Samsung announces Galaxy S4 mini ahead of Premier event

[Jos]

A little earlier than expected, Samsung has officially taken the wraps off the Galaxy S4 mini, offering a more pocketable variant of its popular flagship smartphone while dialing back on specs and price.

In line with a flurry of rumors surfacing over the past few days, the device will be powered by a 1.7 GHz dual-core processor, alongside 1.5GB of RAM and 8GB of internal memory -- of which only 5GB will actually be available to the user -- in addition to a microSD slot for up to 64GB of additional storage.

As for the actual display, Samsung has bumped it from 4-inches and a 800x480 resolution on the S3 mini, to a 4.3-inch qHD Super AMOLED display at 960 x 540. That’s certainly a welcome improvement but still falls short next to the comparably-sized Apple iPhone 5 and even the older 4/4S when it comes to pixels per inch -- not to mention the 1080 x 1920 pixels, 5.0-inch display on the full fledged Samsung Galaxy S4.

Other notable features include 8MP and 1.9MP cameras, an infrared blaster for controlling your TV, GPS, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC, LTE, a 1900 mAh battery, and options for single and dual SIM variants.

The mini will ship with Android 4.2.2 and TouchWiz layered on top, featuring many of the software extras found in the Galaxy S4 like Sound & Shot, Story Album, S Translator, S Health and more. No pricing or availability details were given but the company should offer a few more details at its Premiere 2013 event in June.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/52734-samsung-announces-galaxy-s4-mini-ahead-of-premier-event.html

 

[Guest]

When I read mini and I see a 4.3" screen it does not fit, they should call it Samsung Galaxy S4 Lite instead ;-)

 

[SirDigby]

"Falls short of the iPhone 5"
What?!
It's not a competitor with the iPhone 5, that's what the S4 is for!

 

[Fbarnett]

A new phone every week is getting kind of old. Now if you can make a nice phone somebody can purchase unlocked for $99.00 let us know.

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

Judging from the pic's it looks pretty nice. I wonder how many colors it'll be available in. No matter, I'll just hang onto what I have already for a good while longer.

 

[9Nails]

Looks like a phone for people who want just a phone / something to text with, and don't need all the bells and whistles of the Internet Smartphone. I'd guess the only reason to use a lower screen PPI like this is to keep the costs low. If that's what this phone is targeted for, it seems like a good entry for that market space then.

Having an IR Blaster? Now that's pretty cool!

 

[Jad Chaar]

If only this phone had S4 original specs. At least it has 4G. The S3 mini was a wreck because of no 4G. This is not much of an improvement in terms of specs.

 

[Nick D]

How is this considered a revision of S4 when it's not even HD? I'm still a little baffled that it's not at least 720p (1280x720). Although it does have quite a few things going for it (screen type, sd slot expansion, 1.5gb ram, good smaller size alternative).

 

[Jad Chaar]

How is this considered a revision of S4 when it's not even HD? I'm still a little baffled that it's not at least 720p (1280x720). Although it does have quite a few things going for it (screen type, sd slot expansion, 1.5gb ram, good smaller size alternative).

That is what plagued the S3 mini. The specs are so cut down. At least there is 4G (the S3 mini didnt have it).