Samsung Galaxy A22 Review – Needs A Lot Of Tuning

Samsung released the Galaxy A22 series with two variants i.e. a 4G and a 5G version and it goes without saying, the Galaxy A22 5G variant is a lot different from the 4G one. Now, the Samsung Galaxy A22 4G is a value pack featuring a vibrant display, fantastic battery life, decently-powered gaming chipset, and fast charging tech  (albeit Samsung style). It’s one thing looking at a phone from the specs sheet but the story takes a 180-degree turn when it comes to testing the phones in real life.

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That’s why I test out new smartphones for you accompanied by a highly detailed hands-on review that you can refer to.

Samsung Galaxy A22 with 6GB RAM and 128GB of storage is available on Amazon at Rs 18,499/- which is the only available trim in India at the time of writing this. It is a mid-range smartphone available on Amazon India as well as Samsung India and other retail stores.

Get up to Rs 11,100/- off on Amazon IN on eligible exchanges. Get up to Rs 1,500/- instant cashback on using HDFC cards on Samsung India. There’s a tonne of deals with the phone including standard EMI, No Cost EMI, among others. Choose between Black and Mint colour variants.

Before we talk in detail about the Samsung Galaxy A22 let’s see what the on-paper specs look like?

• Display: 16.23 centimetres (6.4-inch) Super AMOLED – Infinity U-cut display, HD+ resolution with 90Hz refresh rate
• Processor: MediaTek Helio G80 Octa-Core Processor
• Storage: 6GB/128GB
• Software: One UI 3.1 based on Android 11
• Rear cameras: 48MP (OIS) + 8MP + 2MP + 2MP
• Battery: 5000 mAh, 15W fast charging
• Weight: 186g
• Dimensions: 159.3 x 73.6 x 8.4 mm‎

Samsung Galaxy A22 shares many of its specifications with the Galaxy M32 launched a few days ago. However, instead of getting a textured back panel, Galaxy A22 follows the footsteps of its elder and premium siblings Galaxy A52 and Galaxy A72 to include a rather smooth back panel.

The Galaxy A22 uses a plastic frame and plastic body which is probably the distinction between Galaxy A22 and its elder siblings look-wise. The quad-camera setup is slightly punched-up above the back panel although instead of an abrupt bump, Galaxy A22 has smoothed edges around the camera bump which looks good, to be honest.

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The back is smooth and glossy which means you could end up with some fingerprint marks and smudges. Luckily, you can wipe it off easily. Since there’s no TPU case in the retail box, I would recommend getting a case in advance if you buy it online to avoid any short-term smudges.

The edges are curved and that is something that would enhance usability to a great extent. The phone has a weight of just 186 grams which makes it lighter and the combination of a lighter phone with a larger display and curved edges really sell it for me.

On the front, you will find decently-sized bezels that are similar to both Galaxy A22 and Galaxy F22. There’s a thick chin, a dewdrop-shaped notch, and a giant display about which I will elaborate ahead.

When it comes to the buttons and I/O ports, there’s a side-mounted fingerprint scanner cum power button on the right, a volume rocker on the right as well. You get a SIM card tray on the left; a 3.5mm headphone jack, a USB-C port, a primary mic, and a bottom-firing loudspeaker at the bottom (of course).

Samsung Galaxy A22 furnishes a giant 6.4-inch Infinity-U Super AMOLED 90Hz 720p display with a 20:9 aspect ratio. The device boasts 600 nits of brightness in its HDR mode.

Let’s get obvious out of the way. The display is HD+ which means Samsung did it again. The South Korean giant planted an HD+ panel instead of an FHD+ panel that one could expect at this price tag. Well, it isn’t the first time Samsung did it.

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Interestingly, the display gets a higher 90Hz refresh rate which is any day better than a standard refresh rate. This should provide quick responses and jitter-free transitions and animations although it may not be up to it. Check out the “Performance” section to know why I mentioned that it is a bit incompetent.

The display is huge at 6.4-inch and it is a Super AMOLED panel which means colours and contrast are something you will love for sure. The bezels aren’t that pronounced although the chin is considerably thick, but since you are not paying a premium, you can let it go. The dewdrop-shaped notch doesn’t take a huge chunk of the screen real estate although it is outdated and smartphones have moved to punch-hole notches by now.

The Galaxy A22 comes with Widevine L1 certification which means you can stream HD content on OTT platforms. Viewing angles on the display is worthwhile and colours simply pop up which means consuming media such as watching movies is a blissful experience.

Samsung Galaxy A22 packs in a MediaTek Helio G80 SoC made on a 12nm node. It is an octa-core processor (as usual) with two 2.0GHz Cortex-A75 and six 1.8GHz Cortex-A55 cores. The chipset is paired with Mali-G52 MC2 along with 64/128GB of eMMC 5.1 storage and 4/6GB RAM options available.

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Call it anything but Samsung has used the same chipset on Galaxy A22 as that of pricey Galaxy M32. The Helio G80 chipset does offer excellent support for day-to-day tasks such as calling, texting, browsing, watching movies or listening to songs, and so on.

I was able to play a lot of games on Galaxy A22 without a hitch. In fact, I even played PUBG Mobile on Smooth graphics and Ultra FPS and that worked out really great. The chipset is underpowered, to be honest. It is something that prevents the device from getting a stutter-free 90Hz refresh rate and it actually shows across the device.

