SAMSUNG GALAXY A33 5G Review

A Compact Fun Sized Phone

Introduction

About a week back, we did an unboxing of the Galaxy A33 5G which you can check it out HERE. So this is actually a follow up of the unboxing, which we will just proceed with the full review of it here.

As a start, this year’s Galaxy A series comes in 4 models, which 2 of the models that came in as a surprise to us, the A33 and A53 5G uses Samsung’s Exynos 1280, the notable difference are the screen sizes, memory configurations and the camera setups. So no matter with model variant that you choose, you will still get the same upgraded Awesome experience from the previous 2021 A Series. Certain region may also get the 4G variant of the device in certain developing market to cater a much broader audience.

Design

The Galaxy A33 5G design carries a combination from last year’s A Series with some overhaul, which the overall back portion of the material is build from hard plastic with ambient edge that surrounds the island of camera but much improved with chromed color matching on the sides and buttons. This gives an overall compact build, slightly sleeker and much integrated as if you are holding a single piece of a constructed phone in your hands. On top of a young and youthful colors while retaining its smooth material which makes holding it really grippy and feels safe at all times. Taking care of the device has never been simpler, if there is dust of smudges, wiping it with a soft cloth will do the job. The phone is also IP67 rated for dust and water resistant up to 1metre for 30 minutes which gives ample of time if you accidently dropped it into the water.

The bottom of the phone you will spot the speaker, one USB C port and a Microphone. Over the top you will spot the noise cancelling microphone and a hybrid dual sim slot with MicroSD card expansion while towards the right you will have the power button and a pair of volume buttons. I find it simple and nice on the overall placements with really a good set of tactile button that is heighten up just nice and clicky. Weigh at 186 grams, its not too heavy in my opinion and well pocketable in my jeans or bag.

Display & Audio

Over the display side, the Galaxy A33 5G is powered by a 6.4 Inch rounded flat edge FHD+ 90Hz screen SUPER AMOLED with Gorilla Glass 5 that supports HDR10, blue light filter and color display up to 16 million colors. Display is vibrant, clear, colors were display at a fairly accurate level with minimal color washed out when viewing in different angles. It does not have adaptive refresh rate and you only have the choice of selecting 60hz or 90hz respectively but it is completely acceptable since turning it on will not impact much on battery life even on 90hz refresh rate. Such refresh rate will benefit over usage such as scrolling on a document, web browser and especially gaming which in return giving faster touch sensitivity and responses. This also fits with growing number of Android games that supports decent refresh rates yet you will get to enjoy it with a mid tiered device.

Specifically on the speaker, when playing music, streaming or games, both bottom firing speakers and the front earpiece will work together, giving it a total audio experience surrounding it powered by Dolby Atmos.

Camera

The Galaxy A33 5G camera is somewhat much cater as a combination of a budget yet formidable set of lens in the mid class range device. The selfie images are well bright and good, and night shots works well with its 13MP wide lens with HDR. Over the rear camera you have one 48MP wide lens, one 8MP ultra wide lens and a pair of 5MP macro and depth lens accompanied with a flash. This makes the Galaxy A33 rear camera touted as a decent budget quad camera setup with sometimes a downsides or two, particularly the images can be a bit soft in darker environments, otherwise its ok.

A few sample shots were taken with a mix of 10x digital zoom, normal, 48MP and automatic shots taken came out on par with good aperture, colors and contrast, both front and rear camera. Close up photo and portrait photo shots are well represented with good foreground and background differentiations but zoom shots had to rightly focused in order to get the clarity. During hazy or darker environment shots also came out quite ok with shadows and decent amount of light captured some amount of noises.

On video recording you get support up to UHD 30FPS or FHD at 60FPS, which considering powered by the SOC and coupled with the camera capability, it is performing fine without issues. FHD video is awesome with stabilization features and the included hardware OIS.

Performance

Under the hood, the Samsung Galaxy A33 5G is powered by the new Samsung Exynos 1280 5G 5nm Octa Core Processor, 256GB of internal storage and 8GB RAM with Android 12 and One UI 4.1. For such configuration, it is considerably very generous specially on the internal storage, which is also expandable via MicroSD card. Call quality with VOLTE, WoWIFI option is available as well when enabled, delivering crystal clear voice quality whether from the earpiece or bluetooth earpiece. This is the first which Samsung finally introduces its mid tiered SOC with embedded 5G connectivity that further encouraging more users in adopting it. The Galaxy A33 5G comes with dual band AC WiFi ensuring stable connectivity on all your work and entertainment needs.

Over to the gaming side, this phone performs great and well on mobile esports title such as PUBG and Mobile Legends, which also support the phone’s high refresh rates. Much intensive titles like Call Of Duty Mobile and Genshin Impact might need to lower down the graphical settings while maintaining the 60FPS refresh rates to keep things smooth. But no matter what games you throw it on, the Galaxy A33 5G will be able to run it and as app and game developer also playing it’s role in optimizing this new SOC to further improve the experience.

Benchmarks

Benchmark performance is pretty much expected, delivering higher mid tier range performance as shown above. Such score is great as a work life balance device and to compare, this is around the performance of a Snapdragon 7xx series of SOC. While it is just a synthetic score, if you are currently using an older Snapdragon by 2 to 3 generations, or coming from the older Snapdragon 600 series, this phone is well recommended.

Battery performance wise, you will get around 11 hours of it, a mix of calls, surfing, email, streaming, and a few Call Of Duty matches and Genshin Impact . Turn on the battery saving mode under 20% will get you around extra 2.5 hours of conservative usage. While it is known that the Galaxy A33 5G does not come with a charger, you can always get any third party compatible PD charger. A typical 15w fast charger will fill up from 10% to 100% in less than 2 hours (depending on background applications running)

Specifications

Conclusion 

The Samsung Galaxy A33 5G is a compact, right sized, fun device that is suitable on most situation that packs an adequate mid range processor and memory configurations that keep things going all day, not to mention it has a 90Hz refresh rate display which is perfect for those looking for an upgrade from an older generation SOC phones, and it is also suitable for casual entertainment, social media, and daily productivity use. With Samsung’s reliable commitment, you will at least get 3 generations of OS upgrade and to the very least, 4 years of security upgrade. At RM1499, its budget mid tier pricing that is suitable for most users that needed a modern smartphone quad camera setup with Super AMOLED display also.

Pros

• Reasonable 90Hz Refresh Rate Display
• Super AMOLED display
• IP67 Water and Dust Resistance
• Dolby Atmos tuned stereo speakers

Cons

• Visible performance lag on certain apps, games

The Samsung Galaxy A33 5G is now widely available at RM1499 that comes in 4 colors, Awesome Blue, Black, White and Peach. For more information, click HERE to find out more.