GadgetByte Nepal

Last year’s Galaxy F22 was not perfect by any means but it was a decent offering nonetheless. And today I have its successor the Galaxy F23 for review, which is also known as the Galaxy M23 in some regions. Before we start our review, let’s take a quick look at the official specs of the Samsung Galaxy F23 5G.

Samsung Galaxy F23 5G Specifications:

• Display: 6.6-inches FHD+ “Infinity-U” IPS, 120Hz refresh rate, Gorilla Glass 5 protection
• Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 750G (8nm Mobile Platform)
• CPU: Octa-core (2×2.2 GHz Kryo 570 & 6×1.8 GHz Kryo 570)
• GPU: Adreno 619
• Memory: 4/6GB RAM, 128GB storage (expandable)
• Software & UI: Android 12 with One UI 4.1 on top
• Rear Camera: Triple-camera;
  – 50MP primary sensor
  – 8MP ultra-wide camera, 123º FOV
  – 2MP macro lens
• Front Camera: 8MP sensor (notch)
• Audio: Loudspeaker, 3.5mm headphone jack
• Security: Side-mounted fingerprint sensor, Face unlock
• Battery: 5000mAh with 25W fast charging
• Price in Nepal: N/A (Not launching in Nepal)

The Price Dilemma

I got this phone from Flipkart for INR 16,000 for the 6/128GB variant. At that time there was some introductory offer going on, but right now it is priced a INR 1,000 more. At this price segment, this is the first phone not to come with a charger inside the box. Galaxy F23 comes in this slim box, which houses the phone, a Type-C to Type-C charging cable, a user manual, and that’s it.

So, the “INR 17,000 price tag” is kind of a delusion because you have to buy a 25W brick separately, which costs around 1500 Indian rupees. So, the effective price of this phone is actually INR 18,500. Anyway, let’s start the review of the Galaxy F23 with the design side of things.

Design and Ergonomics

• 77.0 x 165.5 x 8.4mm, 198 grams
• Glass Glass 5 front, Plastic back/frames
• No official IP certification

Here, for the most part, Samsung has nailed the rear look of this phone. I’m in love with the Aqua Blue variant that I have—whereas the company hasn’t gone overboard with the camera island either.

The phone has Gorilla Glass 5 in its display too, but that’s about it when it comes to protection. There is no official IP rating here and it doesn’t have a rubber gasket in the SIM tray either—which by the way—accepts two SIMs and a microSD card.

But I do appreciate the fact that Samsung has made the Galaxy F23 both lighter and thinner. As a result, you will have no problem carrying it around in your pocket. Samsung is also sticking with curved frames whereas other brands have started experimenting with flat edges in this arena.

Personally, the curved edges feel more at home to me. The fingerprint scanner is right where I like it and it is quite fast and accurate for the most part.

Likewise, you’ll find all the ports on the bottom. This includes a 3.5mm headphone jack, a Type-C port, and a single down-firing speaker.

As good as it sounds, I was expecting stereo speakers on the F23 since that’s getting pretty common in this price range.

Display

• 6.6-inches FHD+ TFT LCD
• 90Hz refresh rate, Gorilla Glass 5

90Hz AMOLED or 120Hz LCD?

Similarly, another aspect where the Galaxy F23 should be criticized is its TFT LCD screen. And I’m kinda on the fence on this one really.

Here, Samsung’s decision to go from a Super AMOLED to an LCD panel is kinda dumb, given how it was among the best things about the Galaxy F22.

I think they should have provided a 90Hz Full HD AMOLED display here. Sure, this 120Hz refresh rate feels quite smooth and it has fared well in my usage without many jitters. However, I would have had no problem settling for a slightly lower refresh rate if it was an AMOLED panel instead.

That being said, I don’t think it’s absolute trash of a display as the “TFT” name paints it out to be. Obviously, it doesn’t match the colors of an AMOLED screen and the blacks appear greyish here. But it’s the same for any LCD panel, even the IPS one that many believe Samsung should have opted for.

TFT LCD vs IPS LCD vs TFT PLS LCD

This sheds light on all the confusion among users regarding smartphone display technologies. Here, TFT stands for Thin Film Transistor and it’s the core technology of major LCD screens, including the IPS ones.

