Samsung Galaxy S22+ first impressions – Times of India

Samsung launched its flagship Galaxy S22 series of smartphones in India recently. The smartphone series consists of three phones — Galaxy S22 Ultra, Galaxy S22+ and the Galaxy S22. Samsung Galaxy S22+ comes with a starting price tag of Rs 84999 and it packs in a lot of features and looks like a compelling buy. We got a chance to use the device for some time and here are our initial impressions:
Design
Samsung has not changed much when it comes to the design elements of the Samsung Galaxy S22+. The smartphone looks a lot similar to its predecessor — Galaxy S21+. The smartphone comes with a flatter frame this time and it offers a firm grip to the user. The dual SIM slot is placed at the bottom part of the phone along with the USB Type C charging port and speaker output. The SIM card tray can hold two SIM cards and the smartphone does not allow you to install a microSD card. The power button and volume rockers are located on the right. The smartphone sports a triple rear camera which is placed inside a metallic module that sits on the top left corner. The smartphone comes in four colour options –Phantom White, Phantom Black, Green and Pink Gold. The sleek and stylish smartphone comes with a compact form factor and is also easy to use with one hand.
Display
Samsung Galaxy S22+ features a 6.6-inch FHD+ display with an adaptive refresh rate. The display is protected with a layer of Corning Gorilla Glass Victus+ on top. The display offers a bright and dynamic display on the Samsung Galaxy S22+ offers a smooth user experience. The adaptive refresh rate enhances the display experience and also helps in reducing battery consumption. The 1750 nits of brightness levels offer good visibility under direct sunlight. The smartphone display comes with wide viewing angles and the apt colour reproduction enables users to enjoy long binge-watching sessions. The display also offers various colour profiles which allow users to customise the display as per their needs.

Hardware and software
Samsung has always launched two variants of the Galaxy S series of smartphones — one variant is powered by an Exynos processor and the other by Qualcomm. For the first time, Samsung has launched the Qualcomm variant in India. Samsung Galaxy S22+ is powered by an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset paired with 8GB of RAM. The smartphone comes in two storage options — 128GB and 256GB. The smartphone performed well during our initial testing and we didn’t face any lag. We had a smooth experience during multitasking and gaming.
Along with a powerful processor, Samsung Galaxy S22+ also offers fast charging support. The smartphone houses a 4500mAh battery with 45W fast charging, 15W Qi wireless charging, Wireless PowerShare feature. Samsung claims that the smartphone can charge from 0to 50% in just 15 minutes. However, we are yet to test this functionality and the battery backup of the smartphone. The dual SIM smartphone comes equipped with an in-fingerprint sensor and sports a triple rear camera setup.

Samsung Galaxy S22+ runs the Android 12 operating system out-of-the-box topped with the company’s own layer of One UI 4.1. Along with a clean user interface, the smartphone also offers all the features of Android 12. It also comes with a productivity hub which can be accessed by swiping on the display from right to left. The hub allows users to quickly access some of the important apps without unlocking the smartphone. We will talk more about the software in our detailed review of the smartphone.
Camera
Same as its predecessor, the Samsung Galaxy S22+ also sports a triple rear camera setup. The rear camera of the smartphone consists of a 50MP main sensor with f/1.8 aperture, a 12MP ultra-wide sensor with f/2.2 aperture and a 10MP telephoto lens with f/2.4 aperture. The smartphone camera comes with 3x optical zoom and is capable of recording 4k videos at 60 fps and 8k videos at 30fps. The smartphone houses a 10MP selfie camera with an f/2.2 aperture. The camera delivered some really impressive results during our initial testing. The images captured turned out to be bright and beautiful. The company has also introduced some new shooting modes and also made some software enhancements to the camera. For the detailed camera analysis, you will have to wait for our detailed review.
What we think
Samsung Galaxy S22+ is a bonafide flagship device and it will take on the likes of iPhone 13 and others. The smartphone offers a sleek design and all the high-end and powerful specifications. But will that be enough? Wait for our detailed review to find out more.