Samsung has officially announced the Galaxy S4 Mini, a mid-range alternative Android handset to the company's flagship Galaxy S4. Rumoured for months and subject to numerous leaksonline, the Galaxy S4 Mini sacrifices screen size, resolution, performance and camera features in order to reach a lower price than the S4, but retains the same version of Android and Samsung's Touchwiz user interface.
The 125x61x9mm polycarbonate handset, which weighs a diminutive 107g, has a 4.3in AMOLED display with a qHD (960 x 540) resolution - that's smaller than the Galaxy S4's 4.99in Full HD display, but larger than Apple's 4in iPhone 5.
Inside you'll find a 1.7GHz dual-core processor, although Samsung has yet to reveal whether it's the Snapdragon S400 or older S4 CPU. It's paired with 1.5GB of RAM and 8GB of internal memory - of which only 5GB is user-accessible. However, MicroSD cards up to 64Gb are supported, so capacity shouldn't be a major concern.
Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 and an IR blaster will come as standard, but only the LTE-ready version will include NFC functionality. The 3G version won't support NFC, although should cost less at launch.
The eight megapixel camera sensor might not be as top-end as the 13-megapixel sensor found in the Galaxy S4, but it retains all of Samsung's picture enhancements such as HDR, panorama, continuous shot and Sound & Shot - the mode which records background audio and loops it over your images.
The S4 Mini will run the latest Android 4.2.2 version, with Samsung's Touchwiz UI on top. This will include a number of features introduced with the S4, including S Translate, Group Play, the S Voice command system and S Health body monitor app. However, many enhancements such as Smart Scroll, which uses the front-facing camera to automatically scroll through web pages, haven't made the cut.
Samsung has yet to announce pricing or availability for the Galaxy S4 Mini, which will be available in either White Frost or Black Mist, but we shouldn't have long to wait - the company is hosting a London event in June where it will reveal its latest Galaxy- (Android) and Ativ- (Windows) powered products. We'll be in attendance, and will be bringing you the latest once it's official.
