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Samsung Galaxy S22 was released last month and it’s one of the best looking flagship Android device. It comes with the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip with 8 GB RAM and UFS 3.1 Storage of 128 GB/256GB. It’s priced at $799/$849 for 128/256GB variants and the price is perfect for this device. It’s small form factor and one handed usage is great for small phone lovers like me. As all of the above points seems impressive, I found couple of issues with this phone and I found similar complaints from other users on online forums. Let’s see what are those 2 major disadvantages with Samsung S22.
Heating Issues with Samsung Galaxy S22
With it’s small form factor, there are lot of components packed in the compact body. This year’s Samsung S22 came with 3 camera setup unlike previous generation of Flagship Galaxy devices. So there are additional components embedded in the device along with the powerful processor. It may be the main reason why they reduced the battery size of Samsung S22 to 3700 mAh from previous year’s 4000 mAh battery in Samsung S21.
Because of all these reasons, thermals are not handled very well and it’s causing heating issues. Especially if you use it for Gaming, phone gets warmer. I even found the phone warmer even during less intensive tasks like browsing web, instagram and other social media apps. I’m assuming if this can be a software issue and in that case, Samsung will fix it with future software upgrades. If that’s not the case, this can be a serious issue.
My Real Life Experience with Samsung Galaxy S22
During my recent trip to Asia, I used my Galaxy S22 as my main camera for shooting pictures and videos. During warmer days with temperature around 100 degree Fahrenheit, device is getting warmer and warmer. At one point where I shot a 1080P video for 10 minutes, phone got frozen and I had to restart the device. Also at times after using camera for a while I can feel the phone to be warm for few minutes. So there is definitely there is a over heating issue with Samsung Galaxy S22.
Battery drain on Samsung Galaxy S22
This year’s S22 has a smaller battery and also having some heating issues, it’s battery life is taking a toll. As the device has a high refresh rate LTPO display, it’s consuming more battery than previous generation phones. Samsung S22’s LTPO display has a variable refresh rate from 48 Hz to 120 Hz depending on the type of use and this is intended to save battery. So, if you use the phone with the high refresh rate enabled display, you can expect around 3.5 hours of Screen on time.
Battery life can be extended by disabling high refresh rate on its display which is not the ideal case to buy this device. If you use it for Gaming or use the camera features for a while, it makes the phone a lot warmer and drains the battery a lot. Also battery drain is considerable when using the device for video calls. During warmer days and if used outside in bright light, battery drain in considerable due to rise in temperature and a lot more brighter screen to match outdoors.
Final Thoughts on Samsung Galaxy S22
I really like this year’s Samsung S22 for its compactness and fluid performance with a great build. S22’s camera performance is commendable this year. So, I’m hoping the battery and heating issues are just at software side and it will be fixed with software patches in coming months. Surprisingly the battery drain is not much is S22 Plus and S22 Ultra. So, if battery is your main concern I would recommend you getting Samsung S22 or S22 Ultra.
Update:
After using the phone for 2 more weeks, battery life got stabilized and its now giving around 4.5 hours to 5 hours screen on time. This is not a great battery but it’s decent compared to the battery size. Also with such a small form factor, slim build and a light weight device, its understandable about the lower capacity battery. If you are someone who has access to a charger most of the time (many of us have nowadays), then its a great flagship android device.
