The back design is more eye-catching, and still has an IP67 water resistance
Galaxy A33 owns a back design inherited almost entirely from the “brothers” in the newly launched Galaxy A 2022 family and compared to last year’s Galaxy A32 version, this is a big makeover.
The camera cluster stands out with its large size, protruding into a seamless block and the same color as the entire back. This type of back of A33 is similar to last year’s A52 and A72 generation, but the camera cluster is made softer and more seamless. Thanks to the new design, the back of the Galaxy A33 looks simpler and more elegant, while creating an eye-catching and good-looking appearance. The Galaxy A33 version that I experienced is blue, which looks quite fancy.
The back of the A33 has also been converted to a matte finish, anti-sweat, and very good fingerprints. The back and frame material is still plastic but made sturdy and solid. The device also has many other youthful color versions such as peach orange, pearl white, and black for you to choose according to your preferences.
Although equipped with a large 5,000 mAh battery, the A33’s body is still not too thick or heavy (8.1mm thick and 186g). This combined with a reasonable 6.4-inch screen size makes the A33 easy to hold, and comfortable to use with one hand.
The big change in the connection of the Galaxy A33 is the absence of a 3.5mm audio jack. If you are a regular user of wired headphones, you will need to buy an additional adapter to listen through the USB-C port or switch to true wireless headphones that are very popular today. The device still has a microSD card slot that is shared with the SIM 2 slot.
The most valuable point in the design of the Galaxy A33 is that it is equipped with IP67 water resistance, allowing the device to withstand 1 meter of water for 30 minutes. This is a feature that usually only appears on high-end models, such as Note or S, and was first equipped by Samsung on the mid-range line, the Galaxy A 2017. However, in later A generations, the company gradually reduced it. Since last year on the A52 and A72 series, Samsung has started to re-equip water and dust resistance on its mid-range smartphones.
Water resistance is not a must-have feature on a phone. Over the years, most phones are not waterproof, but we still use them normally. However, water resistance will also help users feel secure using it somewhat when it is raining or in high humidity such as in the bathroom. Just note that do not take the device to swim or immerse in water as advertised, because if the phone accidentally gets wet inside, you will not be covered by the warranty.
Following the environmental protection movement, the Galaxy A33 will not have a charger included in the box, and the case or screen protector will also be removed. Accessories included with the device only have a USB-C 2-headed charging cable, user manual, and SIM stick.
The AMOLED screen is bright and fresh, unfortunately still uses a mole
The screen is the next big upgrade on the Galaxy A33 5G when it is equipped with a high 90Hz refresh rate, Super AMOLED panel, Full HD + resolution on a 6.4-inch size. This is a significant improvement compared to the Galaxy A32 5G, which only has a normal 60Hz refresh rate and HD + resolution LCD panel.
The 90Hz refresh rate on the A33 makes page scrolling or opening and closing effects, and app transitions smoother than the usual 60 Hz frequency. Of course, compared to the A53’s 120Hz screen, it is not as smooth. Super AMOLED panels also give the A33 bright colors, high contrast, and deep blacks. Screen brightness is high enough to look good in the sun.
The minus point on the A33’s screen is that it only has a waterdrop design instead of a more elegant mole like on the A53 or A73, although Samsung has also tried to significantly reduce the mole or the side border. The screen border and chassis are also made seamless, and tight, but the chin (bottom edge of the screen) is still quite thick. Besides, A33 also does not have the Always On Display screen feature to display clock information, date and time, notifications, and battery life when the screen is off.
In return, the A33 is equipped with a dual-speaker system that supports Dolby Atmos to help deliver clear stereo multi-channel sound effects. The A33’s speakers give a large volume, no distortion or distortion when turned up to the maximum, making listening to music, watching movies, and playing games more “perfect”.
The optical fingerprint sensor is placed under the screen for good sensitivity and good feedback. However, the fact that Samsung still only allows installing up to 3 fingerprints is still quite inconvenient.
