Samsung Galaxy S III mini review
Samsung is on one thing of a roll, scoring effectively at the excessive end of the cellphone sector with its pleasant Galaxy S3, pushing the competition onerous in the tablet area, and having appreciable success with its Observe line too.
One of many recurring themes in evaluations of the Galaxy S3 went along the strains of ‘it’s nice nevertheless it’s massive’. Samsung has given itself a chance to do one thing about that with the Galaxy S3 mini. The clue is within the title - it’s a smaller S3 doppelganger. (See how these handsets stack up against each other in our Samsung Galaxy S3 LTE vs Samsung Galaxy S3 mini spec comparability).
On the looks front the Samsung Galaxy S3 mini does nothing but please. The white plastic chassis with its silver trim seems to be nice, and I’m an actual sucker for the bodily Home button and backlit pair of touch-sensitive back and menu buttons that solely gentle up while you need them. The clear traces this arrangement delivers really attraction to me.
Samsung has achieved the proper factor with connector placement, so that the micro-USB port sits on the bottom edge of the casing and the 3.5mm headset jack on the top. There are just two buttons, the on/off switch on the appropriate edge and the volume rocker on the left. It is a tried and tested formula that's neat, tidy and ergonomic.
There’s absolutely no denying that this is a very comfy handset to carry and to use. While the S3 mini is simply over a millimetre thicker than the original S3, which is odd, its dimensions shouldn’t cause any problems for average to small sized fingers like mine.
There’s a closing plus in that the chassis feels very solid. I couldn’t bend or bow it in my palms, and that makes me really feel confident that it will survive the inevitable knocks, drops and clashes that it's sure to suffer.
There’s money to be saved by choosing the smaller handset. So, whereas on-line store Expansys is promoting the Galaxy S3 for around £four hundred, the S3 mini is £299.99.
Thus far, you could infer that the S3 mini is just a squished and more hand-friendly all-star handset. If that had been true it could possibly be a late entrant to be the bargain handset of 2012. So, is that really the case?
The short answer is no. Whereas the Galaxy S3 pushes on the very high end of the specs tree, the Galaxy S3 mini has rather more modest aspirations. A look at the core specs makes this completely clear.
There’s a twin-core processor keeping issues going and it’s supported by 1GB of RAM. However it runs at simply 1GHz - that’s nothing particular these days. Bear in mind, too, that the original S3 has a quad-core 1.4GHz processor.
Now, the handset performs nicely enough in speed terms - it actually doesn’t endure from feeling sluggish or laggy in on a regular basis use. But it's clearly not main from the front.
The same could be stated for the screen. What now we have here's a crisp, clear, sharp and perfectly acceptable 4in tremendous AMOLED display that delivers with sufficient punch to maintain me happy. However it is miles away from the beautiful 1,280 x 720 4.8in providing on the unique Galaxy S3 which I found adequate for reading many internet pages with out zooming and is just, nicely, superb.
These desirous about pictures might find themselves irritated that the principle camera here's a 5-megapixel shooter in comparison to the Galaxy S3’s eight-megapixel providing, but the camera is OK and there's a good range of effects and choices to decide on from.
As I usually say, if you are really enthusiastic about pictures then buy a correct digital camera, but for quick snaps the Galaxy S3 mini does as well as different mid-range handsets and is best than some. It shoots 720p video, and there’s a VGA (640 x 480) digicam on the front.
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The Android version is 4.1. That’s going to be one thing of a draw to anybody who likes their Android OS to be on the front of the pack. Well, almost anyway. For those who really want to be at the innovative you then need Android 4.2 of course. If you like Samsung’s TouchWiz interface you then’re in luck, and I do notably just like the TouchWiz lock display with its means to unlock direct to messages.
There’s 8GB of inner storage and you'll broaden on this with a microSD card. Very annoyingly the slot is below the battery. I don’t know why any handset manufacturer places the enlargement slot there as of late and it's a actual irritation. Samsung also supplies you with 50GB of Dropbox storage for two years. For many individuals that shall be read as ‘for the lifetime of the telephone’.
The Galaxy S3 mini contains some options Samsung followers will likely be familiar with. Good Keep makes use of the entrance digicam to help it know when you are trying at the telephone and preserve the screen turned on. It’s clever and it works. Direct Name allows you to cellphone someone whose current SMS you're studying just by lifting the handset to your ear - it’s an ideal idea and one I believe is actually useful.
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Different options include S Voice, which helps you to tell the cellphone what to do, for instance answering or rejecting calls. And Smart Alert, which is a vibrating alert for missed calls and messages.
Samsung additionally includes a range of apps over and above the Android staples and for some it would feel like overload to have a second app store - however these apps are simply ignored in the event you don’t wish to use them.
A remaining nod has to go to the battery which performed fairly nicely for me. I managed to get through most days without having to hurry around for mains power, though as is very often the case I wouldn’t need to have to rely on having no mains entry for two consecutive days.
Video Review - Samsung Galaxy S III mini
Final Verdict
By emulating the fabulous Galaxy S3 in design phrases, Samsung might have shot itself within the foot. The handset appears to be like prefer it ought to be a smaller model of an important phone, however in reality it is cut down not simply in measurement and that’s bound to disappoint many people. If you take that after which put the phone towards something like the cheaper and higher featured Google Nexus 4 then there’s actually no contest. Until you are a devoted Samsung fan or completely can’t handle its bigger display, the Nexus 4 is a better choice.
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