However, over the years, the term TFT has been used to refer to Twisted Nematic TN panels, which are generally known to have inferior colors and poor viewing angle compared to IPS.

As with the F23’s TFT panel, I didn’t face either of these issues and I guess that Samsung is using a TFT Plane-In Switching PLS panel here, which is its alternative to the IPS standard that delivers a wider viewing angle, brighter contents, and better image quality.

I also faced no problem streaming contents off Netflix and Prime Video on this phone. It supports HD playback on both of them, though there is no HDR support. Outdoor visibility is strictly average though, so you will struggle a bit when looking at this screen under direct sunlight.

Battery Endurance

• 5,000mAh battery
• 25W fast charging (No charger in the box)

As for battery endurance, the phone easily lasted me over a day on normal usage, which includes scrolling through social media apps, multimedia consumption, and a fair amount of photography. However, because of the power-hungry 120Hz refresh rate and LCD display, the battery endurance isnt as good as say the Redmi Note 11.

So, I often found myself reaching out to the charger at the end of the day when adding casual gaming to the mix. Using the 25W official charger, the F23’s 5000mAh battery took 1 hour and 25 minutes to go from 0 to 100%.

Performance

• Qualcomm Snapdragon 750G (8nm Mobile Platform)
• 4/6GB RAM, 128GB storage (expandable)

Let’s now talk about the performance. Here, Samsung has gone with the tried-and-tested Snapdragon 750G. While it is not based on a more power-efficient 6nm process like the now popular Snapdragon 680, it is a lot more powerful than the 680.

Gaming

Remember I said tried and tested? That’s because this chip has been on the market long enough for game developers to optimize their games. As a result, you can push most mainstream titles to their higher settings here, unlike the new Exynos 1280 on Samsung’s latest mid-rangers. However, you’ll want to dial down the settings for stable gameplay.

For instance, you can get a stable 30 fps gameplay on PUBG under the default settings. But when switching to Smooth graphics and Ultra frame rates, I noticed a few frame drops here and there, although it remained at 35 – 38 fps on average.

Likewise, I found High graphics and High frame rate to be the most optimum settings for COD Mobile.

However, the Galaxy F23 has trouble running graphics-intensive games like Genshin Impact. At Low settings, the phone delivers around 24 fps on average at first but it drops to roughly 18 fps after a while into the game.

As you’d imagine, the phone got warm pretty fast here, where I recorded the surface temperature around the camera bump at 40°C.

Software

• Android 12 with Samsung’s One UI 4.1 on top
• 2 years of Android & 4 years of security patches

Moving on, like many of the new Galaxy phones so far, the F23 5G boots on Android 12 with One UI 4.1 out of the box. Samsung even promises 2 years of software updates and 4 years of security patches for the F23, by the way.

And unlike its predecessor which ran on One UI Core, you are getting the full-fledged One UI here. Anyway, as much as I love Samsung’s custom skin, the bloatware situation on this phone is rather disappointing.

I also find it weird that the Galaxy F23 has “Glance” as the default lock screen wallpaper service provider instead of Samsung’s in-house solution. Especially since some of Glance’s wallpapers are straight-up ads!

Camera

• Quad camera setup at the back
• (50MP main, 5MP ultrawide, 2MP macro, 2MP depth)
• 8MP selfie camera (teardrop notch)

I know a lot of you are eager to know about F23’s cameras—so let’s get right to it. Well, it is among the best camera setup in the segment, no surprises there! Even though its 50MP ISOCELL JN1 primary camera isn’t necessarily unique, what makes it stand out is 750G’s superior Image Signal Processor and Samsung’s color optimization, which I personally love.

Normal Images

Compared to the more expensive Galaxy A23, I found that it holds its ground quite well. In general, photos from the F23 come out with good colors, contrast levels, and dynamic range. Similarly, I didn’t face any problem with Auto HDR here like with other mid-range phones in the past.

Ultrawide Images

And there’s not a significant color shift when switching from the primary to the ultrawide camera on the F23 either, while its ultrawide shots have a pretty good dynamic range as well.

Portrait Images

Background separation on portraits is decent too, although the subjects look somewhat warm.

