You have to hand it to Samsung’s marketing department. Not only does
it have its finger on the pulse, but it appears to have a sharp sense of
humour to boot. Only Samsung could launch a device with a 4-inch
display, one of the selling points of the iPhone 5, and call it the
“mini”. Well played Samsung, well played.
The implication is that the Korean company’s pared-down version of
its flagship Galaxy S3 is in the same league as Apple’s poster child.
While this simply isn’t the case, it’s smart marketing. But there is
little similar between the iPhone and the S3 mini.
Although the Samsung device shares the same screen dimensions as the
iPhone 5, it’s 800×480-pixel resolution pales in comparison. The same
can be said of most of the S3 mini’s specifications, whether comparing
it to its larger sibling or Apple’s latest offering.
Rather than being pitched as a high-end smartphone for those who
don’t want the 4,8-inch display of the S3, the S3 mini is actually a
midrange smartphone (but with a fairly premium price). With its 1GHz
processor, 5-megapixel rear camera and 8GB of internal storage (on the
entry level model), the S3 mini simply is nowhere nearly in the same
league as the best that Samsung and its rivals offer.
Nevertheless, it’s a superbly equipped device. The S3 mini runs
version Android 4. 1 — known as Jelly Bean — and although it’s a little
sluggish when compared to the bigger S3, it still offers an intuitive
and elegant user interface.
Like the S3, the build quality of the mini suffers from Samsung’s
excessive use of glossy plastic. Aside from feeling slippery in the
hand, especially once it’s accumulated some dirt, the rear cover doesn’t
offer the user confidence that it would survive a fall.
The unlock button and volume rocker have the same cheap feel as the
rear cover, but are responsive and well positioned. Both are within a
thumb’s reach, situated three quarters of the way up the right- and
left-hand sides of the handset respectively.
From a styling perspective, the S3 mini does look distinctly like a
smaller version of the S3. It shares the same curved top, bottom and
edges, along with faux metal trim around the edge of the face and a
single, oblong home button beneath the display. There are capacitive
option and back buttons flanking the central home button that are
illuminated only when the device is in use.
The S3 mini’s screen, however, is a far cry from the lush 720p
offering on the S3. Offering 800×480 pixels, the S3 mini’s display is
average, regardless of its Amoled pedigree. If you’re used to the
resolution of any of the major manufacturers’ flagship handsets, the S3
mini’s display will disappoint. If you’re a first-time smartphone user,
you’re less likely to notice – until you compare it to someone else’s
top-end device.
Similarly, while the camera is capable, it doesn’t hold a candle to the 8-megapixel offerings that have become
de rigeur,
and for many that may be too big of a sacrifice to endure. However,
it’s also worth remembering that the iPhone 4 only had a 5-megapixel
shooter, and it was considered the best mobile phone for shutterbugs at
the time. The results from the S3 mini are certainly in the same league
as the iPhone 4, and that’s not to be sneezed at.
Of course, the lesser camera and display mean that the 1 500mAh
battery is perfectly sufficient for a full day’s use, even from
demanding users, and that wins the S3 mini some points.
Samsung’s TouchWiz Android overlay isn’t any more pleasing than it
was when we reviewed the S3. The ability to set shortcuts to
applications by swiping an icon on the lock screen is a pleasing
inclusion and it’s just as easy to ignore functions like S-Voice,
Samsung’s equivalent of Apple’s Siri.
One of the benefits of the S3 mini running Jelly Bean is that it
includes Google Now – accessible by means of a long press of the home
button. Google Now allows Google to offer information based on what it
can glean from your mail, calendar and other services. This could mean
warning you of a traffic jam that might delay your prompt arrival at
your next meeting or reminding you of an important birthday. It’s one of
our favourite features of Jelly Bean.
There’s no support for 4G/LTE networks or near-field communications
like there is on the full-sized S3, but given its positioning this isn’t
surprising.
Priced at R4 599 for the 8GB model and R4 999 for the 16GB model,
though, we can’t help wondering why anyone would bother with this model
over the bigger S3 given that the price difference is so small. You can
now get the full-sized Galaxy S3 from some online retailers for less
than six grand, so we also have to wonder why someone willing to spend
R5 000 on a phone wouldn’t be willing to spend R6 000 on a far better
one.
That’s really the problem with the S3 mini. It’s a perfectly
excellent midrange smartphone, and were it billed and priced as such it
would garner more of our praise. Its name, appearance and price all
suggest it’s merely a diminutive S3, which it simply isn’t. The S3 mini
is too expensive for what it is. It’s capable, but why settle for that
when for an extra R1 000 you can have brilliance? —
(c) 2013 NewsCentral Media
- Update: Soon after publishing this review, Samsung
announced it was cutting the price of the 8GB Galaxy mini from R4 599 to
R3 999. It also said it no longer had plans to make the 16GB version
available in South Africa. The new price is more reasonable, but given
this is a midrange device it still seems a little overpriced given its
specifications.
Source : http://www.techcentral.co.za/review-samsung-galaxy-s3-mini/37815/
