Galaxy S22 Ultra.
I’ve been a huge fan of Samsung’s phablet smartphones for quite some time now, and the Note 20 Ultra has been my go-to device for mobile gaming since it released back in the summer of 2020. The mammoth 6.9” screen makes for plenty of display room, especially in titles that require a lot of on-screen HUD information, and the speakers still sound rich and full, missing headphone jack be damned. I do have issues with the camera, but that’s beside the point.
Lately, I’ve had the opportunity to test out Samsung’s spiritual successor to the Note, the S22 Ultra, and it’s got a lot of the bells and whistles that I came to love about its predecessor. The beloved S Pen returns with reduced lag, the camera is improved, the 4nm processor is plenty snappy, and an only slightly smaller (but still ridiculously massive) 6.8” dynamic AMOLED 120Hz screen provides an incredible canvas for digital entertainment.
Whether it be watching 4K YouTube videos, deathmatching in Call of Duty: Mobile, or streaming Halo Infinite over Xbox’s xCloud servers, you can’t deny the sheer 1,750 nit blasting quality of this display. It’s hands-down the best phone screen I’ve laid eyes on, somehow surpassing my beloved Note 20 Ultra in ways that I find difficult to articulate. Colors just seem to pop more and graphical detail explodes with a vibrancy that puts even my 4K ASUS PC gaming monitor to shame.
There is the whole GOS (Game Optimizing Service) to consider, a throttling ‘feature’ which caused some controversy early on and has since been patched to allow for toggling. With it enabled, game performance can supposedly suffer. With it turned off, the phone can get pretty hot. I haven’t noticed much extreme difference either way.
Still, gaming is an absolute joy on the S22 Ultra, and now that I think about it, it’s probably the most capable display in my house at the moment. It’s too bad the convenience of kicking back on my couch and gaming on a 65-inch TV trumps raw pixel quality. That said, this phone is far from perfect, and Samsung has rather strangely decided to remove one of my favorite features of the older phablet: Expandable storage.
Galaxy S22 Ultra.
In my Note 20 Ultra 5G, I have a 512GB microSD card installed, which adds a whole lot of extra room to the somewhat paltry internal 128GB. ‘Paltry’ is subjective based on your use case, I suppose. But in my particular situation, I take a metric ton of photos and videos, largely because I’m a parent, but also because I’m admittedly obsessed with nature. My phone is filled with self-proclaimed artsy snapshots and meandering HDR clips of trees rustling in the wind, plants growing toward the sun and birds doing, well, whatever birds do.
Yes, I essentially game for a living, but I do get outside quite a bit. I touch grass, as it were. I can hear the imminent gasping as I write this.
So yeah, lots of family, animal and plant footage filling up this writer’s storage, but that’s not to mention the copious amount of gaming software I keep installed on my device, everything from more space-intensive titles like the aforementioned Call of Duty: Mobile and feelings-turned-game Sky, to compact and more niche experiences like Wordle. This is all to say that as a person who utilizes my camera’s phone every day, all day, and maintains a job as a games and technology blogger, I need expandable storage, full stop.
The included 128GB on my review unit is, at best, adequate. If I’m being honest, I do think casual users will find it to be acceptable, especially if they only keep a handful of games downloaded. Plus, Samsung offers both 256GB and a 512GB storage capacity versions in addition to this lower end model, but you’ll pay for the difference, and that storage is baked into the phone with no way of physically removing it or expanding it.
A slot for a microSD card would offer much more flexibility, and I don’t like when phone manufacturers prevent their customers from making these choices independently.
Galaxy S22 Ultra.
What’s also disappointing is that the 128GB model of the S22 Ultra only comes with 8GB of RAM, which pales in comparison to any of the higher end variants — or the Note 20 Ultra, for that matter — which ship with a robust 12GB. To be fair, most games will run just fine with 8GB of RAM (we are talking mobile games here and not Cyberpunk 2077, after all), but if you’re wanting to use the phone for productivity and creative tasks, like say video editing, 8GB could potentially prove limiting.
Additionally, 45W super-fast charging is nice, though after testing out the 65W charger on the OnePlus 10 Pro, I’d have preferred Samsung level up the capabilities here. I know lightspeed charging can allegedly be damaging for batteries in the long run, but the extra speed is convenient, especially when doing a lot of gaming. In my experience, the battery life is okay on the S22 Ultra, nothing egregiously excellent or terrible.
In the end, I’m frustratingly torn. The S22 Ultra, in my opinion, is one of the top options mobile gamers have when it comes to brute display prowess, and the infamous S Pen will always have a special place in my screen-drawing heart. But a total lack of expandable storage and a meager RAM offering on the lowest-end model cast a missed opportunity shadow over an otherwise amazing smartphone experience.
If these drawbacks don’t bother you, however, then there’s no better hardware on which to explore Genshin Impact, or take photos of squirrels. Lots and lots of squirrels. Please send help.
Disclosure: Samsung provided review product for coverage purposes.
