Review of the Samsung S22 Plus in the UAE
Samsung has been the forefront runner in the smartphone industry. Samsung introduced the new S22 Series of devices on 9th February 2022 and Samsung Gulf official introduced the S22 series for the UAE market on 10th March 2022.
I received the Samsung S22 Plus for review within a few days of the launch. I had the phone for almost 3 weeks to try some photography and videos.
The Review
The Samsung S22 Plus is the latest smartphone from the Samsung S22 series of smartphones released for the UAE market. The S22 Series consists of S22, S22 Plus and S22 Ultra. The device came in a slim box like the earlier S21 series. The box contained the S22 Plus phone, quick start guide, bar code and USB Type-C to USB Type-C cable.
Spec & Design
The Samsung S22 Plus comes with a dimension of 75.8mm x 157.4mm and weighs 195grams. It comes with a 6.6″ flat FHD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2X display. Samsung calls the display an Infinity-O Display which has a resolution of 2340x1080pixels. It has 393 PPI with a 120Hz refresh rate and is HDR10+ certified.
The front camera of the Samsung S22 Plus has 10MP with 80 degrees of Field of Vision (FOV). It has F2.2 apertures with a size of 1/3.24″ image sensor. The main camera of the S22 Plus has got triple camera setup, which consists of a 12MP Ultra Wide Camera with F2.2 apertures,120degree (FOV) and 1/2.55″ image sensor size. The second camera is a 50MP Wide-angle Camera with F1.8 apertures, 85 degrees (FOV) and 1/1.56″ image sensor size. The third camera is a 10MP Telephoto Camera with F2.4 apertures, 36 degrees (FOV) and 1/3.94″ image sensor size. The cameras come with Space Zoom 3x Optical Zoom, Super-Resolution Zoom up to 30x, OIS (Optical Image Stabilization) and Tracking AF.
On the right side of the body, it has the volume rockers and power button which also doubles for Bixby (voice assistant). The left side doesn’t have any buttons. The bottom side has a dual SIM Card Tray and a USB Type-C port with a mic and speaker. On the top, you have the MIC and just above the display, you have the earpiece which doubles as a speaker when holding the phone horizontally.
The phones come with NFC and support Samsung Pay – supports MST and/or NFC Membership cards.
Testing the Cameras
The Samsung S22 Plus has a 10MP Selfie camera which performed very well. The colours of the images were great and some of the selfies were good.
The main cameras of the Samsung S22 Plus performed very well. But there are some small issues which the general public would not matter when it comes to photography with all the Samsung phones. But as a reviewer and heavy user of a smartphone camera. I always look forward to having images clicked by the smartphone camera to be as realistic as same as real surroundings. The AI technology and effects added to the software in the system produces the digitally reproduced images which we see on the smartphone screen or computer screen.
The Samsung S22 Plus has a similar problem, when clicked in the normal mode, the camera adds effect to the image. E.g.- The sky colour automatically added extra blue, the colours are super-enhanced, the red colour is bright red and skin tone gets extra shine which is digitally created and does not match with the real world surrounding or the person. The only way I could get the natural colours as per the real world is to click it in Pro mode where I have to adjust the setting as per my requirement. Otherwise, the camera colour reproduction for non-photographers is amazing.
The main camera can record 8K video recording at 24 fps (7680×4320) and 4K UHD video recording at 60 fps (3840×2160). It can shoot Super Steady 1080p video support at 60 fps, Super Slow-mo 720p video support at 960 fps, Slow motion 1080p video support at 240 fps, and Hyperlapse 4K video support at 30 fps.
It supports HDR10+ recording, Digital zoom up to 20x and takes 33MP still photos while playing 8K video.
The main camera sensor captured the images and reproduced them with vibrant colours.
The Samsung S22 Plus released in this region comes with Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor which performed with an excellent score. The transition and opening and closing of the apps happened with ease. It comes with a 4500mAh battery which can last more than a day with heavy usage of calls, surfing on the internet and watching videos.
It supports Fast Wireless Charging 2.0 and supports 45W/25W USB PD 3.0 (PPS) certified Super Fast Charging for wired charging (AFC and QC2.0 compatible) and Wireless PowerShare (reverse charging).
The device which I got for review is the 8GB RAM with 128GB ROM (Storage) and also available in the 8GB RAM with 256GB ROM. The S22 Plus works on Android 12 OS. It has a dual speaker setup for Stereo and comes with Bluetooth 5.2, NFC, and Zoom-in Mic which is effective for recording videos. The S22 Plus supports Screen mirroring and can connect to Samsung Ecosystem “Smart Things” by which you can connect to your TV, computer, Projector, etc.
The S22 Plus is IP68 rated with an Ultrasonic Fingerprint sensor and for protection, it has got a Knox platform: real-time monitoring and protection.
Price and Availability
The Samsung S22 Plus comes in Phantom White, Green, Pink Gold and Phantom Black colours and is available on Samsung Website for AED3,799
Verdict
Overall, the Samsung S22 Plus is a great flagship series smartphone with a lot of features. The camera performance was good with some added unwanted colourized effects in some images. The video performance was good even during the low light time. There was little heating of the body of the smartphone while video recording for a longer period and especially during the 4K and 8K videos. Samsung has really to find the best solution regarding the heating issue. A small thing but important, the Samsung S22 plus comes with a USB Type-C to USB Type-C cable along in the box. But it doesn’t come with an adaptor for charging. Also, you require a 45W supercharger adaptor which has a USB Type-C port, so this is an additional expenditure with purchasing the expensive smartphone.
“It is a great purchase for consumers, who wanted branded and stylish smartphone with great features”
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