Samsung today launched the rumored smaller, "mini" version of its flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S III—dubbed, naturally, the Samsung Galaxy S III Mini.
As rumors suggested, the S III Mini sports a 4-inch display, smaller than the S III's 4.8-inch screen. With the smaller screen size also comes a lower resolution and pixel density. The S III Mini's Super AMOLED WVGA display, which Samsung says is curved, has a 800 x 480 resolution, giving it a pixel-density of 233 pixels per inch. Much lower than the S III's 305.96 ppi.
If the name, screen, and size weren't any indication that Samsung plans to market this as a second-tier phone, beneath the Galaxy S III, then check out the rest of the specs.
Gone is the S III's 1.5 GHz dual-core processor (and the quad-core chip used in the global SIII). In its place is a 1 GHz dual-core chip. Not a massive downgrade, but performance between the two handsets will be noticeable. The rear camera was also downgraded from an eight megapixel shooter to five megapixels. As was the battery: 2,100mAh to 1,500mAh. There's also no LTE connectivity.
Samsung did lace the S III Mini with Bluetooth 4.0, NFC connectivity, S-Voice (Samsung's Siri competitor), and the most recent version of Android, 4.1 Jelly Bean. It will come in two configurations: 8 GB and 16 GB.
The company didn't announce pricing or availability, but judging from the spec sheet, and the fact that Apple's second-tier phone, the iPhone 4S, is now $99 with a two-year contract, we expect it to fall around or below $100 when purchased with a new wireless agreement.
Related: Samsung Galaxy S III Review
[via CNET]