Nighttime Images

Getting to nighttime shots, the F23 unfortunately shoots pretty dark and grainy photos—where it tries to maintain close-to-natural colors. Turning on night mode does brighten up the shot a bit but it doesn’t necessarily improve in terms of noise and detail levels.

Selfie Images

Likewise, selfies from the 8MP front-facing camera have this slight reddish tint. Other than that, its dynamic range is sort of hit or miss as well.

Videography

In terms of videos, F23’s rear camera can shoot at up to 4k 30 fps. In most cases, I found that ts videos are usually steadier compared to the Galaxy A23, but it’s nothing to write home about. The selfie videos here cap out at 1080p 30 fps and as you can see, it crops into the frame, whereas I can’t help but notice the weird bluish tint here either.

Samsung Galaxy F23 5G Review: Conclusion

So, Wrapping up this review, the Samsung Galaxy F23 5G is a pretty decent mid-range phone for the price. I really like its primary camera, the design, and its overall performance. Also, Samsung’s software game in the mid-range segment is simply unmatched. So if those are your priorities, it’s definitely a good choice for you.

But if you are someone who watches a lot of movies, you might want to get something like the Redmi Note 11 Pro 4G which comes with a quality AMOLED screen and a fast 67W charger inside the box.

• Meanwhile, check out our review of the Samsung Galaxy F23 5G.

Samsung Galaxy F23 5G Review: Pros and Cons

Pros

• Decent Gaming performance
• Reliable camera experience
• Samsung’s software commitment

Cons

• TFT Panel
• No charger in the box
• Far from a multimedia device

Here’s our review of the new Samsung Galaxy A73. If you want the absolute best Samsung smartphone experience, the Galaxy S series is where it’s at—or the Galaxy Z lineup if we’re talking foldables.

And for everyone else that either can’t or doesn’t want to spend top dollars, Samsung’s got you covered with the Galaxy A series. It hosts an array of smartphones ranging from the ones that just get the job done to the ones that get the job done handsomely.

And among all the phones Samsung has launched in this lineup so far, the A73 is the most expensive one you can get. The crème de la crème, if you will. I’ve been using the Samsung Galaxy A73 for a little over 2 weeks now and in this review, let me share what the best A series phone of 2022 gets you—or if it’s worth getting at all. Here we go!

Samsung Galaxy A73 Specifications:

• Body: 76.1 x 163.7 x 7.6mm, 181 gm, Plastic back/frames, IP67 dust and water-resistant
• Display: 6.7-inches “Infinity-O” Super AMOLED Plus, 120Hz refresh rate, 240Hz touch sampling rate, Gorilla Glass 5
• Other Properties: SGS Eye Care certified, Ambient light adaptive tone control (ATC), 800 nits peak brightness, HDR10
• Resolution: FHD+ (2400 x 1080 pixels), 392.8 PPI, 20:9 aspect ratio
• Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G 5G (6nm mobile platform)
• CPU: Octa-core:
  – 4x Kryo 670 Gold (Cortex-A78, 2.40 GHz)
  – 4x Kryo 670 Silver (Cortex-A55, 1.80 GHz)
• GPU: Adreno 642L
• Memory: 8GB LPDDR4X RAM, 128/256GB storage (fixed)
• Software & UI: Android 12 with Samsung’s One UI 4.1 on top
• Rear Camera: Quad (with LED flash);
  – 108MP, f/1.8 primary sensor, OIS
  – 12MP, f/2.2 ultrawide sensor
  – 5MP, f/2.4 portrait sensor
  – 5MP, f/2.4 macro lens
• Front Camera: 32MP, f/2.2 sensor (hole-punch cutout)
• Audio: Dual speaker, Dolby Atmos Audio, No 3.5mm headphone jack
• Security: In-display fingerprint sensor (optical), Face unlock
• Sensors: Accelerometer, Geomagnetic, Gyro, Light, Proximity
• Connectivity: Dual-SIM (Nano), WiFi 6 a/b/g/n/ac/ax (Dual-band), Bluetooth 5.0, GPS / AGPS / Glonass / Beidou / Galileo / QZSS, USB Type-C, 4G LTE (VoLTE), 5G
• Battery: 5000mAh with 25W wired charging (no power adapter provided)
• Color Options: Awesome Gray, Awesome Mint, Awesome White
• What’s inside the box: Galaxy A73, SIM ejector, USB-C to USC-C cable, User manual and other documents
• Price in Nepal: NPR 72,999 (8/256GB)

Samsung Galaxy A73 Review:

Design & Build

• 76.1 x 163.7 x 7.6mm, 181 grams
• Glass front, Plastic back/frames
• IP67 dust and water resistance

So let’s start with the design side of things. And boy oh boy is this a good-looking phone! I’m not lying when I say that gazing into its pastel mint back with the camera island that just… melts into the phone has taken a significant time of my day ever since I’ve had the A73 in my pocket.

