The Galaxy A33 5G is designed to be the gateway for users looking for a simpler mid-range phone with some advanced features, and the same goes for the A32. But this year, this new phone is positioned as a sort of “A53 mini 5G”, some good and some bad.
Construction and Design
The Galaxy A33 5G is a cross between the Galaxy A53 5G and the A23: the back cover has the same finish as the more expensive model, mostly matte plastic. The camera modules are also the same in terms of design and organization and number of sensors.
Another feature exported by the Galaxy A53 5G is the IP67 certification for water and dust resistance. New in relation to the A32 4G, in addition to the Gorilla Glass 5, the case does not have any robustness, but adds to the most basic equipment, increasing production costs and, thus, raising the final price.
Relative to the a23, the front bears a resemblance to the teardrop-shaped notch, which has all but disappeared from the most entry-level phones. In particular, I still think the front camera solution is pretty, but I could use a more popular hole.
I’ve said it in other reviews, but it bears repeating: the Galaxy A52s series is one of the most beautiful products available today, and it’s interesting that Samsung implements features Often found in more expensive models, such as water and dust resistance.
Unfortunately, not everything is rosy. Following the trend of more expensive phones, the Galaxy A33 5G also lacks a 3.5mm headphone jack. At a minimum, microSDXC cards that share space with a second carrier chip are supported.
Screen
The Galaxy A33 5G has the same screen as the A32 – which I don’t think is a bad thing. The Super AMOLED panel features Full HD+ resolution (2400 x 1080 pixels) for extremely vivid colors, excellent deep fidelity and infinite contrast. It just seems to have a higher maximum brightness in a sunny environment, but very little.
The A33 5G has a reasonable size of 6.4 inches, slightly smaller than the A53. It’s still huge to use with one hand, but it’s still good. It’s worth noting that the teardrop notch, despite being an old design, works well because it gives the impression of a thinner edge.
A 90 Hz refresh rate is also available for smoother scrolling, animations and gaming. New to this generation is that the screen can adapt to the content, thereby reducing energy consumption. In short, it’s an experience very close to the A53 5G and one of the best mid-range AMOLED displays around.
Configuration and performance
The Galaxy A33 5G we reviewed comes with almost the same specs as the A53 5G: the processor is a Samsung Exynos 1280 5G, plus 128GB of internal storage, expandable via microSD card. Basically, only the RAM changes, from 8GB to 6GB.
Smartphone performance is adequate for most tasks. In social networks and messengers, I don’t see recurring crashes, only when loading content. The 90 Hz display helps provide that smoother feel, especially when scrolling through pages and apps.
As I mentioned in my review of the A53 5G, the chipset’s GPU doesn’t seem to keep games steady even with very mediocre graphics.
I’ve been playing a lot of Diablo on the Galaxy A33 5G over the last few days, and the chipset experience is well below expectations and should be a premium mid-ranger. Frustratingly, the phone does not support 60fps gaming, only 30fps.
Also, even with the simplest graphics, the phone stutters a lot in any situation, particularly when there are a lot of monsters in one location – something that happens quite often in Diablo. The result of the game was very unpleasant.
Asphalt 9 also underperformed, although it did a better job than Diablo Immortal. I realized that collision and choking only happens when there is collision. Still, it’s possible to have a pleasant experience with the game’s default graphics, but it’s still below average.
The phone also frustrates me in certain parts of the interface. Fingerprint unlock animation was generally truncated and not smooth; I also noticed unusual delays in phone settings, as if One UI 4.1 was too heavy for the device.
Whether browsing social media or playing Diablo for over an hour, the phone stays warm, which is great for helping to “clean up” the grumpy reputation of the Exynos series.
Samsung may improve the phone’s performance with future updates, but I can’t help but clarify my dissatisfaction with the Exynos 1280 5G chipset in the A33 5G and A53 5G. It fell well short of expectations for the 2022 mid-range product.
System and interface
Speaking of the interface, the Galaxy A33 5G runs on One UI 4.1 on top of Android 12. The interface is the same as its more expensive brother, that is, very cool, no frills, and it has really cool features like the Edge screen – which I use until today.
