Poll of the week: What do you think about the Galaxy S22 line?
As the S22 launch event is slowly fading from our active memory, we had the time to sit down and recollect. One thing that is almost universally accepted here at NextPit is that the Samsung Galaxy S22 did not give us the disrupting innovations that some expected. But what does the NextPit community thinks of the new line of Android flagships? Last week we asked the question and the answers turned out to be diverse.
The Samsung Galaxy Unpacked event was nice to watch. Even though it did not feature the boldest innovations we have associated Samsung with, the presentation was interesting in its subtleness, and people liked it! 45% of our NextPit.com audience enjoyed the event. These were results that were replicated across the domains, with 55% of readers in France saying that they enjoyed the launch.
Software support over camera innovation? Yes Please!
This demonstrates that users do not necessarily want events that are overblown with comparison charts and heavily curated demonstrations of features. But of the ones that were presented, the most exciting ones were those regarding software. 50% of our international community looks positively at Samsung's commitment to five years of security updates, and 43% are looking forward to the four OneUI/ Android updates. Storm from the NextPit.com domain expresses an important part of the requirements that enthusiasts expect from the devices:
Give me hardware, basic Android and drivers for the hardware, specialized camera software. Install nothing else. I'll install the rest of what I want that meets my standards. Stop trying to control my experience and let me control it. Please.
~Storm, International domain.
Camera features scored surprisingly low in my opinion, especially across other domains with camera features barely getting 19% of the vote from our German community and 27% from our French readers. The general sentiment about the features of the S22 was shared across domains with similar numbers, with the small exception of NextPit.de audiences (42%) who did not feel particularly excited about any of them.
It makes sense. European consumers were promised to get the Exynos 2200 that features graphics capabilities sponsored by AMD. But initial benchmarks demonstrated the chip is barely on par with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, the processor that we find on the Global and US versions of the S22 series.
Only 2% of French readers were excited about the upcoming SoC and 9% in NextPit.de, the lowest numbers in the ranking. In the international community though, things were different. The SoC was as popular as other features like the S Pen support and the camera features at 30%. Tim from the German domain expressed his frustrations:
One of my biggest criticisms, however, is still for this completely stupid processor policy. In fact, it doesn't have a single advantage, only disadvantages. Hope Samsung finally gets it and only relies on Exynos again. But after pulling through this junk for so long now, I have little to no hope.
~Tim, German domain
The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra is the new Galaxy king!
The last question pitched the devices against each other to see which one managed to captivate your attention. The device that Samsung put extra effort into this year is the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra. New features like the S Pen and a great set of cameras alongside a super smooth large display seem to have sealed the deal. 47% chose the Galaxy S22 Ultra, which dwarfs the Galaxy S22 and the Galaxy S22+ that got 12% and 6%, respectively.
In other domains, we see a similar narrative unfolding. The Samsung Galaxy Ultra got the lion's share in both NextPit.fr and NextPit.de. French readers seem to be a bit more excited about the devices in general, with a whopping 55% choosing the Ultra model, while our German community seems to be the least excited, with almost half being completely indifferent between the three devices.
Taking a step back, it becomes obvious that even though the event was interesting, the devices themselves, as hardware was not enough to cause a loud round of applause. Olaf from NextPit.de put it best:
Evolution instead of revolution. That was to be expected, and it happened that way.
~Olaf, German domain.
The Galaxy S22 Ultra was therefore the obvious winner, even if the price is steep. The "Note genes" the S22 Ultra carries make it a much more attractive choice than the S21 and S21+ that feel a whole lot like refreshes of the S21. Luna from the French domain writes, and I agree:
I admire the work of Samsung and in particular on the S Pen, it is the best user experience on Android.
~Luna, French domain.
But before we close this analysis, I am especially satisfied with the results of the second question. NextPit readers not only care about enjoying an expanded lifetime for their devices, but they also want secure devices that feature the latest Security patches. If those poll results come anything close to representing general consumer sentiments - and not just the enthusiast space, then I hope that more companies that develop Android devices will finally see reason start approaching Apple's golden standard of device support.
Samsung Galaxy S22 Full Coverage
But what do you think of the results? Do you think other companies will follow Samsung's example?
Original Article
We are reaching the end of a week almost entirely dedicated to Samsung's Unpacked event. As expected from the first-semester edition, all the eyes were on the Galaxy S22 line, despite the launch of the Tab S8 family as well. You can check our first impressions of both the S22 vanilla models and the S22 Ultra, but what are your thoughts about the S22 update?
At first glance, I admit to being a little unimpressed by the S22 line. While the vanilla models didn't change much from the S21 phones, the S22 Ultra is basically a Galaxy Note 22. But what about you, what was your reaction to the first Unpacked event of the year?
Discreet upgrades?
Samsung's press materials highlighted the camera and stylus support in the new series, which kept the overall design language from the previous year. In the S21 reviews, we praised the visual update but were disappointed by the few innovations brought to the Galaxy S21 line. Will Samsung follow Apple's steps and alternate between features and design upgrades in the yearly Galaxy S updates?
It is too early to know the answer for that, but we can ask about which features got your attention in the Galaxy S22 launch:
Finally, after learning all the details and pricing information about the devices, their differences, and even the update support for them, we wanted to ask you which model caught your attention.
Or are you more interested in the Galaxy S21 FE?
That is it for this week's poll. Check back on Monday, when we will analyze the answers from the NextPit community, as well as the comments. In the meantime, feel free to elaborate on your answers and share your opinion about the new 2022 phones.
Over priced, over bloated.
Give me hardware, basic Android and drivers for the hardware, specialized camera software. Install nothing else. I'll install the rest of what I want that meets my standards. Stop trying to control my experience and let me control it. Please.
Google-- this applies to your software too. Stop trying to feed me interruptions, news stories and and other noise. If I want your feed, I'll install News.
Get your bloat out of the way of my experience and uses.