Samsung unveiled its latest mid-range smartphone under the M-series model offering some attractive and demanding specifications with the Samsung Galaxy M22. Samsung is targeting young professionals for the new device to help them be the best at work, maximize their hobbies and make the most of their savings with the Galaxy M22.
The Samsung Galaxy M22 smartphone boasts of a great screen with decent HD+ resolution, a good processor, quad cameras, and also a hefty battery.
So, lets see what the Samsung Galaxy M22 has to offer.
Design and Build Quality
The Samsung Galaxy M22 comes in two available color variants the Light Blue and Black which we got for our review.
The Galaxy M22 offers a nice refined curved design giving it an added sleek and eye-catching modern look. So far this mid-range smartphone still gets a premium feel and its comfortable to hold weighing just 186 grams.
On the right you have the volume rockers and side-mounted fingerprint sensor clubbed with the power/sleep buttons and SIM Tray on the left side. A microphone on the top while the 3.5mm headphone jack, microphone, USB Type-C charging port and speaker grille located at the bottom.
At the front, there’s a centered punch-hole notch design for the front facing camera while the top and side bezels are thin except the bottom chin which has a thicker bezel. The glass display has a tough Corning Gorilla Glass 5 raising the Galaxy M22 protection against damage from drops and improvement from scratches or deep cuts.
The back panel cover is made with a durable plastic material with a horizontal line pattern design which they have been using on some of their previous and existing M-series models. The square-shaped quad camera is placed on the top left with the LED flash underneath it and a Samsung brand logo at the bottom. It seems the back panel offers a matte type finish that reduces fingerprint smudges on it.
Display and Hardware
The Samsung Galaxy M22 is equipped with a 6.4-inch Infinity-U display with HD+ Super AMOLED technology offering nice vivid colors, sharp and stunning quality. Watching on YouTube at 1080p quality was remarkable as we can see details and the vibrant colors of the M22 display.
It has Real Smooth Display feature with a refresh rate of 90Hz on top as scrolling through the app drawer, images, webpages or playing games assures you of a smooth-moving image quality. It has a resolution of 720×1600 pixels with 600 nits of brightness,
The display offers better viewing experience especially during indoors or night. While the Galaxy M22 during outdoors on a bright sunny condition has good sunlight visibility but we need to adjust the brightness either at 80% or 100% level.
Onboard the Samsung Galaxy M22 it has a built-in MediaTek Helio G80 Octa-Core processors with 2 cores at 2.0GHz and 6 cores @ 1.8GHz. Internal storage of the device offers a 128GB with external memory support via MicroSD up to 1TB, 6GB memory and a Mali G52 MC2 GPU.
Camera (Photo and Video)
As we’ve mentioned, the rear quad camera setup offers four lens a 48MP main camera, 5MP ultra-wide, 2MP depth, 2MP macro lens and for selfies you have 13MP lens.
Shooting modes available on the camera app are Portrait, Photo, Video, PRO, Panorama, Food, Night, Macro, Slow Motion, and Hyperlapse. You can also find Samsung’s AR Zone applications such as AR Emoji Studio, AR Emoji Stickers and Deco Pic which allows users to experience augmented reality to capture fun photos or videos.
In the camera app, you have some additional features to improve your photos. The scene optimizer feature automatically enhances the effect and quality of your images depending on the situation or the subject. Some ready preset filters, custom filters using your own pictures and face beauty mode.
To get a closer shot on your subjects the Galaxy M22 has 10x zoom capabilities but you’ll get less details or muddy-looking photos. The lack of optical stabilization on the device gives you a hard time to steady your aim on the subject with the camera app. Although, this can be prevented if you use a tripod.
Here are some samples taken using the Samsung Galaxy M22.
Main camera – Indoor
Ultrawide – Outdoor
Ultrawide – Indoor
Main camera – Food – Indoor
Macro – Indoor
10X Zoom
Night Mode
Selfie – Outdoor
Selfie – Indoor (Low light)
Main camera – Flash On (Indoor Low Light)
For video, you can opt to set your quality to FHD at 30fps or HD at 30fps. You also have video stabilization feature on the Galaxy M22 to take out those unwanted camera shake, jitters and even blurriness for a smoother end result. You can even record videos in HVEC format available on the camera app to save more space.
