S21U to S22 users, give me your honest opinion.

[Go0gle]

I bought the S21U on launch day and I bought the S22U on launch day. S22 is a huge upgrade for my usage. Here are my thoughts so far:

1) The most noticeable thing is that the screen is wider, and I LOVE that. To me that is worth it right there, everything else is gravy. I have large hands and have zero issues with one-handed use. 2-hand typing is a dream, that extra bit of space allows me to type noticeably faster with my thumbs than the S21U. It's so much nicer for reading articles and generally consuming content, I didn't expect it to be as noticeable as it is. "Natural" mode saturation is slightly higher on the S22U, but that isn't an issue. The extra brightness is noticeable. I like the squared off edges, it seems to provide just that little bit extra useful space, and 99% of phones live in a case anyway so you can customize the in-hand feel however you wish.

2) I have never owned a Note device in the past, but the S-Pen is great. I don't use it a ton, but when I do want to use it I'm really glad to have it (remote shutter, screen captures, signing documents, etc.) It's included at no extra cost and remains hidden away so you forget it's even there until you need it. Perfect implementation with no downsides in my view.

3) Cameras have been improved quite dramatically, both on the processing side and sharpness/general image quality. Every image sensor is new despite the lens focal length and apertures remaining the same. I am a professional photographer so I am very picky regarding image quality and I found the improvements to be very noticeable. Portrait mode in particular is unbelievably good at picking out boarders, far better than any other phone out there including the iPhone 13 Pro. I have done a ton of tests and it literally doesn't miss even a single strand of hair, and you can adjust the effect after the fact - pretty much a perfect implementation IMHO. Portrait mode with the 3X looks best in most cases due to the scene compression from the longer focal length. Night mode got a big improvement (both the long-exposure mode as well as just snapping shots in low light), as did overall white balance. Video image stabilization is massively improved as well. Digital zoom (anything beyond 10X) is also dramatically improved, with 30X being genuinely usable and 100X useful for reading a sign, menu, license plate, etc. Everyone will have a different threshold for what is acceptable here but it's great to have so many options. Really pleased with the gains here across the board. The RAW files from the main camera sensor (by far the largest sensor physically) are easy to work with and have a surprising amount of leeway in post processing, for those who may be interested.

4) Speed/responsiveness - for general usage, there is no noticeable difference from the S21U which was literally instant-fast for most things. Nothing of note to report here, it is as good as it gets in terms of normal everyday use. Fingerprint reader 100% accurate as long as I don't miss it with my finger (exact same unit as the S21U, so no change there). Turn off the fingerprint animation and it is literally instant - you don't even need to wake the screen first once you get used to where the sensor is. If anything I will say the camera app is quicker to take photos, process photos, and switch between cameras but the S21U was already so fast that nobody should expect major gains here.

5) Battery life - Seems to be slightly better than the S21U, but both were astonishingly good with 2+ day batteries (normal use), so I really don't care at the end of the day which ends up being slightly better or worse as it will not affect me.

6) Price - absolute no-brainer of an upgrade. It cost me under $200 CAD to upgrade from my 256GB S21U to the S22U (I imagine that number is even less in the USA), so there is little reason not to upgrade unless there is a specific thing about the S21U you prefer. It was super easy to find various promos, order through the student portal, etc. to reduce the cost. I got the S22U for under $1,400 CAD and sold my S21U for $1200 CAD in one day. Because the upgrade is so cheap, if there is even one feature you want from the S22, it's easily worth it. Any cheaper and it would have been a free upgrade, so it's pretty hard to complain about the price.

tl;dr: Samsung is letting people (almost) upgrade for free, they are not charging you any extra for the S-pen "Note" experience, and there are significant improvements across the board. Easiest upgrade decision I have ever made in the Android world, and also the cheapest.

My sole complaint: Samsung stopped applying factory screen protectors with the S22 series.

 

[sulla1965]

Well the S22 Ultra could've been called the S22 Ultra Note. Many S21 Ultra users are dismayed by the boxy design compared to last years S21 Ultra. Whereas Note users are perfectly fine with it. So are you a Note fan? if not, you may want to hold off "upgrading."

I had the S21 Ultra for a while. I just thought it was a bit top heavy for my liking. And I always regretted selling it. Personally I still prefer the S21 Ulta's design over the S22 Ultra.

The S22 Ultra has a slightly brighter screen, slightly better camera's, built in S pen slot, its newer. So will be supported a bit longer. But like with any new device. Upgrading is a personal choice. As yearly iterations aren't really enough to make upgrading a necessity by any means.

 

[djousma]

i am coming from S21U to S22U. I do so for the advertised improvements in radio for fringe area's. we'll see if that pans out. Beyond that, it was a free upgrade with the credits. Otherwise I was prepared to wait another year.

