Samsung Galaxy A22 5G review: An affordable 5G smartphone for Sammy fans

Samsung Galaxy A22 5G review summary:

Editor’s rating: 3.45/5

Despite the chip shortage and its impact further aggravated by disruption in production lines in pandemic-hit Vietnam, Samsung managed to launch its first A series 5G smartphone – the Galaxy A22 5G. The 5G phones portfolio has been rapidly growing in India. Now that Samsung has Galaxy M42 5G and Galaxy A22 5G available in the affordable segment, the South Korean behemoth is in a better position to challenge Chinese rivals in the under-Rs 25,000 segments.[हिंदी में पढ़ें– Samsung Galaxy A22 5G रिव्यु]

The Samsung Galaxy A22 5G is currently the cheapest 5G phone from the brand in India. But has Samsung managed to offer a competitive package at the price? Let’s address that in our Galaxy A22 5G detailed review.

Navigate this review:

• Samsung Galaxy A22 5G specs and price in India
• Samsung Galaxy A22 5G unboxing
• Samsung Galaxy A22 5G review: Design & build
• Samsung Galaxy A22 5G review: Display
• Samsung Galaxy A22 5G review: Software and Performance
• Samsung Galaxy A22 5G camera review
• Samsung Galaxy A22 5G review: Battery 
• Review verdict: Should you buy the Galaxy A22 5G?

Samsung Galaxy A22 5G Unboxing: What’s in the box?

Samsung continues to use a recyclable box and refrains from additional accessories. The Galaxy A22 5G lacks a pre-applied screen protector or a TPU case.  Things that you do get in the box are:

• Phone
• Wall Charger with cable
• SIM ejector tool
• Quick Setup guide and other documentation

Samsung Galaxy A22 5G Price, Specs

Body: 167.2×76.4×9.0mm, 203g; Glass front, plastic frame, plastic back.
Display: 6.60″ TFT, 90Hz, 1080x2400px resolution, 20:9 aspect ratio, 399ppi.
Chipset: MediaTek MT6833 Dimensity 700 5G (7 nm): Octa-core (2×2.2 GHz Cortex-A76 & 6×2.0 GHz Cortex-A55); Mali-G57 MC2.
Memory: 64GB 4GB RAM, 128GB 4GB RAM, 128GB 6GB RAM, 128GB 8GB RAM; microSDXC (dedicated slot).
OS/Software: Android 11, One UI Core 3.1.
Rear camera: Wide (main): 48 MP, f/1.8, PDAF; Ultra wide angle: 5 MP, f/2.2, 115-degree, 1/5.0″, 1.12µm; Depth: 2 MP, f/2.4.
Front camera: 8 MP, f/2.0, (wide).
Video capture: Rear camera: 1152p@30fps; Front camera: 1080p@30fps.
Battery: 5000mAh; Fast charging 15W.
Misc: Fingerprint reader (side-mounted); FM radio; 3.5mm jack.
Price: ₹18,999/ 21,999

Back in the day phones launched under the A-series banner had a distinct design and swag, but the line between the more affordable M-series and A-series seeming to be gradually fading. On the rear, the  Galaxy A22 5G from the rear side certainly lives up to that legacy but when I looked at it from the front side, it reminded me initial generation Galaxy M series offering. You’ll notice a V-shape notch at the top, sizeable chin, and slight bezels on either side of the display. Of course, there’s a price angle which one should keep in mind here.

The Galaxy A22 5G back panel is in Mint White color with a matte finish texture. It looks really pleasing to the eyes but it does attract smudges so you might have to wipe regularly to maintain a pristine look. Samsung has made a rather unusual design choice by leaving a slight gap between the back cover and the main body. You can simply tap on the back panel and you will a feel slight inwards flex. This is nothing alarming as it is clearly a design choice made by Samsung engineers. 

The phone is primary made of plastic including the rear panel and frame. The main body has a metallic finish that gels well with overall aesthetics. Samsung continues to trust a side-mounted fingerprint sensor that rests on the right edge. It is fast and accurate. 

Alongside the power key-cum-fingerprint sensor sits a volume rocker that offers decent tactile feedback. At the bottom edge, there’s a 3.5mm audio jack alongside a type C port, microphone, and loudspeaker.  It is worth pointing out that, the A22 5G doesn’t come with any IP rating against dust and water so you should keep that in mind before exposing it to water.

Moving on, the display on the Galaxy A22 5G houses 6.6 inches tall FHD+ panel with a 90Hz refresh rate. Samsung is using a TFT panel here which is able to deliver most of the marketing-friendly specs at a much lower cost as compared to an IPS panel or AMOLED panel.

