Samsung Galaxy A33 5G Review – All Rounder Mid-Range Phone but There’s a Catch

There are a bunch of Galaxy A phones from Samsung, so choosing one can be difficult. Now talking about the Samsung Galaxy A33 5G, it is very similar to the Galaxy A53 5G, a slightly more expensive model.

The Samsung Galaxy A33 5G come in two variants in India. The base variant with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage costs Rs. 25,499. Whereas, the other variant with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage costs Rs. 26,999.

The phone is available in four different colour options: Awesome Black, Awesome White, Awesome Blue and Awesome Peach. You can purchase the phone directly from Samsung’s official website or major e-commerce platforms like Flipkart, Croma and more.

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The Samsung Galaxy A33 5G packs the following items inside the box:

• Handset
• USB-C cable
• Sim Ejection Pin
• Quick Start Guide

Before we talk in detail about the device, let’s see what the on-paper specs look like:

• Display: 6.4 inches Super AMOLED
• Chipset: Samsung Exynos 1280
• RAM & ROM: 6GB RAM 128GB Storage, 8GB RAM 128GB Storage
• Software: Android v12
• Rear camera: 48MP + 8MP + 5MP + 2MP
• Selfie camera: 13 MP
• Battery: 5000 mAh
• Weight: 186 grams
• Dimensions: 159.7 x 74 x 8.1 mm

The first thing that caught my eyes about the Samsung Galaxy A33 5G was its simple and subtle design. Especially the Peach colour variant that I have for the review. I really like how Samsung goes with a clean and smooth look rather than the flashy design that you see nowadays.

The phone is also available in Black, White, and Blue colour options. Both the back and frame of the phone are made of plastic and have a matte finish that does attract any fingerprints. Even though it’s made of plastic, it doesn’t give any cheap vibes to the phone and gives it a high-quality feel.

The plastic frames are a little curved on the corners and provide a good grip. The phone also feels quite light in the hands with a weight of just 186 grams. The camera unit merges with the back panel and gives it a neat look.

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You will find the power button and volume buttons on the right side while the left side is clean. The top houses a SIM tray and secondary mic. You will find the primary mic, Type-C port and primary speaker grille on the bottom side.

Not to forget, I really appreciate that Samsung has provided an IP67 rating for dust and water resistance. Overall, Samsung has done a good job with its design and build quality.

Let’s now talk about the optics, shall we? The Samsung Galaxy A33 5G features a quad camera layout on the back that includes a 48MP primary camera with OIS, 8MP ultra-wide lens, 5MP macro lens, and 2MP depth sensor. You will find a 13MP selfie camera on the front.

Talking about the picture quality, the primary camera took really good shots in daylight. The images had plenty of details and a good dynamic range. The colours come out punchy and somewhat over-saturated. Now many individuals would really like this.

Since it has OIS, you can take some good steady shots without worrying about your shaky hands. It has a dedicated 48MP mode that captures a little more details than the normal mode but nothing extraordinary here.

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The ultra-wide lens gave us some good ultra-wide shots. The images had good detailing with minimal noise. However, I could easily notice the colour shift when compared to the primary camera. Now the macro lens is nothing to write much about. It has a fixed focus of 4cm and it takes a while to get hold of it. The macro shots came out to be strictly average.

The 2MP depth sensor helps the primary lens in taking portrait shots. The portrait shots came out really well which I was not expecting. The subject was well separated from the background and the blur effect was also pretty good.

The 13MP front camera captures good selfies in daylight. The selfies had good colour accuracy and detailing in them. However, they take a hit in low-light environments.

The Samsung Galaxy A33 5G can record 4K videos at 30fps from the primary camera. The front camera can record 1080p videos at 30fps. The videos taken from the primary camera came out to be rather good and steady, thanks to the OIS.

The Samsung Galaxy A33 5G packs a big 5000mAh battery which is the same as the Samsung Galaxy A53 5G (review). I noticed that the battery lasts for a good amount of time and you can expect around 2 days of battery life with light use. Now if you are a heavy user and like to do long gaming sessions, the phone would need to be plugged in by the evening.

The phone also features a 25W fast charging support however you do not a charger in the box, which is a bummer. We are seeing this trend with every other Samsung phone these days. Now, if you have a type-C charger then well and good else you have a buy a new one from Samsung.