 

[trucksmoveamerica#AC]

I think that no one who has the S21 ultra should get the S22 ultra, I'm not even sure that it's an upgrade.

Well all yearly upgrades come with a upgrade. You get a new phone that has a year manufacturers warranty. Most people forget about that.

 

[Go0gle]

Well all yearly upgrades come with a upgrade. You get a new phone that has a year manufacturers warranty. Most people forget about that.

Not only that but Samsung is essentially letting people upgrade for free with all the easily accessible promotions and high value retention of previous year models. You can literally upgrade for approximately the same cost as the extended warranty, and who wouldn't rather have a brand new phone to go along with it.

 

[fjd726]

Not sure what kind of deals you got. For trading in an s21Ultra, the trade in amount is 800 bucks. The phone (s22U) is 1200. Nobody is getting 1200 credits toward the new phone. So with taxes and fees, you're paying 500 or more for the upgrade, regardless of the freebees.

 

[trucksmoveamerica#AC]

Not sure what kind of deals you got. For trading in an s21Ultra, the trade in amount is 800 bucks. The phone (s22U) is 1200. Nobody is getting 1200 credits toward the new phone. So with taxes and fees, you're paying 500 or more for the upgrade, regardless of the freebees.

I got $1,000 for my S10+.

 

[Go0gle]

Not sure what kind of deals you got. For trading in an s21Ultra, the trade in amount is 800 bucks. The phone (s22U) is 1200. Nobody is getting 1200 credits toward the new phone. So with taxes and fees, you're paying 500 or more for the upgrade, regardless of the freebees.

I am not sure what USA incentives are but I am pretty sure they are better than what we got here in Canada.

This is what I did:

1) Samsung promo making the 256GB S22U same price as 128GB version
2) Simply use the education portal to instantly save another ~10%. This is just a different Samsung website, no signup needed.
3) Send in literally any phone, even your broken one from 10 years ago, for $150 credit. Last year they didn't even enforce the sending in of your broken phones, but this year it appears they are - I sent them a completely unusable ~6 year old entry level Samsung phone that someone gave to me. Their trade-in values normally aren't worth sending them anything usable as you will do better with a private sale, but it's worth it to check just in case.
4) If you "reserved" a phone before the pre-order (no obligation) you got a $50 credit. I did not get this because I unknowingly signed up for the USA promo by mistake, so it could have been even better.

S22U 256GB cost now $1,3XX CAD

Sold my S21U very easily in one day for full asking price of $1,200 CAD.

Easiest upgrade decision I've made in my entire smartphone history - the extended warranty was more expensive than simply getting a brand new phone.

 

[cbironman24]

I upgraded from a S20 plus BUT my work phone is an S21 Ultra. So I use that everyday as well. I will say I am not used to the square corners yet. (never had a Note) But to me the phone feels thinner in the hand over the 21 Ultra. It seems faster and the display looks better to me. The 22 ultra looks bigger in the hand, which I think is just visual to me with the square corners making it look bigger. I do like it over my S20 Plus. Not a fan of the S22 plus as its more squared off on the sides now as apposed to my S20 plus.
I am using a Samsung leather case on the S22 ultra so its not really adding any bulk to the phone. No way I could handle it with a larger case. Without a case it feels so much better then the S21 Ultra I use for work in a tech 21 case.
Its just going to take some time getting used to the squared off look.

 

[claykin]

Honest opinion on S21U vs S22U?

S-Pen, if you'll use it, is a big improvement. If not, it's a cute toy you'll use on occasion. My kids love it and draw pics for me to save all the time. They're quite talented! I've used it for notes and web browsing a couple times so far. The s-pen is definitely helpful for web pages that don't zoom in mobile format. Otherwise, I have not yet found a killer use for the pen.

Cameras, small improvements here and there. In some cases photo post processing has improved, which is welcome. Night shots have improved noticeably. I'm still waiting for a phone camera that can take good photos of moving objects (i.e. Sports). The S22U so far is not much better than the S21U for Sports shots. Front facing camera seems to have better processing.

Battery, well, the jury is out. However, my suspicion is after a few updates, the S22U will be about the same as the S21U. They're not far off from each other now.

OLED screen, they seem to be about the same. No noticeable difference.

Radio, the S22U is better in weak signal areas, especially in 5G weak areas. With my S21U, if I was in a weak 5G area, I often had to set my phone to LTE to get a text out or to browse the web. With the S22U, in the same locations, I am not having any issues with data while on 5G. Noticeable improvement.

Miscellaneous, the fingerprint reader works better with the S22U. From what I've read it's the same hardware, but something is improved. Maybe a newer revision of the hardware? Maybe better software implementation? Whatever it is, the fingerprint reader works better on the S22U.

