SAMSUNG GALAXY S22 ULTRA SMARTPHONE

Is this a Note or not? The S22 Ultra is Samsung's flagship smartphone device, as well as the first Galaxy S with a built-in stylus. It takes the best of what Samsung fans loved about the Note and adds powerful cameras, an OLED screen and a LTPO display (which essentially means better refresh rates).

It's a big, boxy phone with a curved display that's packed full of all the frills and fancy features that we've come to expect from Samsung. On the back are four camera lenses—a 12 MP ultra-wide, a 108 MP wide-angle, a 10 MP 3x optical zoom (telephoto camera 1), and a 10 MP 10x optical zoom (telephone camera 2)— and a laser autofocus sensor. The niche photography features are particularly impressive, especially when it comes to portraits or using the night mode, something Samsung now calls 'Nightography'.

While Samsung's S Pen is compatible with a number of the brand's smartphones, the fact that it has a dedicated slot on the S22 Ultra makes it all feel a little more premium. When you pop it out, a menu of stylus-centric options is displayed on the screen. Scribbling notes by hand and watching them morph into (surprisingly) legible fonts is a lot of fun.

The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra might be a little different to what we're used to from this tech giant, but that's certainly not a bad thing. Our verdict is that this device is very close to perfect, if you have a budget that stretches that far.