Introduction
If there was anything certain after the launch of the Samsung Galaxy S4, it was the imminent arrival of a mini version. The question wasn't whether or when - the Galaxy S4 mini is drafting even closer behind the flagship than its predecessor did last season. It was how much - as in how much smaller and how much cheaper.
Here go the rest of the key specs:
Samsung Galaxy S4 mini at a glance
General: GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz; UMTS 850/900/1900/2100 MHz, HSDPA 21 Mbps, HSUPA 5.76 Mbps; LTE, Cat3, 50 Mbps UL, 100 Mbps DL (I9195 model only)
Form factor: Touchscreen bar phone
Dimensions: 124.6 x 61.3 x 8.9 mm, 107 g
Display: 4.25" 16M-color qHD (540 x 960 pixels) Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen
CPU: Dual-core Krait 1.7 GHz processor
GPU: Adreno 305
RAM: 1.5 GB
OS: Android 4.2.2 (Jelly Bean)
Memory: 8 GB (5 GB user available) of inbuilt storage, microSD card slot
Still Camera: 8 megapixel auto-focus camera with face detection, touch focus and image stabilization; LED flash, front facing camera, video-calls
Video Camera: Full HD (1080p) video recording at 30fps
Connectivity: Dual-band Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, Wi-Fi hotspot, Bluetooth 4.0+HS, MHL-enabled standard microUSB port, GPS receiver with A-GPS and GLONASS, 3.5mm audio jack, FM radio, USB-on-the-go
Misc: TouchWiz 5.0 Nature UX, DivX/XviD codec support, built-in accelerometer, multi-touch input, proximity sensor, gyroscope sensor, smart screen, Air view and gestures
Samsung did well to keep the Super AMOLED screen and the resolution cut isn't too painful. qHD looks reasonably well on a 4.3" diagonal. The comfortably compact Galaxy S4 mini is the flagship in miniature, replicating the original design to the last detail, from the layout of controls, through the finish, to the location of the IR port. It is the same Android version ticking inside too, topped with TouchWiz 5.0 Nature UX. Even most of the air gestures of the big Galaxy S4 are available on the S4 mini too.
So, although the Samsung Galaxy S4 mini has been designed with budget in mind, it's mostly the hardware that was affected. The mini version of the Galaxy S4 is a feature-rich package, and users should have little to worry about if it behaves as promised. We'll get to what kind of performance you can expect but let's first get the design and build out of the way.
The Samsung Galaxy S4 mini uses a 4.3" Super AMOLED screen of qHD resolution (960 x 540 pixels). The pixel density clocks in at 256 ppi, which is quite good, particularly when you consider the matrix used is not of the Pentile variety.
The Samsung Galaxy S4 mini uses a 4.3" Super AMOLED screen of qHD resolution (960 x 540 pixels). The pixel density clocks in at 256 ppi, which is quite good, particularly when you consider the matrix used is not of the Pentile variety.
Instead it uses a layout similar to that of the Galaxy Note II with three subpixels per pixel, where the blue sub-pixel is twice as large as the red and green ones. That's a clever way to prolong the life of the screen, without sacrificing anything in terms of sharpness.
Of course, you can find sharper 720p screens in these parts of the market now, but you'll need to live without the benefits of the AMOLED technology.
The Samsung Galaxy S4 mini is really easy to handle with its curved back fitting nicely in the palm of your hand. Given the friendlier, compact size, the slippery finish is a lot less an issue than it was in the bigger Galaxy S4. Single-handed operation is very comfortable and the AMOLED screen is a pleasure to look at, both indoors and outdoors.An 8MP snapper with a host of cool features
The Samsung Galaxy S4 mini comes with an 8MP main camera and a 2MP front-facer, but unlike its bigger brother, the smartphone can't use both t the same time.
The user interface is based on the Galaxy Camera interface. The viewfinder handles both still and video capture, so you don't have to switch modes. However, this is certainly not the most convenient solution - if you're shooting full resolution 8MP photos, you'll have to frame your videos using a 4:3 viewfinder.The settings are found in two places. The first is the Mode button under the shutter key. It brings up a carousel with different shooting modes, each with a descriptive image and text. When you get familiar with those modes, you can switch to the grid, which drops the text but is faster.In the upper left corner, there are a couple of quick settings plus an arrow to reveal more options. One of the more prominent settings here is the dual shot mode, which snaps a photo with both cameras and presents them picture-in-picture style (think video call). You can move and resize the image from the front-facing camera that's taking a photo of you.
