I know – what an odd thing to write about. Well, over time I’ve had LOTS of smartphones either purchased or sent to me to review and hence lots of cases and screen protectors – so I have a little experience on the subject. Here I’m going to talk about the Samsung S22 Ultra specifically.
Attempt 1: An obvious starting point for the S22 Ultra seemed to me to be the now defunct SAMSUNG case complete with smart display…
GREAT IDEA – RATHER EXPENSIVE, BADLY IMPLEMENTED. The case has a slot for credit cards etc., and offers wrap-around protection. It also has a time and charge display on the front which appears as if by magic, runs wirelessly off the phone batteru and turns itself off after a short time – the content of this display was supposed to be completely programmable but Samsung lost interest before that happened. Also unlike some iPhones, there is no magnet on the phone (or the case) to keep that flap closed and finally the internal pocket is too tight and thin to be of any real use. Money down the drain.
Attempt 2: the AliExpress all-round GLASS case with metal trim. First things first, the glass is so thick that the Samsung in-screen fingerprint recognition simply will not work.
Worse, the dust freely comes in through the join between the front and back halves as there is no seal except near the buttons – thirdly – the unit comes complete with non-removeable PLASTIC covers over the camera lenses.
I paid for one of the BEST camera phones out there and I’m to put easily scratched plastic covers over the camera lenses? – I don’t think so.
My wife bought a variation on one of these for her S21 Ultra and the case construction quality was so low I had to grind some material off the on-off button cover to make hers work at all.
Good idea but no.
Finally (almost) this – very nice looking matt plastic back with magnetic plate – sadly the plate metal was such that as soon as I tried attaching the phone to one of the currently available AI gimbals (I’ve reviewed several in here) I realised the gimbal magnet could not get a strong enough grip on the plate to make for reliably holding the phone. What WERE they thinking about?
i settled in the end for the stiffest clear, simple plastic back I could find. Meanwhile I tried several stores for screen protectors, not easy given the curved nature of the Samsung screen – so all the stores had the thin plastic protectors – and guess what happened when I mounted the phone in gimbals like the new Hohem M6? The corners and edges of the screen protectors lifted – and once that happens, dust gets in and you can forget all about them.
I was starting to feel homicidal when what should arrive? a pair of GLASS screen protectors from AliExpress.. nice quality. The fingerprint recognition would not work through the glass, so I complained and AliExpress didn’t hesitate to refund my money without asking for product return – but then, I realised – they don’t LIFT. Rock-solid.
If you can forgive lack of on-screen fingerprint recognition, these covers are ideal, especially for gimbal use. AT LAST – SUCCESS – especially when frequently using an AI gimbal with the phone. Now, if only they did the exact same thing without the disk-shape area for fingerprint recognition which doesn’t work anyway through the glass – mind you, that’s invisible when the phone is on. The ad in this case is misleading in that it shows a hole at the top for the front camera, in fact it’s just a small area of glass with no adhesive to allow the camera to work without obstruction.
Better by far however than the rubbish that Amazon had at 3 times the price.