Samsung Galaxy S3 vs S3 Mini
Samsung released a miniature version of the flagship product Galaxy S III yesterday. It was only four months back when they released Samsung Galaxy S III and release of a mini version of it now can only emphasize that Samsung somehow finds the smartphone unfit for a limited audience. We were able to deduce a limited audience because it is said that Samsung will not mass market this smartphone like the much hyped Galaxy devices. Instead, it is intended to the customers who are satisfied with a mid-range of performance with a handset that can comfortably fit in their hands. Looking at the two smartphones, it is clearly visible that Samsung has kept the same form factor and the button layout. The pebble curvy edges and other design features from Galaxy S III are also intact in Galaxy S III Mini. However, Samsung has changed the screen size to a much smaller version.
According to the reports, this is what Samsung researchers have found subsequently after the release of their legendary Samsung Galaxy S III. This miniature handset is not prosaic by all means, but it doesn’t stand out from the flock either. Just because it has the Galaxy S tag embedded in doesn’t mean it would sell itself. We can only verify Samsung researchers’ claim after we get the sales records of the Galaxy S III Mini in the time to come. Our initial observations suggest that Galaxy S III Mini is egregious compared to the conventional Galaxy S family which Samsung will have to compensate by advertising or any other means necessary. Let us take a look at this miniature version and compare it to the original version where it was inspired from.
Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini (Galaxy S III Mini) Review
Samsung Galaxy S III Mini is pleasantly small and has a soothing outlook. It has 4.0 inches Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen featuring a resolution of 800 x 480 pixels at a pixel density of 233ppi. This is the major apparent difference compared to the elder brother Samsung Galaxy S III where a 4.8 inches gigantic display panel is hosted with 720p HD resolution. Galaxy S III Mini measures a length of 121.6mm and a width of 63mm with a thickness of 9.9mm. The curvy edges follow the pebble design characteristics of the Samsung Galaxy S III and so does the regular button layout. What we are trying to establish here is that Samsung Galaxy S III Mini is ideally a miniature version of Galaxy S III at a glance. Let us see what the inside has to offer.
Samsung Galaxy S III Mini is powered by 1GHz Dual Core processor and the chipset is said to be NovaThor U8420 which is doubtful. The specifics about the chipset haven’t been revealed, so we still need some more information to make a sound comparison. It will have 1GB of RAM and with the hands on we got, it seemed fluid and seamless so the GPU should be good as well. It runs on the latest Android operating System Android OS v4.1 Jelly Bean which is the same as Galaxy S III. The camera has been slightly degraded in to 5MP optics with autofocus and LED flash and only 720p HD video recording is supported at 30 frames per second. The secondary VGA camera can be used for video conferencing. As per connectivity options, Galaxy S III Mini doesn’t offer 4G LTE connectivity as its elder brother. Instead you will have to suffice with 3G HSDPA connectivity along with Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n for continuous connectivity. The usual perks with the Wi-Fi adapter is there which are DLNA capability, Wi-Fi Direct and the ability to host a Wi-Fi hotspot to share your internet connectivity. The internal storage stagnates at 16GB fortunately with the ability to expand the storage using microSD card up to 32GB. The battery offered with this device is rather small at 1500mAh and we are waiting for the information on battery life statistics yet. The price is rumored to be 400 to 420 euros at the point of release although we weren’t able to verify this.
Samsung Galaxy S3 (Galaxy S III) Review
Galaxy S3, the 2012 flagship device of Samsung, comes in two color combinations, Pebble Blue and Marble White. The cover is made with a glossy plastic that Samsung called as Hyperglaze, and I have to tell you, it feels so good in your hands. It retains a striking similarity to Galaxy Nexus rather than Galaxy S II having curvier edges and no hump at the back. It is 136.6 x 70.6mm in dimensions and has a thickness of 8.6mm with a weight of 133g. As you can see, Samsung has managed to produce this monster of a smartphone with a very reasonable size and weight. It comes with a 4.8 inches Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen that features a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels at a pixel density of 306ppi. There’s apparently, no surprise here, but Samsung has incorporated PenTile matrix instead of using RGB matrix for their touchscreen. The image reproduction quality of the screen is beyond expectation, and the reflex of the screen is also rather low.
