Samsung’s latest flagship Galaxy S4 model is well on course to surpass the popularity and sales of last year’s flagship Galaxy S3 smartphone. The company has sold more than 20 million units of the phone in less than a month and according to estimates from research firms it is expected to cross the 80 million sales mark this year. Unfortunately, it comes with a very high price tag which means not everyone can afford it. However, Samsung has come up with a solution for such users – Galaxy S4 Mini which will offer most of the flagship’s features but in a more compact design and at an affordable price. Let us go through the key aspects of this phone.
Design
In terms of design, the S4 Mini, as the name suggests, just looks like a smaller version of its sibling. It has a sleek polycarbonate body that measures 4.91 x 2.41 x 0.35 inches and weighs merely 107 grams. The small size and lightweight nature of the handset means you won’t have any trouble with single handed operations for long periods of time. Furthermore, it also stands out in the looks department with its gorgeous and elegant styling.
Display
The phone has a 4.3 inch Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen display with multi-touch support and a resolution of 540 x 960 pixels which equates to a pixel density of 256 ppi. The display is certainly not capable of challenging the S4’s 5-inch 1080p display, but it is one of the best units available on a mid-range Android smartphone. It has amazing clarity and features Samsung’s proprietary Adapt Display technology which automatically customizes the viewing experience for individual apps to provide optimal results.
Internals
At the heart of the device is a dual-core 1.7 GHz Snapdragon 400 processor and 1.5 GB of RAM. Other than this, there is a dedicated Adreno 320 GPU for handling graphics and an internal storage capacity of 8 GB. Further memory expansion is also possible via a microSD card slot which supports memory cards of up to 64 GB. The phone is backed up a standard Li-Ion 1900 mAh battery which can be removed and replaced with a spare unit if users want to double the backup times.
Camera
The Galaxy S4 Mini boasts of an 8 megapixel camera which allows you to snap images of up to a resolution of 3264 x 2448 pixels and record 1080p videos at the rate of 30 frames per second. The device also has a secondary 1.9 megapixel front-facing camera for video calls and self-portrait mode. The camera interface provides comprehensive functionality as Samsung has incorporated a lot of features like Sound & Shot, face detection, smile shot, Panorama Shot, etc.
Software
The phone provides users with the best Android experience as it rolls out with the latest 4.2.2 version and Samsung’s TouchWiz user interface. Additionally, Samsung has added a host of exclusive features like Group Play, ChatON, S Translator, WatchON, S Health Samsung Link, Adapt Sound and much more.
Final Words
Samsung will be offering the Galaxy S4 Mini in two color variants – White Frost and Black Mist. The phone will be displayed at the Samsung Premiere 2013 GALAXY & ATIV, London on Thursday, June 20th where more details will be released regarding the pricing and availability.