Fast Charge: Samsung shouldn’t turn the Galaxy S22 Ultra into another Note phone
OPINION: The first alleged hands-on pictures of the upcoming Galaxy S22 Ultra have leaked, and I am not exactly excited about what they show.
It’s been a busy week for Samsung Galaxy S22 leaks, with news emerging from frequent tipster Jon Prosser that the Korean company will hold two events at the start of 2022.
One, likely at the start of CES in Las Vegas, will finally herald the launch of the delayed Galaxy S21 FE: a cheaper version of the S21 we’ve been expecting since the summer.
The second event, taking place in February, would be dedicated to the biggest Android release of the year, in the form of the Galaxy S22 series. Exciting times, that’s for sure.
These leaks were preceded by what was apparently our first look at the souped-up flagship model in the S22 line – the S22 Ultra. I’d say the Galaxy S21 Ultra is the best Android phone you can buy right now, so there’s a lot riding on its successor for fans of specced-out phones.
After seeing these leaked images I have to say I am a little disappointed.
Of course, I should preface all this by saying these might not be final and things could look very different by the time this phone is official. But, in its current form in these images, the Galaxy S22 Ultra looks, well, dull.
It looks like Samsung is moving away from the unique camera module I liked so much on the S21 Ultra and redesigning the phone to look almost like one of its Galaxy Note phones.
I don’t think this is the right move.
Samsung’s Note series was a great line of devices, aimed at users who wanted a powerful phone with a stylus for note-taking, drawing and the like. It worked well for many years, but Samsung eventually made the right decision to can the series and focus on the mainline S-series and the innovative Flip and Fold.
The Galaxy S21 Ultra was the first big device released after the decision to ditch the Note and it did a good job at building in some of the series’ biggest hits.
The S Pen, for instance, was supported but it didn’t intrude in the actual design of the phone. If you wanted the S Pen you had to buy it separately, and then buy a case to attach it to the phone. This is not what I would call ideal, but it allowed the S Pen to work for those who wanted it and not get in the way for those – myself included – that don’t really care about it.
These leaked images of a phone show a silo built to store to S Pen, implying I’ll be far more of a feature this time around.
Fair enough, but I am already wondering what this will sacrifice. It’ll likely be battery size, something the last few Note phones suffered with. I’d take an S-Pen-less phone with a bigger battery any day and considering the Note wasn’t Samsung’s most popular phone I would expect many would agree with me,
I could be wrong, but I really do hope the S22 Ultra feels like an S-series phone and not just another Note.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