Then again, this design language can be found in the much cheaper Galaxy A33 and A53 as well—among many other things. Besides mint, the phone is also available in Gray and White color options, but this is clearly the crowd-puller.

Apart from good looks, the Galaxy A73 also impresses with its ergonomics—if you have big hands that is. For folks like me, A73’s large footprint makes single-handed use a constant struggle. And having to use both hands to hold the phone is a special struggle on these hot Summer days since it catches smudges from my sweaty palms rather easily. But hey, it’s pretty lightweight for such a big phone so all is not lost.

And like its predecessor, the A73 is IP67 certified against dust and water damage too. Still and all, I wish it had a more premium build quality since the phone is all-plastic—be it the back panel or the glossy frames. This means that the Galaxy A73 is subject to scuffs and even discoloration over time if not handled with the utmost care.

Display

• 6.7-inches FHD+ Super AMOLED Plus
• 120/240Hz refresh/touch sampling rate
• Gorilla Glass 5, 800 nits peak brightness

On to the display, it’s not news that Samsung makes the best smartphone screens out there. And assuming the same for the A73 would be no mistake. Everything from colors, contrast, white balance, to brightness levels is excellent on this tall 6.7” Super AMOLED Plus display. Not to mention, it is also Widevine L1 and HDR10 certified for high-quality streaming on OTT platforms like Netflix.

Moreover, contrary to last year’s Galaxy A72, this one feels a lot smoother as well since it refreshes at 120Hz instead of 90Hz. And look at those bezels; almost as slim as you’d find on Samsung’s latest flagships. Despite all this, the A73’s display doesn’t support dynamic refresh rate.

I’m not talking about the LTPO panel where the screen’s refresh rate adjusts according to the content. Not at all. This display can’t even switch between 60 and 120Hz! So it’s either the slow 60Hz all the time or the battery-hungry 120Hz all the time. Talk about picking your poison, am I right?

Stays visible outdoors

Anyway, Samsung says this screen has 800 nits of peak brightness, which admittedly doesn’t seem like a lot. Having said that, I’ve had zero trouble looking at it even in during the hot Summer days in Kathmandu.

Auto brightness works perfectly fine here, it is SGS Eye Care certified for low blue light emission, and there’s even something called Ambient light adaptive Tone Control (ATC) this time. Now, I couldn’t find any resource online to find out exactly what it is but judging from the name itself, it sounds pretty similar to the “Vision Booster” feature on the Galaxy S22 series.

In case you’re unfamiliar, Vision Booster works to improve outdoor visibility by boosting the colors and contrast levels of the display under harsh lighting conditions. And as far as I can tell, what ambient tone control does is bump the saturation level under direct sunlight.

Moving on, since it’s an OLED panel, the A73 also includes an optical in-display fingerprint reader. Compared to the ones from Chinese smartphone manufacturers like Xiaomi, OnePlus, iQOO, and such, its unlock speed is noticeably slower but it gets the job done regardless.

Audio & Haptics

• Dual stereo speaker setup
• No 3.5mm headphone jack

In terms of audio, you’re getting a set of stereo speakers here with Dolby Atmos. And I’m quite impressed with its sound quality which is balanced and even loud enough to fill an average room.

There’s no trouble with phone calls or the proximity sensor either, whereas it supports VoLTE calls and carrier aggregation too. Still, I feel like Samsung has used an inferior z-axis vibration motor here since Galaxy A73’s haptics feel buzzy instead of fluid and precise.

Performance

• Octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G 5G SoC (6nm)
• 8GB LPDDR4X RAM, 128/256GB storage (fixed)
• Android 12 with Samsung’s One UI 4.1 on top

Okay, let’s now turn to the performance of this phone. And this is where you’d find one of the biggest upgrades coming from the A72. Compared to the Snapdragon 720G, the 778G powering the A73 is more powerful and more power-efficient as well.

