The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra has been out for a good part of the year already. Many have raved about this powerhouse of a smartphone, mostly for its camera system, S Pen inclusion, and superb Nightography. However, battery life is one issue that seems to have garnered less attention.
On paper, the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra has the same battery configuration as Samsung’s previous flagship: 5,000 mAh with Super Fast Charging and Wireless PowerShare (reverse charging).
Samsung claims that the Galaxy S22 Ultra can last “more hours than there are in a day”, but the lack of upgrade in battery capacity seems to say otherwise. Of course, a 24-hour battery life is possible considering the S22 Ultra is run by the more power-efficient Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 4nm chip.
Can The Galaxy S22 Ultra Really Last 24 Hours?
There are already plenty of technical tests out there that truly put the phone through the grinder. Most of them report up to 13 hours of web browsing, 7 hours of video, and 10 hours of gaming.
None of these numbers reflected the 24-hour promise that Samsung gave, and it may be because these tests were run with only one specific action in mind. In reality, no one is going to play games for 10 hours straight without a break at all.
Therefore, it’s more important to look at how the phone fares during daily usage — and that’s what we’re doing here.
Using The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra Throughout the Day
This test is based on my daily activities. Typically, I have GPS and Bluetooth always on to connect to my earbuds and smartwatch. I’m also always connected to the Internet, either via WiFi (in office) or data connection (outside).
Besides that, I also have auto-brightness and Always-On display turned on for convenience.
8 am: 100%
I started out the day with a full charge, as most people do. During my one-hour commute, I connected the Galaxy S22 Ultra to my car’s console via Bluetooth and had Spotify running for the entire commute. By the time I parked, my battery level had dropped to 97%.
9.30 am: 95%
The work day starts. I work primarily on my laptop, so my phone is typically left on standby beside me. Of course, no workday is complete without some procrastination here and there. I pick up my phone occasionally to reply to messages, answer calls and scroll through social media.
It’s hard to pinpoint exactly how long I used my phone during this period, but it was definitely left on standby more than actual usage. By lunchtime, I was on 87%.
12.30 pm: 87%
Lunchtime! As usual, we don’t know what to have for lunch, so it’s time for some research and an online fortune wheel, on the phone, of course. I also checked my food delivery apps to see if we can get a better deal for pickups (unfortunately, no).
While waiting for the food to arrive, as usual, I scrolled through social media and watched a couple of videos. After all is said and done, I paid for my food through an e-wallet.
After I got back to the office, I still had some time left over for a short break, so I played some Call of Duty. That drained my battery by about 10%, leaving me with 72% for the rest of the day.
2 pm: 72%
My afternoon went about the same as the mornings, except with a couple of meetings littered in. Don’t tell my boss, but I was definitely distracted by my phone during those meetings, so my phone usage was a little higher. I mainly used the phone for social media, shopping, and general web browsing.
In other work-related usages, I used the Galaxy S22 Ultra to snap photos of the products I was reviewing at the time. I also had more calls than usual today. Most of them were from abang delivery, marking me guilty of buying too many things in the past 12.12 sale.
6 pm: 55%
Ideally, my day “ends” unofficially at 6 pm, and the day I dedicated to testing S22 Ultra’s battery life was a good day. The last half an hour was dedicated to tying up loose ends and planning the next day’s workload, which happens mainly on the Samsung Notes app (no need to buy physical planners!). This involves the S Pen and its handwriting wonders.
At this point, I only had a little over half of my battery left, which makes me a little uncomfortable. Normally, I’d have plugged in the phone at work so that I can enjoy a fully charged phone at home too, but for the sake of this test, I had to head home with a 46% phone.
6.30 pm: 48%
My commute home was a little longer than usual. Thanks, KL traffic!
As usual, I have the S22 Ultra connected to the car’s Bluetooth and Spotify turned on almost as soon as I got into the car. The commute took a little over two hours, so by the time I got home, I had 40% left.
9 pm: 40%
Shower and dinner did not require any phone usage. After dinner, I watched some Netflix on my laptop while scrolling through social media on my phone. Once I got bored of that, I played a couple of rounds of PUBG. To no one’s surprise, this took up quite a bit of battery life.
12 am: 29%
I’ve been trying to get my sleep routine back in check, so I turned off the lights and went to bed by 12 am. I avoid using my phone in bed, as recommended, so the Galaxy S22 Ultra was left on standby on my table.
2nd day, 8 am: 16%
I fell asleep worried that I’d wake up with a dead phone and no music to tide me over the standstill traffic into KL. To my pleasant surprise, the Galaxy S22 Ultra still had some juice in it when I woke up. Not much, but at least it’s not dead.
The low battery warning popped up soon after I started my drive back to the office. I ignored it, for the most part, and it survived the drive and I only charged it when I got to the office. It was at 9% when I finally plugged the phone in.
TL;DR: It Does Last 24 Hours On Moderate Usage
On regular usage, the Galaxy S22 Ultra does last 24 hours and a little more.
That’s really good enough for the average joe. Granted, my phone usage wasn’t exactly “heavy”, and I wouldn’t expect it to last as long as it did here if I bring it on vacation to snap photos and videos alongside all the other miscellaneous travel-related stuff.
Besides that, the Galaxy S22 Ultra recharges relatively fast. I was able to get it from the aforementioned 9% to a full charge in a little over an hour, which is quite good.
In conclusion, I’ve been using the Galaxy S22 Ultra as our daily driver for almost a year now, and it hasn’t disappointed us.
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