Samsung was expected to unveil the Mini version of the Galaxy S4 on June 20th, at a special event in London, but they went ahead and announced the device on their corporate blog. The Samsung Galaxy S3 was launched in London last year and the S4 in New York this year, but Samsung has returned back to the old continent with the Galaxy S4 Mini. Thus, Samsung has put an end to all the rumors and confirmed the Galaxy S4 Mini. Inside the smaller Galaxy S4 we find a dual-core 1.7 Ghz processor (we don’t have more details at the moment about it) and 1.5 GB of RAM. The Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini isn’t actually mini per se as it sports a more than capable 4.3”qHD (16:9 wide view) Super AMOLED display, only 0.3 inch less than the S4. So, this isn’t necessarily a smaller phone that you’d buy for your kids or nephews. The Mini name doesn’t come from a smaller size but from a presumably cheaper price and downgraded specs.
Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini: downgraded specs, but still more than enough
Since there was no new Android OS version unveiled at Google’s I/O conference the S4 Mini comes with the latest version there is – Android 4.2.2 (Jelly Bean). At 107g, the smartphone is really light weight, actually, 23 grames lighter than its bigger brother, the Samsung Galaxy S4. A 8-megapixel rear-facing camera and a 1.9-megapixel HD front-facing camera will be put into action by some special camera features as: Sound & Shot, Night (Low Light Shot), Best Photo, Best Face, Beauty Face, HDR (High Dynamic Range), Panorama, Sports, Continuous Shot. The device will come in three variants: 4G LTE, 3G single SIM, 3G dual SIM. The NFC option will only be available in the 4G LTE version. Speaking about diversity, the device will come in two colors, White Frost and Black Mist. A 1,900 mAh battery will have to sustain all the hard work. On the connectivity section, the device comes with WiFi 5.0GHz, uses the GPS ＋ GLONASS, Bluetooth 4.0 and has IR LED (Remote Control). As for sensors, it has Accelerometer, Light, Proximity, Gyro, Magnetic. JK Shin, CEO and President of IT & Mobile Communication Division at Samsung Electronics: There is a microSD card slot that can increase the internal storage memory up to 64GB. The device itself has 8GB of internal memory, out of which approximately 5GB are really usable. We know that Samsung is trying to develop its own Android, if we can say so, that’s why they’re trying to allure developers with a lot of cash. Therefore, they are trying to bring a lot of attention to their special features, which are also found inside the Galaxy S4 Mini:
Story Album S Translator S Travel (TripAdvisor) S Voice S Health Samsung Adapt Display Samsung Adapt Sound Safety Assistance Samsung Link Screen Mirroring HomeSync Smart Switch Samsung KNOX
It’s interesting to see that Samsung is trying just any size and approach to cover as many different types of consumers as possible. Will this confuse the consumer or it will give him more choices? The fact that the Samsung Galaxy S4 is the fastest selling Android smartphone yet speaks for itself. And with a right price, even the S4 Mini has a chance of capturing a few million sales.