Oh, and it’s also 5G-ready with the phone supporting 9 5G bands in total. We’ve seen this processor in multiple mid-range phones last year like the Galaxy M52, Galaxy A52s, and the Xiaomi 11 Lite NE and I can confidently say that the Snapdragon 778G is indeed quite capable and reliable chipset.

As a result, the Galaxy A73 has performed really well in my everyday usage. Be it memory management or UI optimization, everything simply works here. Not to forget, Samsung has also pledged 4 generations of OS and 5 years of security updates for this phone, which is the longest software commitment from any Android smartphone maker, by the way.

How’s the gaming experience?

When it comes to gaming, the A73 lets you enjoy PUBG and Call of Duty at a smooth 60 fps without any frame drops or stutters. But while COD lets you do that at its max graphics settings, you’ll have to lower the option to just “Smooth” graphics on PUBG for 60 fps gameplay.

Plus, high-fps optimized games like Critical Ops achieve a stable 120 fps here—although I only got like 90 – 100 fps on Mech Arena and Injustice 2 on average, with further frame drops after 10 – 15 minutes into the game.

Besides, the Galaxy A73 has a pretty great thermal system as well. It’s just when playing GPU-intensive games like Genshin Impact that the phone gets considerably hot. At both “Highest” and “High” graphics settings, I was able to get about 30 – 35 fps on average with the CPU and battery temperature reaching up to 50 and 39°C, respectively.

All in all, the A73’s performance is quite reliable; there’s no denying it.

But for a phone that costs NPR 73,000 here in Nepal or INR 41,999 in India, it’s simply underpowered. I mean, all the 778G-powered phones I mentioned earlier cost way less than this, and you can easily find ones with Snapdragon 888 in the South Asian market in this price bracket. So at the very least, Samsung should’ve gone with the new Dimensity 8100 or the excellent Snapdragon 870 here.

For instance, the new Xiaomi 12X with the Snapdragon 870 chip is much more powerful than the A73. Its everyday usage feels snappier in comparison, whereas the phone also delivers considerably better gaming results.

Cameras

• Quad camera setup at the back
• (108MP main, 12MP ultrawide, 5MP macro, 5MP depth)
• 32MB selfie camera (hole-punch cutout)

With that out of the way, allow me to get to its cameras. Despite the performance upgrade, Samsung has unfortunately introduced a slight downgrade in this department. While the A72 featured a dedicated 3x telephoto lens, that’s been replaced with a 5MP portrait camera this time.

Yet, the Galaxy A73 is Samsung’s first non-flagship phone to equip a 108MP primary lens. And let me just say this, you know how they say “what you see is what you get”? That expression pretty much captures the essence of A73’s main camera.

Normal Images

Samsung phones are famous for their oversaturated, punchier photos but that’s not the case here.

As you can see, its colors, white balance, dynamic range, exposure levels, and shadow processing look quite natural compared to the warm, slightly popping colors that the Xiaomi 12X produces. I also found images from the 12X to be low in contrast sometimes.

Ultrawide Images

It does give out cooler colors from the ultrawide camera but I still prefer A73’s photos more because of their wider field of view and better details overall.

Portrait Images

As for portraits, Xiaomi’s image processing still struggles with maintaining a proper skin tone. The A73, on the other hand, captures portraits with better skin tone, colors, details, and dynamic range.

Selfie Images

All this continues in terms of selfies as well, where the 12X especially fails to handle dynamic range against the light in portrait selfies.

Nighttime Images

Regular lowlight shots are also relatively brighter and with more details from the A73, although it does take a bit hazy photos at times.

The Xiaomi 12X improves with regards to dynamic range and details with Night Mode turned on, but A73’s image processing still looks slightly better most of the time.

But every once in a while, it does shoot overexposed photos under night mode.

Videography

Getting to videos, the Xiaomi 12X lets you record up to 8K 24 fps footages but the A73 maxes out at 4K 30 fps. At this resolution, both phones manage a similar level of stabilization. But I did notice that the videos from the 12X are distinctly low in contrast while A73 shoots warmer videos.

