software, so we do expect improvements in actual photo and video quality. There is a lot of hype around the new Samsung Expert RAW 16-bit capture that should provide enthusiasts and professionals with more creative potential.

On the video side, Samsung officially teases “breaking the rules of light”, basically saying that we should expect better low light photos and videos, and we for once cannot wait to learn more about that. For actual samples, though, we need to wait up until we actually get to test the phone, stay tuned.

Audio Quality and Haptics

No headphone jack. That’s been the case last year, and that’s the case on the new Galaxy S22. There are also seemingly no headphones included in the box with the phone. This means that if you want to use wired headphones, well, get a dongle or a pair of USB-C headphones.

Phone audio still happens via two loudspeakers: a bottom-firing main speaker and a helper, secondary one in the earpiece. We hope for improvements from last year’s Galaxy S21 which lacked in sound depth and clarity, and we’ll update you as soon as we test this.

Battery Life and Charging

The smaller battery might be the biggest compromise

Users are never happy when companies cut battery sizes, but that’s just inevitable with the much smaller Galaxy S22 size, and it comes with a 3,700mAh battery, a downgrade from the 4,000mAh cell used on the S21 (a 5% decrease in size).

The Galaxy S21 was just fine in terms of battery life, it lasts us one full day with average use, but more intense use would stretch it thin, so we are a bit worried about the Galaxy S22. Still, no battery life estimates are available yet, so the only thing we can do is wait until we get the phone and put it through its paces in our series of independent battery tests.

And while Samsung’s main hero, the Galaxy S22 Ultra, is getting faster charging this year, the compact S22 model sticks with 25W charging speeds, same as last year. No charger in the box, of course, so you’d need to use an older charger or consider spending $20 bucks on a good charger.

Wireless charging is still very much here with 15W speed, and you also have support for reverse wireless charging to top up another device, but with the smaller battery here, that’s probably best used for short charges or smaller gadgets.

Competitors

Finally, the Galaxy S22 price is a bitter pill to swallow for people who bought the previous series. The base Galaxy S22 starts at $900, as per leaks, a full $100 more than the S21.

This puts the Galaxy S22 in a tough place, at least in the US. The $800 iPhone 13 undercuts it and opens the gate to the lucrative iOS ecosystem with trendy Apple Watches, AirPods and blue bubbles.

The $600 Pixel 6 looks like a steal, despite some issues with the sluggish fingerprint scanner, and it also has the advantage of faster Android updates.

But honestly, the big competitor to the Galaxy S22 is not a phone by another brand. It’s Samsung’s very own Galaxy S21, which still looks like incredibly good value with discounts and at least so far, it might just be the wiser buy unless you’re dead set on getting the latest phone out there.

Summary and Final Verdict

So should you buy the Galaxy S22? Well, we cannot tell you so early, but bookmark February 9th on your calendars for the official Samsung Unboxing. We will be testing the phone in great detail once we get our hands on it, to give you the scoop on the camera improvements and battery life situation.

Yours truly is genuinely excited about the new compact size, but worried about the price and battery size reductions. But what are your thoughts on the Galaxy S22, is it the right step forward for the iconic series?

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