Samsung Galaxy S III mini preview

The Samsung I8190 Galaxy S III mini is like a nostalgic return to the roots for the highly successful Galaxy S franchise. Quite similar to the original Galaxy S specs-wise, the new SIII mini aims to get as much of the Galaxy S III's personality into a smaller package that's easy on the thumb - and pocket.
The original Samsung Galaxy S III is currently the smartphone to beat, but to many it's too large of a slab to handle. A strong point can be made that a large screen is a must for a great browsing experience or video watching on the go, but not everyone is willing to put up a with the body size such a screen implies.
The Galaxy SIII mini is ready to deal a serious blow to the competition in the midrange, by offering a more compact (and cheaper!) way to get the premium smartphone experience. An ambitious goal it is, but Samsung isn't afraid of a challenge.

Samsung I8190 Galaxy S III mini at a glance:

• General: GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, UMTS 900/2100 MHz, HSDPA 14.4 Mbps
• Form factor: Touchscreen bar
• Dimensions: 121.55 x 63 x 9.85 mm, 111.5 g
• Display: 4" 16M-color WVGA (480 x 800 pixels) Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen
• Chipset: 1GHz dual-core processor, Mali-400MP GPU, 1GB RAM
• OS: Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean); TouchWiz UX
• Memory: 16 GB of inbuilt storage, microSD card slot (up to 32 GB)
• Camera: 5 megapixel auto-focus, face and smile detection; 720p (1280 x 720) video recording at 30fps
• Connectivity: Wi-Fi b/g/n, Wi-Fi hotspot, Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA, stereo Bluetooth 4.0, standard microUSB port, GPS receiver with A-GPS and GLONASS, 3.5mm audio jack, stereo FM radio with RDS, NFC
• Misc: built-in accelerometer, multi-touch input, proximity sensor, Swype text input

Actually, the spec sheet is not even half as exciting as the SIII's. The mini version has the unmistakable styling of the flagship but that's about where it stops. At first glance, it's much closer to the original Galaxy S. In fact, it looks like Samsung is merely publishing a remastered version of their 2010 hit single.
Well, we hate to jump to conclusions. Perhaps, there's more than meets the eye.
We'll only know whether Samsung managed to get enough bang out of the middling specs when we are done with this preview, so let's waste no more time and get going. The hardware inspection starts right after the break.

2G Network: GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
3G Network: HSDPA 900 / 1900 / 2100
Dimensions: 121.6 x 63 x 9.9 mm
Weight: 111.5 g
Touch-sensitive controls

Type: Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
Size: 480 x 800 pixels, 4.0 inches (~233 ppi pixel density)
Multitouch: Yes

Alert types: Vibration; MP3, WAV ringtones
Loudspeaker: Yes
3.5mm jack: Yes

Memory Card slot: microSD, up to 32 GB
Internal: 8/16 GB, 1 GB RAM

GPRS: Yes
EDGE: Yes
HSDPA: 14.4 Mbps, HSUPA: 5.76 Mbps
WLAN: Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, DLNA, Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi hotspot
Bluetooth: Yes, v4.0 with A2DP, LE, EDR
NFC: Yes
USB: Yes, microUSB v2.0

Primary: 5 MP, 2592x1944 pixels, autofocus, LED flash
Features: Geo-tagging, touch focus, face detection
Video: Yes, 720p@30fps
Secondary: Yes, VGA

OS: Android OS, v4.1 (Jelly Bean)
Chipset: NovaThor U8420
CPU: Dual-core 1 GHz
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
- SNS integration
- Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic
- MP4/DivX/XviD/WMV/H.264/H.263 player
- MP3/WAV/eAAC+/AC3/FLAC player
- Organizer
- Image/video editor
- Document viewer
- Google Search, Maps, Gmail,
YouTube, Calendar, Google Talk, Picasa
- Voice memo/dial/commands
- Predictive text input (Swype)

Battery: Standard battery, Li-Ion 1500 mAh