The power of any smartphone lies in its processor and Samsung Galaxy S3 comes with a 32nm 1.4GHz Quad Core Cortex A9 processor on top of Samsung Exynos chipset as predicted. It also accompanies this with 1GB of RAM and Android OS v4.0.4 IceCreamSandwich. Needless to say, this is a very solid combination of specs and tops the market in every aspect possible. A significant performance boost in the Graphics Processing Unit is also ensured by the Mali 400MP GPU. It comes with 16 / 32 and 64GB storage variations with the option of using a microSD card to expand the storage up to 64GB. This versatility has landed Samsung Galaxy S3 with a huge advantage because that was one of the prominent disadvantages in Galaxy Nexus.
As predicted, the network connectivity is reinforced with 4G LTE connectivity that varies regionally. Galaxy S3 also has Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n for continuous connectivity and the built in DLNA ensure that you can share your multimedia contents in your big screen easily. S3 can also act as a Wi-Fi hotspot enabling you to share the monster 4G connection with your less fortunate friends. The camera seems to be the same available in Galaxy S 2, which is 8MP camera with autofocus and LED flash. Samsung has incorporated simultaneous HD video and image recording to this beast along with geo-tagging, touch focus, face detection and image & video stabilization. The video recording is at 1080p @ 30 frames per second while having the ability to video conference using the front facing camera of 1.9MP. Besides these conventional features, there are a whole lot of usability features.
Samsung is boasting a direct competitor of iOS Siri, the popular Personal Assistant that accepts voice commands named S Voice. The strength of S Voice is the ability to recognize languages other than English, like Italian, German, French and Korean. There are a lot of gestures that can land you in different applications, as well. For instance, if you tap and hold the screen while you rotate the phone, you can go directly in to the camera mode. S3 will also call whoever the contact you were browsing when you raise the handset to your ear, which is a good usability aspect. Samsung Smart Stay is designed to identify whether you’re using the phone and switch the screen off if you’re not. It uses the front camera with facial detection in order to achieve this task. Similarly, Smart Alert feature will make your smartphone vibrate when you pick it up if you have any missed calls of other notifications. Finally, Pop Up Play is a feature that would best explain the performance boost S3 has. Now you can work with any application you like and have a video playing on top of that application on its own window. The window size can be adjusted while the feature worked flawlessly with the tests we ran.
A smartphone of this calibre needs a lot of juice, and that is provided by the 2100mAh batter resting at the back of this handset. It also has a barometer and a TV out while you have to be careful about the SIM because S3 only supports the use of micro SIM cards.
A Brief Comparison Between Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini and Samsung Galaxy S3
• Samsung Galaxy S III Mini is powered by 1GHz Dual Core processor with 1GB of RAM while Samsung Galaxy S III is powered by 1.5GHz Cortex A9 Quad Core processor on top of Samsung Exynos 4412 Quad chipset with Mali 400MP GPU and 1GB of RAM.
• Samsung Galaxy S III Mini and Samsung Galaxy S III runs on Android OS v4.1 Jelly Bean.
• Samsung Galaxy S III Mini has 4 inch Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen display featuring a resolution of 800 x 480 pixels at a pixel density of 233ppi while Samsung Galaxy S III has 4.8 inches Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen featuring a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels at a pixel density of 306ppi.
• Samsung Galaxy S III Mini has 5MP camera that can capture 720p HD videos at 30 fps while Samsung Galaxy S III has 8MP camera that can capture 1080p HD videos at 30 fps.
• Samsung Galaxy S III Mini only offers 3G HSDPA connectivity while Samsung Galaxy S III offers 4G LTE connectivity as well as 3G HSDPA connectivity.
• Samsung Galaxy S III Mini is smaller yet thicker (121.6 x 63mm / 9.9mm) than the Samsung Galaxy S III (136.6 x 70.6mm / 8.6mm / 133g).
• Samsung Galaxy S III Mini hosts a 1500mAh battery while Samsung Galaxy S III hosts a 2100mAh battery.
Conclusion
I think we indicated our conclusion when we introduced this new miniature version of the Samsung Galaxy S III. As Samsung words it, this version is for the users who wanted the same phone design as of Galaxy S III in a smaller form factor and who is satisfied with mid-level performance. Hence if this is you, then Samsung Galaxy S III Mini would be your call. We have no credible information about the price its offered, but if it appears to be around 400 euros as rumored, then my personal opinion would be highly against buying this superseding the 480 euro powerhouse Samsung Galaxy S III. Thus the choice is entirely yours on this one because we are not impartial here.