Thanks to FHD+ resolution everything looks crisp and sharp on the Galaxy A22 screen. If you look at it from the front, the TFT display looks bright and cheerful. Having said that, the A22 5G still misses the mark in terms of colour accuracy. It also fails to match the IPS or AMOLED screen is viewing angles. Due to limited viewing angles content starts to faded when you tilt the screen left or right. 

Samsung’s first 5G phone in the A series is driven by MediaTek’s Dimensity 700 chipset which is not the best in class but competent enough to handle the medium intensity. It manages to perform everyday tasks such as surfing the web, using social apps, and more without gasping for air. For the record, let me state some SoC details here. The Dimensity 700 is a 7nm node-based system-on-chip and comprises two Cortex A76 ticking at 2.2GHz  and six Cortex A55 cores clocked at 2.0 GHz. The Mali-G57 GPU has been roped in for graphics.

We played popular games like Call of Duty Mobile and Battleground Unknown with the default graphics setting set to medium. There was only an occasional frame drop or stutter. Of course, that’s not the best-in-class gaming experience, but should be good enough for consumers not into high-end mobile phone gaming. Samsung has paired Dimensity 700 SoC with either 6GB or 8GB or 128GB eMMC storage. On the AndroBench speed test, the Samsung Galaxy A 22 5G scored 115.7MB/per second in the Random Read and 68.4 Random Write test. Here are results from other synthetic benchmark tests:

• Antutu : 278401
• PCMark for Android : 7221
• 3D Mark: 3218
• GFXBench 3.1: 21fps
• Geekbench 5.3 : 558 (Single core); 1698 (Multi-core)

On the software front, the Samsung Galaxy A22 5G ships with One UI 3.1 based on Android 11 out of the box. Samsung’s rendition of Android comes with several features like Samsung Pay, theme store, Quick share, Dual Messenger, Game Launcher, Edge panels, and one-handed mode, and more.

The custom UI has several bloatware apps on-board and a discover tab which further gives apps recommendations. Thankfully you can remove most of the bloatware apps and turn off the app discover tab. That’s not all, Samsung has also promised two years of software updates and three years of security updates. 

Wait, I forgot to talk about network capabilities. It’s a 5G capable phone with support for 11 bands. We can’t really test 5G performance as services are still some distance away in India. As far as 4G connectivity is concerned, it worked flawlessly with both Jio and Airtel. We had no trouble while making cellular calls.

Optics-wise, the Samsung Galaxy A22 packs a triple camera setup of a 48MP wide camera alongside a 5MP ultra-wide camera and a 2MP macro camera. The 48MP S5KGM2 sensor has a proven record and Samsung algorithms ensure it doesn’t disappoint you in the daylight. Thanks to the Quad-Bayer arrangement, the A22 primary rear camera delivers 12MP shots with good details and dynamic range during the daytime. Even colors look bright and peppy. Dynamic range isn’t bad either. 

In low light scenarios, it does suffer as the image quality deteriorates significantly and lack of OIS doesn’t help its case either. There is a night mode but you’ll need to have your hands stable to ensure good results. 

The 5MP ultra-wide sensor isn’t the most impressive ultra-wide camera at this price point. Shots taken with an Ultrawide sensor have visible noise and limited details. The dynamic range is not wide either.  

In case you are a selfie lover, the Galaxy A22 front camera isn’t the sharpest in its class. With just an 8MP sensor, it takes decent selfies but lack of details and narrow dynamic range doesn’t help its cause.

Samsung Galaxy A22 5G review: Battery and Charging

The Samsung Galaxy A22 packs a 5,000mAh battery which delivers excellent mileage. We easily manage to get more than a day’s battery life on a single charge. While the battery life is impressive, charging is awfully slow. Samsung bundles a 15W wall charger within the box which takes more than two hours to fill the tank from 0 to 100 percent.

Review verdict: Should you buy Samsung Galaxy A22 5G?

Expert rating: 3.45/5

The Samsung Galaxy A22 5G debuts in a segment where competition is cut-throat. Still, the A22 5G has an upper hand against most of the 5G peers’ thanks to 11 5G band support – which kind of assures of better coverage sometime in the future. In comparison,  Realme X7 and OnePlus Nord claim to be 5G ready they have limited 5G cellular band support which might or might not be a cause of concern in the future. 

The Samsung Galaxy A22 5G holds enough pleasant surprises. Its screen quality is satisfactory while its performance can be called decent. While the A22 cameras don’t take the most breathtaking shots, the images we clicked were good enough to land in your social feed.

Reason’s to buy:

• Excellent battery life.
• One of the better custom UI
• 90Hz screen
• Wide 5G band support

Reason to not buy:

• No aptX support for Bluetooth
• Slow charging speeds
• Underwhelming speaker