Same thing on 1080p 60 fps—although Xiaomi does crop in on the frame for steadier results here. And for OIS-stabled videos, you’ll need to switch to 1080p 30 fps on both these phones. Upfront, the Galaxy A73 can shoot up to 4K 30 fps selfie videos whereas the Xiaomi 12X is limited to 1080p 60 fps.

Anyway, even though the A73 has a narrower field of view, its dynamic range and exposure control are much better. Then again, neither phone handles skin tone all that well in selfie videos.

Battery

• 5000mAh battery with 25W charging

Okay, let’s talk about its battery life now. Despite Samsung’s promise of 2 days battery with the Galaxy A73’s 5000mAh cell, its lack of dynamic refresh rate meant I only managed about 5 and a half to 6 hours of screen-on time when blasting 120Hz at all times.

And on busy days with a lot more gaming, photoshoots, and GPS usage, I’d have to charge the phone twice a day! Talking about charging, you won’t find a power brick inside the packaging here. And using a compatible 25W charger, the phone fully juices up in roughly 1 hour and 20 minutes.

Samsung Galaxy A73 Review: Conclusion

To conclude this review, the Samsung Galaxy A73 is not a bad phone—absolutely not. In fact, its design, display, cameras, and speakers are pretty much the best in class.

But that doesn’t change the fact that it’s significantly overpriced. The South Asian market is filled with a bunch of terrific sub-flagship phones right now like the Xiaomi 12X, iQOO 9, and Realme GT 2 Pro, where this guy doesn’t quite make its mark. A more powerful processor would’ve certainly gone a long way but sadly, that’s not the case.

And like how last year’s Galaxy A72 failed to differentiate itself from the A52, the Galaxy A73 suffers the same fate with the A52s instead. Just look at their spec sheet!

Apart from a larger display, battery, and a 108MP primary camera, the A73 is practically the same as the A52s. And I really don’t think all this is enough to justify the phone’s higher prices. But I think Samsung will drop the price of the A73 eventually, making it a decent value overall—although as things stand, the A52s is a significantly better deal.

• Watch our review video of the Samsung Galaxy A73

Samsung Galaxy A73 Review: Pros & Cons

Pros:

• Attractive design
• Excellent Super AMOLED Plus display
• IP67 dust and water-resistant
• Best-in-class software update policy
• Reliable cameras overall
• Loud, balanced stereo speakers

Cons:

• Not the best value for money
• Doesn’t support dynamic refresh rate
• Performance should’ve been better
• Strictly average battery life
• No charger inside the box

Samsung has already launched quite a few mid-range phones in 2022. While some of them, such as the Galaxy F23, A33 and A53, have been overall impressive devices, there are offerings that have disappointed us significantly, like the Galaxy A23. Anyways, among the recent releases, I’ve been using the Galaxy M33 as my daily driver for almost a month now. And, in this review, I’ll be sharing all my experiences with the Samsung Galaxy M33 5G. 

Samsung Galaxy M33 5G Specifications:

• Dimensions: 165.4 x 76.9 x 8.4mm, 198g
• Display: 6.6-inch TFT LCD, 120Hz refresh rate, Gorilla Glass 5
• Resolution: FHD+ (1080 x 2400 pixels), ~400 PPI, 20:9 aspect ratio
• Processor: Exynos 1280 (5nm)
• CPU: Quad-core
  – 2x Cortex-A78 (2.4 GHz)
  – 6x Cortex-A55 (2.0 GHz)
• GPU: Mali-G68
• Memory: 6/8GB RAM, 128GB storage (expandable up to 1TB)
• Software: Android 12 based OneUI 4.1
• Rear Camera: Quad;
  – 50MP f/1.8 primary
  – 5MP f/2.2 ultrawide
  – 2MP f/2.4 depth
  – 2MP f/2.4 macro
• Front Camera: 8MP f/2.2 (Infinity-V notch)
• Audio: Mono speaker, 3.5mm headphone jack
• Battery: 6000mAh, 25W (No charger in Box)
• Security: Side-mounted fingerprint sensor
• Connectivity: Dual-SIM (Nano), WiFi 5 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac), Bluetooth 5.1, A-GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, BDS, QZSS
• Colors: Green, Blue, Brown
• Price in Nepal: NPR 33,999 (6/128GB) | 35,999 (8/128GB)

Samsung Galaxy M33 5G Review:

Design

• 165.4 x 76.9 x 9.4mm, 215g
• Plastic back/frames, Glass front

Okay, let’s start this review with something that is easily perceivable about any phone—the overall design and build quality. And here, it’s pretty much what we’re used to seeing on a mid-range Samsung phone: an all-plastic build with a reflective finish on the back.