The ones I mentioned above are just a few issues like some animation stutters and delay in opening some tabs.
Regarding upgrade support, we will likely be the same as the A53 5G and A73 5G, which are four years. That said, if all goes well, it will be updated to Android 16.
Camera
The Galaxy A33 5G’s camera setup is basically the same as the A32 5G, with the addition of support for optical image stabilization (OIS). That said, we have a 48MP main camera, followed by an 8MP ultrawide, 5MP macro and a 2MP depth sensor.
To bring the same Exynos 1280 5G chipset as the brother Galaxy A53 5G, I found the quality of the photos very similar, just a little lower. In fact, Samsung’s more aggressive post-processing on the wide-angle lens is still there, which I really like.
Portrait mode is similar, including smudges in the hair areas and a blown out sky, but overall I got decent clicks. However, I noticed that the A33 5G’s camera software took longer to capture the images.
Compared to the A53, the 8 MP ultra wide-angle camera is far inferior to the A53. Here, the colors are a little washed out and poorly defined, as well as showing more twisted corners. I repeat my criticism of the macro sensor, because despite its 5 MP, it offers inferior image quality compared to the A53.
battery and charging
The Galaxy A33 5G has a 5,000 mAh battery, which I found adequate for the device’s configuration. Games aside, the Exynos 1280 5G chipset consumes a lot of energy, and I have good autonomy in social networks and streaming services like Netflix.
Let’s get started: In our streaming test, with three hours of Netflix playback, 50% brightness and volume, and connected to Wi-Fi only, the Galaxy A33 5G consumed 23% more than the Galaxy A53 5G and above Slightly smaller than the A73 5G, that is, it sits between two premium intermediaries.
When it comes to gaming, the Galaxy A33 5G is a little worse. An hour of Diablo consumed almost 30% of the battery, which is a lot for those who like to play games on their phones. Daily, switching between social networks, messengers, video recording and games, I managed to get through the day.
Sound
Fortunately, the Galaxy A33 5G comes with two stereo speakers, up from just one in the previous generation. The sound is almost the same as the Galaxy A53 5G: it’s loud and clear, but it can pop at higher volumes.
It also suffers a little when it comes to reproducing bass, like its more expensive brother, but generally it does well when watching movies and series. When it comes to music, it might not be the best option if you are very picky.
direct competitor
The Galaxy A33 5G competes with the recently launched Moto Moto G82 5G in the Brazilian market and is one notch below the Moto G100 and G200 5G. Common features include: OLED screen, 5G, stereo, Android 12 and 5000mAh battery.
But the Galaxy A33 5G excels in many other areas, including camera, Android support, performance, and most importantly, price. Motorola is charging BRL 2,999 for the device, while the far superior Galaxy A33 5G costs just BRL 2,499.
Samsung phones also bumped into some models of the brand itself, such as the Galaxy A52s 5G, which comes with A73 5G hardware and costs less than R$2,000. The Galaxy M52 5G can also replace the A33 5G as it offers great performance and 5G for around R$1,600.
Is it worth buying the Galaxy A33 5G?
The Galaxy A33 5G is a smartphone that brings many improvements over the A32 and takes the mid-range model to a higher level. Changes are welcome, like a more premium design and superior performance, but hopefully it won’t be like its A53 5G sibling.
My feeling is that the A33 5G, which is only in the current generation, has become something of a “Galaxy A53 mini” as it’s effectively the same more expensive model, with a few cuts just to justify the slightly lower price.
The problem is that the price difference between the two is so small that it makes no sense to choose the Galaxy A33 5G over the A53 5G, as both cost between R$2,200 and R$2,400. A little more and you get a smoother Super AMOLED display, plus an extra 2GB of RAM.
In some offers, the Galaxy A33 5G appeared at around R$1,800, which is a nicer price, although still on the same level as the Galaxy A52s 5G and Galaxy M52 5G. In the future, when Samsung stops selling older phones, maybe this Galaxy A could be an interesting option. Until then, I recommend looking for other models.
