back to article Samsung shoots Galaxy S III with shrink ray, unveils 4in Mini

Samsung has officially unveiled the Galaxy S III Mini, the widely predicted compact version of the firm's flagship Android smartphone. As revealed earlier this week, the Mini boasts a 4in, 800 x 480 display plus a dual-core 1GHz ST-Ericsson Novathor U8420 chipset powering Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. The blower features a 5Mp rear …

COMMENTS

This topic is closed for new posts.
  1. Dave 126 Silver badge

    I'm sure its a good enough phone, but why aid confusion by calling it the SIII mini, when it differs from its bigger brother by more than just size?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Isn't it obvious?

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      I agree, it should be called the Wee S3

  2. jungle_jim
    Facepalm

    Ace2 and a bit

    Doesn't look like a huge leap forward from my £200 Ace 2

    Im probably missing something mind.

  3. Select * From Handle
    Thumb Up

    I love this...

    Samsung clearly made the 4inch version just so that they can label the equivalent apple phone "mini". These days size matters! My love length is 4.8" oh yours is only 4" lol it must be mini...

    Marketing via products good idea Samsung, we will see how this fairs... *gets popcorn ready*

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Not a wide public for that style of marketing

      Only truly hardcore Android cultists associate their phones to their penises.

      Most people just want their phones to be functional and fit well in their clothes/bags/etc.

      1. Havin_it
        Holmes

        Re: Not a wide public for that style of marketing

        >Only truly hardcore Android cultists associate their phones to their penises.

        >Most people just want their phones to be functional and fit well in their clothes/bags/etc.

        I find those quite desirable properties for my penis too.

    2. Robin
      Meh

      Re: I love this...

      "gets popcorn ready"

      The 90s called; they want their cliché back.

      (It's sad that I have to point out that I'm aware I've used a cliché myself)

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: I love this...

        This is El Reg, we don't go out much and old bearded memes is all we've got for entertainment.

    3. Keep Refrigerated
      Thumb Up

      Re: I love this...

      Not sure why you got the downvotes... a marketing move seems like valid speculation. After all, some companies still do compete using traditional methods outside of the courtroom.

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: I love this...

      I fucking hate popcorn

      1. thejackle

        Re: I love this...

        I hate fucking popcorn

        1. Sorry that handle is already taken. Silver badge

          Re: Olive shit...

          A rifting cockup phone

      2. pauly

        Re: I love this...

        Popcorn I fucking hate

  4. Arctic fox
    WTF?

    "With the device clearly aimed at competing more directly with Apple's latest......"

    "4in, 800 x 480 display plus a dual-core 1GHz ST-Ericsson Novathor U8420 chipset powering Android 4.1 Jelly Bean."

    Clearly aimed at the iPhone5? The SGIII certainly is - a very fine phone. This however is clearly aimed at the mid-end market which not the case with either the iPhone5 or the SGIII. Just precisely what does the writer mean by that statement? If I have misunderstood something here (which is perfectly possible) I would be grateful if someone would enlighten me.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Disappointing

    For something branded as an SIII I would have expected a quad-core CPU and a pixel density to match the SIII's 720p screen. Dropping to a dual-core and lowering the screen res basically make this a phone that looks like a small SIII but really isn't. Bad form Samsung.

    I don't see how El Reg can think it competes with the iPhone 5, the spec puts it more in line with the 4S. Maybe it's got an absolutely belting GPU to make up for the rest of the spec?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Disappointing

      Not too fussed about the screen res as it is a smaller device, 480x800 looks fine on my Nexus S, however the rest of the specs should be the same at least. That is what I was hoping for, just a smaller S3.

      1. jason 7
        Facepalm

        Re: Disappointing

        Me too.

        I was quite excited (well looking back maybe vaguely interested) when I thought of having the power of a S3 in a smaller package.

        Then it turns out its not really a mini SIII at all, more a mini SII.5

    2. PC1512

      Re: Disappointing

      To be fair this doesn't even compete with the 4S, which has a higher res screen, better camera, and far stronger processor. Plus iOS and much better build quality of course.

  6. JaitcH
    Thumb Up

    I think prefer the 0.8 inch extra, and my Canadian tailor

    The additional goodies found in the SIII (Org) far out way the perceived benefits.