OS, Security and Battery Life
The software for the Galaxy M22 gets an updated version of the One UI Core version 3.1 based on Android 11. It also gets the latest and fully supported Google apps on this android OS. You already have some of the following pre-installed apps on the Galaxy M22 including Facebook, Spotify, Netflix, Yandex and Microsoft Apps.
To ensure your data are safe it has the Samsung Knox 3.7 version providing an additional security against malware or remote attacks on your device.
If you need to run some interactive diagnostics or optimization to tune up the performance of the Galaxy M22 you have the Samsung Members app installed as well. Plus, they also have a customer service support available in the app that lets you troubleshoot problems or call them when you need the extra support.
For me there isn’t a lot to worry about in terms of the software experience on the Samsung Galaxy M22.
The M22 has a large 5,000-mAh battery which Samsung claims that a full charge can get you to have 25 hours if used for internet, 30 hours video playback, 38 hours talk time and 106 hours audio playback.
The device doesn’t have wireless charging but it does support Super Fast Charging up to 25-watt to easily juice up the massive battery. Charging the device took us around 1 hour and 30 minutes to have it fully charged. The first 15 minutes will give the battery a 22% charge already then gets to 88% after 55 minutes which it’s not bad at all.
We tried using the device for a day with the following activities to see how long the battery can last. We started the morning attending a Zoom event that went for almost 1 hour and 41 minutes; 2 hours watching YouTube videos; playing games for 35 minutes letting us have a remaining 55% on the battery. So we’ve figured it out that it can last the whole day if you’re a heavy user and on days with light usage on it can last a day and a half.
Some device protection equipped on the Galaxy M22 are a side-mounted fingerprint scanner, face recognition, pattern, PIN and Password. Unlocking the device thru the fingerprint scanner is fast but with face unlock we experienced a slight delay.
Conclusion
The Samsung Galaxy M22 has some high points such as its vibrant and crisp Super AMOLED display that’s perfect for binge watchers and gamers. You also get a long-lasting 5,000 mAh battery combined with a 25W Super Fast Charging technology. Built-in hardware on the Galaxy M22 offers good specs you’re getting a 2.0GHz MediaTek Helio G80, 6GB memory and 128GB storage that you can expand more with a MicroSD.
Our experience with the camera is pretty decent. You get an array of shooting modes on the camera app that you can use. Plus, you get autofocus mode that can capture objects easily especially people without any frustration.
It also features OIS technology which aids to capture stabilized images. In daylight, your photos won’t be too exposed, but there will be clarity. During low light conditions quality may get you less details and more of noise but you can opt to use the built-in flash that probably can help a bit but I doubt.
So far, the Samsung Galaxy M22 is still a very capable phone as for us it’s still a solid mid-range smartphone for your everyday use either for work or play.
Samsung is offering the Galaxy M22 with a PHP 1,000 OFF making it more affordable at only PHP 9,590 SRP. Samsung is also offering a PHP 500 OFF on the new M Series until November 30 for those who will miss the Shopee 11.11 Sale.
What We Like:
- Super AMOLED Display
- 25W Super Fast Charging Technology
- 90Hz Refresh Rate
- Android 11 and Samsung’s One UI
- Samsung Knox
- Biometrics and Security
- 48MP Quad Camera with Video Stabilization
- Decent Photography Experience
- Dedicated Secondary Storage Slot
- Design and Build Quality
What We Want
- Better Sound Quality
- 5G support
- Optical Stabilization
Full Specifications
- Price: PHP10,590 (Online exclusive available on Lazada and Shopee)
- Colors: Light Blue and Black
- Display: 6.4-inch Infinity-U Display
- Resolution: 720×1600 pixels (HD+)
- Processor: MediaTek Helio G80 Octa-Core 2.0GHz,1.8GHz
- Memory: 6GB
- Internal Storage: 128GB
- External Memory Support: MicroSD (Up to 1TB)
- GPU: Mali G52 MC2
- OS: Android
- Rear Camera: 48MP+8MP+2MP+2MP
- Front Camera: 13MP
- Battery: 5,000 mAh
- Sensors: Accelerometer, Fingerprint Sensor, Gyro Sensor, Geomagnetic Sensor, Virtual Light Sensing, Virtual Proximity Sensing
- SIM Slot Type: SIM1+SIM2+MicroSD
