We’re one week away from the next Samsung event. Samsung will launch its first Galaxy S phone with a built-in stylus, virtually resurrecting the Note line. That’s the Galaxy S22 Ultra, of course, which appeared in several leaks ahead of its reveal. The phone will have a distinct design compared to smaller Galaxy S22 phones. That’s because of the S Pen stylus, which forced Samsung to give Note phones curved edges and flat top and bottom sides. The regular Galaxy S22 models will have flat screens, flatter edges, and curved corners. All of that info appeared in Galaxy S22 leaks that flooded the web in the past few months. But we now have the first unofficial hands-on account from a Verizon sales representative who had a chance to use the Galaxy S22 Ultra during a training session.
The Galaxy S22 Ultra hands-on experience
The representative took to Reddit to detail their Galaxy S22 Ultra hands-on experience. The post turned into an ask-me-anything (AMA) session, with the Verizon rep providing various details about the handset.
Here’s what Reddit user iSmokeGSCookies had to say about the Galaxy S22 Ultra design:
The phone looks exactly like the Note 20 Ultra pen built-in and body size but the camera doesn’t stick out it’s almost all flat.
In other remarks, the Redditor said the Galaxy S22 Ultra had the same weight as the Note 20 Ultra. “The back glass is smooth and nice. Pen was same size too,” they said. But the phone is thinner than the Note 20 Ultra.
The handset is slightly wider than the Galaxy S21 Ultra, the Verizon rep said in the hands-on AMA. As for the Galaxy S22 Ultra’s Note-style edges, they’re “not so aggressive.”
iSmokeGSCookies said that the Galaxy S22 Ultra will be an easy sell given what they saw during the briefing.
Specs and release date
The Galaxy S22 Ultra’s release date is February 25th, the Verizon rep said. That’s in line with plenty of leaks, including the recent reports that said the Ultra will launch before the regular Galaxy S22 models. Samsung’s own Galaxy S22 preorder registration terms also suggested the phones will launch on February 25th.
iSmokeGSCookies said they didn’t see the Galaxy S22 and Galaxy S22 Plus during this Ultra hands-on experience. This further indicates the smaller handsets might see delays.
The Redditor did not offer prices, but they said the Galaxy S22 Ultra will not come with a charger in the box. The phone will be available in several colors, they said. But the Galaxy S22 Ultra hands-on experience concerned a black unit.
The rep also offered a few Galaxy S22 Ultra specs. The base model will feature 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. You get 12GB of RAM only with the 256GB and 512GB storage options. The phone won’t support microSD cards, and it won’t have a headphone jack.
The rear camera has “huge sensors” but the same software. The selfie cam has a 40-megapixel sensor, iSmokeGSCookies said.
Finally, the Galaxy S22 Ultra will feature a 5,000 mAh battery. The other Galaxy S22 flavors get smaller batteries than their predecessors, however.
