Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini: 5 interesting features

Ah, Instagram. The photo sharing that can’t be stopped. Its gauzy filters have moved far beyond brunch photos and whimsical shoe-shots to become a hit in all sorts of other subjects, sports included. Teams, athletes and fans from the NBA, NFL, Major League Baseball and pro soccer leagues have all flocked to the service to document and promote.
Well, well. The Korean tech giant isn’t far behind when it comes to bringing up the rear. The Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini is finally official. Not going by the name ‘mini’, it could actually pack a punch! With the successful run of its older brother, the S3 Mini hopes to mirror the success that defined the Galaxy S3.
Let’s take at a look at the features that Galaxy S3 Mini will sport.
Display
The younger sibling carries a Super AMOLED 4-inch display with a screen resolution of 800 x 400 pixels, fair bit of compromise when compared to the Galaxy S3. The resolution on the S3 Mini seems out-of-date when the competition, hauling the same screen size, comes in better HD resolution schemes. There isn’t tad much of a difference in screen resolution when viewed by the naked eye, though it’s not going to slip under the eyes of the experts.
Processor
Samsung Galaxy S3 runs on a quad-core Exynos processor clocked at 1.4GHz. It’s an interesting piece of detail when compared to the new kid on the block. It looks like the Korean giant halved the spec sheet with the Galaxy S3 Mini. Powered by a 1 GHz dual-core processor, the mini S3 is quite efficient for running applications and looks more than comfortable to run Android 4.1 aka Jelly Bean. The chipset is a Mali-400 based GPU, meaning that the benchmarking results will be optimised; not nearly as capable as the Galaxy S3 but enough juice to power major applications and processes.
Operating system
It all comes down to who is garbed in Android clothing better; in this case, the S3 Mini.
While the Galaxy S3 is still shipped with the earlier version of the Android OS, Ice Cream Sandwich, the S3 Mini will come with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean out-of-the-box.
It will grace Samsung’s TouchWiz UI while bringing in a more intuitive interface which the Jelly Bean carries. Score one for the S3 Mini.
Design
The design echoes its elder brother, the Galaxy S3, with a few changes of its own. Stuffed into a thicker casing, the Galaxy S3 Mini mirrors the Galaxy S3 quite closely. Its removable battery rear, its plastic casing, the colour scheme are all a shade less than the Galaxy S3. The dimensions stand at 9.9mm x 63mm and weighing in at 119 gm.
Connectivity
In the connectivity department, the S3 Mini isn’t behind the Galaxy S3. Both devices carry NFC wireless comm., both have the industry standard Bluetooth/GPS and Wi-Fi and both have a microUSB. The thing most about the microUSB is its MHL compliance. You can watch HD videos but with only the correct cable, a cable meant for Samsung’s own connectivity options. A downer, considering the USD 30 the cable costs. Reportedly, Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini is expected to hit the market during Christmas and it is expected to be priced between USD 350 to USD 430.