My Facebook memories reminded me that on this day a few years back I was asking family and friends if anyone had a Samsung Note II for sale.
I had resigned from a job, handed back my company phone and was desperate to land what I considered the best phone on the market at the time.
I loved the big screen and the stylus was all kinds of cool to me. I eventually got one and I can still recall sitting writing notes on my phone in the pub, thinking this was the way of the future.
Years later, the Note brand is all but dead, its functionality now integrated into the Galaxy range via the S22 Ultra.
It's the South Korean company's new flagship phone, with an integrated S Pen and a styling reminiscent of the Note range, with curved sides and a slightly more rectangular body than the norm for the Galaxy S line.
Would this new take on an old favourite excite me as much as my original did, or would the S22 Ultra leave me thinking of better days?
I've been using the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra for over a week now and here are my thoughts.
The good
It's normal to pick up a phone and keep stroking it, right? The S22 Ultra quickly became the equivalent of a malevolent cat if I were a James Bond villain.
I would pick it up and admire it, then just have it sitting in my lap as a comfort as I watched television and plotted my takeover of the world.
Yep, the S22 Ultra really is that good, especially if you're a fan of big phones with big specifications as I unquestionably am.
It's not just its size and stylishness that I adore. It packs a powerful performance thanks to the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor which helps provide a lag-free experience while using it.
It also helps drive the performance of a very impressive screen. The maximum resolution of 1440 x 3088 pixels offers a very clear, colour-saturated viewing experience, whether that's writing notes, sending texts or watching your favourite movies.
The 6.8-inch screen offers adaptive refresh rates up to 120Hz, as is now standard with top-end phones, meaning scrolling and playing games looks and feels great.
It's also one of the best phones I've used outside. Some leave you squinting, trying to work out what the display says when there's the first inkling of direct sunlight.
Not so here. The S22 Ultra offers a peak brightness of up to 1750 nits, ensuring I was able to continue using the phone without an issue even in very bright sunlight.
The phone also has one of the best camera integrations I've seen. The back of many mobiles have become bulky and cumbersome as manufacturers try to offer the very best photographic experience possible.
In one case last year, the camera surrounds were so heavy that the phone itself was unbalanced.
Instead Samsung have delivered a model with no noticeable camera bump on the back of the S22 Ultra. Yes, the lenses are raised slightly but otherwise the rear is completely flat. This is now my default expectation going forward.
In terms of performance, the cameras are nearly identical to last year's model, albeit with what the company says will be a better performance at night thanks to its largest ever 2.4um pixel sensor.
That means there are four cameras on the rear: A 108 MP wide camera, a 12 MP ultra-wide camera, a 10 MP telephoto camera offering 3x optical zoom and another 10 MP telephoto camera offering 10x optical zoom.
And the zoom is nothing short of spectacular. The moon wasn't playing ball in cloudy Helensville, but I was able to take a shot of my partner in the backyard that nearly blew my mind.
In the normal photograph she is barely seen amongst the rest of the garden. By zooming in fully I was able to see the details on the soles of her boots.
The performance of the rest of the camera was everything I needed it to be and with a combination of the 40MP selfie camera and the 'single take' functionality I was able to get some photographs of myself which I really liked. That's not common, believe me.
And so to the S Pen, a major selling point for me. Writing on screens can be hit and miss - Microsoft's latest is fantastic and provides a real paper-like experience. Others are less so.
I thoroughly enjoyed how it works with the S22 Ultra. It's helped by the fact the stylus is stored in the phone's body, so it's less likely to go missing, but how it actually performs is more important.
And it's fantastic. From the comfort of holding it to the audio feedback you get while writing, it just feels so natural.
You're not going to create a master painting using it - the tools aren't quite at that level - but for jotting down quick notes and translating handwriting to text it succeeded in every way.
I find it infinitely easier and with less errors than typing with on-screen keyboards.
The phone is also built to last, with Samsung offering four years of major Android software updates and five years of security updates.
It's an impressive package that, when combined with Samsung's One UI and Android 12, offers a phone that lets you easily finesse its look, feel and functionality to get it all just how you like it.
The bad
There's not a lot to write about in terms of negativity with the S22 Ultra.
I was a little disappointed there is no MicroSD slot allowing users to upgrade storage, it just means you need to be sure your chosen model (or your cloud saving options) has enough room for all your data.
Generally, mass market MicroSD cards aren't as quick as the storage in the phones themselves, so theoretically adding your own could cause the overall performance to drop - so I understand it.
Plus, as a long-time Apple owner, I really have no basis of complaint given that's never been an option with the iPhone.
The lowest specification model also has less RAM in it than last year with 8GB compared to the 12GB in the S21 Ultra range and the two more expensive S22 models.
Whether this is an impact of COVID-19 and supply chains or a way for the company to keep the price point down I'm not quite sure - but just be aware of that if you're thinking about buying one.
Lastly, I wasn't overly impressed with the battery life. The 5000 mAh battery is a decent size, but I found with heavy use it drained quicker than I expected.
Throw it down on your desk and ignore it for a day and it's surprisingly good at keeping its charge, but who does that? If you're constantly picking up your phone and playing with it, you might want to keep a wireless charger handy to keep it juiced up.
Lastly, and this should surprise no-one, but the lack of charger still bothers me more than it should.
When you advertise wired super-fast charging at 45W as one of the cool functions of the phone, it really behoves you to give customers that option out of the box.
Will that change? No. Will I always be annoyed? Probably.
The verdict
The first time I held the Galaxy S22 Ultra in my hand, a chill ran up my spine. There's just something about its classic look and the smart integration of the stylus which appealed to me.
As a premium phone, of course there's a premium price to pay. In this case you'll have to fork out $1999 for the version with 128GB of storage and 8GB RAM up to $2399 for 512GB storage and 12GB RAM.
In terms of competing brands, like Apple and Oppo it feels about right. You'll pay slightly more for similar specs on the iPhone 13 Pro Max and slightly less for the new Find X5 Pro when it's launched, but it doesn't seem too expensive for what really is a fantastic phone.
From the high-quality camera through to the long updates Samsung offers, if you're in the market for a top-end phone and you're an Android fan, then I can't see any way in which you'd be disappointed with the S22 Ultra.
If you're canny you can also find some spectacular deals online right now, including bundles offering Samsung's Galaxy Watch 4 and more for free.
Throw in the potential to save up to $400 with a trade-in of an old phone and I've spent the last couple of days doing sums, trying to work out the best way to pay for one.
I'm a sucker for cool new technology, particularly for phones which work, look and feel great. Samsung has knocked it out of the park with the S22 Ultra.
Newshub was supplied with a Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra for the purpose of this review.