As for the different camera modes, it's a collection of some of the best camera features currently available.
The arrow at the bottom of the screen brings up a row of color effects. Each effect gets a live preview, so you can see what the particular scene will look like with it. There's a download button so you can grab more effects.
There are more settings in the top left corner, but they won't be very often used. Still, there a number of interesting options here like having the volume rocker act as a still shutter key, a video shutter key or a zoom lever. The HDR mode (Rich Tone) can be set to save a normal and an HDR photo or just the HDR one. Another interesting option is contextual file names - the Galaxy S4 mini will name photos with your location (the GPS needs to be on for this to work).Samsung-exclusive software
The Samsung Galaxy S4 mini comes with a number of advanced features and apps that are exclusive to the S4 lineup for now, but will eventually trickle down to older devices via updates.
One of the coolest apps is called Group Play. It shares various multimedia across multiple devices in the same room but unlike DLNA it's interactive.One use case is to play a music track on the Samsung Galaxy S4 mini and use multiple phones as speakers. You can pick the role of each phone (e.g. left channel, right, all the way up to surround sound). This way you can control the music from one phone but use the loudspeakers of all.Of course, the other phones will need to support Group Play - the phones communicate over Wi-Fi (your Galaxy S4 mini becomes a hotspot that others connect to) and the pairing is done via NFC.
More useful are the options to share a picture or a document - you can have the same picture appear on everyone's phone and you can draw over it if you need to highlight something in the image.S Voice has all the features we're already familiar with, but also comes with a car mode that simplifies the interface and makes text bigger. S Voice can be used to initiate a call, dictate text, play music, open an app, change a setting, make a memo (including voice memo), add a reminder, schedule an event, set an alarm or timer, check the weather, do a search on the internet, look up local listings (e.g. nearby restaurants) and even get an answer to a question.S Voice does duplicate parts of Google Now, but it adds a lot of new functionality Some of these features are available outside of S Voice too, so you can set the Galaxy S4 mini to answer a call or snooze an alarm by voice commands even when S Voice isn't running. The problem with S Voice is that it's still not nearly as fast or as accurate at recognizing your speech input as Google Now.
S Translator will help travelers - it can translate between two languages using either typed text or by using speech recognition. It can read out the resulting translation too, if you don't thing your Korean accent can cut it. S Translator supports all the widely-spoken languages - English, Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Italian, Japanese and, of course, Korean.Finally, S Health is Samsung's home-brewed health and fitness tracking application. It starts off by getting you to create a profile which includes all your stats, such as age/weight/gender and level of activity, plus your calorie consumption goals.
The app has a pleasant interface and can track your progress, in terms of walking distance, exercise, and fitness, taking into account environmental influences, such as temperature. S Health also supports a number of optional accessories, which enable it to give even more detailed info on your status.
We think it's quite likely for more S Apps to made it to the retail Galaxy S4 mini such as S-Link, Photo Reader and even the Cento OnTV remote app that works with IR blaster.
First impressions
The Samsung Galaxy S4 mini can have better hopes of success than its predecessor. Coming in the wake of one of the best phones in the market, the S4 mini is sure to benefit from the most aggressive marketing campaign Samsung has had so far. Not only does it look like the flagship but has many of its premium features, like air gestures and smart screen. It could’ve done a lot worse than a qHD AMOLED display too.
It seems it was important to Samsung to do better than it did last year with the Galaxy S III mini. The hardware had to take a hit of course, but the Krait cores are doing a fine job, while the qHD screen is a lot easier on the chipset and battery while having enough resolution for pleasant viewing.
There will be some 720p competitors to consider for sure but WVGA is still the most likely resolution in the segment. So, the Galaxy S4 mini is probably on the right lines. Good enough screen, a rich software package, and friendly size are the right things to keep it spirits high. It’s up to Samsung to take care of the other side of the equation too – the price.
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