S3 Mini in fact kicked off the trend of manufacturers issuing a slightly smaller, more scaled-back alternative to the premier smartphone that nevertheless kept the phone's basic look, feel, and design elements.
With its October 2012 debut, the Galaxy S3 Mini became the cheaper, midrange alternative to the high-end Galaxy S3, while still remaining part of the S3 family. AT&T's decision to include it in its lineup, despite the Galaxy S4 Mini being the most obvious next of kin, is an interesting move that brings new life to an "older" device.
Price:
$223.00
Specifications :
|
2G Network |
:GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 |
|---|
| 3G Network: |
HSDPA 900 / 1900 / 2100 |
| SIM |
Mini-SIM |
| Announced |
2012, October |
| Status |
Available. Released 2012, November |
|
Type |
Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors |
|---|
| Size |
480 x 800 pixels, 4.0 inches (~233 ppi pixel density) |
| Multitouch |
Yes |
|
GPRS |
Yes |
|---|
| EDGE |
Yes |
| Speed |
HSDPA 14.4 Mbps, HSUPA 5.76 Mbps |
| WLAN |
Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, dual-band, DLNA, Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi hotspot |
| Bluetooth |
Yes, v4.0 with A2DP, LE, EDR |
| NFC |
Yes (Market dependent) |
| USB |
Yes, microUSB v2.0 |
|
Primary |
5 MP, 2592x1944 pixels, autofocus, LED flash, check quality |
|---|
| Features |
Geo-tagging, touch focus, face and smile detection, panorama |
| Video |
Yes, 720p@30fps, check quality |
| Secondary |
Yes, VGA |
|
OS |
Android OS, v4.1 (Jelly Bean) |
|---|
| Chipset |
NovaThor U8420 |
| CPU |
1 GHz dual-core Cortex-A9 |
| GPU |
Mali-400 |
| Sensors |
Accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass |
| Messaging |
SMS(threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Mail, IM, RSS |
| Browser |
HTML5 |
| Radio |
Stereo FM radio with RDS |
| GPS |
Yes, with A-GPS support and GLONASS |
| Java |
Yes, via Java MIDP emulator |
| Colors |
White, Blue, Titan Gray, Amber Brown, Garnet Red, Onyx Black |
| - SNS integration
- MP4/DivX/XviD/WMV/H.264/H.263 player
- MP3/WAV/eAAC+/AC3/FLAC player
- Organizer
- Image/video editor
- Document editor
- Google Search, Maps, Gmail,
YouTube, Calendar, Google Talk, Picasa
- Voice memo/dial/commands
- Predictive text input (Swype) |
| Battery |
|
Li-Ion 1500 mAh battery |
| Stand-by |
Up to 450 h (2G) / Up to 430 h (3G) |
| Talk time |
Up to 14 h 10 min (2G) / Up to 7 h 10 min (3G) | | |
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Build (4/5): The phone is lightweight and thin, but has a good feel to
it. I'm currently using a rubberized protective case which has worked
beautifully, but I have to say I'm sure that the back cover would come
off from a hard fall. The backing is a thin flexible plastic which made
me feel uncomfortable with drops, so that's why I bought a case. The
screen is like any other phone screen that probably scratches easily
without a screen cover (I have that too). It's not Gorilla Glass like
its older brother, but it holds up just fine if you take good care of
it. The size of the screen itself is fantastic. You're buying the mini,
remember that, so the screen is obviously smaller, but don't be fooled.
In this case, smaller is better. The original S3 has an absurdly large
screen in my opinion, which is a bit unnecessary (don't even get me
started on the galaxy Note). For all original S3 users, I challenge you
to hold the phone in your right hand comfortably. And try to touch the
top left corner of your screen. Failed? The mini makes this possible
allowing full coverage of the screen by your thumb in a single hand
grip. I found this very nice to navigate through menus, apps, maps, etc.
I love the size, and it also fits into a jean pocket much better.
Overall, nice feel, thin and stylish design, just take care of it and it
won't be a problem.
Display and Camera (4/5): the only thing
keeping this from being 5/5 is the front camera. Only at VGA quality,
it's grainy, a bit slow, and bad in any lighting that's not bright
enough to read in. But now on to the reason it's 4/5. The super AMOLED
screen is beautiful for such a small phone and for the price. Again,
It's not as vibrant and vivid as its older brother, but you're paying
for a mini, so you're getting a mini display of it. At full brightness,
you couldn't tell the difference (in my opinion, my friend has the S3).
Unfortunately only reaching 720p, the display still is great for videos,
games, and beautiful wallpapers. There is no auto brightness function,
so you'll be finding yourself constantly adjusting the brightness in the
pull down menu. I didn't mind this at all as it saves battery in the
way that its not constantly adjusting itself. Plus I liked putting it to
just the right brightness depending on the lighting I was in. The
screen is just right for me and i love the look, and have even
comfortably watched 2 full length movies on it. The back camera is only
5mp compared to other camera with 8mp. The 5mp does just fine at
capturing video and decent pictures in good light. Low lighting is taken
care of by the LED flash. The back camera is good enough for the price
and has been good enough in all the situations I have been in. Bright
camera and beautiful screen. Simple as that.
Performance (5/5):
The phone performance itself gets 5/5 because I knew going into it that
it does not have the processing power of the original S3. With 1GB of
ram, and Jelly Bean4.0 running out of the box, the UI is smooth, crisp,
and easy to use. The phone runs 720p videos with ease if you have a good
wifi connection or good 3G coverage. Games will run fine, but the
bigger the game, the longer the loading times will be, and the frame
rate will drop a bit every now and then but what do you expect from such
a small phone running a giant game? The 8GB of space will do justice
for the average phone user. If you're an app junky, there is a micro SD
slot for more space as you definitely will be needing it. I have a few
games and productivity apps, and the 8GB does me just fine. However, it
is true that when you get the phone, all the basic stuff that's already
on the phone leaves you with about 4GB of free space. But this problem
is minuscule, as you're more than welcome to expand the space yourself.
Smooth performance, great for casual usage. Allows app junkys to add
breathing room. Perfect.
Extras [Battery, sound quality, buttons,
etc] (3/5): The aspect that accounts for most of those three stars is
the sound quality. For such a small phone, I didn't expect much for
playing music and what not. I was wrong. The sound quality on this phone
is unbelievable. At its loudest, you might think its hooked up to a
small speaker. The bass is clear and all types of music sound beautiful
on it. Call quality is also fantastic, and when you put people on
speaker, it has a boost option that makes it easier. The sound on its
own is 5/5. The home, power, and volume rocker buttons aren't something
to rave about. I found myself having to press the home button a bit more
firmly that I wanted to at times, and sometimes I'd apparently press
too far away from the middle of the wide button and wld have to press it
again. The volume rocker is fine, but the power button seems to be a
bit too sensitive at times. When I pressed it to unlock/lock it, the
option to power off came up some times but that's only not picking
(2/5). The battery lasts a full stretch day (lasts you into the night)
with casual use. If you're on it 24/7, you'll pay for it in battery
life. I suggest downloading JuiceDefender as it did a superb job at
making the battery last 2 days with casual use. I keep power saver mode
on and brightness on medium low, so anything above that I'm not so sure
how it will fair. But it did just fine for me (4/5). Web browsing is
also simple and easy. |
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Do not expect every bell and whistle feature from the BIG S3, want just
the most important features, want a smaller and more lightweight phone
that will do all the basic things of a Smartphone, then I totally
recommend this phone!
Hope this review has assisted you and thank you for reading it. Please feel free to ask me any questions in the comment area |
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