The camera has OIS stabilization, significantly improving low-light photos
Compared to last year’s A32 5G, the rear camera parameters on the A33 5G are almost unchanged with a cluster of 4 cameras including:
– 48 MP main camera with f/1.8 aperture, 26mm focal length, 1/2.0″ sensor, 0.8µm. pixels
– 8 MP ultra-wide-angle camera, f/2.2 aperture, 123˚ viewing angle, 1/4.0″ sensor, 1.12µm pixels
– 5MP macro camera, f/2.4. aperture
– 2MP depth camera, f/2.4. aperture
In front, in the mole section is still a 13MP selfie camera, f / 2.2 aperture.
However, the A33 5G’s 48MP main camera has been equipped with OIS optical image stabilization to help take better, clearer photos and videos in low light conditions, reducing blur caused by handshake.
A new camera feature called “Funny” is partnered by Samsung with the Snapchat application, bringing AR effects and funny filters when taking selfies or portraits.
I tried taking a quick shot with the Galaxy A33 5G and found that the device gave pictures with bright colors, good details, and a fairly wide light range. Although there is no telephoto camera, you can still zoom 2X with good quality. Dark photos are also significantly improved thanks to OIS.
Performance is quite good with the new chip, but still needs further optimization
As I mentioned at the beginning, the Galaxy A33 5G has the same configuration as the Galaxy A53 5G with the main highlight being the Exynos 1280 “homegrown” chip. This is a processor manufactured on the 5nm process. 8 CPU cores including 2 high-performance Cortex-A78 cores 2.4Ghz and 6 power-saving Cortex-A55 cores clocked at 2GHz, come with a 4-core Mali-G68 GPU clocked at 1,000MHz.
The configuration of this processor is similar to that of rival Mediatek’s Dimensity 900 chip, but the GPU clock speed is higher, so it promises a better gaming experience. The version I experienced has 6GB of RAM and 128GB of internal memory. In addition, A33 5G also has an 8GB RAM version.
Samsung also added the A33 RAM Plus feature, allowing to expand RAM capacity by up to 6GB by using internal memory as virtual RAM, making multitasking and running many applications smoother. The 128GB internal storage is also expandable via a microSD card by up to 1TB.
I have tested with familiar benchmark software and found that the performance of Exynos 1280 is quite good. The machine achieved more than 407 thousand AnTuTu points, more than 500 single-core and more than 1700 multi-core points in GeekBench, and more than 2200 points in 3D Mark. I tested each of this software 5 times and found that the score did not fluctuate too much.
I have used the Stress Test feature of 3D Mark, checked the performance stability of the A33, and found that the machine achieved 95.7%, and the stability level is quite high. The temperature, when tested when benchmarked continuously, is only about 36 degrees Celsius, quite cool.
I tried playing games on A33 with PUBG Mobile and found that the device allows maximum settings at HD graphics, High frame rate (30fps). Reducing the lowest graphics to Smooth will still only get High. At this level, the PUBG shooting experience is not very good. With the lighter game Arena of valor, the A33 handles it well, the frame is stable at 60fps.
In normal use, the Galaxy A33 5G also gives a satisfactory performance, runs relatively smoothly, and responds quite quickly. However, sometimes I experience a bit of lag and freeze when using Facebook and Chrome, perhaps because the Exynos 1280 chip is still quite new, and not well optimized.
The battery is enough for a day but no charger is included
Galaxy A33 has a 5,000 mAh battery, with the average usage frequency like me including surfing the web, Facebook, watching Youtube, listening to music, and sometimes playing Arena of valor, PUBG, the device is enough for a day, until the night I go to sleep and plug in the charger to charge it use the next morning.
I use a 25W charger, it takes about 1.5 hours to fully charge from 0% to 100%, of which the first 30 minutes is about 40% of the battery. This charging speed is average, not very fast.
In terms of software, the Galaxy A33 5G comes pre-installed with Android 12 with Samsung’s latest One UI 4.1 custom interface. The interface of One UI 4.1 has not changed too much. The newly added feature is that every time you change the wallpaper, the icons, quick settings icons in the notification center, and some system software will automatically change the color according to that wallpaper, to create Consistency and a seamless in the overall interface. A new privacy dashboard also appears, bringing privacy and security controls into one more convenient.