Samsung Galaxy M33 5G in Nepal: Why this phone is not a great choice

Samsung Galaxy M33 5G is the latest release from Samsung in Nepal.

The M series smartphone from Samsung was released along with Galaxy A23. Samsung has also already launched a couple of mid-rangers Like Galaxy A53 5G, and Galaxy A33 5G along with its flagship S22 series. This particular model is a mid-range offering from Samsung and is also the successor of last year’s Samsung Galaxy M32. Various updates have been made to this smartphone compared to its predecessor Galaxy M32.

Samsung Galaxy M33 5G offers a faster processor, the latest Android version, a faster-charging option and can capture videos in higher resolution. Yet, we review this is not a good purchase in this price range.

Why? Let’s dig into the details to know what more this phone is offering.

Specifications

Design and display

Samsung Galaxy M33 5G features similar styling to that of last year’s Samsung Galaxy M32. The phone features a plastic build with a glass front. The back of the phone houses a camera panel with Samsung branding at the bottom while the front has a similar waterdrop notch with thick bezels at the bottom. This phone has a side-mounted fingerprint sensor that also works as a lock button.

Samsung Galaxy M33 5G weighs 198 grams and measures 9.4mm in thickness. The phone comes in green, blue and brown colours.

There is a 6.6-inch TFT LCD display on the phone with a resolution of 1,080*2,408 pixels. Surprisingly, Samsung has decided to have a TFT LCD display instead of the Super AMOLED display on this phone. The display also supports a 120Hz refresh rate.

Cameras

Samsung Galaxy M33 5G features a similar quad-camera setup on the back with a single selfie shooter on the front. The phone features a 50MP main camera on the back housed together with a 5MP, 123 degrees ultrawide and a couple of 2MP macro and depth sensors. Likewise, on the front, there is an 8MP selfie camera. An LED flashlight lies just below the camera panel on the back.

This is a downgrade on the specifications as Galaxy M32 features a larger 64MP sensor along with an 8MP ultrawide lens. Galaxy M32 also featured a 20MP selfie camera compared to the 8MP in Samsung Galaxy M33 5G.

The main camera can record videos in 4K resolution up to 30fps, but there is no OIS on the camera. The videos will turn out shaky if the user records videos while they are in motion. The front camera can record the videos in 1080p resolution at 30fps only.

Performance and storage

The major upgrade on the phone can be seen in terms of performance. Samsung Galaxy M33 5G runs on the latest Android 12 with OneUI 4.1 on top. Samsung has announced that it will provide four years of Android updates on its new smartphones.

The phone is powered by Samsung’s own 5nm Exynos 1280 chipset. This is one of the many Samsung smartphones to feature an Exynos chipset and should offer better performance than last year’s Mediatek chipsets. Similarly, the graphical duties on the phone are handled by Mali G68.

For the storage, Samsung Galaxy M33 5G offers 2 RAM storage options of 6GB and 8GB with 128GB of internal storage. The phone also features a dedicated microSD card slot in case the user decides to expand the storage and features an intelligent feature than can expand the RAM storage up to 16GB by reading the usage pattern of the user.  

Battery life, connectivity and others

Samsung Galaxy M33 5G features a 6,000mAh non-removable li-po battery and supports a 25W fast charging system. The phone also supports reverse charging. Though the battery power is the same as seen on the Galaxy M32, the battery should be more efficient on this device as it features a much more power-efficient chipset. But, on the downside, the user has to buy the charger separately.

The phone supports dual sim cards with 5G network connectivity. The phone also supports dual-band WiFi, and GPS. It has Bluetooth 5.1 and uses USB Type-C 2.0 cable. It has a mono speaker on the bottom and also a 3.5mm headphone jack for audio connectivity.

The price of the Samsung Galaxy M33 5G is Rs 34,000 for 6/128GB and Rs 36,000 for the 8/128GB variant.

Verdict

Well, Samsung Galaxy M33 5G exactly is not a great purchase in this price range.

On the positive side, it features a power-efficient 5nm chipset with a huge battery backup. This should not only boost the phone’s performance but also increase battery usage. The 6,000 mAh battery should provide more than enough power to go through a day. The phone also features the latest Android 12 with Samsung’s latest OneUI 4.1 skin. Even OnePlus Nord CE 2, which is an expensive option than M33 runs only on Android 11. The four years of Android updates on the phone are also really commendable.

With all these offerings, Samsung Galaxy M33 5G also has let down the users this time in many aspects. One of the major components of a Samsung smartphone was its display quality. Samsung has the best display on the market. But, with this model, this does not seem to be the case. There is an LCD display on the phone which is inferior to an AMOLED panel in terms of colours and brightness. The 120Hz refresh rate can only be considered as a consolation on the display.

The phone also has a subpar camera performance and there is no OIS. Furthermore, there is no charger on the box of this phone and the user has to purchase it separately. This means the base price of Rs 34,000 will only get you a phone and you have to spend more if you want to get a 25W fast charger as well. This can be an upsetting factor for the users.

In this particular price range, there are multiple options for the users to choose from. Xiaomi’s smartphones series like Poco, Redmi and other brands like Realme may offer a better value for money.