Audio quality over Bluetooth, the S22U seems a bit better than the S21U. I have both connected to my car over BT and I can definitely hear improved audio quality and better bass with the S22U. Why, I do not know - but I'll take it. Yes, I've tried deleting Bluetooth pairing for both and repairing. S22U is better by a small margin.

To me, earpiece sound quality while on calls is noticeably better with the S22U. Mostly noticeable when on an HD+ call.

Overall, the S22U is an incremental upgrade over the S21U. Not a bad upgrade at all. For hardcore gamers, the S22U is definitely a worthwhile upgrade.

 

[Ninjarette]

My phone hasn't come yet. But I have the S21 Ultra now. I always wanted a Note, but the way my upgrade cycle was set up - I'm on the Next Plan (yearly upgrade), the S series phone would get released first, and I never wanted to wait months after for the new Note. Lack of patience, and I would always get sucked in during the Unpacked Event. On Note pre-order day, I would kick myself.

I wasn't planning on getting the S22 Ultra, but I remembered how much I wanted a Note, and I wasn't interested in either of the other 2 S22 devices.

I like the square edges of the Note. Not sure about the sPen, but I'm definitely open to using it.

 

[Ninjarette]

My phone hasn't come yet. But I have the S21 Ultra now. I always wanted a Note, but the way my upgrade cycle was set up - I'm on the Next Plan (yearly upgrade), the S series phone would get released first, and I never wanted to wait months after for the new Note. Lack of patience, and I would always get sucked in during the Unpacked Event. On Note pre-order day, I would kick myself.

I wasn't planning on getting the S22 Ultra, but I remembered how much I wanted a Note, and I wasn't interested in either of the other 2 S22 devices.

I like the square edges of the Note. Not sure about the sPen, but I'm definitely open to using it. I'm not expecting a noticeable difference in performance.

 

[Rzshackelford]

Honestly, my 22U isn't *that much* bigger than my 21U. I feel like I really like the design/feel of the 22U better than my previous 21U. But I have noticed some other minor irritations though such as the S Pen being a little finicky and it not opening Notes as easily as I'd like (I write a lot so this was a big selling point for me). Having been a Galaxy user since the S10 I've never owned a Note, but this 22U feels much like all the previous Note phones I've seen. I like the feel though. Jury's still out on whether or not I was right to upgrade.

 

[theobject]

i am coming from S21U to S22U. I do so for the advertised improvements in radio for fringe area's. we'll see if that pans out. Beyond that, it was a free upgrade with the credits. Otherwise I was prepared to wait another year.

Hope you have better results than I do. I live in a fringe area where 4G is a struggle. Between the Fiip3 and S22U the signal is no better.

 

[EMGSM]

Not a major upgrade for me. I just didn't like how the S pen comes separate. I also didn't like the S-pen case so much. The S pen was a good size and more comfortable to hold than the on in the S22U. At the end of the day, I'm happy with the S22 Ultra.

 

[I Can Be Your Hero]

I went from an S21U to Pixel 6 Pro to S22U, so a little gap with a different phone for a few months before I went to the Samsung again. Samsung just had extremely aggresive trade deals that were too good to pass up and the Pixel 6 Pro was really frustrating me with a lot of bugs, so I decided to make the move to the S22U.

I only recieved it earlier today, so it's really very early 1st impressions for me is that it's pretty much the same as the S21U. What was good in the S21U is still good in the S22U so far. The phone hasn't really changed a whole lot, barring the included S-pen. The UI seems very much the same/familiar, the phone is fast and snappy. If you had an S21U, I don't think it's worth an upgrade, the S21U is 99% of the same phone if you're not an S-pen user.

 

[trucksmoveamerica#AC]

Hope you have better results than I do. I live in a fringe area where 4G is a struggle. Between the Fiip3 and S22U the signal is no better.

I'll find out one of these days. I frequently travel a couple of areas that the note 10+ and note 20 ultra dropped calls while the fold 2 and 3 held on to the calls in the exact same areas.

 

[bkdodger2]

Here's a vid I watched yesterday..one of the members in another forum was talking about the video playback in hDr being dimmer on S22 ..https://youtu.be/MpkhKrI_0Mc

 

[1814]

Should I upgrade from S21 Ultra?

Just curious those who have upgraded if it's worth upgrading from the S21 Ultra. Love everything about the S21 Ultra, I do like the idea of the s-pen.

 

[Gary02468]

Re: Should I upgrade from S21 Ultra?

No one can tell you that. We can tell you the specs differences (but you already know about that) and how much you'd have to pay to upgrade (but you already know about that). Then you have to compare how much you care about the specs differences to how much you care about paying the upgrade price. That's something you know but we don't.