Samsung has been reusing the chipset for a lot of its smartphones be it Galaxy A22 or M32 or F22 among others. To be honest, G80 SoC at Rs 18,499/- is a bit pricey but hey, even the pricier M32 has G80 SoC which means Samsung is simply pumping in chipsets on its smartphones without much care to the performance as a priority.

A Mediatek G95 could have made quite a lot of difference here. Till then, you get an underwhelming processor that will get your jobs done but with lags and stutter in-between. Also, the G80 SoC will begin to lose its charm on the A22 with time so when you decide whether to buy it or not, think about the long-term effect as well.

Samsung Galaxy A22 comes with Android 11-based OneUI Core 3.1 update out-of-the-box. This is a core version of OneUI 3.1 optimized to run faster and smoother on budget phones. The update brings optimizations to performance, one-time permissions, productivity, better visual design, and more. In a recent update, Samsung confirmed that it will be offering Samsung Galaxy A22 with two years of major Android OS upgrades and 3 years of security updates. This is a big deal for Galaxy A22 users as it promises years of support after purchase.

There’s a single selfie shooter at the front housed in an Infinity-U notch that houses a 13MP sensor. On the rear, there’s a quad-camera setup. This includes a 48MP primary shooter with OIS, f/1.8 aperture; an 8MP ultrawide snapper with f/2.2 aperture and 123-degree FoV; a 2MP macro, and a 2MP depth sensor.

Samsung Galaxy A22 comes with a quad-camera setup as said. The primary sensor captures quality shots in daylight. I found all the shots impressive and the sensor retained most details, colours optimization was on-point and the output was saturated. The primary sensor doesn’t take time to focus on objects. It processes better skin tones. You can go for 2x, 4x, and up to 10x digital zoom with the primary sensor. Since the primary sensor has OIS, you can shoot stable videos at a max of 1080p@30fps without any issue.

The ultrawide snapper captures a much wider area than a primary sensor. The sensor does its job of retaining all the details. It’s about daytime photography which is something Samsung really has an upper edge over others.

The other two cameras are 2MP macro and 2MP depth that do work efficiently. The depth sensor helps in edge detection in portrait mode and enables edge separation and applying the bokeh effect in the background and it really looks cool.

Low Light photography on Galaxy A22 is equally good as well. Samsung pays a lot of attention in the camera department and it really shows in its samples as well. Galaxy A22 captures a tad bit better details than the Galaxy M32 in a low light mode which makes a lot of difference.

Selfie snapper on Galaxy A22 is a 13MP sensor and it can shoot videos at up to 1080@30fps. Photos using the front camera are also bliss as you can take quality shots with it. It retains most details in a daytime shot and the skin tones were well-processed making the shots amazing.

Samsung Galaxy A22 arrived with a 4,000 mAh battery where the Galaxy A22 ups the game with a beefy 5,000 mAh battery. Although heavily influenced by the Galaxy M32, the South Korean giant probably trimmed the battery a bit to keep the thickness in check. In essence, the Galaxy A22’s battery lasts for a day without a hitch. I was able to take it over to the next day although it depends on your usage. It does get 7-8 hours of battery life which is still impressive.

Unlike Galaxy M32, the Galaxy A22 comes with a 15W of charging tech and it takes approx two hours to juice up the battery. There’s no 25W support on Galaxy A22 so bear with it. But since Samsung never gives more than 25W charging speed on any of its phones, I would say 15W is still faster in the Samsung ecosystem.

Samsung Galaxy A22 has a bottom-firing loudspeaker and it is quite loud. It lacks optimum bass but it is loud and something binge-watchers and gamers will like. Plus, there’s Dolby Atmos on A22 which when turned on, refines and enhances the sound quality to a great extent. Finally, the sound quality on the speaker at the earpiece is okay as well.

Samsung Galaxy A22 comes equipped with a USB Type-C 2.0 port, Bluetooth v5.0 with LE and A2DP, dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11ac, GPS including support for Galileo, Glonass, BDS, and A-GPS. There’s a 3.5mm headphone jack on board. You don’t get an NFC or IR port with the Galaxy A22.

The network reception on Galaxy A22 isn’t bad. It supports Dual SIM cards with 4G so using two 4G SIMs won’t be a problem. I have been using Jio 4G on Galaxy A22 for a while now and haven’t noticed any issues yet. Even the 4G+ carrier aggregation works fine on the Galaxy A22, mostly in the open areas. Galaxy A22 has a 5G variant too that comes with a powerful chipset and 5G support although it is much pricier and not available in India at the time of writing this.

There’s PIN and Pattern unlock available as default. Next up, you get a side-mounted fingerprint scanner which truly works like a charm. It unlocks the phone with just a tap and since it is on the side just in the reach, it makes a lot of sense to use it to unlock the phone rather than using other methods.

There’s a Face ID too but the fingerprint scanner is far more secure and snappy.

Pros:

• HD+ Super AMOLED 90Hz Display
• Quick Side Mounted fingerprint scanner.
• 48MP AI Camera with OIS
• Impressive design

Cons:

• Less powerful processor
• Gorilla glass protection is missing
• No NFC support