Samsung has released specifications and details on the compact version of its premium smartphone, the Galaxy S4. The S4 mini is the second compact device following in the footsteps of the S3 mini, which was released last year.
CEO and president of IT and mobile communication at Samsung Electronics, JK Shin, says the company has seen unprecedented demand for the Galaxy S4. "And now, we want to give people more choices with the Galaxy S4 mini. It has a similar look and feel of the Galaxy S4 for more compact and practical usages.
"Keeping in mind that the mini isn't simply a smaller version of the S4 and doesn't have all of the features of the S4, it does, however, come with a lot of competitive specifications."
Apple is also expected to release its budget iPhone in the third quarter of the year.
Big brother
Last week, Samsung announced its flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S4, had sold more than 10 million units, less than one month after its commercial release.
It also introduced more colour variations for the S4. Blue Arctic, Red Aurora, Purple Mirage and Brown Autumn will be added to the currently available White Mist and Black Forest.
World Wide Worx MD Arthur Goldstuck says the S4 is building on the successes Samsung achieved with the S2 and S3. "Until the S2 came along, Samsung's top-selling phones were feature phones. The E250, which costs just R400, was one of its bestselling phones of all time. With the S2, Samsung started competing in the smartphone arena for the first time."
He adds that the S2 was Samsung's first smartphone to overtake sales of a single model of one of its feature phones. "And for the S4 to overtake the S3, shows a definite upward trajectory."
Goldstuck says there is no question that the S4 has positioned itself at the top of the smartphone food chain. "The S4 is seen as the ultimate smartphone to have, and we can expect to see it becoming one of the bestselling premium smartphones yet in SA."
Specifications
The S4 mini is smaller in size and has a smaller screen than its premium counterpart, measuring 4.3-inches compared to the S4's five-inch Super AMOLED capacitive touch-screen. It is still, however, larger than that of the iPhone 5 (four inches) with Apple remaining set on smaller screens.
The mini is powered by a dual-core 1.7GHz Krait processor, while the S4 has quad-core 1.6GHz Cortex-A15 and quad-core 1.2GHz Cortex-A7 processors.
The mini also runs on Android OS, v4.2.2 (Jelly Bean) like the S4.
The S4 has a 13MP camera at the back and 2MP in the front for video calls. The mini only has an 8MP camera and 1.9MP in the front. It also doesn't have some of the imaging features that the S4 has, like Dual Shot and simultaneous HD video and image recording. The mini does, however, have the S4's Sound and Shot feature which records sound and voice together as pictures are taken.
What the mini lacks in terms of size and camera quality, it makes up for in features. The mini also has some of the S4's unique features like Group Play, S Translator and S Health. The Air Gesture and Smart Pause and Smart Scroll features have been left out in the compact version of the S4.
The Galaxy S4 mini will be available in two colours, White Frost and Black Mist. Commercial availability of the S4 mini supporting either 4G LTE, or 3G HSPA+ or 3G dual SIM, will be determined by market.
Share