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The 25W charger takes around 1.5 hours to fully charge the phone from 0 to 100 per cent. Well, this is not the fastest that we have seen in this segment as other brands like Xiaomi that offer much faster charging speeds, but it gets the job done.

The Samsung Galaxy A33 5G features a 6.4-inch Super AMOLED display with a resolution of 2400×1080 pixels. The display has a refresh rate of 90Hz and is protected with Corning Gorilla Glass 5.

The display gets decently bright with a peak brightness of 800 nits. The outdoor legibility is also good and I had no issues while using the phone in direct sunlight. Coming to the display quality, the colours are vibrant and punchy and the viewing angles are simply awesome.

It comes with Widevine L1 support, so you can easily stream high-quality content on OTT platforms like Netflix, Prime and more. However, I was pretty upset with the fact that it does not support HDR and also has no always-on-display.

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There are thin bezels around the display except for the chin, which is somewhat thicker. You will find a waterdrop notch on the top which feels kind of old considering that most Samsung phones feature punch-hole cutout.

Overall, the display on the Galaxy A33 is as good as you would expect from any Samsung phone.

The Samsung Galaxy A33 5G boats Samsung Exynos 1280 chipset which is the same as seen on the Galaxy A53 5G. It is paired with 6/8GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage. Thanks to the virtual RAm expansion feature, you can add more RAM (upto 6GB) using the internal storage.

The Exynos 1280 is a decent SoC that should pose no trouble for the vast majority of users. The apps load up quickly and function without a hitch. However, the A33 is not something I would suggest for hardcore gamers. You can do some light and casual gaming but don’t expect more from it.

Let me tell you why I did that. I friend some popular titles like PUBG: Mobile and it can only go up to the High frame rate setting even when the graphics are set to Smooth. So basically you’ll have to settle for a pretty mediocre experience at 30fps.

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As was to be expected, the Galaxy A33 has trouble running Genshin Impact, even on the lowest settings. The frame rates tend to fluctuate quite a bit here, and the temperature of the phone also rises.

You won’t ever have to worry about your Galaxy A33 5G overheating; at most, you’ll notice it getting warm. All in all, Samsung Galaxy A33 5G delivers decent performance but there are better performance-oriented phones in the market in this price range.

The Samsung Galaxy A33 runs on One UI 4.1 skin which is based on Android 12. When it comes to custom Android implementations, One UI is still among the best and most widely used. Users upgrading from older Galaxy phones will notice a very similar UI, but there are a few noteworthy additions to the mix.

Firstly, there is no Always On Display feature on the Galaxy A33 as I mentioned earlier. The lock screen has not changed much and now offers numerous customization options.

One UI 4.1 also looks even cleaner than its older version. However, not all of One UI 4.1’s features are available on the Galaxy A33 5G. A brand new Privacy Dashboard can be found in the Settings menu. Here, you can quickly check which apps have access to different permissions on your phone.

Likewise, the navigation is also highly customizable. You have the option of using gesture controls or the basic buttons navigation. You also get a secure folder feature where you can store all your pictures, videos and data that you want to be private.

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It also includes some pre-installed bloatware apps. Good thing that you can uninstall any of those third-party apps that you do not require.

Furthermore, Samsung has promised 4 years of major Android updates and 5 years of security patches. I have faith that Samsung will fulfil this promise because of its stellar performance over the past few years.

As always, the One UI runs amazingly smoothly and delivers one of the best custom Android experiences.

The Samsung Galaxy A33 5G packs a stereo speaker setup which is a solid upgrade from the single speaker on the Galaxy A32. One of it located on the bottom side of the phone while the earpiece works as the second one.

I found them to be pretty loud and the sound quality was also good. Multimedia consumption was a pleasure on the phone. However, you will have to take the sacrifice of our beloved 3.5mm audio jack.

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Coming to the connectivity, the Samsung Galaxy A33 has 5G support. It comes with 12 5G bands: N1, N3, N5, N6, N7, N8, N20, N28, N38, N40, N41, and N78. Other connectivity features include WiFi 5, Bluetooth 5.1, A-GPS, and NFC. I expected Samsung to provide the latest WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2 but sadly we don’t see that here.

Talking about biometrics, you will find an optical fingerprint sensor below the display. It is positioned on the lower side of the display and unlocks the phone quickly. Of course, you can also use the face unlock feature which works equally good unless you are in a pitch dark room.