    Still, this demonstrates that the Android stable of handsets far outweighs the Cuperino competition, in size, function and even ruggedness.

    In fact, it seems that Samsung is stuffing almost everything into it's products whereas Apple users have to pay 30% tithings to by more apps just to make their favourite squeeze functional.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Pint

    This is Samsung showing that for all their claims of engineering "innovation" they cannot squeeze up-to-date performance specs, display technology and networks (LTE) into a decent sized phone, only their phablets and monster phones get anything of the sort.

    But still they might fool a few punters with the S3 branding... If only car manufacturers could get away with this, Aston Martin could sell a DB9 "Mini" with a Corsa engine.

    1. PsychicMonkey
      WTF?

      Aston Martin are already doing it

      it's not a mini, it's a toyota iq. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_iQ#Aston_Martin_Cygnet and they only sell them to people who already have an aston. Something to do with emissions legislation or something.

    2. D@v3

      I assume your not familiar with the re-badged Toyota iQ that is the Aston Martin Cygnet...

      http://www.imaginelifestyles.com/luxuryliving/2012/01/video-action-honey-i-shrunk-aston-martin

      1. Steve Todd
        Stop

        And the ONLY reason that Aston Martin are doing that is

        to meet EU emissions regulations. Their RANGE of cars must not average over a certain CO2 level, so they cheat (while the Italians jus ignore the regs as usual).

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Aston?

      Oh, you mean Fords made in Newport Pagnell

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      >This is Samsung showing that for all their claims of engineering "innovation" they cannot squeeze up-to-date performance specs

      Call me old fashionned, but I think they start with a price point and then figure out what's achievable profitably in terms of specs.

      They use the same 3rd party components in terms of radio that Apple do, innovation it ain't, at least not Samsung's or Apple's. Since it wouldn't effect cost of components, I'd guess they looked at power req and balanced this against desirability/availability of LTE - figuring a greater number of potential users would rather have an extra couple of hours than an extra couple of MB/s.

  8. Noel Morgan
    Thumb Up

    Marketing

    I think it is marketing genius.

    It is clearly aimed at a lower end of the market than the 'proper S3', people who wont be purchasing either an iPhone or a full S3

    However compare apple's 'premium' iphone5 with 4" screen and dual core processor selling at the £500 mark to this phone suggested to sell at £300.

    The idea is to suggest that the cut down S3 mini is a similar phone to the iPhone5. If you want the best phone around get the S3. (Samsung marketing - not necessarily my opinion)

  9. jai

    copying again?

    <trolling>

    so Apple bring out a 4" screen phone and [SHOCKER] Samsung rush to copy and produce a phone of the same size.

    </trolling>

  10. MGman
    Thumb Down

    The S3 could have pulled me away from an iPhone if it wasn't for it's size.

    So the mention of a 4" S3 a few days ago kept my newly arrived iPhone 5 in it's packaging until I could see what was announced.

    Turns out there is nothing to see here and I'll stick with Apple as my phone for now (I can always get an Android fix from my Galaxy Note and an imported, rooted, Kindle Fire)

  11. jungle_jim
    Pint

    full circle

    I used to like Microsoft because that was all I knew.

    Then I liked apple because they were the quirky underdog.

    Then I liked Samsung because they offered something that would shut the OTT Apple bunch up.

    Now I'm really hoping I'm going to like the next batch of Microsoft stuff.

    Funny how these things work.

    nb: its getting late here and I have had many beers so this opinion is subject to change.

  12. fiatlux
    Alert

    Battery life

    A smaller SIII with otherwise the same specs would have had a pitiful battery life.

    1. Mikko

      Re: Battery life

      You are probably correct. The 4" form factor in an ultra-thin phone is clearly one of the reasons why iPhone 5 has so much worse battery life than the S III, even with a non user replaceable battery (5.45 Wh vs 7.98 Wh battery capacity).

      Saving on screen resolution and CPU frequency may be the only way to get an acceptable compromise between screen size, battery life, and "sexy" thinness.

  13. P. Lee
    Devil

    What we really want

    Is for them to produce something which looks exactly like an iphone 5 and sell it in Mexico over the web through resellers...

This topic is closed for new posts.

Other stories you might like