Samsung Galaxy A33 5G User Review

[Tech & Gadgets]

This post is a follow-up to my original post on the Samsung Galaxy A33 5G (which you can read here – https://timchew.net/2022/04/26/samsung-galaxy-a33-5g-unboxing/) after I spent around five (5) weeks playing with the phone.

I was pretty impressed with the long battery life which was more than enough to last a whole day without recharging. Unfortunately, there was no charger included in the box and I didn’t have a spare Samsung fast-charge (25W) charger hence I used flagship (super charge) chargers by two (2) other smartphone brands to charge it. Charging took a while though but then again it’s a large battery.

I also liked the stereo speakers (not too common on mid-range smartphones) and the sound quality was actually pretty decent.

I felt that the 6.4-inch Super AMOLED display with a 90Hz refresh rate was slightly smaller than what I’m used to (ie. flagship models), so if you like large screens, go for the top of the line flagship Galaxy S series… or perhaps even the Galaxy Z Fold3 if you have the budget to spare (RM6,999).

The phone was capable enough to run most apps without any discernable lag. However, when it comes to gaming, it’s fine for basic games that are not graphics-intensive, but really struggles with anything that needs a high-frame-rate. If you’re looking for a gaming phone, the Galaxy S series is better suited for it.

The Galaxy A33 5G features a quad-camera system with a 48.0 MP + 8.0 MP + 5.0 MP + 2.0 MP setup on the rear and a 13MP shooter on the front. The Galaxy A33 5G’s AI-powered camera is powered by a brand new 5nm processor.

The photos below were shot with the phone. I did not edit them in any way as I believe that potential buyers need to view the real capabilities of the phone, not some heavily edited photos which are dependent on the editing skills of the photographer. The photos below have been resized to save space (but it’s literally the resolution you’ll find on Facebook).

As with most modern smartphones, the camera performs well in good lighting
The real test is how the camera performs in low or dynamic lighting situations
I thought that this was quite a good photo with Auto-HDR enabled
Indoor photos with adequate lighting were surprisingly not over-saturated
To be entirely honest, most girls weren’t too thrilled with the lack of beauty features in the Portrait mode, except Yvonne who was pretty cool about the lack of it. Then again, she’s blessed with pretty good looks for her age.
There are a number of filters that you can use to enhance your portraits
Let your creativity flow
The food photos were also not over-saturated
The colours were surprisingly quite natural
Tried using the 2x lens to snap a photo of my food and I think that the wide lens is much better suited for it. The colour also turned out rather weird.
The colours were more saturated in this photo but it does make the food look more appetising! Perhaps the AI determined that extra colour saturation was required to make this a better photo.
The clarity was pretty good. (I do use a small video light to add some light when shooting indoors so there won’t be a colour cast.)

Pretty impressed with the clarity of the wide angle camera

Overall, the photos turned out to be pretty decent. Colours were (mostly) not over-saturated and the clarity was typical of Samsung’s mid to flagship range smartphones which is pretty good in most situations especially in good lighting conditions.

Girls who like some beauty filters for portraits might not be too thrilled that the camera’s portrait mode doesn’t provide many beauty editing options however they can always use a 3rd party beauty cam app.

For more info, head over to https://www.samsung.com/my/smartphones/galaxy-a/galaxy-a33-5g-awesome-blue-128gb-sm-a336elbhxme/