The Samsung Galaxy S22 only launched in several markets around the world on 25th February, but prior to that, review units had already been sent to various publications to get a feel of the device before the much-awaited launch. Locally, the device will be available for purchase next week – pre-orders just opened this week.
With the device being referred to as a happy combination of the traditional Galaxy S series while spotting a few features from the Galaxy Note series, including the S Pen on the Galaxy S22 Ultra, they are expected to fly off the shelves.
South Korea, which had an earlier release, had 300,000 units sold on the first day, coupled with pre-orders in the magnitude of 1.02 million units in just the first 8 days.
However, a few testers from around the world are reporting that the Galaxy S22 Ultra might have some software issues that are causing slowdowns in particular tests. Computerbase, a German tech review site, has documented several issues that have cropped up in their review of the Galaxy S22 Ultra.
They however give a disclaimer that what they have come across might just be a false alarm as review units from time to time run on pre-production software that gets updated before they are shipped to customers, or get an update immediately customers fire them up, removing or fixing any issue that might have come up in the review and test process.
The publication notes that during the setup process before the device was put through the Exynos 2200 benchmarks, The Galaxy S22 Ultra did not have the smoothness that is expected of a flagship product from a tech giant like Samsung.
The testers encountered minor stutters in the animations, dropouts during swipe gestures, and also when typing with the keyboard. They initially thought they had a faulty unit, but they report several testers not tied to their publication have also reported similar findings when dealing with the S22 Ultra.
Kilian, a German tech enthusiast and reviewer who also goes by the handle iKnowReview on Twitter, publicly posted his frustration on how the S22 Ultra just does not handle intensive tasks smoothly. He notes here (tweet in German) that the base S22 has some issues that could be fixed with an update, but the S22 Ultra has more problems that it does not feel right for him to put out a full review.
“Does your #GalaxyS22Ultra feel a little bit laggy and does it seem to have trouble recognizing inputs from time to time? I’m noticing it on the European Exynos model with basic tasks. Current firmware is SP1A.210812.016.S908BXXU1AVA7,” Nicolas La Rocc posted on Twitter.
Computerbase reports that they have reached out to Samsung for a comment, but they have not yet received any communication from the South Korean giant. It is also still unclear whether the issues are only restricted to the Galaxy S22 and S22 Ultra models sold in the European market running Exynos chipsets, or whether the Snapdragon variants normally found in devices shipped to the USA are also experiencing the same issues.
The hardware and design of the Galaxy S22 have been praised by many, but these software problems have the potential to permanently damage their reputation unless a quick fix is found.