So yeah, it certainly lags behind in terms of a premium feel compared to a glass-back phone. And, because of the reflective finish, the back panel readily picks up fingerprints and smudges. This can easily be avoided with a case, but you will surely be disappointed to know that Samsung doesn’t include one inside the box this time. 

Personally, I do prefer using a phone without the case. And fortunately enough, M33 has held up to my rigorous usage pattern, as there were no scratches on the back or frames to date. But, the company should not cheap out on providing such a basic TPU cover. 

The M33 5G also misses out on IP certification, and the SIM tray lacks a rubber gasket protection as well. Therefore, one must have to be really cautious when taking it to shower and such.

In terms of hands-on feel, the Galaxy M33 has a definite heft to it—which is mostly thanks to the big 6000mAh battery inside. But honestly, it’s not uncomfortably heavy to hold—thanks to the excellent weight distribution and ergonomic design. However, that doesn’t mean it’s a slim and sleek device by any means. As for biometrics, there is a side-mounted fingerprint scanner which is quite accurate and reliable. 

Display

• 6.6-inches FHD+ TFT LCD, Gorilla Glass 5
• 120/300Hz refresh/touch sampling rate
• Widevine L1

Moving on, Samsung’s offering lags behind in the display department as well since the phone ships with a 120Hz TFT screen. So, it’s pretty apparent and obvious that this display doesn’t deliver the best colors and contrast you would expect from a mid-range Samsung phone. Even the outdated teardrop notch is still present here!

As a result, this is definitely where most of the criticisms surrounding the phone revolve—especially for a name like Samsung which has always been known for manufacturing the best smartphone displays.

In comparison, Xiaomi is readily offering a vibrant AMOLED screen on Note 11 Pro 5G, while Samsung’s stance against the AMOLED panel on its mid-range 5G device seems pretty dubious. Still and all, this TFT panel is of decent quality with a not-so-bad viewing angle. And, because this is a Full HD screen, I didn’t face any problem with the screen’s sharpness either. The phone also has Widevine L1 certification that lets you watch Full HD content on OTT platforms. 

Audio

• Mono speaker, 3.5mm headphone jack

While we’re on the subject of content consumption, let’s also sum up its audio quality. And, like the display, M33’s audio quality leaves things to be desired as well. Here, Samsung has gone with a simple bottom-firing mono speaker which can get loud enough for binging movies and such. But it does not provide the same degree of immersive music experience as a stereo speaker setup. 

Call quality, on the other hand, is perfectly fine. However, the sensitivity of its virtual proximity sensor is not so good. On a few occasions, I noticed that the screen doesn’t turn off when holding the phone close to the ear during a call.

Performance

• Octa-core Exynos 1280 SoC (5nm)
• 6/8GB RAM, 128GB storage
• Android 12 with OneUI 4.1 on top

Despite the relatively sub-par display and audio, M33 delivers pretty great results when it comes to performance. It is powered by the company’s in-house Exynos 1280 chipset which is on par with the Snapdragon 695 5G chipset that is making rounds on a lot of mid-rangers these days. 

As a result, the phone can easily handle regular day-to-day tasks and I have no complaints with its memory management either. Likewise, with a 120Hz refresh rate on board, cruising through this display feels smooth and fast. It also enjoys a RAM expansion feature called RAM Plus up to 8GB, which bumps the phone’s memory to a whopping 16GB. Yet, it has very little bearing on the phone’s overall performance in practical usage.

Excellent software support

The better news, though, is that the handset comes pre-installed with Android 12-based One UI 4.1 which puts the Galaxy M33 on solid ground. And, this custom skin is chock full of good stuff. Like, here you get Google’s Material You like dynamic color theming, object eraser in photos, and others. But, what’s even more commendable is that the company is promising up to 2 years of Android and 4 years of security patch updates. 

