It was hardly a surprise at this point but Samsung today officially announced the Galaxy S III mini, a 4-inch variant of the company's flagship smartphone. The device features a dual-core 1GHz STE U8420 chip, 1GB of RAM, either 8 or 16GB of internal storage (expandable via microSD), and Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.
All in all you won't find the same high-end specs that the original Galaxy S III contains. The 4-inch Super AMOLED screen offers a 800 x 480 resolution, for example, while the main camera was downgraded from an 8 megapixels and 1080p video on the S III to 5 megapixels and 720p video on the S III Mini. Other specs include Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, HSPA, NFC for mobile payments and Android Beam, but no LTE connectivity.
The design is pretty much the same but in a significantly smaller plastic body measuring in at 121.55 x 62.95 x 9.85 mm and consequently packing a relatively modest 1,500mAh battery. The company is likely hoping to ride on the success of its Galaxy S III branding though beyond external looks the mini hardly lives up to the name.
Availability and pricing details remain unknown at this point. Yesterday reports emerged suggesting Samsung planned to sell the phone for 399 euros outside of contract later this year, with no US availability in the cards.