Since we tested it, the S22 Ultra has seen a major update. The opportunity to see if its performance, black point at the launch of the phone, has improved.
You may have seen it past, we had expressed some reservations about the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultrain particular on the performance of its chip, theExynos 2200.
7 /10
Supposed to sign the beginning of a prolific partnership with AMD, it ended up being rather unreliable in game, while causing major display problems, such as a gray bar in the middle of the screen. As a result, the Galaxy S22 Ultra had inherited a performance rating of 6/10 during our test, due to too large a gap with its competitors under Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 and its inadmissible bugs for a phone at this price.
Almost a month after its release, a relatively major update later (released at the end of February), we thought it was time to see if the situation had been fixed or not. We take stock.
Fortnite: we started from afar, but it’s a little better
The application on which we had encountered the most problems was undoubtedly Fortnite. There were two major concerns:
- Huge display bugs, with white and blue bars all over the map at the start of the game, then textures never loading
- Disappointing performance
Let’s be clear: the first concern is partly resolved. We have no longer experienced a display bug of the same level as those seen in testing. On the other hand, we continue to come across small problems that are not very reassuring, such as the game’s home screen, of which half of the textures are missing.
Another slightly strange effect: the S22 Ultra displays a kind of blue mist on Fortnite all over the map, as if to hide the misery and weakness of the chip. If you have ever played a Battle Royale, you will know that this is still a very annoying bug, which prevents you from choosing the exact location of your landing. Post update, we encountered this same bug on the S22 Ultra and S22, which suggests that we are far from an isolated phenomenon.
Fortnite on the S22 Ultra displays a very strange blue haze. // Source: Frandroid
Fortnite on the S22 Ultra displays a very strange blue haze. // Source: Frandroid
Fortnite on the S22 Ultra displays a very strange blue haze. // Source: Frandroid
Fortnite on the S22 Ultra displays a very strange blue haze. // Source: Frandroid
As for the second big downside, namely the disappointing performance… There is some improvement, but we are far from the stability we would expect from a flagship in 2022. During our test, we encountered many drops in performance. framerate, making the game impractical from a certain level of graphical detail. Here’s what we found on the S22 Ultra:
- In 60 FPS, Ultra and 100% 3D resolution presets, the phone does not take the shock and goes through sudden losses of fluidity;
- In presets 60 FPS, high and 3D resolution at 75%, there is better, we start to find the game playable. But as soon as the action asks us for an excess of precision, multiple lags occur;
- In 30 FPS, medium and 3D resolution presets, it starts to become playable. We are still surprised to continue to see drops to 12 or 16 FPS here and there.
The S22 achieves roughly the same results, but with heat dissipation that seems less well managed. After 10 minutes of play, the phone is hot both on the back and on the front, so much so that it is impossible to keep your hand on it.
The gray bar
Let’s move on to the second annoying problem we encountered: the gray bar in the middle of the screen when playing video. Good news, we have not encountered it again, whether in Full HD or QHD, in adaptive mode or 60 Hz.
It’s still a nice thorn in the side of this S22 Ultra, it must be recognized and good news for those who had pre-ordered the phone as soon as it was announced.
Genshin impact sticks out its tongue
The other great game capable of bringing even the most capable smartphones to their knees is called Genshin Impact. For the occasion, we have therefore decided to launch it on the S22 Ultra.
We keep more or less the same rendering as during our test, namely a very not very fluid, but playable aspect. What’s more, the anti-aliasing processing rather bothered us, the latter offering an unpleasant flickering sensation. Here we find this defect.
For comparison, we launched the same title on a phone running Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. This one is doing much better. It can even run the game at high graphics, where the S22 Ultra struggles on medium settings. And above all, the impression of fluidity and correct treatment of the anti aliasing is truly obvious.
So the S22 Ultra sub-note will change
For all these reasons, and because the S22 Ultra update has solved some of the problems we highlighted during our test, we have decided, exceptionally, to raise the phone’s performance rating from 6 to 7.
Why not more? Because, even so, we find that the Exynos 2200 remains a notch, even two notches below its competitors under Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, whose performance we can experience day after day over the models that reach us. The two do not play in the same class.
Not enough to raise the phone bill
It remains to be seen whether this jump from a 6 to a 7 in performance justifies raising the phone’s rating from a 7 to an 8. We don’t think so.
By giving it 7, we felt that the S22 Ultra lacked a few checked boxes to enter the category of phones that we can recommend without reservation or almost (the meaning we put behind an 8). We believe that the reserves are still too high today. It should be added that our ratings of course take into account the price of the phones. However, the S22 Ultra is one of the most expensive on the market, so we have to be more demanding of it.
We are of course aware that smartphone gaming is a niche use and that a telephone is much more than a gaming machine. But we also believe that when you put a sum such as the 1359 euros of the average configuration of the phone, you have the right to demand a phone with impeccable performance. It should be remembered that mid-range phones show themselves more in this matter, which should not happen.
Remember of course that the rating of 7 remains a very good rating and that the S22 Ultra would be recommended for all its other qualities (photo versatility, premium design at the rendezvous, sumptuous screen, etc.) Let’s even say that it would know be more recommended than when it was released, since the video playback problems with a huge gray and slightly protruding graphic artifact have disappeared. On the other hand, if you are looking for a phone to play, you can always go your way, this is not where you will find it.
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