Having said that, there is still room for improvement in terms of proper software optimization, as I have encountered micro stutters and lags occasionally when scrolling through the UI or Twitter feeds. 

Gaming

Now, when it comes to gaming, PUBG Mobile maxes out at just HD graphics and a High Frame rate. But, even at Smooth and Balanced graphics, the frame rate doesn’t go beyond 30fps. Even Call of Duty couldn’t hit 60fps before, but with a recent update, it now renders a stable 60fps gameplay. 

On the other hand, heavy games like Genshin Impact take a toll on the 1280 and the gameplay is stuttery even at the lowest possible setting. Nonetheless, higher fps games like Critical Ops and Oddmar are well playable at 120fps. During all my gaming sessions, I didn’t face any major heating issues, although the phone got slightly warm near the camera module on a few occasions. 

Cameras

• Quad camera setup at the back
• (50MP main, 5MP ultrawide, 2MP depth, 2MP macro)
• 8MP selfie camera (teardrop notch)

Okay, let’s talk about cameras now. Here, the Galaxy M33 has a 50MP quad-camera array. Upfront, there’s an 8MP selfie shooter on the aforementioned water drop style notch. For this review, I compared the cameras on the Samsung Galaxy M33 against the Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G.

Normal Images

Under normal daylight scenarios, photos on the M33 have a relatively better dynamic range and HDR processing. To compare, Note 11 Pro’s shots are high in contrast—while also coming off with boosted whites at times.

Ultrawide Images

M33’s ultrawide photos exhibit a notable color shift and have a greenish/bluish hue. Surprisingly, the images from the Note 11 Pro have a better dynamic range and colors this time around.

Portraits

Edge detection in portrait photos is similar from both the phones. Likewise, M33’s photos are more consistent in terms of colors, with good background separation and skin tone. In comparison, Note 11 Pro backgrounds tend to be a bit blown out sometimes. 

Selfies

Similarly, selfies from the M33 have superior contrast and dynamic range, whilst the Note 11 Pro’s photos have incredibly inconsistent skin tone.

Nighttime Images

Moreover, neither of the phones enjoys an OIS camera setup, so the normal nighttime images are not that detailed. However, the shots from the Note 11 Pro are sharper compared to the smudgy photos from the M33.

Turning night mode on, the M33 compensates for its performance with better HDR processing and dynamic range. 

Videos

Getting into the videos, the Samsung Galaxy M33 can shoot up to 4K@30fps footage, while the Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G can only capture 1080@60fps. Nevertheless, the M33’s 1080p@60fps and 4K@30fps videos don’t have the best stabilization. 1080p@30fps videos, however, are relatively steady, especially when compared to the Note 11 Pro 5G. Likewise, while both phones don’t capture the best selfie videos, if I had to pick one, I will go with the Galaxy M33. 

Battery

• 6000mAh battery, 25W charging
• No charger in the box

Moving on, something that’s incredible about this phone is undoubtedly the battery life. As I mentioned earlier, Samsung has fitted in a big 6000mAh battery here that can easily provide 8-9 hours of screen on time. And if you’re someone who doesn’t really do much with their phone, the M33 will easily last you 2 days.

However, Samsung has cut corners by not including a compatible charger in the box. And that’s kind of frustrating if you ask me. So, you have to separately purchase a 25W charger that takes around 1 hour and 40 min to fully juice up the cell. 

Samsung Galaxy M33 5G Review: Conclusion

Okay, time to wrap up this review. So, what do I think of this smartphone? In my opinion, it has an overall good set of cameras, an out-of-the-box Android 12 experience that too with a good number of pledged software updates and good battery life. 

While that is mostly positive about the phone, there are a few major things that limit the Galaxy M33 5G to be an all-arounder device. Like the TFT screen, an all-plastic build, mono speaker, and no IP certification. For a slightly higher price, the Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G and Samsung’s own Galaxy A52 4G offer a really good AMOLED screen, stereo speaker setup, and a more premium design.  

Samsung Galaxy M33 5G Review: Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Fairly modern look
• Excellent software support
• Good battery life
• Reliable performance
• Decent cameras

Cons: 

• TFT display
• No charger in the box
• Mono speaker